Boundaries of the Scotch-Irish dialects in Ulster

Abstract

A scientific survey of any aspect of the Scotch-Irish dialects in Ulster would be a linguistic study interesting in itself. Such a survey becomes much more meaningful, however, when related to the wider background ojf English dialectology.

In Ulster itself for the last twelve years a programme of voluntary research has been carried on by the Folklore and Dialect Section of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, which apart from its own efforts has been woritiing in close co- operation with the Linguistic Survey oaf Scotland since 1953. From this activity much valuable material has been amassed both in Belfast and, in Edinburgh: files have been established, maps drawn, articles and papers written, talks given and seminars and, exhibitions held ...

From the point of view of general linguistics, SI dialectology reveals several interesting phenomena worthy of discussion.

There is the general study of what happens when a new language makes a massive incursion into the domain. of a language of a very different type. The resultant mutual adjustments which inevitably take place during the period of bilingualism preceding the ultimate and perhaps inevitable disappearance of one of the two languages can be studied at all linguistic levels - phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic.. For the purposes of the present thesis the phonological aspect of these adjustments is of the utmost importance and a detailed study of the relationship between the 1-)' ,.o n o to n o f SI urban and rural on the one hand and of Co. Antrim Gaelic on the other has shown that there must have been a considerable carryover from the latter to the former.