How to speak British, course 204
Hiberno/Irish/Anglo-English accent:
Irish English has four or five main dialects or accents: Ulster, West and South-West, Dublin, and a non-regional standard accent. Other Irish linguists list only three: Munster, Connacht, and Ulster, which correspond to the geographical regions where they are spoken. In the Republic of Ireland, English is one of two official languages, along with the Irish language, and is the country’s de facto working language. Ireland’s first language was Gaelic, but it is seldom heard now.
Ulster/Northern Irish English refers collectively to the varieties of the Ulster province, including Northern Ireland and neighboring counties outside of Northern Ireland, which has been influenced by Ulster Irish as well as the Scots language. Thanks to its proximity to neighboring Scotland, this part of the island has a dialect group—Ulster Scots–that is distinct even to the untrained ear. The northern accent is more nasal-sounding and riddled with shorter diphthongs, so that “round” sounds more like rind. Gs are clipped from ing words like speakin’, and “now” may get confused with “no.” Pay attention to context.
West and South-West Irish English refers to broad varieties of Ireland’s West and South-West Regions. South-West Irish English is often known by specific county, such as County Cork English, Kerry English, Local Dublin or new Dublin English, or Limerick English. Ths get lost; “What’s tuh craic? County Cork may sound like County Kark. Overall, sentence pitch is higher, and down in Kerry, you will find some real fast talkers.
There are literally hundreds of regional variations of accents. Unless linguistics is your education and profession, you will never understand, master, differentiate, or be able to speak them all well enough to seem like a local.
Pronunciation of Dublin English has such characteristics as: bus=bos; but=bot; pub=poob; cup=coop; Dublin=Dooblin. Here are some common Irish expressions: how are you=are you ok?, and the reply is, I’m fine, thanks, how are you?; sir or madam=love, pal, buddy; what’s the craic=how are you?/what’s happening?, the reply may be, zero craic (nothing’s happening), or the craic is ninety or the craic is mighty=a lot of good things are happening; come ‘ere=listen; any=Annie; caught=cot (not cat); ‘em≠“uh” or “um,” American filler sounds—just use “em”; Americans answer “yes” or “no”, but Irish never do; “Are you going to Mary Margaret’s party tonight?”=“I am.”, not “yes.” “Does Ireland have snakes and unicorns?”= “It doesn’t.” (not, “no”). The Dublin accent adds an extra oy sound to I’s–so “Irish” sounds more like Oy-rish.
Questions, answers, and other replies: Why did you go to the grocery? Reply: I was after running out of potatoes; I’m after performing on the West End!; [American] I have just had dinner=[Irish] I am after having my dinner. Use of common Irish idioms: cheers–used while clinking glasses, or saying hello, thank you, and goodbye. Work it in often; the Irish certainly do; lad–This term describes any male, although usually it is reserved for friends. Lads can refer to a group of males and females, [it is not “dudes”]; c’mere/right: Lit. come here, but in Irish English it basically means listen to me or just “hey”. It is also used to begin any innocuous sentence. Right, we’re meeting at 7 o’clock by the watch tower then? I can sense that you are getting the brogue; soon, you’ll be cod acting like a bucklepper! [An overactive, overconfident person from the verb, to bucklep, (leap like a buck).
Avoid “Blimey” and “Top o’ the mornin’ to ye.” They are hackneyed and seen as being talked down to. Your man, woman, or one=reference to a person without saying their name, that guy, that girl/woman; and there are nearly unpronounceable names like Siobhan, Saoirse, Eoghan Mairéad, and Caoimhe—forget it, you will never be able to say them right.
The Irish accent is generally thought of as being more musical than American or British English. It has a definite lilt to it that is not seen in other variations of the language. To approach sounding Irish, practice speaking and writing phrases as if they are a little more song-like than they would be in your native dialect. Irish speakers start sentences somewhat higher pitched than other English speakers, get a little lower in the middle, and gradually move back to the higher pitch. One feature that sets Irish English apart is its rhoticity, which–like American English–leaves no “R” unpronounced. Another difference is how spoken “T”s sound more like CHs of soft ds, so “two” sounds more like “chew.” “T”s are often deleted from words; so, “butter,” becomes “bu’er.” “D”s sound more like “J”s to the non-Irish ear, so “idiot” comes out sounding like eejit. Finally, vowels are generally flattened and pronounced with a more closed mouth, so that are becomes something akin to air.
To write an Irish accent one must soften vowels, sprinkle in regional expressions, break words into syllables, emphasize the “R’s” in words, drop the “G” in words that end in “-ing,”; an Irish “doin’ is a doing. Remove “if” and “to” from phrases. Shorten “o” sounds like in the word “hot”; so, it sounds more like “haht.” Also, use dialogue tags like, “she said in a thick/lilting/lush, Irish accent/brogue/dialect.
Have your characters say, “grand” instead of good, rite for right, hail instead of hall; so, now, sure, and sorry, are words that typically come from Irish speakers. Use them to make your characters’ dialogue sound authentic. Irish people frequently add these words into their day-to-day conversations. When an Irish person says say, “sorry” frequently it does not mean they are apologizing; to the Irish, “sorry” is an endearment and a way of being polite. An illustration of this dialogue is, “oh sorry, just a sec. Sorry, there it is.” That is a bit like an American teenager sprinkling in a “like” here and there.
Break some words into two syllables, e.g., pint=pin-t; three=t-ree; cold=co-eld; and warm =wa-rrim. When in doubt, use phonetic spellings to help your reader understand at least the pronunciations.
Examples of the brogue: do be, example, I do be doing my day’s work; The Irish don’t have a verb for “to have.” Instead, possessions are described with the phrases, “with me,” “on me,” or “in me.” E.g. if your Irish character is describing what she is carrying, she would say something like, “I have a blue purse with me.” Another example is “My icebox broke on me.” To pluralize a word, many Irish speakers use the word “Ye.” To an Irish speaker, “ye” means both you and your; you, guys=ye guys. Irish speakers often prefer not to use “if”, e.g. If I go over there, he will get mad=I went over there, and he got mad.
An Irish speaker would not ask, “Can you come to my house?” they would more likely ask, “Can ye come to me house?” And often, the Irish delete “to”; “she’s gone to the hospital= she’s gone the hospital; I will go or she would run=I go…, she runs. In Irish, these phrases would be translated using the present tense.
The broad accent of the Irish makes spoken language hard to understand and written language requires the author to aid the reader with bracketed correct spellings or explanations. E.g. “day” is pronounced as “deh” while “spider” is pronounced as “spehr”. They also may use only the first letter of some words, like the “word”, c. for “castle.” There is some unique grammar, syntax, and spelling, in Irish English; “Are ye tired for sleepin?” sounds like “Are ye tire for sli-pin?”
Irish slanguage has a huge vocabulary [well over 100]; the outsider requires help to understand in what otherwise may sound to him/her like a minor variation of his/her own English. Here are a few examples: grand [Irish slang]=good [General Irish English]; banjaxed=broken; feck=damn/crap; yoke=thing; culchie=from a rural area; fine=not fine; giving out=scolding; eejit=fool; gobsh*te=someone foolish; deadly=good/great; slagging=insulting without hurting the other person’s feelings (tricky); the jacks=the toilet; boll*x/boll*cks= testicles, a term of dismay; gobdaw=stupid or foolish person; wagon=a female acting some particular annoying way; minus craic=no fun; geebag=a female you dislike; dope=yet another way of calling another stupid; sap/?saphead=still another way; cute hoor=one or two politicians who are very crafty and able to mold situations to suit themselves; gowl=foreigner; drysh*te=boring person; kit=dive/cheap/hovel (from Danish); scut=manual labor; dosser=a person doing something he/she should not be doing, also lazy/avoiding work; tool=idiot/clown; melter=annoying; chancer=opportunist/dubious acter; in bits=drunk. I could go on ad infinitum, but this will suffice to give the reader an idea.
Some Irish Gaelic sayings, phrases and proverbs: Dia dhuit=hello; Slán=goodbye; Go n-éirí leat=Good luck to you; Maidin mhaith=Good morning; Gabh mo leiscéal=Excuse me; Go raibh maith agat=Thank you; Sea, le do tholl=Yes please; Oíche mhaith=Good night; Fáilte=Welcome; Feicfidh mé go luath thú=See you soon; Conas atá tú?=How are you?; Sláinte=Health/Cheers’ for Irish toasts; Aon scéal/craic?=What’s the story/craic?; Conas atá tú?=How are you?; Sláinte=Health/Cheers’ for Irish toasts; Aon scéal/craic?=What’s the story/craic?; Lá féile Pádraig faoi mhaise=Happy St. Patrick’s Day; Dramhaíl toiliúil a dhéanann riachtannas truamhéalach=Willful waste makes woeful want; Is anlann maith é an t-ocras=Hunger is good sauce/Hunger enhances taste/need intensifies enjoyment; Ní mhaireann solas na maidine don lá=No Morning’s sun lasts all day/most things have finite lifespans; so, enjoy them while they are here.
