The Phonology of an East Antrim Dialect

Robert J. Gregg

Notes

* Presented for the degree of Master of Arts by Robert John Gregg, Bachelor of Arts in the Queen's University of Belfast (May, 1953).

(1) It is agreed that prior to that period Gaelic was the general speech of Ulster and that English was confined to the immediate neighbourhood of Carrickfergus and S.E. Down; see Adams, G. Brendan, 'An Introduction to the Study of Ulster Dialects', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 52C1 (1948), 5.

(2) Wyld, Henry C., History of Modern Colloquial English (London, 1920), 6-7.

(3) E.g. begood for 'begun'; /e̍ńjvx/ for the current /e̍nvx/.

(4) Hume, Abraham, Remarks on the Irish Dialect of the English Language (Liverpool, 1878), 10.

(5) 'One-inch Map of Mid-Antrim' (Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland) (Belfast, 1939).

(6) Charlesworth, J. K., 'Geology', in Belfast in its Regional Setting (Belfast, 1952).

(7) Some 10,000 years ago. See Movius, H., The Irish Stone Age (Cambridge, 1942), 63, 143; Evans, E. Estyn, Irish Heritage: The Landscape, the People, and Their Work (Dundalk, 1942), 18-19.

(8) Camblin, G., The Town in Ulster (Belfast, 1951), plate 23, opp. p. 41.

(9) Adams, G. Brendan, 'Ulster Dialects', in Belfast in its Regional Setting (Belfast, 1952), 195-197.

(10) Hume, A., op. cit. 7ff; Pearson, A. F. Scott, Puritan and Presbyterian Settlements in Ireland 1560-1660 (Larmor thesis, unpublished three-volume typescript on deposit at Presbyterian Historical Society, Belfast), volume 1, part 1, 95.

(11) Arthurs, J. B., 'Place Names', in Belfast in its Regional Setting (Belfast, 1952), 192-194.

(12) Hayward, Richard, Ulster and the City of Belfast (London, 1950), 77.

(13) Pender, Seamus (ed.), A Census of Ireland, circa 1659 (Dublin, 1939). The figures given for the whole barony of Belfast (Upper and Lower)* are only 3852 persons, of whom 2027 were English and Scots while 1825 were Irish, which probably at this period would imply Irish-speaking. *Glenoe lies in the barony of Lower Belfast.

(14) Memorial Atlas of Ireland (Provinces, Counties, Baronies, Parishes etc.) (Philadelphia, 1901), 2.

(15) Lorimer, W. T., 'The Persistence of Gaelic in Galloway and Carrick', Scottish Gaelic Studies 6 (1949), 114-136; 7 (1951), 26-46.

(16) For its early occurrence in Ulster, see Pearson, op. cit., 126-127.

(17) Rodgers, W. R., The Ulstermen and Their Country (New York, 1947), 15.

(18) Shearman, H., Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1946), 31.

(19) Jones, Daniel, The Pronunciation of English, 3rd edition (Cambridge, 1950), 21.

(20) Jones, ibid., 135.

(21) Intonation as well as stress undoubtedly plays a part in the similar modern tendency to lengthening, observable in the South-Eastern English treatment of the traditionally short vowels. See Jones, op. cit., 134-135.

(22) For the classification of vowels, see Jones, op. cit., 14-24.

(23) Similar difficulties occur with the corresponding Scots vowel or vowels. See Wright, Joseph S., English Dialect Grammar (Oxford, 1905), 68; Murray, James A. H., Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland (London, 1873), 107-108; Wilson, James, Dialect of Robert Burns, as Spoken in Central Ayrshire (Oxford, 1923), 28; Grant, William, The Pronunciation of English in Scotland (Cambridge, 1913), 49. For similar vowels in the Gaelic of Rathlin and the Glens of Antrim, see Holmer, Nils, The Irish Language in Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim (Dublin, 1942), 7-8, 25.

(24) Jones, op. cit., 15.

(25) Trofimov, M. V., and Daniel Jones, The Pronunciation of Russian (Cambridge, 1923), 59.

(26) Quiggin, E. C., A Dialect of Donegal (Cambridge, 1906), 38, §6.

(27) See note 29 below.

(28) Jones, op. cit., 45, §131-133.

(29) Adams, G. Brendan, op. cit. (1948), 16, §11; also Adams, G. Brendan, Phonological Notes on the English of South Donegal 53C4 (1950), 302, §12; Quiggin, op. cit., 23, §54.

(30) Wright, op. cit., 18, §18.

(31) McClean, R. J., Teach Yourself Swedish (London, 1947), 5-6.

(32) Sommerfelt, Alf, and Ingvald Marm, Teach Yourself Norwegian (London, 1943), part I, 17.

(33) Holmer, op. cit., 28, 141-142, 154-155.

(34) Holmer, Nils, Studies in Ayrshire Gaelic (Uppsala, 1938), 46, §34.

(35) Cp. Received Speech /bu̥ze̍m/ 'bosom', which has a short open /u/.

(36) Jones, op. cit., 32, §75.

(37) There is the same relationship between /ü:/ and /ü̥ / as in German between the Umlauted vowels in 'Hüte' and 'Hütte', although the Glenoe vowels are central-front whereas the German ones are absolute front.

(38) See Murray, op. cit., 105-106 for a similar phenomenon in southern Scotland.

(39) McClean, op. cit., 8, §19; Sommerfelt and Marm, op. cit., 17-18.

(40) Holmer, op. cit. (1942), 27, §23; Holmer, op. cit. (1938), 44-45, §32.

(41) See Jones, op. cit., 57, §179-180; but note that the Scottish usage described is different from that of Glenoe.

(42) Jones, op. cit., 69, §234.

(43) Cp. Italian bianco /bjan̥ko/ from bl-.

(44) Adams, G. Brendan, op. cit. (1948), 14, §8.

(45) Holmer, Nils, op. cit. (1942), 35, §44.

(46) Holmer, Nils, op. cit. (1938), 90, §80.

(47) Holmer, Nils, op. cit., 35, §44.

(48) Brilioth, B., A Grammar of the Dialect of Lorton (Oxford, 1913), 54, §325, note III.

(49) Grant, William, 'Introduction', Scottish National Dictionary, volume 1 (1931), §48.1(2).

(50) Orton, Harold, The Phonology of a South Durham Dialect (London, 1933), 20.

(51) Grant, op. cit. (1931), xxviii.

(52) Ibid., xxxvi.

(53) Ibid., xxxviii.

(54) Wright, op. cit., 54, §54.

(55) Wyld, Henry C., Universal Dictionary of the English Language (London, 1932) suggests that there has been an association here of OE *helmian 'to cover over', and (á)hwelfan, 'to cover, overwhelm'.

(56) Wyld, Henry C., op. cit. (1920), 212-222.

(57) Orton, op. cit., 31, §67; Brilioth, op. cit., 31, §121; Grant, op. cit. (1931), §59.

(58) Wyld, op. cit. (1932).

(59) Wyld, op. cit. (1932).

(60) Jones, op. cit., 40, §110-117.

(61) Orton, op. cit., 13.

(62) Grant, op. cit. (1931), xxii, §60.

(63) Björkman, E., Scandinavian Loan-Words in Middle English (Halle, 1900).

(64) Wyld, op. cit. (1932).

(65) Wyld, op. cit. (1920), 195-196.

(66) Wright, op. cit., 42-43, §46.

(67) Wright, op. cit., 43.

(68) Wyld, op. cit. (1920), 211.

(69) Björkman, op. cit., 133.

(70) Grant, op. cit. (1931), §35-37.

(71) Björkman, op. cit., 133.

(72) Grant, op. cit. (1931), §39.

(73) Orton, op. cit., 79, §136; Brook, G. L., Notes on Some English Sound-Changes (Leeds, 1947), 20, §VI3.

(74) Björkman, op. cit., 151.

(75) Ibid., 40.

(76) Grant, op. cit. (1931), §47.

(77) Evans, op. cit., 77.

(78) Skeat, W., and A. L. Mayhew, Tudor and Stuart Glossary (Oxford, 1914), 52.

(79) Orton, op. cit., 79, 137-138.

(80) Wright, op. cit., 297.

(81) Early Modern English scratte; cf. Survey of English Dialects, Harold Orton (ed.).

(82) Wyld, op. cit. (1932).

(83) Grant, op. cit. (1913), 35.

(84) Holmer, op. cit. (1942), 32-35; op. cit. (1938), 78-90.

(85) Wright, op. cit., 208-209, 254.

(86) Grant. 'Dialect Map of Scotland', Scots Dialect Dictionary, opposite title page.

(87) Holmer, op. cit., (1942), 8, 25,27, 28, 43; Holmer, op. cit (1938), 40, 45, 46, 49.

(88) Jones, op. cit., 68-69; Wright, op. cit., 228-229, 231-232.

(89) Orton, op. cit., 139

(90) Wright, op. cit., 23, 25, 27.

(91) Wyld, op. cit. (1920), 182, 310; Adams, G. Brendan, 'Ulster Dialects' in Belfast in Its Regional Setting (Belfast, 1952), 197.

(92) Wright, op. cit., 1, 2.

(93) Wilson, op.cit.

Foreword | Introduction | Phonetics | Vowels | Long Vowels | Consonants | Conclusion | Notes