ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the results of more systematic research which provide qualified support for this position. It focuses on two areas of Irish English syntax: it-clefting and a number of forms and constructions used to express the range of tense-aspect relations associated in Standard English with the present perfect. The chapter explores the possibility of developing the parallelism between contacts Englishes spoken on both sides of the Atlantic even further. It addresses the issue of whether it is justifiable to speak of a lectal continuum in Irish English which might correspond to the classic post-creole continua encountered in the Carribean. The chapter outlines the main similarities and differences between the external histories of Irish English and New World Black Englishes. One of the historical factors that clearly distinguish Irish English from New World Black Englishes concerns the number of substrate languages that were represented in the initial contact situation.
