Accents: Why are they so different here in short distances?

veryangryman

If you meet someone from Dundalk and someone else from Newry, we can say for sure who is who by them saying

"She sells seashells by the sea shore"

It's probably more pronounced in this difference but really are we that inbred locally that we don't get around and have more rounded accents nationally?

Doc07

I just helped my niece in the states with a college project on this. She’s raised in US (Irish dad) and fascinated by how our accents change pretty much every few miles, along the coast it seems anyway.

I went to school in Drogheda and the difference around Louth /Meath alone would probably fill out a thesis.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599293#Comment_120599293

I’m from Monaghan and the difference as you drive further South is stark . The letter H disappears with every mile . While as you go north it’s like it’s all slowed down.

Dslatt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058296532/accents-why-are-they-so-different-here-in-short-distances

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058296532/accents-why-are-they-so-different-here-in-short-distances

Small island that was under the yolk of oppression for hundreds of years. We either stayed where we were or fecked off out of the country. That and we are fairly inbred tbf

Mister Vain

In Kildare we have 7 variations of the bogger accent ranging from posh bogger to bogger bogger.

Alun

It's not that unusual a phenomenon and not limited to Ireland either. Take the NW of England, for example. Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale all have accents that are easily distinguishable from Manchester only 10-15km away. Same thing with Birmingham and Walsall, Dudley or Wolverhampton.

niallpatrick

I'm west Belfast and in north very rural Donegal they couldn't understand a word I was saying in the bar, the junior barman had to get his dad to translate. Vodka n coke, in my tongue it probably sounded like vadkaa n cogh. I have found when I get out to the stick and my guard drops I slow down how I speak, I become more relaxed and it's reflected in my speech and I can become a bit of a mimic. Instead of aye a hard aye it's ayyee.

A bit far fetched but maybe syntax as in how we speak and different accents are derived from our various environments.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599523#Comment_120599523

Were they oppressed for 800 years?

Kintarō Hattori

It is mad alright. I was down seeing my sister recently and a local from the village where we both grew up was cleaning her chimney. Afterwards I said to her. I kinda know that guy, where's he from? I couldn't understand about 75% of what he was saying. She laughed, told me his name and he was from the same estate that we all grew up on- just the other side of it, a few hundred metres away from where we lived.

Our estate, being a council estate was a bit of an oddball. There was people like our family who might have sounded a little posh (our mother had notions) and then there was people like the chap mentioned who had a very strong thick accent. This is Kildare btw.

I forgot to add that my partner who's Polish has said many times that there isn't any real variation in the Polish accent until you go south and start heading into the mountains.

DownByTheGarden

Irishtown, Ballsbridge and Sandymount. Only a few meters apart from each other.

kneemos

Travellers seem to keep their particular accent within whatever area they're in. Maybe they don't mix much or something.

Even small towns can have a distinguishable difference from one end to the other.

Strumms

Sallins in Kildare is roughly only 40 kilometres from central Dublin and I worked with a lad from there with the most rural of accents ever.

strange…

Mister Vain

Reminds me of that scene from Hot Fuzz where he needed a translator for the translator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cun-LZvOTdw

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605086#Comment_120605086

Yes , could be one traveller born in Manchester, one in London and another in Longford and they all sound the same

Jim_Hodge

It's common in all countries. Listen to the range of accents in England or even within London. In France a Parisian can have difficulty catching what a Bordelais. The Spanish accent in Barcelona is very different to that in Valencia. Highland and Lowland Scots have extremely different accents.

chosen1

Australia seems to be an exception in English speaking countries and there is little difference in accents that are thousands of miles apart.

The differences in accent there seems to be based on class rather than location.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605653#Comment_120605653

Glasgow and Edinburgh accent are very different

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605979#Comment_120605979

Probably due to it being such a young country, less isolation between villages, six centuries ago a peasant farmer in Kerry would never meet someone from the midlands , never mind Monaghan

Lewis_Benson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599502#Comment_120599502

Accept when you are in Little Dublin, pronounced "Naaysse"

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058296532/accents-why-are-they-so-different-here-in-short-distances

Having been on the edge of the Pale and English speaking for centuries when the countryside was not, Dundalk has had a different accent history.

Compare the Patrick Kavanagh accent (17Km from Dundalk) or Ardal O'Hanlon (22Km). Incoming GAA president, Jarlath Burns originates 18m from Dundalk and 10Km from Iniskeen, but you do not need to be local to detect a difference in his accent.

Yet there is a general similarity to south Ulster accents, Sean Quinn from Fermanagh would have no difficulty being understood in Forkhill, but might in Dundalk.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605979#Comment_120605979

Bit of both; broad Australian is strongest in rural areas and the outer suburbs of large cities, but of course these areas tend to have lower socioeconomic status than more urban areas, where standard Australian dominates. You can see that as a distinction associated with locality, or as a distinction associated with socioeconomic status.

Broad Australian also has local variations within it - a speaker from rural Queensland might sound quite different from a speaker from rural Western Australia - whereas standard Australia, as spoken in cities, is strikingly uniform across the country. That's very unusual for an English-speaking country, especially one the size of Australia. It's often easier to locate a standard Australian speaker by the vocabulary that they use that it is by accent.

There are also ethnically-marked Australian accents - e.g. accents that characterise second-generation Greek-Australians, Lebanese Australians, etc. And of course there are distinctive accents that characterise various Aboriginal communities.

bob mcbob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120606870#Comment_120606870

It is not just accent's there are also different words used that go back generations. An example would be for a child

• Glasgow - wean (from wee one)
• Edinburgh - bairn (from barn Norwegian (Viking) for child)

Mister Vain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120606893#Comment_120606893

The posh people call it Neysse.

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607207#Comment_120607207

Australia really makes Ireland look exceptional. The regional accents aren't quite absent, but far less prominent. The difference between someone from Sydney speaking and someone from Perth would be less obvious than that between people from Clare and Galway.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607937#Comment_120607937

They'd probably just sound Irish to an Aussie in fairness.

Lewis_Benson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607814#Comment_120607814

Neysse County Kildurr

BaywatchHQ

In south county Antrim the accent changes as soon as you cross the county border.

I think most people are ignorant regarding the northern accents history. They assume it is different because of the plantations but how do you explain Donegal? West Donegal isn't a plantation stronghold yet they still don't have southern accents. It is because of the Ulster Irish language. Yes I agree that the County Antrim accents are heavily influenced by the plantations.

silliussoddius

Maybe it's nothing to do with the plantations and geography is a factor.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607937#Comment_120607937

Yes, but it's Australia that's exceptional here, not Ireland. Anglophone countries are mostly characterised by a considerable density of localised and regional accents; Australia is a striking departure from that rule (and linguists debate why this is so).

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607937#Comment_120607937

You have it completely about face. Australia is the exceptional example. Australia make any other country seem to have a wide range of accents,