Irishness in the English my parents spoke
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English father tongue
So what sort of English did Ken, our dad, speak and where did it come from? There are things I can see now that were invisible when I was growing up. Particularly, that there were multiple Irish undertones to it all. He didn't speak foreign languages but he had a good ear and an ability to tune in to the language being spoken around him that was uncanny. A language chameleon.
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English mother tongue
I have been teaching my mother tongue as a foreign language most of my life. But what sort of English did my mother speak and what was the language-model she encountered at home and at school? How did she become a so accent aware? And where did she learn to be such a stickler for linguistic accuracy?
