Bubnov D. Peculiarities of speech behaviour of the Irish in the bilingual situation

The thesis focuses on the speech behaviour of the Irish in the bilingual situation. The research is the first case of a comprehensive analysis of prosodic parameters and differential features of the speech of the Irish, who represent the four regions of the Island of Ireland; it also determines the Irish national identity in terms of prosody. The scientific novelty of the thesis is provided by the fact that it is the first time in Ukrainian linguistics when the speech behaviour of the regional speech of Irish English becomes a research subject. The work is also a pioneer in outlining regional specifics of prosodic speech of the Irish and exposing common and differential features of the speech depending on gender, age, and regional factors. The practical significance of the work is determined by the broad applicability of the obtained results in the practice of teaching English within such subjects as "Theoretical phonetics of the English language", "Sociophonetics of the contemporary speech", in special courses on identifying speakers basing on differential prosodic features.