Irish English, while having been the focus of investigations on a variety of linguistic levels, reveals a dearth of research on the pragmatic level. In the present volume, this imbalance is addressed by providing much-needed empirical data on language use in Ireland in the private, official and publics spheres and also by examining the use of Irish English as a reflection of socio-cultural norms of interaction. The contributions cover a wide range of pragmatic phenomena and draw on a number of frameworks of analysis. Despite the wide scope of topics and methodologies, a relatively coherent picture of conventions of language use in Ireland emerges. Indirectness and heterogeneity on the formal level are, for instance, shown to be features of Irish English.

This volume is the first book-length treatment of the pragmatics of a national variety of English, or any other language. Indeed, it could be considered a first step towards a new discipline, variational pragmatics, at the interface of pragmatics and dialectology.

This book is of primary interest to researchers and students in pragmatics, variational linguistics, Irish English, English as Foreign Language (EFL), cross-cultural communication and discourse analysis. Furthermore, the pragmatic descriptions provided will be of practical use in the increasingly important English as Second Language (ESL) context in Ireland. Finally, it is also of relevance to professionals dealing with Ireland and, indeed, to anyone interested in a deeper understanding of Irish culture.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Anne Barron and Klaus P. Schneider Irish English: A focus on language in action

Raymond Hickey Irish English in the context of previous research

Irish English in the private sphere

Jeff Kallen Silence and mitigation in Irish English discourse

Carolina P. Amador Moreno Discourse markers in Irish English: An example from literature

Klaus P. Schneider "No problem, you're welcome, anytime": Responding to thanks in Ireland, England, and the USA

Anne Barron Offering in Ireland and England

Brian Clancy "You’re fat. You’ll eat them all": Politeness strategies in family discourse

Irish English in the official sphere

Fiona Farr Relational strategies in the discourse of professional performance review in an Irish academic environment: The case of language teacher education

Gillian Martin Indirectness in Irish English business negotiation: A legacy of colonialism

Sophie Cacciaguidi-Fahy and Martin Fahy "Whatcha mean?": The pragmatics of intercultural business communication in financial shared service centres

James Binchy "Three forty two so please": Politeness for sale in Southern-Irish service encounters

Irish English in the public sphere

Anne O'Keeffe "You've a daughter yourself?": A corpus-based look at question forms in an Irish radio phone-in

Helen Kelly-Holmes A relevance approach to Irish-English advertising: The case of Brennan's bread