does American English sound like Irish English?

Guest   Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:52 pm GMT
"As an aside, interesting how Scotland got its name...Perhaps it's more Irish than Dublin too."
Moscow could be more Irish than Dublin. It is full of what is known as Jackeens. I don't have much time for them, personaly, neither do most others from outside of Dublin. They seem to be up their own arse(putting it nicely).
B-radG   Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:02 pm GMT
If we're talking Irish English as in a "Leprechuan" type accent, then ... definitely not ... at all. At least not to me, anyways ... I can make out that accent a mile away. If we're talking about something else let me know ... for all I know Leprechauns and Irish English don't sound anything alike. And yes, I know Leprechauns aren't real ...
Mxsmanic   Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:44 am GMT
Since the Irish themselves seem to make fun of "Leprechaun" accents, I presume they are not common.

The Irish people I know have accents that seem very light and often barely perceptible from an American standpoint. Often Irish people must talk for a while before I realize that they are not speaking with standard American accents. The two pronunciations are very similar. This is true for many Scots as well. Australians can sometimes sound a lot like Americans, too, albeit not to the extent that the Irish and Scots do. In the final analysis, it's the British accents that seem to be most obviously different from American English; they are often instantly recognizable.
Uriel   Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:16 am GMT
True, Australians have that T-flapping thing and a lot of the same flat A's. Now, if they'd just fix their vowels and make with the R's... ;)
Guest   Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:13 am GMT
Which T-flapping thing is that?
Uriel   Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:20 am GMT
God, I should just change my name to "Urtiel", since that's always what I accidentally type...

T-flapping, or alveolar-tapping (sounds like a disease -- no comments from the Brits! ;) ), or whatever you want to call it = softening your T's into D's.
Guest   Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:02 am GMT
The flap isn't really a D sound which would sound odd in between syllables. It's really just a single tapped tongue roll.

Compare the D in "dog" to the tap in "matter"(or "madder"). They're quite different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapping
Uriel   Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:03 am GMT
I know linguists love to say that, but they sound pretty damn close to me.
Guest   Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:38 am GMT
Maybe I should become a linguist then.
Guest   Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:04 am GMT
"And yes, I know Leprechauns aren't real ..."
So you think. If you don't believe then you won't see them.
Mxsmanic   Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:15 pm GMT
The two sounds are close indeed and hard to distinguish (sometimes they are identical).

The /d/ is pronounced a bit further forward than the alveolar flap, but they sound very similar.
ireland 4eva   Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:29 pm GMT
cmon ireland united as 1 i love america and ireland yeoooooooooo
Guest   Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:57 pm GMT
They might sound undiscernible to some. But they sound quite different to me as I'm used to hearing my friend pronounce all flaps as /d/ with her foreign accent and it grates! Occasionally this causes confusion and she's required to repeat what she's said with a /t/.
hayden   Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:12 pm GMT
hi
brenna   Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:13 pm GMT
do you have a name