Irish English: a current account of Northern and Southern dialects

Abstract

Every realisation of speech differs amongst the speakers of a given language. There are many factors that could possibly affect this, such as, age, gender and social background as well as geographical factors, among others. Indeed, the phonology of the same language may present different characteristics throughout the different places in which that language is spoken. In the case of English -with its international language status, we can find many varieties spoken all over the word, which include, among other linguistic aspects, different pronunciation traits. In the present essay, a synchronic description of the phonology of present Irish English will be given. As the Irish language has had influence on Irish English pronunciation, in the first part of the essay a historic account of how English became the language spoken nowadays in the island will be presented together with a phonological account of Irish English in the north of the country and Irish English in the south. A transcription of the speech of two Irish people from those two areas of the island will then be analysed with the purpose of determining which phonetic-phonological aspects characterize each accent they exhibit. The results of the study show that both participants use features from their respective varieties.