English in Ireland: Intra-territorial Perspectives on Language Contact

Author(s):  
Patricia Ronan

This study investigates in how far Schneider’s Dynamic Model and the Extra- and Intra-territorial Forces Model can explain the rise of the English language in Ireland. The study uses a largely qualitative approach with data drawn from historical texts and corpora. It is argued that the English language, in spite of the strong position of the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman settlers, was a minority language potentially under threat of extinction at the beginning of the early Modern Period and developed into the de facto first language in Ireland due to continued extra- and intra-territorial pressure. Irish language speaking population groups nevertheless retained sufficient linguistic influence to allow for some language contact features to observable in the resulting contact variety of English.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 463
Author(s):  
Bassey Ufot ◽  
Idara E. Thomas

This paper studies the discourse strategies and communicative potential of the English language in a selection of Afro Saxon prose passages. The term ‘Afro Saxons’ was first coined by Kenyan scholar, Ali Mazrui, in 1975, by analogy with ‘Anglo Saxons’, to refer to the linguistic phenomenon in which the English language is increasingly becoming the ‘first language’ functionally of a great many black and African people. This study, therefore, enlarges upon this concept and undertakes to elaborate on the ways in which the communicative and expressive possibilities of English are exemplified in a selection of some of the most lyrical and dramatic prose extracts by some African writers. Mounted upon the theoretical platforms of Mazrui, and Halliday’s systemic functional grammar (SFG) with its contextual parameters of the ideational (field), interpersonal (tenor) and textual (mode) metafunctions, the research appraises the attitudes to the increasing global status of English. Then employing two Anglo Saxon prose passages as the control, it investigates in some detail the organic configurations of discourse such as transitivity, mood, thematic structure, cohesion and coherence in passages from Armah, Achebe and Soyinka, and concludes that, based on the effective use of the figurative and expressive metafunctions of the language, these authors may indeed be referred to as Afro Saxons.


2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viola Miglio

The Scandinavian occupation of wide territories in the British Islands from about 900 CE onwards has left a number of vestiges both in place-names, in the pronunciation and lexicon of northern dialects, especially Scottish, as well as loanwords in standard English, some of which are remarkably common, ugly, to take and window to name but three.


English Today ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-42
Author(s):  
David Trotter

The Norman Conquest of 1066 has left a considerable mark on the English landscape (in the form of cathedrals, churches, and castles) and had a massive impact on the English language. Both of these are visible (and audible) today. It is well known that a very sizeable percentage of the vocabulary of Modern English is of French origin. What is generally realised less is the extent to which these are not loanwords in the conventional sense (that is, words incorporated from a foreign language) but terms taken over into English at a time of sustained language contact between English and French, when the two languages coexisted on English soil. Recent advances in lexicography, in the Oxford English Dictionary in particular, now make it possible to track much more precisely the processes which have led to this massive incursion of French terminology into English. Generally speaking, it is normally assumed that Anglo-Norman was a predominantly urban vernacular (Short, 2009), a view which some recent work has challenged (Rothwell 2008, 2009, 2012; Trotter 2012a, 2012b, 2013).


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Quesada Pacheco

This case study looks closely at the bilingual first language acquisition of a Costa Rican child who was raised through OPOL (One Parent One Language) and Minority Language at Home (mL@H).The subject, Itzel, was raised in a Spanish-speaking environment and her dad is the only person that has spoken to her in English since her birth up to the present. It is explained throughout the study that the use of several native English resources complemented the acquisition of the English language. For this study, a descriptive method was used. The Wug test was applied to the subject to determine the level of acquisition of the plural morphemes, third person singular morphemes, and past tense morphemes of regular verbs. Finally a comparison of 2011 Wug test and 2014 test is made to determine mastery of these morphemes in a period of three (3) years. The results proved that the subject did acquire naturally the studied morphemes and the Wug test shows some aspects of the interlanguage development related to the acquisition of morphemes done by the subject of the study.


Author(s):  
Vera Joanna Burton ◽  
Betsy Wendt

An increasingly large number of children receiving education in the United States public school system do not speak English as their first language. As educators adjust to the changing educational demographics, speech-language pathologists will be called on with increasing frequency to address concerns regarding language difference and language disorders. This paper illustrates the pre-referral assessment-to-intervention processes and products designed by one school team to meet the unique needs of English Language Learners (ELL).


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 15-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette W. Langdon ◽  
Terry Irvine Saenz

The number of English Language Learners (ELL) is increasing in all regions of the United States. Although the majority (71%) speak Spanish as their first language, the other 29% may speak one of as many as 100 or more different languages. In spite of an increasing number of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who can provide bilingual services, the likelihood of a match between a given student's primary language and an SLP's is rather minimal. The second best option is to work with a trained language interpreter in the student's language. However, very frequently, this interpreter may be bilingual but not trained to do the job.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2319-2324
Author(s):  
Rina Muka ◽  
Irida Hoti

The language acquired from the childhood is the language spoken in the family and in the place of living. This language is different from one pupil to another, because of their social, economical conditions. By starting the school the pupil faces first the ABC book and then in the second grade Albanian language learning through the Albanian language textbook. By learning Albanian language step by step focused on Reading, Writing, Speaking and Grammar the pupil is able to start learning the second language on the next years of schooling. So, the second language learning in Albanian schools is related to the first language learning (mother tongue), since the early years in primary school. In our schools, the second language (English, Italian) starts in the third grade of the elementary class. On the third grade isn’t taught grammar but the pupil is directed toward the correct usage of the language. The textbooks are structured in developing the pupil’s critical thinking. The textbooks are fully illustrated and with attractive and educative lessons adequate to the age of the pupils. This comparative study will reflect some important aspects of language learning in Albanian schools (focused on Albanian language - first language and English language - second language), grade 3-6. Our point of view in this paper will show not only the diversity of the themes, the lines and the sub-lines but also the level of language knowledge acquired at each level of education. First, the study will focus on some important issues in comparing Albanian and English language texts as well as those which make them different: chronology and topics retaken from one level of education to another, so by conception of linear and chronological order will be shown comparatively two learned languages (mother tongue and second language). By knowing and learning well mother tongue will be easier for the pupil the foreign language learning. The foreign language (as a learning curriculum) aims to provide students with the skills of using foreign language written and spoken to enable the literature to recognize the achievements of advanced world science and technology that are in the interest of developing our technique. Secondly, the study will be based on the extent of grammatical knowledge, their integration with 'Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing' as well as the inclusion of language games and their role in language learning. The first and second language learning in Albanian schools (grade III-VI) is based on similar principles for the linearity and chronology of grammatical knowledge integrated with listening, reading, writing and speaking. The different structure of both books help the pupils integrate and use correctly both languages. In the end of the sixth grade, the pupils have good knowledge of mother tongue and the second language and are able to write and speak well both languages.


Author(s):  
Judith Huber

Chapter 6 begins with an overview of the language contact situation with (Anglo-) French and Latin, resulting in large-scale borrowing in the Middle English period. The analysis of 465 Middle English verbs used to express intransitive motion shows that there are far more French/Latin loans in the path verbs than in the other motion verbs. The range of (new) manner of motion verbs testifies to the manner salience of Middle English: caused motion verbs are also found in intransitive motion meanings, as are French loans which do not have motion uses in continental French. Their motion uses in Anglo-Norman are discussed in terms of contact influence of Middle English. The analysis of motion expression in different texts yields a picture similar to the situation in Old English, with path typically expressed in satellites, and neutral as well as manner of motion verbs being most frequent, depending on text type.


2018 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
pp. 223-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Young

St Edmund, king and martyr (an Anglo-Saxon king martyred by the Vikings in 869) was one of the most venerated English saints in Ireland from the 12th century. In Dublin, St Edmund had his own chapel in Christ Church Cathedral and a guild, while Athassel Priory in County Tipperary claimed to possess a miraculous image of the saint. In the late 14th century the coat of arms ascribed to St Edmund became the emblem of the king of England’s lordship of Ireland, and the name Edmund (or its Irish equivalent Éamon) was widespread in the country by the end of the Middle Ages. This article argues that the cult of St Edmund, the traditional patron saint of the English people, served to reassure the English of Ireland of their Englishness, and challenges the idea that St Edmund was introduced to Ireland as a heavenly patron of the Anglo-Norman conquest.


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