Analysis: ChatGPT can display knowledge of Irish-English but doesn't fully capture the nuances for what it means to converse across the island of Ireland
The ubiquitous Pat Shortt song, celebrating morning time at the deli counters across Ireland, is reflected in ChatGPT's ability to speak Irish English. More to come on that later but to explain the premise for this article, I wanted to investigate whether AI, namely ChatGPT, could demonstrate ability to reveal the nuances of the variety of English that we speak on this island. I was especially curious to determine whether AI could help our international students in interpreting and communicating in Irish English, based on all the examples that they provided me in class. As an upfront disclaimer, I did not attempt to, in any way, train ChatGPT on Irish English, rather just posed a series of questions over a few days.
Two prime components of Irish English are its varied and sometimes colourful vocabulary and the pragmatics, the meaning in context, of what we say and at times, what we avoid saying. Looking at words and phrases that we use when speaking Irish English, ChatGPT provides a great starting point, listing craic, grand, eejit and press for cupboard.
In conversations with our international students, they often comment that that grand can mean just about anything or nothing at all, depending on the context. They also confirm their initial curiosity when hearing craic for the first time in the Irish context. However, when ChatGPT lists craic dealer as a fun person, that is a new one on me.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with David McCullagh, what are we consenting to when we hand over our image to Chat GPT
Turning to linguistic resources, Speak for Yersel is an excellent source of regional expressions across the island of Ireland. Eejit is also on its list but it then details several synonyms, ranging from gombeen to gomie and also, maps the regional usage of each expression.
When asked for Irish English equivalent for the American English sneakers, ChatGPT correctly identifies runners and advises that the usage of trainers has been influenced by British English. However, it does not suggest gutties, the footwear of choice of those of you from The Town and surrounding areas. Speak for Yersel pinpoints the majority of usage of this word in the county of Louth. To me, this provides a richer understanding of such expressions in Ireland when compared to AI.
As a final example, ChatGPT sagely advises that both ye and yous/youses can be deployed as the plural of the you pronoun in Irish English. Being slightly picky but as a proud Cavan woman, when it confirms that the usage of yous/youses is predominantly limited to Dublin and urban areas, I beg to differ. Many of yous in the border counties will hopefully agree with me.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, are we losing our accents
Swearing encompasses another set of words and expressions widely attributed to Irish English. Listening to our students from outside Ireland, they often express their initial shock at the level of swearing amongst Irish students. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Irish swear more. A linguistic study from 2018 provides statistics for Irish English speakers of 1.62 instances of swearing per 1,000 words. This is comparative to previous studies of other varieties of English of 1 instance for the same amount of words. However, research in both the Irish and British contexts has shown that younger males swear more frequently, potentially upping the quota in a student setting.
Looking at why Irish people swear, research has shown that it generally done for positive, affiliative reasons, often through bantering humour. Asking ChatGPT about swearing in Irish English, it accurately reflects this and provides good background on how being addressed with as a fill in your preferred swear word here can, in fact, be a term of endearment. It also provides many examples of swear words in Irish English, ranging from the mild to the extreme and displays regional knowledge with mention of the Cork langer.
However, to me, some of the phrases such as state of him and head the ball brings to mind The Commitments which was set in The Northside, back to ChatGPT’s love affair with our capital city or perhaps and rightly so, with Roddy Doyle as the master of the Dublin wit. All I can say is Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey which for some reason, hasn’t been picked up by ChatGPT.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's The Ray D'Arcy Show, Professor Raymond Hickey talks about everything from gutties to trainers from dinner to supper from dagging off to mitching!
I was also curious to find out AI’s ability to interpret the pragmatics of Irish English, the meaning in context of what we say or don't say. ChatGPT provides a good explanation of Irish conversational style. It talks about how we use certain words and phrases to soften our directness, in turn, avoiding offence and demonstrating our solidarity with others in the conversation. It also effectively summarises the functions of conversational markers such as right and now that can have a multitude of meanings, depending on the context.
Amara, as an American student in Ireland, provided me with an excellent example of her landlord who, upon calling over to examine a broken light at her request, repeatedly muttered right. She eventually surmised that in her case, he was acknowledging the obviously broken light but was not displaying any intention to fix it in the short term.
Coming back to the sub-title of this article, with this level of pragmatic knowledge, could ChatGPT carry out a complete conversation in Irish English. The extract below is what it produced when I asked it for a sample conversation at an Irish deli counter.
Customer: Howya.
Deli Staff: How’re ya gettin’ on?
Customer: Ah grand. Can I get a breakfast roll there please?
Deli Staff: Course. White or brown?
Customer: White there.
Deli Staff: Right so. What’ll I throw into it?
Customer: Two sausages, a rasher, hash brown, and pudding.
Deli Staff: Black or white pudding?
Customer: Ah both, go on.
Deli Staff: Good choice. Any sauce?
Customer: Bit of ketchup there.
Deli Staff: Cheese?
Customer: No, I’m alright.
Deli Staff: Toasted or no?
Customer: Toasted there, yeah.
Deli Staff: Lovely stuff. Anything else?
Customer: Can I grab a Lucozade as well?
Deli Staff: You can indeed.
Customer: Deadly.
Deli Staff: That’ll sort ya now.
Customer: Sound.
ChatGPT correctly understands the important of the Irish breakfast roll in Irish society but the cadence and the plethora of Irish English expressions bring to mind the evocative lyrics of The Jumbo Breakfast Roll. Borrowing from these lyrics, in fact, the Irish English words are all stacked like a tower on top of each other and rolled up good and tight. Am I being too much of a purist if I also question the toasting of said breakfast roll?
Based on the above, it is clear that AI has garnered a high level of knowledge of Irish English. If you ask ChatGPT specific questions, it easily displays this knowledge but does it fully capture the nuances of what it means to converse in Irish English today across the island of Ireland? In my opinion, not fully! My advice for our international students is to get stuck into Irish English conversations as in-situ learning at its best.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
