Element-final like in Irish English: Notes on its pervasiveness, incidence and distribution

Abstract

Element-final like is one of the most distinctive features of Irish English despite being an obsolescing trait in most English varieties. This chapter explores the incidence and distribution of this pragmatic marker in Hiberno-English with the aim of determining whether element-final like is used beyond private communication, i.e. in public communication situations. For this purpose, I analyze the public spoken dialogue component of ICE-Ireland (Kirk and Kallen 2007). The comparison of my results with those of previous accounts (Kallen 2006; Columbus 2009) sheds some light on the distribution and frequency of this pragmatic marker in Irish English. My findings suggest that element-final like often crosses into formal public settings despite being much more frequent in informal private conversation. Moreover, my data reveal that far from being a receding dialectal marker, element-final like is well entrenched in Irish English.