single word requests - Is there a name for how the Irish use so, so?

There is an Irish English structural usage of the word so, that is I think unique to Ireland.

Are we going to the cinema, so?
Where is the dog, so?

The word so is unneeded and seems to mean 'then'. My wife, who is Scottish, used to want to wait for the rest of the sentence but it never came!

Is there a name for this structure?

Answer

This is a special form of tag question. Tag questions are typically (but not exclusively; see below) used to convert a declarative statement into an interrogative one. For example:

• You’re done with supper now, aren’t you?


• You’ve got something for me, eh?


• That’s all you have, right?

Similar formulaic tag questions are easily found in other languages, like nicht wahr? in German, n’est-ce pas? in French, and ¿verdad? in Spanish.

Sometimes tag questions are used in a way that isn’t actually switching to asking a question, but rather are discourse particles inserted when one person is speaking to another. This includes tag questions and other little things like you see, you know, like, or even doncha know. This is often done to try to connect to the listener, perhaps inviting them to nod to show that they’re still following.

• I went down to the corner to pick up a pack of cigs, right, but found I’d left my billfold at home.


• We get up way early to milk the cows, doncha know, and it’s just too hard to watch the Late Show.

Sometimes tag question get used not to convert declaratives into interrogatives, but more as an emphatic particle:

• Are you ready to go, eh?


• Where’s the dog, eh?

The Irish “..., so?” seems more like those.

In Scots English, they’ll use ..., oh aye? at the end of a question to indicate that they strongly believe something they’re asking, or that they’re really expecting a positive answer, like

• Do you agree, oh aye?

In which the speaker is meaning

• You do agree, don’t you?

The Irish colloquial use of “..., so?” seems to be the same sort of thing. It’s actually a tag question used for one or another sort of emphasis, perhaps indicating eagerness, perhaps indicating an expectation of an affirmative response.