The Empire Speaks Back: Northern Irish English as a Post-Colonial Dialect

There has been a resurgence of interest in English dialects within academia & outside it. The former is due to a greater focus on dialect within linguistic theory. It may also result from the wider availability of digital resources. Popular interest has been encouraged by BBC 'Voices' as well as a renewed political focus on the regions. There has also been pressure to recognise the validity of non-native Englishes & their literatures. The demands of these diverse audiences have been met by popular books & authoritative works. However, in-depth, current research on specific regions in the British Isles remains rare. While the geographical/historical facts inducing dialect differences & the methodologies for investigating these are discussed at length in textbooks & journals, the former tend to concentrate on generalities & the latter on specific features. There is a lack of detailed, fieldwork-based, scholarly documentation of particular varieties. Hence, this project's main goal is to record/analyse the major dialects of Northern Irish-English (NIrE) & to situate these globally as well as within the context of other British Isles' Englishes. A secondary goal would be to use the research to raise awareness amongst non-academic audiences in Northern Ireland (NI) of their dialects' genesis/history & the impact of these issues on contemporary dialectal diversity across the region.
In addition to bringing my particular expertise to this project, my rationale for focusing on NIrE is due to its uniqueness amongst non-Celtic British Isles' varieties. Like Welsh English, NIrE was initially learned as a second language. This scenario arose from the region's colonization by speakers of English/Scots dialects, beginning in the Middle Ages & reaching a peak during what is termed 'The Plantation Period' initiated by James I. The scheme persuaded new settlers to colonize, hailing from urban centres like London as well as more rural areas like Norfolk/Galloway. The greatest numbers by far, though, migrated from Scotland and the NW Midlands. This intensive colonization process created the possibility that an innovative type of English could emerge. This new variety is characterized by: (i) novel forms; (ii) the incorporation of features drawn from the indigenous language & others caused by the mixing of Irish with the Scots/English dialects of the new settlers. Interestingly, modern varieties of NIrE still retain this mixed heritage. Moreover, the colonization is preserved culturally in the region by ethnic divisions between the descendents of the migrant/indigene populations. The linguistic consequences of this contact (including the correlation between language/ethnic identity) still has repercussions in the cultural life of NI. They permeate all aspects of the speech used within these communities. Moreover, many of the features that are to be the focus of this project have travelled to regions that have been intensively settled post-colonization by NI migrants. Hence, this research will also have important implications for the study of transported dialects, which has recently become very topical.
The major output of this research award which addresses these issues is a monograph entitled: 'Irish-English, Vol.1: Northern Ireland'. It is now in press with Edinburgh University Press and will form the newest volume in their 'Dialects of English' series. I regard this as the most appropriate means of dissemination because its format is ideally suited to the research questions with which I am concerned. The aim of the series is to provide specialists, university students and the general reader with accessible guides to English varieties globally. As such, the book will be of interest to a wider audience than an advanced academic one only and, as such, also meets the KT objectives of the original proposal.