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In:Processes of Change: Studies in Late Modern and Present-Day English
Edited by Sandra Jansen and Lucia Siebers
[Studies in Language Variation 21] 2019
► pp. 73–94

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Chapter 5
‘but a[h] Hellen d[ea]r sure you have it more in your power in every respect than I have’ – Discourse marker sure in Irish English

Published online: 13 August 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.21.05mcc
Discourse marker sure has been a distinctive feature of Irish English for several centuries. Evidence from the Corpus of Irish English Correspondence highlights differences between discourse marker sure in IrE and other varieties. The IrE discourse marker does not typically occur between subject and verb, but at the beginning or end (and occasionally in the middle) of a clause. Also, IrE sure is not usually prominent intonationally and tends not to signal emphasis, but rather expected consensus. The historical letter data suggests a degree of hybridity between “American” and “Irish” usage patterns, offering qualified empirical support for the suggestion that AmE discourse marker sure might have originated in IrE uses carried to North America by emigrants.
Article outline
  • 1.Not just an emphatic opener: sure in Irish English
  • 2.A peculiarly Irish English phenomenon?
  • 3.Previous accounts of IrE sure
  • 4.Sure in the Corpus of Irish English Correspondence
  • 5.Sure in CORIECOR
  • 6.Conclusions and further directions
  • Notes
  • References
References (44)
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