Linguistic code-switching in Bethu Brigte, the old Irish life of St. Brigit

Bethu Brigte, the Old Irish Life of St. Brigit, is a ninth-century composition written in a fascinating blended language, mixing Latin and Old Irish. Barbara Bullock and Almeida Jacqueline Toribio in The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Code-Switching define “codeswitching” as “the alternating use of two languages in the same stretch of discourse by a bilingual speaker.” Historical code-switching is a new and evolving field which is currently witnessing a substantial rise in international scholarly attention. Ecclesiastical communities blended Latin and Irish in the Early Middle Ages, centuries before this mixing occurs in Western Europe. Much remains to be answered as to why this linguistic blending should occur in Ireland several centuries before similar phenomena occurred on the continent; apparent and significant linguistic differences clearly exist between Latin and Irish, while the vernacular languages of Italy, France, and Spain derive from Latin. The colourful language of Bethu Brigte, as survived in its single extant manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 512), is roughly one-third Latin; Latin words, phrases, dialogues, even entire episodes are interspersed throughout this Irish text. The purpose of this research is to assess why and how Bethu Brigte alternates between Latin and Old Irish to such a varied and extreme degree, by applying methodologies developed within the linguistic study of codeswitching in both contemporary and historical contexts: these methodologies include Emmanuel Rhoidis’ diglossia, Alan Bell’s Audience Design, and Pieter Muysken’s Typology of Code-mixing. In the process, the study of BB led to a new interpretation of Muysken’s Typology. This linguistic study of code-switching in Bethu Brigte aims to help us answer long-unanswered questions about this and other texts connected with St. Brigit, as well as to make a significant and unique contribution to the growing research areas of Medieval Latinity, Early Irish, pre-modern multilingualism, and historical sociolinguistics.

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University of Galway

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CC BY-NC-ND

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University of Galway Theses (PhD Theses)