The responsive system of Irish English

This paper examines the Irish English responsive system. The discussion focuses on the different patterns that make up the Irish English responsive system and considers its possible origins. The paper argues that although yes/no questions may be answered by a range of responses in all varieties of English, Irish English is somewhat unique in that it also employs other types of responses apart from polarity particles. Comparison with the responsive system of Irish suggest that this very un-Germanic way of answering yes/no questions may have its origin in Irish. Keywords: Irish English responsive system; Irish responsive; nexus; yes/no question