Tag Archives: Dublin Accents

Different Kinds of “Ah”

In linguist Tom Roeper’s excellent book on language acquisition, The Prism of Grammar, he makes this observation about Boston accents: In Boston, there are two forms of r-lessness, heard in two ways of saying ‘Harvard:’ ‘Hahvid’ and ‘Haavid.’ The first … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Mother Goose Rhymes (When Accents Collide)

Years ago, I was in a pub discussing a subject I can’t recall. A Dublin acquaintance asked a question that sounded like ‘Was he in coat?’ ‘In coat?’ Was this a dialect term I’d never heard? Did he mean ‘Was he … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , | 19 Comments

The Irish ‘Strut’

When English phoneticians refer to the ‘strut vowel,’ they mean the ‘u‘ in ‘luck,’ ‘fudge,’ and ‘cut.’  In American English, the sound usually lies somewhere between the ‘a’ in ‘father’ and the ‘a’ in ‘comma.’  Your ‘strut’ vowel may vary. … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in Irish English | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

A Quick Break

I’m going to be computerless for the next two days, so I’m taking a short break from this site. I won’t be a presence in the comments section, but feel free to share! In parting, I’d like to share one … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Literary Dialect Transcription

We normally discuss spoken accents or dialects. But what about how they are written? Phonetic transcription isn’t so common in English-language literature these days. And that’s probably for the best. As a reader, I hate it when old novels spell … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 31 Comments

“Um” in Different Accents

All dialects of English have “filler” words. Just to name a few: er, ah, um, eh, or the increasingly common like* and you know. We humans are a hesitant bunch, and these words offer brief moments of reflection. What’s interesting … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

Dem and Dose: “Th” in City Accents

I’ve lived in New York City for thirteen years.  In that time, I’ve learned that living in such an intense urban area has a palpable effect on how one communicates.  You have to talk faster, talk louder, talk more frequently, … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in English Phonetics | Tagged , , , | 51 Comments

Supraregional Irish English

I spent Friday night at a gala for the organization my girlfriend works for, a community center created for (and largely run by) Irish immigrants.  As always, it was an accent tour of the Emerald Isle, as folks from Dublin, … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in Irish English | Tagged | 12 Comments

Singing in Dialect

I was taught early on that listening to singers is a terrible way of getting a sense of their particular accent. This makes sense to some degree, since singing will distorts important distinctions such as vowel length and prosody. But … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged , | 8 Comments

The 5 Best Irish Accents on Film

As it’s Saint Patrick’s day, there have been a number of “worst Irish Accents on film articles floating around. I like to remain relatively positive here, so instead of putting out another list eviscerating Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, I’d … Continue reading

PinterestTwitterWordPressFacebookGoogle+Share

Posted in Irish English | Tagged , , | 6 Comments