Father Ted is a comedy sitcom produced by Hat Trick Productions, an independent production company, for the purpose of screening on Channel 4. The programme is set on a fictional island called Craggy Island off the west coast of Ireland. The characters include Father Ted Crilly, along with other priests Father Dougal McGuire an Father Jack Hackett. The priests all live together in the parochial house with Mrs Doyle, their housekeeper. It was written by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews with the intention to accurately and authentically represent the way in which Irish people naturally speak. In order to do this, it was necessary that the characters “had to be Irish because they speak the kind of language that we [Mathews and Linehan] understand” (Dixon & Falvey, 1999, p. 51). Appropriately, all the characters are played by Irish actors. Father Ted is a good example of Irish English for this reason. (Abbreviated to IrE throughout). The use of real Irish actors in the programme authenticates it as they are effectively speaking in their own voice as Irish people and therefore it is an accurate representation of IrE.
The main features associated with IrE that are present in the programme, specifically episode 6, which I intend to discuss are as follows: the high frequency of religious references, discourse markers and taboo language. Although these features are not exclusive to IrE, the way in which they are used can be typical to the specific variety.
Pragmatic markers such as now, feature frequently in Father Ted. They are “predominantly a feature of oral rather of written discourse” (Brinton, 1996, p. 33) which is evident as they feature throughout the programme but sometimes do not feature in the script. The pragmatic marker now appears in the episode, but not the script, within the first line. In a study by Clancy & Vaughan (2012) it was found that the frequency (per million words) of the word now is significantly higher in IrE as opposed to other varieties of English, through corporal analysis. For this reason, it can be said that the pragmatic marker now is a noteworthy feature of IrE. The episode begins with Fr Ted Crilly having a day dream of himself being thrown into a volcano by tribesmen. The first line in the script appears as “Oh, come on now, lads”. However, it is uttered in the episode as “Ah now, come on now, lads” with the presence of an extra now. In this context, now functions as a politeness marker (Amador-Moreno, 2010). Fr. Ted does not want these men to throw him into the volcano and his aim is to avoid disruption and maintain friendly relations so that he does not get thrown in, which would be a face threatening act (Leech, 1983). Although this pragmatic marker is not exclusive to IrE, it does show a sign of indirectness which can be said to be common in the variety. Now can therefore be said to have a “softening” effect on an utterance in order to not lose face (Clancy & Vaughan, 2012).
The Oxford English Dictionary defines taboo as “a social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practise or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.” Taboo is a religious custom that forbids people to use, do or talk about a particular thing as they may find it offensive (Gao, 2013), and its function in Father Ted is to effectively provide humour. The religious references which are present in Father Ted is related to the Catholic religion which includes the use of words such as Lord, God, Almighty, Jesus (sometimes pronounced Jaysus) and other variant forms of the words. Despite the nature of the programme being the lives of three priests, the religious references which are used are not always related to actual religion which may come across as blasphemous to certain people. In the episode there are 22 occurrences of the word God, 2 of the word Lord, 1 of the utterance God Almighty, 1 of the word Jesus, majority of which are used in exclamations. In a study carried out by Farr & Murphy (2009) through corporal analysis, it was evident that religious references in spoken language were more frequent in that of the Limerick Corpus of Irish English compared to the 5 other corpora studied. It was also found that the patterns of use reflected a significant number of occurrences that did not involve a religious meaning or use. In the episode itself, out of the 22 occurrences of the word God, 12 of them are used in a non-religious way by means of exclamations in phrases or by themselves. This can further support the work of Farr & Murphy. As this form of taboo language is so frequent in IrE, it can be said that they “do not pose a threat to face” and can be recognised as an acceptable part of language in IrE (Farr & Murphy, 2009).
“Feck off!” – A popular catchphrase from the programme’s priest Fr. Jack Hackett which contains what could be considered as taboo language. Feck is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary are an Irish informal exclamation used to “express annoyance, frustration, impatience or surprise”. Some believe the word developed in the 1990’s as a euphemism for the stronger word, fuck. This may happen to be the case as in Father Ted is it used as just that, an expletive which by definition again from the Oxford English Dictionary is “an oath, swear-word, or other expression, used in an exclamation.” This however this does not remove from consideration other theories of origin such as its meaning to see in the Irish language, or its meaning to steal from the late 19th century. In the case of Father Ted and many other situations to IrE speakers, feck, may be used euphemistically, especially for the purpose of television screening. Moreover, criticism and contradiction is something which is typically avoided in IrE. However, when conversational exchanges do involve disagreements or demands which the receiver does not wish to undertake, impoliteness markers may be used (Hickey, 2007). Some of these impoliteness markers are specific to the local forms of English in Dublin (Hickey, 2005). Hickey identifies these adverbs as bloody stupid and fucking awful which he states are in fact shared with other varieties of English. The word feck can be said to be somewhat specific to the IrE variety. Evidence of this is seen in the Father Ted episode in these examples: “You feckin’ old.. Feck off!”
As a whole, the series of Father Ted can be said to be a good source of IrE. Specifically in relation to the three topics discussed above in relation to pragmatic markers, religious references and taboo language. Pragmatic markers, indicatively of now, which can be said to have a “softening” effect on utterances in order to not lose face (Clancy & Vaughan, 2012). Religious references and their high frequency in the Limerick Corpus of Irish English in comparison to corpora (Farr & Murphy, 2009) of other varieties and taboo language, in particular the use of the swear word feck and its uses in Father Ted and elsewhere (Hickey, 2005). Supported by data from various corpora, literature and scholarly work, it is possible to identify Father Ted as a good source of IrE as it contains various characteristics known to be specific to the variety. These characteristics add to the authenticity of the programme which in turn aids in making viewers feel at ease when watching it and makes it relatable to the Irish audience. Father Ted in itself could be compared to a microcosm of Ireland and the way in which people speak English in Ireland.