A corpus-based analysis of general extenders in Irish English

Abstract

This study investigates the use of general extenders (GEs) in Irish English (IrE) through a corpus-based variationist approach, using the Irish component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-Ire). The research aims to provide an overview of the IrE GE system and to determine whether the GE system in IrE is undergoing change, similar to patterns observed in other varieties of English. Employing multivariate statistical analyses, including Boruta, Conditional Inference Trees, and Configural Frequency Analysis, the study examines linguistic constraints and social stratification influencing GE usage. Findings reveal that there are 831 GEs in the IrE ICE data, with and all, or something, or whatever, and everything, and so on , and and stuff as the most frequent GEs in IrE, collectively accounting for 67.4% of all instances. The analysis indicates that GE usage is socially stratified by age and gender and varies across registers; for instance, or something is preferred by young women in private contexts, while and so on is favoured by both older and younger men in public settings. These results suggest ongoing apparent-time change and highlight that GEs function as markers of formality and as indicators of social identity.