Originally published in 1937, this highly influential book examines the 'secret' languages of Ireland, particularly the Shelta tongue spoken by Irish Travellers, and the various written and spoken forms of Ogham. An appendix at the back allows for the translation of certain English words into a variety of languages, such as Bog-Latin and Bēarlagair na Sāer. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Ireland and the historical languages of its people.

Historical linguistic theory and practice consist of a large number of chronological "layers" that have been accepted in the course of time and have acquired a permanence of their own. These range from neogrammarian conceptualizations of sound change, analogy, and borrowing, to prosodic, lexical, morphological, and syntactic change, and to present-day views on rule change and the effects of language contact. To get a full grasp of the principles of historical linguistics it is therefore necessary to understand the nature of each of these "layers". This book is a major revision and reorganization of the earlier editions and adds entirely new chapters on morphological change and lexical change, as well as a detailed discussion of linguistic palaeontology and ideological responses to the findings of historical linguistics to this landmark publication.

English has been spoken in Ireland for over 800 years, making Irish English the oldest variety of the language outside Britain. This 2007 book traces the development of English in Ireland, both north and south, from the late Middle Ages to the present day. Drawing on authentic data ranging from medieval literature to authentic contemporary examples, it reveals how Irish English arose, how it has developed, and how it continues to change. A variety of central issues are considered in detail, such as the nature of language contact and the shift from Irish to English, the sociolinguistically motivated changes in present-day Dublin English, the special features of Ulster Scots, and the transportation of Irish English to overseas locations as diverse as Canada, the United States, and Australia. Presenting a comprehensive survey of Irish English at all levels of linguistics, this book will be invaluable to historical linguists, sociolinguists, syntacticians and phonologists alike.

This volume explores the discourses and representations that have circumvented the image that is the Traveller, the Roma (Gypsy) and migrant “Other”. It is generally acknowledged that the globalisation and mass-media dissemination which characterise the current era have overseen a range of complex socio-cultural forces, many of which have blurred the once-reified borders of the post-Enlightenment, “modern”, nation-state. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of cultural diasporas and “traditionally”- nomadic groups such as Travellers, Roma and other migrant cultures. This book points to the ongoing reconfiguration of once-dominant cultural narratives and explores the manner whereby aspects of the migrant experience are themselves echoed in the increasingly hybrid and diverse discourses that characterise Western countries of the present-day.