![]() ![]() The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. ![]() Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. Suggestions, corrections and observations are welcome.The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. ** My knowledge of IPA is limited, and these renditions are not meant to be definitive. “shan-uh-kee” but with a soft k like the ‘ch’ in loch. The Princess Grace Irish Library has further biographical details. Here is a lovely short essay about Eamon’s life and career, written by Mattie Lennon, who tells us that “Eamon didn’t lick his storytelling ability off the ground”. Shedding the tear for Parnell (a remarkable euphemism for urination, or to be interpreted literally?) Is it any woman as a small child before she was able to talk could go up to the high note in Danny Boy? (Is there any woman who, as a small child…) His teeth were swimming inside in his mouth for a bite of it. Peig complained the goat to the farmer (complained about…) ![]() She was a dinger on the box (very good on the concertina) I have he said I have a donkey chained thereĪnd some striking idioms and turns of phrase: I’ll have you up before the judge the man in the white wig In the front garden, Peig she had ridges of flowers Which reminds me: lots of rolling r’s, too. There are modest instances of rhetorical redundancy and repetition, both of which have a grand tradition in Ireland. Elsewhere, certain syllables are merged: th’other, th’oven. Some long vowels are lengthened further: goat almost rhymes with poet bone and even too are similarly elongated. (Dropping the f from of is also common the remaining vowel is sounded as a schwa /ə/.) In the videos, Kelly pronounces storm and farm with two distinct syllables – the latter in ‘faarum o’ land’. This phenomenon is known in linguistic jargon as anaptyxis, a form of epenthesis whereby a sound intrudes between two consonants. By a sort of hereditary custom this peculiarity finds its way into our pronunciation of English. There are some consonants of the Irish language which when they come together do not coalesce in sound, as they would in an English word, so that when they are uttered a very short obscure vowel sound is heard between them: and a native Irish speaker cannot avoid this. In English As We Speak It In Ireland (1910), P. Incidentally, in Ireland the consonant h is widely pronounced ‘haitch’, not ‘aitch’. Note too the frequent, characteristically Irish insertion of h: train as ‘thrain’, sleep ‘shleep’, just ‘jusht’, tracks ‘thracks’, sleeper ‘shleeper’, dry ‘dhry’, first ‘firsht’, pony and trap ‘pony an’ thrap’, nostrils ‘nosthrils’ (or even ‘noshthrils’). ![]() You’ll hear examples of how differently vowels can be pronounced in colloquial Irish English: either as /’eːd̪ ər/ (‘ay-dhr’), one as /wɑn/ (‘wan’), boy as /baɪ/ (‘by’).** Below are two video clips that showcase not only his skill at spinning yarns, but also some memorable Hiberno-English idioms and idiosyncrasies, delivered in Kelly’s colourful Kerry accent. Eamon Kelly (1914–2001) was an actor and seanchaí* from the south-west of Ireland. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |