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Hello,
I've been trying to imitate a Southern Irish accent (mainly a Dublin one) from movies/ TV shows (only those starring Irish actress Elaine Cassidy) for the past few weeks because sadly, I haven't been afforded the luxury of meeting an actual Irish person and because I've got a bit of a crush on most things Irish at the moment.
While some of my friends tell me that my speaking is quite okay, I feel that I'm actually doing the Irish accent an injustice because Australians have this thing where their statements sort of end up sounding like questions, and so, when I do try to say something with an Irish accent, whatever said is "upped". So in short, do the Irish (very broadly, just any dialect) do that too?
I kind of know some of the basic characteristics of the accent, including some from here (http://www.antimoon.com/forum/posts/6445.htm) but would anyone else be able to provide any other significant particulars as to how a Dubliner would pronounce certain things? Such as...well I'm not sure, anything will do.
Please and thank you.
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There are the d4 types roysh who would do that loyk but for the most part roysh we don't loyk have that raised intonation loyk.
The main thing you have to look out for in an irish accent is the post-vocalis r, the hw sound in words like whale etc, and the absence of the t sound in words like water, being replaced by a slender s sound.
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Some features:
- The "Th" is pronounced like "T" i.e: "Thirsty" sounds like "Tirsty"
- "Five" is said like "Foyv"
- Instead of having a raised intonation, some words are pronounced with a falling intonation.
I'm not a linguist nor an Irish, so the above might not be correct.
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Ohh, Elaine Cassidy is a great actress btw! Her work is an almost perfect resource to learn from imho.
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How would one pronounce words like "then" "they" "they're"? Like "ten" "tey" and "tear"?
How is "whale" pronounced? Hw sound? I say "whale" like "wail" which is not like how the Irish say it yeah?
Riadach, you said something about "the absence of the t sound", what do you mean by "a slender s sound"? Is it like the Cockney "Wa'er"?
Sorry for stealing your limelight Lynda in Aust.
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<<How would one pronounce words like "then" "they" "they're"? Like "ten" "tey" and "tear"?>>
No - in an Irish dialect that lacked interdental consonants, I think those would be pronounced "den, day, dare" ["dEn "de: "dE@`]. I'm pretty sure that no dialect pronounces historical [D] (the voiced "th" sound of "then") as [t] - it becomes either [d] or [v].
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Ah - thanks for your kind assistance Lazar :)
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>><<How would one pronounce words like "then" "they" "they're"? Like "ten" "tey" and "tear"?>>
No - in an Irish dialect that lacked interdental consonants, I think those would be pronounced "den, day, dare" ["dEn "de: "dE@`]. I'm pretty sure that no dialect pronounces historical [D] (the voiced "th" sound of "then") as [t] - it becomes either [d] or [v]. <<
From what I hear, though, Irish dialects have not carried out a true merger of /T/ and /D/ with /t/ and /d/, but rather have shifted the former pair of former into being dental stops rather than interdentals, resulting in a dental/alveolar contrast being present.
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<<Riadach, you said something about "the absence of the t sound", what do you mean by "a slender s sound"? Is it like the Cockney "Wa'er"?>>
I think what Riadach was referring to was the realization of /t/ as a fricative in certain positions (typically between vowels as in "water", "better"). It's what linguists call lenition I believe. It may sound to some as a kind of [s]. I need to look for the appopriate IPA symbol/diacritic. In these contexts, /t/ can also be [4] or [t] in the speech of some (especially Dublin, I think).
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Lynda: Another Australian, Cate Blanchett, managed a pretty decent Dublin accent for her role in "Veronica Guerin" by the way.
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