American and Irish accents

Why is it that some Irish accents sound strikingly similar to a standard American one? I've listened to countless Irish people speak and didn't realize that they were Irish for sometimes even a few minutes. Since I'm American, they sounded "accentless" or "normal" to me until I finally heard them say something that sounded very Irish.

I really don't know the history of accents or anything, but this got me wondering something. Did the Irish have that much of an impact on American accents?

Also, I do not know what part of Ireland this/these accent(s) come from.

I am American and I thought that the actress who played Luna in Harry Potter sounded kind of American in some things she said and I believe I read that she is Irish. I think that she had a rhotic r and maybe that threw me off.

Irish English and American English simply have retained some of the same features from Early Modern English that English English hasn't.

Middle-class Irish accents often have an American sound to them, but I've concluded this is due to hypercorrection, rather than any attempt to sound American. I know a number of working-class Irish people who truly don't sound American whatsoever, but among a lot of more well-to-do Dubliners, the tendency toward Anglicizing some pronunciations often levels out into a somewhat North American sounding dialect.

Well Colin Farrell pronounced SONG with /A/ (instead of /Q/) at the Academy award ceremony. It might have been due to SoCali influence.

Hello, all.

First, I'm not a native speaker of English, I am an English learner.

When I once heard an Irish woman speaking English, I could tell that she is from Ireland or somewhere but I didn't think she was an American, because, to my ears, how she pronounced R (R-coloured vowel) was different to how Americans do. And the intonation was quite different.

I think I heard American ancestors are originally from Ireland and Scotland, so American English is from Irish/Scottish English. And I also heard that Australian ancestors came from south part of England (around London, perhaps) long time ago, and that's why an Australian accent is similar to an English accent.

Hmm...
Anyway, I'm wondering if native speakers can tell Irish, Scottish or other kinds of accents from the speaker's speech.
It seems Johnny Depp spoke with an Irish accent, a Scottish accent and an English accent(?) depending on the character he played. But if native speakers cannot tell he's speaking with an Irish/Scottish/English accent, it's nonsence, isn't it? So, can you tell what accent the speaker's got so easily?

Harry: <<I think I heard American ancestors are originally from Ireland and Scotland, so American English is from Irish/Scottish English. And I also heard that Australian ancestors came from south part of England (around London, perhaps) long time ago, and that's why an Australian accent is similar to an English accent.

Hmm...
Anyway, I'm wondering if native speakers can tell Irish, Scottish or other kinds of accents from the speaker's speech.
It seems Johnny Depp spoke with an Irish accent, a Scottish accent and an English accent(?) depending on the character he played. But if native speakers cannot tell he's speaking with an Irish/Scottish/English accent, it's nonsence, isn't it? So, can you tell what accent the speaker's got so easily? >>

Irish and German are the two most common ancestries in the U.S. I've never had a problem distinguishing between an Irish accent and an American one. I suppose other people do. And Harry, generally speaking, there are large, noticeable differences between the Scottish, Irish, and American accents. I suppose that RP is the closest to a general American accent, but there are huge differences even there. To a native speaker, we usually can tell where a person is from by their accent, though, I must confess, I have been confused by a rare Australian accent.

Wintereis: <<Irish and German are the two most common ancestries in the U.S. I've never had a problem distinguishing between an Irish accent and an American one. I suppose other people do. And Harry, generally speaking, there are large, noticeable differences between the Scottish, Irish, and American accents. I suppose that RP is the closest to a general American accent, but there are huge differences even there. To a native speaker, we usually can tell where a person is from by their accent, though, I must confess, I have been confused by a rare Australian accent. >>

Thank you for answering me, Wintereis! Well, I can tell that you are a native speaker of English from the passage, but, may I ask you where you are from, if you don't mind?

You say that there are big differences between American, English, Scottish and Irish accents. Then what are the differences? I think one thing I can tell is RP pronounces R only when it is followed by a vowel while the others (Scottish, Irish, American) pronounce all the Rs in the spellings.

I can distinguish between an American accent and an English accent, but I have problem telling an English accent from an Australian one, and, an American accent from a Canadian one.
Can you? If yes, how, I wonder?

>>Irish and German are the two most common ancestries in the U.S. I've never had a problem distinguishing between an Irish accent and an American one. I suppose other people do. And Harry, generally speaking, there are large, noticeable differences between the Scottish, Irish, and American accents. I suppose that RP is the closest to a general American accent, but there are huge differences even there. To a native speaker, we usually can tell where a person is from by their accent, though, I must confess, I have been confused by a rare Australian accent.<<

I would have to agree. Conservative GA is really not too far from being effectively a rhotic RP except with a number of vowel mergers, particularly before /r/ but also in some notable cases like the father-bother merger, and with some other minor limited differences in vowel distribution (thanks to things like differences with respect to the lot-cloth split and the trap-bath split). It may be similar to Irish English and Scottish English with respect to rhoticism and the trap-bath split, but beyond that is where many of the similarities really end.

''an American accent from a Canadian one.
Can you? If yes, how, I wonder?''

Well, most Canadian actors in Hollywood don't use their native, Canadian accent. Makes me wonder why. They all end up sounding Californian.
On the other hand, Canadian-born newscasters don't bother, they continue pronouncing DOLL and DOLLAR with a rounded vowel /Q/, although unrounded /A/ in the ''norm'' in General American / Newscasterese.

Guest : <<Canadian-born newscasters don't bother, they continue pronouncing DOLL and DOLLAR with a rounded vowel /Q/, although unrounded /A/ in the ''norm'' in General American / Newscasterese.>>

Thank you for your reply.
So, do you mean the short 'o' sound (in 'doll', 'dollar', 'not' etc.) is pronounced with /Q/ in a Canadian accent while it is pronounced with /A/ in GA? This /Q/ sound is same as the short 'o' sound in Recieved Pronunciation, isn't it?
I don't know any Canadian actor, sorry. But, how about Avril Lavigne, a Canadian singer? I've heard her speaking, but her short 'o' sound sounded like /A/ to my ears. Same as Canadian-born newscasters, does she avoid using her native, Canadian accent to sound American?

If I had heard Avril Lavigne speak English without knowing she's from Canada, I would have recognised her as an American. Can native speakers tell she's obviously Canadian when they hear her speaking?

Cillian Murphy sometimes speaks with a mixed Irish and American brogue. I've seen interviews when he was promoting his film 'Sunshine' and I thought he was in character and speaking in an American accent, but then I heard some Irish in there and knew it his real-life accent...

I suppose it depends on the speaker, but I have heard Irish accents that sound very American in many ways and ones that don't, so I think they just vary.

I'm a native of New England, an area where hundreds of thousands of desperate Irish immigrants sought refuge from the dire circumstances of their unfortunate country during the famines of the mid-1840s. It is absolutely true that the Irish way of speaking English has influenced the way English is spoken in America today. If you take away the exaggerated accents of the South and New York, the typical American accent really is extremely close to that of educated Irish speakers. I can't tell you whether this is the result of Irish influence, or the natural evolution of the American accent, but it is true. I am an avid linguist, and sometimes it takes me a minute or two to tell if the accent is Irish or American!!!

So, to all of you who want to learn American English but can't afford to come stay with us (and we welcome you!!!) GO TO DUBLIN!!!!! The beer is better!