“Well I have drifted from my story”: The Discourse-Pragmatic Marker 'Well' in The Private Correspondence of A Late Nineteenth-Century Northern Irish Family

Abstract

Interlocutors frequently use discourse-pragmatic markers such as like, sure, or well in everyday conversations, and the latter has been studied extensively in the English language. In Irish English, however, this feature has received limited attention, particularly in written discourse. This paper investigates the use of well among two generations of a late nineteenth-century Northern Irish family. The analysis is based on letters included in the Corpus of Irish English Correspondence (CORIECOR) and uses a mixed-methods approach. The qualitative analysis examines the communicative functions attributed to well. Quantitative analysis of these results allows for an assessment of the frequencies with which individual writers used this feature, its variation across age groups, and the differences between family members who migrated and those who remained in Ireland. The results show the presence of traditionally oral functions of well in the correspondence of all writers and corroborate earlier research on the orality and informality of these text types. The youngest writer, Mary, even demonstrates a rise in her usage of well during her time in Canada, which decreases again upon her return to Ireland. Particularly her use of interpersonal functions of well suggests that she uses this feature to maintain social relationships and solidarity with her family at home. This study thus advances our understanding of written personal communication, particularly concerning the discourse-pragmatic marker well. However, it also calls for further investigations into the discourse functions of this marker, especially in speech-like texts such as letters and in the context of Irish English.