Charles University in Prague Diploma Thesis

CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

DIPLOMA THESIS

Distinctive Features of Irish Accent

Author: Tomáš Uher Supervisor: Mgr. Kristýna Poesová

Prague 2012

Declaration: I hereby declare that this diploma thesis, titled “Distinctive features of Irish accent”, is the result of my own work and that I listed all the used materials in the bibliography.

Prague, November 29th 2012 ......

Acknowledgements: I wish to thank, first and foremost, my supervisor, Mgr. Kristýna Poesová, for her help, the advice and information she provided me with regarding phonetics and phonology, and the patience with which she guided me throughout the thesis. I would like to thank my friend, Micheal Ua Seaghdha, and the whole MAB 2012/13 class from the Language School of the Capital City of Prague for allowing me to try out the lesson plan on the Irish accent. I would like to thank my friend, Julie Swenson, for the consultations regarding grammar and stylistics. This thesis would not have been possible without the moral support of my friends and family.

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to examine the distinctive phonetic and phonological aspects of Irish English. The theoretical part provides a comprehensive description of the segmental and suprasegmental features of the Irish accent in contrast with the Received Pronunciation. The first section of the practical part analyses the speech of three Irish actors in Irish films and TV shows in order to examine the use of the distinctive features described in the theoretical part. The second section of the practical part presents a 45 minute long lesson plan on the Irish accent with suggested exercises for intermediate (B2) learners.

Key words: accent, Irish, pronunciation, phonetics, phonology, lesson plan

Abstrakt: Cílem této diplomové práce je prozkoumat charakteristické fonetické a fonologické jevy irské angličtiny. Teoretická část poskytuje komplexní popis segmentálních a suprasegmentálních znaků irského akcentu na pozadí standardní britské výslovnosti (RP). První sekce praktické části analyzuje řeč tří irských herců v irských filmech a seriálech s cílem prozkoumat užití charakteristických znaků popsaných v teoretické části. Druhá sekce praktické části předkládá plán hodiny na téma “Irský akcent” s navrženými cvičeními pro středně pokročilé studenty (B2).

Klíčová slova: akcent, přízvuk, irský, výslovnost, fonetika, fonologie, plán hodiny

Table of contents 1. Introduction 6 2. Theoretical part 9 2.1 Irish accent and terminology 9 2.2 History of English in Ireland and its major influences 10 2.3 Systemic differences 12 2.4 Distributional differences 21 2.5 Realisational differences 26 2.6 Lexical differences 34 2.7 Suprasegmentals 37 3. Practical part 39 3.1 Methodology 39 3.2 Results 41 3.2.1 Systemic differences 42 3.2.2 Distributional differences 49 3.2.3 Realisational differences 51 3.2.4 Lexical differences 60 3.2.5 Suprasegmentals 62 3.3 Lesson plan 63 3.4 Survey 69 4. Conclusion 71 5. Works cited 73 6. Appendices 75 6.1 Table of Appendices 75

1. Introduction It appears that long gone are the times when Received Pronunciation (RP) enjoyed its prestigious position within the United Kingdom. What is more, the loss of its high status is accompanied by a drop in its usage. Wells (1982) estimates that since the Second World War, the number of RP speakers has dropped down to 10 %. More recent statistics show it is no more than 3% (Crystal 2003) and an ongoing receding tendency is to be presupposed. Despite the figures, RP continues to be a desirable target accent by many learners of English as a second language and their teachers, although even in this context Newbrook (1986) argues whether the degree of concentration on RP is reasonable. Many authors also express their concerns on its safe use in certain regions of England as it evokes hostility and suspicion (Crystal 2003). I remember reading a contribution of one internet user in a chat room dedicated to the issues of Received Pronunciation. It was his opinion that a man speaking RP in a local pub is prone to sustain a physical injury. Learners of English as a second language are probably out of danger since they, in spite of mutual efforts of both the students and their teachers, never acquire an accent of pure, native-RP quality. I would not go as far as to reject RP as a model for second language learning. However, it should be retained only in the productive manner. Which means we should persist in the attempts to make our students speak as close to RP as possible, mainly because it is the accent widely understood inside and outside the UK. On the other hand, receptively, RP should give room to some other accents as well. Students who have been exposed only to RP in their classes may have great difficulties understanding other, more common varieties of English, as they are many and some of them differ from RP radically. It is my belief that in later years of secondary education students should get familiar at least with the rough accent division (e.g. RP, General American, Australian English, Cockney, Scottish English, Irish English, etc.). Teachers should include in the teaching process audio recordings with various accents in order to make learners get used to other varieties of English. A special lesson can be dedicated to accent varieties or one variety in detail, depending on the learners’ level of English or the

6 number of lessons the teacher has at his disposal. So far it has always been a marginal topic but should not be entirely omitted from the syllabus. Students do not learn English only to understand the BBC news. One of the varieties that could be discussed in a class is the Irish accent which represents the topic of this thesis. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part and a practical part. The theoretical part will cover an overview of previous findings on the distinctive phonetic and phonological features of the Irish accent. RP will traditionally serve as a reference accent. A synchronic approach will be employed and the two accents will be compared through the framework designed by Wells which investigates the differences in the phonemic system, phonotactic distribution, phonetic realisation and lexical incidence.1 The original contribution of this thesis lies primarily in the illustrative nature of the practical part. Wells (1982), as well as Hickey (2007), two primary sources for the theoretical part, fail to provide a CD with audio recordings. In this respect, Hughes, Trudgill, Watt (1979) did a better job, although it comes as a slight disappointment that even in the latest edition from 2005 they stick to the recordings made in the 1970’s, thus making some of them almost unintelligible due to the degree of background noise. For our purposes, I chose to illustrate the features discussed in the theoretical part on chunks of spoken text extracted from various genres of the Irish film production because I believe that Irish actors playing Irish character are an excellent source of the authentic Irish accent. The speech of several native Irish speakers will be compared to Received Pronunciation and analysed in terms of systemic differences, distributional differences, realisational differences and lexical differences. The recordings will be further used in a series of exercises aimed at introducing Irish accent to English learners. The role of film industry in second language acquisition is not to be underestimated, for the majority of all foreign films coming to our cinemas are in English

1 This approach was first suggested by Trubetzkoy in 1931, who wrote that phonic differences between two dialects concern the phonological system, or the phonetic realisation, or the etymological distribution (Wells’s lexical-incidential differences) (Wells 1982). Wells added a fourth component, the phonotactic distribution. 7 and so are various TV shows which especially the younger generations are so passionate to follow via the internet in the original language long before they are aired in our regions. The odds are that their first encounter with an accent user will therefore be through the TV media (films, sitcoms, etc.) rather than through a personal contact. This work is intended for teachers of English as a second language and indirectly for their students. For that reason, an integral component of the practical part will be a 45 minute long lesson plan on the Irish accent with a handout that contains suggested exercises for higher secondary learners with the aim of getting them involved. The exercises will be designed to get learners familiar with the Irish accent and to let them discover its most prominent features. Individual activities will help them to develop their listening comprehension skills as well as speaking competency. The ultimate goal of the lesson is that the learners will be able to identify an Irish accent and will be able to understand it. The handout serves only as a template and I encourage my colleagues to alternate it in any way to make it more digestible for their students.

2. Theoretical part At the beginning of the theoretical part we will clarify some of the basic terms in the area of dialectology. Then we will have a look at the historical background of the English language within Ireland. The main body of the theoretical part that will follow comprises a phonetic and phonological description of Irish English compared to Received Pronunciation within the four areas of differences: systemic differences, distributional differences, realisational differences and lexical differences, as devised by Wells (1982). In the last chapter of the theoretical part we will discuss some of the suprasegmental features that are specific to Irish accent.

2.1. Irish accent and terminology To avoid confusion, we must begin with consideration of terminology as various labels are to be found in relevant literature. In this work, the term “accent” refers to a variety of English, which involves pronunciation only (Wells 1982). The word “dialect”, on the other hand, is usually treated as an umbrella term as it refers to differences in syntax, morphology, lexicon as well as pronunciation. Crystal explains that “...speakers of different dialects have different accents; but speakers of the same dialect may have different accents too” (Crystal 2003, p 24). By “Irish English”, here, we mean the variety spoken in the Republic of Ireland (elsewhere also “southern Irish English”). The variety spoken in the Northern Ireland will not be covered as it deserves a thesis dedicated to this accent alone. It needs to be pointed out that when using the term “Irish accent”, we succumb to generalization and are doing injustice to distinct local accents within the Irish republic, which are many and are often a source of mockery and teasing. I personally witnessed a boy in the Irish Society class at St. Patrick’s College who was bold enough to answer the teacher’s question “For which crimes do people go to jail?” with [moːɹdɚ], instead of generally

9 acceptable [mɚːɹdɚ], which immediately resulted in a series of giggles throughout the whole classroom.2 Despite these rather extreme local differences, there are many consistent and common features which make the accent recognizable as southern Irish. The accent that will be described here is what Hickey calls supraregional Irish English, an accent that is not strongly local, lying outside a vernacular network, and supposedly used by educated speakers. Yet, it is not a codified standard pronunciation like RP in England (Hickey 2009). Although Hickey remarks that it is being gradually superseded by popular Dublin English which already exerts great influence over the supraregional variety as it has been spreading quickly throughout the south of Ireland. Therefore, together with this supraregional accent, remarks will also be made on possible variations shown in Dublin English since it might happen that one day the Dublin English will take over completely.

2.2 History of English language in Ireland and its major influences Ireland, as a geographical part of the British Isles, came as a logical target of the first English overseas colonisation efforts. To this day, there has been some 800 years of continuous contact between the two nations (Crystal 2003, p 336). The history of Irish English can be divided into two periods. The first period starts in the late 12th century and finishes around 1600 when the second period opens (Hickey 2004). The original Irish settlers, who are believed to have inhabited the island in a series of invasions between the 8th and 1st century BC, spoke Irish Gaelic3, a language belonging to the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family (along with Scottish Gaelic and Manx). It was not until 1171, that Rory O’Connor, the leader of the Irish forces of that time, could no longer hold out the attacks of Anglo-Norman knights of king Henry II and granted them the eastern towns of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny (see

2 I can only guess that the young man came from one of the regions in the western or southwestern part of the Irish Republic where the contact with Irish language is particularly strong. 3 In present day Ireland the term “Gaelic“ refers to Gaelic football. When one wants to refer to the language they use the term “Irish“. 10

Apendix 1 for the map of Ireland), thus cemented the presence of Anglo-Normans in Ireland (Hickey 2007). The Anglo-Norman invasion introduced two languages to Ireland; Anglo-Norman, represented by the Anglo-Norman military leaders; and a variety of medieval English, predominantly West Midland and South-West varieties (Hickey 2004), brought by common soldiers and servants. The development of English in Ireland since then has not been continuous. It established itself only in the area along the east and south-east coast, under English (and Anglo-Norman) control, known as “Pale” and especially in Dublin which had gained the status of capital of the country (Hickey 2007)4. After some time, the connections to England became quite loose and shared Catholic religion was drawing the old English settlers closer to the Irish. As a result, English was on the decline in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This assimilation by the Irish grew even stronger after the English government under Henry VIII adopted Protestantism. Therefore, by the first half of the sixteenth century the English language in Ireland finds itself almost extinct (Hickey 2007). This progressive gaelicisation led the Tudors to attempts at an organised settlement of the Irish landscape in order to reinforce the English presence there. These settlements are called “plantations” and they were carefully planned. However, in the second half of the sixteenth century the plantations failed due to an Irish rebellion. The defeat of Irish separatists by English forces in 1601 marks the beginning of the second period of the history of Irish English (Hickey 2007). With decreased military threat from the Irish, the English plans for plantations could be carried out in its full potential throughout the country. As Hickey says: “The old distinction between the English within the Pale and the Irish beyond was to be abolished and English rule was to apply to the entire island” (Hickey 2007, p 36). But the largest and most successful settlements were in Ulster which was settled by Protestants mainly from Scottish Lowlands (Crystal 2003). In this way, new forms of English were brought to Ireland, with Scots in the north and West/North Midland varieties in the south. Although, Dublin and former Pale display a

4 “This term comes from Latin palus ‘stake’, via French, and refers to a stake in a fence“ (Hickey 2007, p31). 11 definite continuation of south-west English features as they were introduced in the first period (Hickey 2004). These facts underlie the dialect division of the present day Ireland. The advancing anglicisation was accompanied by the corresponding decline in the use of Irish. The reason for which the Irish-speaking community was switching from Irish to English is twofold. On the one hand, heavy punishments were imposed on the use and practice of Irish. But on the other hand, large numbers of the native population changed over to English deliberately for the social advantages that followed from the knowledge of the language (Hickey 2007). English became the dominant language and the language of prestige in the mid-nineteenth century. Irish was restricted to poorer sections of the community (Crystal 2003, p 336). The Republic of Ireland nowadays acknowledges both English and Irish as official languages. However, English prevails in everyday use while Irish is found predominantly only in Gaeltachts, regions in the rural parts of the west financially supported by the government to preserve the indigenous Irish language.

2.3 Systemic differences Systemic differences are differences in the inventory of phonemes. One system differs when the number of phonemic contrasts (phonemes) is smaller or greater (Cruttenden 2008). In other words, one phoneme may be present in one variety, but absent in another. For a phoneme to be recognized as such, it must pass a minimal pair test. Minimal pairs are a tool devised by phonologists to ascertain phonemic contrast among both consonants and vowels. They are pairs of words differing in one sound only and distinct in meaning. The contrastive sounds in the minimal pair, giving both a different meaning, establish a phonemic opposition and serve as a basis for inclusion of given sounds in the phonemic inventory of the variety in question, thus constituting them as phonemes, e.g. the minimal pair bit /bɪt/ and bet /bɛt/ establish a phonemic opposition of /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ and consequently allows them both to be included in the phonemic system of the variety in question.

Lists of minimal pairs are appropriate in cases when we seek to establish a phoneme system for a single accent, less so when two different accents are being compared. That is why John Wells introduced a system involving standard lexical sets, a list of words, conventionally written in capital letters, representing all the words sharing the same vowel, e.g. the KIT lexical set refers to all the words containing the vowel /ɪ/. Lexical sets for RP and Irish English (IE) standing side by side will allow us to see the systemic differences more straightforwardly.

2.3.1 The vowel system Authors agree that the number of accent differences involving vowels is significantly greater than in the case of consonants. The vowel system of present day Irish English is considered rather conservative. Having undergone very little developmental processes in the past, it is marked by greater resemblance to the vowel system of Early Modern English (Hickey 2007). To give evidence for phonemically contrastive vowels of Irish English the following minimal pairs will be used: Table 1 – Minimal pairs for Irish English

bit / ɪ / bath /a:/

bet /ɛ/ bought /ɒ:/

bat /æ/ boot /u:/

bot5 /ɒ/ bite /aɪ/

but /ʌ/ bout /aʊ/

beat /iː/ boat /oʊ/

bait /eː/ sherbet /ə/

Bert /ɚː/

5 “a computer program that works automatically, especially one that searches for and finds information on the internet: The state computer fell victim to an automated bot, which probes for security weaknesses, officials said.” (Cambridge Dictionaries Online: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business- english/bot?q=bot ) 13

Schwa only appears in unstressed syllables, therefore we had to resort to a near- minimal pair and made the second, unstressed, syllable of sherbet contrast with various stressed syllables in Table 1. The short vowel /ʊ/, the closing diphthong /ɒɪ/, and the long vowels /o:/ and /ɑː/, do not appear in the selected context /b_t/. However, phonemic contrast is a transitive relationship, hence we are able to make use of a simple equation that “...if phoneme A contrasts with phoneme B, and phoneme B contrasts with phoneme C, then phonemes A and C also contrast...” (McMahon 2002, p 80). In our case it means that if we can establish a contrast between one of the left-out vowels and any vowel in Table 1, than that vowel can be taken as contrasting with all the vowels in Table 1. Therefore:

Table 2 – Additional minimal pairs for Irish English

pit / ɪ / put /ʊ/

can /æ/ coin /ɒɪ/

morning /ɒː/ mourning /oː/

court /oː/ cart /ɑː/

To summarise Tables 1 and 2, we established phonemic oppositions for all generally acceptable vowels appearing in supraregional Irish English, with a possibility of minor variations in the identity of phonemes used, which indeed does not affect the total number of phonemes in the system. We found six short vowels plus schwa (/ɪ, ɛ, æ, ɒ, ʌ, ʊ, ə/), seven long vowels plus long rhotacised schwa (/iː, eː, a:, ɒ:, u:, o:, ɑː, ɚ:/, and four closing diphthongs (/aɪ, ɒɪ, aʊ, oʊ/). To compare, the vowel system of RP comprises six short vowels plus schwa (/ɪ, e, æ, ɒ, ʌ, ʊ, ə/), five long vowels (/iː, ɜː, ɑ:, ɔ:, u:/), and eight diphthongs, of which five are closing (/eɪ, aɪ, aʊ, ɔɪ, əʊ/) and three centring (/ɪə, eə, ʊə/). The conclusion to be drawn is that in terms of vowel differences, Irish English lacks all three centring diphthongs and

14 one closing diphthong that are found in RP, but it has three more long vowels in its inventory. The first case owes it to the fact that Irish English, unlike RP, is firmly rhotic. Rhoticity will be discussed further in a chapter dedicated to phonotactic distribution. Since Irish English is rhotic there are no phonemes corresponding to RP’s centring diphthongs /ɪə, eə, ʊə/. Instead, long monophthongs /iː, eː, uː/ are usually followed by /r/, as in fear /fiːr/, square /skweːr/, pure /pjuːr/. Irish English has been largely untouched by the long mid diphthonging development that affected RP and which added a closing offglide to the long mid vowels in FACE words (Wells 1982 I, p 210). As a result, Irish English retains /e:/ where RP gives way to /eɪ/, e.g. face /feːs/, gate /geːt/, stain /steːn/. However, long mid diphthonging occurs in GOAT words, where both Irish English and RP have a diphthong, IE /oʊ/ and RP /əʊ/. It is probably a most recent of developments as not so long ago the diphthong in GOAT was restricted to the speech in the capital city of Dublin only. Due to a great influence that the Dublin English exerts over other varieties in Ireland, this type of diphthongization soon infiltrated the supraregional variety. Although it is worth mentioning that in traditional vernacular and rural varieties, outside Dublin, a long monophthong /o:/ still can be heard, /go:t/. The long vowel /o:/, has been added on the basis of Hickey’s observations that for many speakers word pairs such as morning and mourning are not homophonous, that is, the first word has /ɒːr/ and the second word /oːr/. This distinction is largely a matter of lexical incidence, although as he further notes, the majority of words with /oːr/ derive from French loanwords in Middle English. This closer vowel shows tendency to occur before /_rt, rs/ or just /_r/. In the standard lexical sets they comprise the FORCE words, such as court sport, forge, fort, port, source, hoarse, fore, lore, pore. The opener vowel, on the other hand, predominates in pre-nasal positions, i.e. before /_rn/. In the standard lexical sets they are the NORTH words, as in born, corn, scorn, but also horse, gorse, Norse (Hickey 2005, p 317).

One might argue on the possibility of including /ɑ:/ in the phonemic inventory of Irish English. The reason for this is that in the environment of following /r/, as in the START lexical set, the phonetic realization of /ɑ:/ is considerably retracted and therefore different from that of /a:/ in BATH words. It all comes down to whether that one phonologist treats [ɑ:] only as an allophone of /a:/, in which case both START and BATH should be transcribed as /sta:rt/ and /ba:th/, or whether they want to stress the realisational difference of these two lexical sets, which would lead the phonologists to transcriptions /stɑ:rt/ and /ba:th/ respectively (more will be discussed in a chapter dedicated to Realisational Differences). Wells (1982) uses the phoneme /a:/ for both. Hickey (2005) does not incorporate it in the long vowel overview, still, he transcribes START as /stɑ:rt/. To see the systemic differences of the vowel system more clearly, Table 3 with standard lexical sets for both Irish English and RP is presented:

Table 3 – Comparison of lexical sets for Received Pronunciation (RP) and Irish English (IE) Keyword RP IE (DE)

KIT ɪ ɪ

DRESS e ɛ

TRAP æ æ

LOT ɒ ɒ ɔ STRUT ʌ ʌ

FOOT ʊ ʊ

FLEECE iː iː FACE eɪ eː

BATH ɑː aː

THOUGHT ɔː ɒː ɔː GOOSE uː uː

PRICE aɪ aɪ

MOUTH aʊ aʊ æʊ CHOICE ɔɪ ɒɪ ɔɪ

GOAT əʊ oʊ əʊ

NEAR ɪə iː(r) SQUEAR eə eː(r)

CURE ʊə uː(r)

START ɑː ɑː(r) NORTH ɔː ɒː(r)

FORCE ɔː oː(r)

NURSE ɜː ɚː(r) lettER ə ɚ

commA ə ə

happY ɪ i

The column for Dublin English (DE) shows only those phonemes that deviate from those of southern Irish English. Table 3 demonstrates a very good match between the given vowel systems. There is a lot of one-to-one matches, for example, all words that have /e/ in RP have the corresponding /ɛ/ in IE, and vice versa: thus, step , bet, bread, method and hundreds of other words belonging to the DRESS words. Likewise, all words that have /eɪ/ in RP have the corresponding /eː/ in IE in words such as tape, late, wait, faith, great. However, when we have a look at the first column, we will notice a repetition of certain phonemes. This means that there are two-to-one matches. For example, due to the NORTH/FORTH distinction in IE, in words like taught, caught, Thor, short, cork, born, mortal, etc., RP /ɔː/ corresponds to IE /ɒː/; but in adore, floor, fort, board, fourth, etc., it corresponds to IE /oː/. Another two-to-one relationship arises from BATH/START distinction in IE, in words like staff, path, half, draft, etc., RP /ɑː/ corresponds to IE /aː/, but in star, farm, party, market, etc. it corresponds to IE /ɑː/ Looking at the vowel system as a whole, we can conclude that Irish English, as against RP, lacks centring diphthongs /ɪə, eə, ʊə/ but has two more vowel phonemes, /oː/ and /ɑː/ in its inventory. At this point, it needs to be said that from the notational point of view, phonemes used in the list are not the only possibilities, they reflect a choice made by a particular phonologist. Phonemes are abstract units, and thus could be potentially symbolised using any IPA symbol (McMahon 2002). Of course, authors try to elect each phoneme in each accent which corresponds to one of the main allophones of that phoneme. The phonemes mentioned above help us constitute the system of a variety and when compared to another variety, they help us see the systemic differences, i.e. differences in phonemic inventories. They say very little, however, about the actual phonetic realisations of these phonemes, which may differ significantly. More to this will be said in chapter 2.5.

2.3.2 The Consonant system Although it may be true that the largest number of variety differences involves vowels (as was mentioned above), to identify the fine differences in phonetic realization of vowels, however, often calls for a trained ear of a skilful phonetician. Those differences involving consonants tend to be far better discernible by the hearer. This fact should be taken into account when making a lesson plan on any English variety and will be discussed in the respective chapter. The consonant system can be divided into part systems according to the manner of articulation of the phonemic norms. They are as follows: plosives, nasals, fricatives and approximants (liquids, semivowels, /h/) (Wells 1982).

Plosives: RP and most of the other accents have six plosives. They are /p, t, k/ and their lenis counterparts (b, d, k). In case of Irish English, the plosive system has to be augmented by the inclusion of dental plosives /t , d/, since they stand in opposition to alveolars /t, d/. Wells explains that “Phonological support for the inclusion of dentals /t , d/ comes from the fact that in the accents in question they do not occur in clusters with /t, d/, whereas in accents having fricative /θ, ð/ such clusters do occur (eight in most accents /eɪtθ/, but in IE /e:t/) (1982, p 178). Plus we can support it by providing minimal pairs: thank /tæk/ versus tank /tæk/; and this /dɪs/ versus diss /dɪs/. The Irish plosive system therefore consists of eight plosives, in contrast with RP which contains only six.

Nasals: RP and IE agree on a three-term nasal system: /m, n, /.

Fricatives: RP has an eight-term fricative system: /f, θ, s, ʃ/ and their lenis counter-parts /v, ð, z, ʒ/. In Irish English fricative system, phonemes /θ, ð/ are missing since th is realized as dentals /t , d/ (see above). Due to lenition, in some environments Irish English realises the phonemes /t, d/ with slight friction /ṱ, ḓ/. As they are mere allophones, not

19 creating a phonemic opposition, they are not included in the IE fricative system. They will be discussed in phonetic realisations. A dubious matter is inclusion of the voiceless velar/uvular fricative /x/ in the fricative system of IE. It is a very marginal item, appearing only in loan-words, mostly of Irish Gaelic origin, and proper and geographical names, e.g. Taoiseach6 /tiːʃəx/ (Wells 1982 I, p 433)

Approximants: All accents of English have /l, r, j, w/. However, Irish English shows a distinction between voiced and voiceless labio-velar glides (Hickey 2005). “The voiceless glide is to be found in all instances where there is wh- in the orthography...” (Hickey 2005, p 319). It means that phonemic opposition of /w/ and /hw/ is established as can be seen in the minimal pair witch /wɪtʃ/ versus which /hwɪtʃ/ . It is one of the most prominent features of IE.

Hickey introduced consonantal lexical sets for Irish English. Again, as in the case of the vowel system, in Table 4 they will be put side by side with their RP counterparts in order to make the systemic differences more transparent. The relevant consonants are underlined.

6 “Taoiseach“ means „chieftain“ 20

Table 4 – Comparison of consonantal lexical sets for RP and Irish English (IE)

Keyword RP IE Keyword RP IE

THIN θ t SORE r r THIS ð d GAP g g TWO t t CAP k k DIP d d TALKING   WATER t t SEE s s READY d d BUZZ z z GET t t SHOE ʃ ʃ SAID d d VISION ʒ ʒ RAIL l l WET w w LOOK l l WHICH w hw RUN r r

Despite the differences in the identity of phonemes in lexical sets THIN and THIS, Table 4 demonstrates there is a perfect match except for a single item. A two-to-one match can be seen in words such as wire, west, witch, wacky, etc. where both RP and IE have the same phoneme /w/, but in when, whim, whey, whip, etc. RP /w/ corresponds to IE /hw/. To sum up, compared to RP Irish English has one more phoneme, /hw/, in its consonant system. Far greater differences between RP and IE lie in the actual realization of the phonemes above, as will be discussed in chapter 2.5.

2.4 Distributional differences Distributional differences involve differences in the phonotactic distribution, the set of phonetic contexts in which sounds do or do not occur. The phonetic environment in which a phoneme occurs may be either limited, creating constraints on phonotactic distribution, or it may permit certain phonological structures in a given environment. The

21 most conspicuous example of phonotactic distribution is rhoticity, which divides accents of English across the world into two main branches: rhotic and non-rhotic (although variants defined as semi-rhotic can also be found).

Rhoticity Rhoticity refers to phonotactic distribution of the consonant /r/. Irish English is firmly rhotic. It means that the consonant /r/ can appear in a wide variety of phonetic contexts, as it more closely reflects the actual spelling. The environments in which /r/ can occur include preconsonantal and absolute final positions, just as well as the pre-vocalic position. Thus start /stɑːrt/, star /stɑːr/, run /rʌn/. RP, on the other hand, is largely non-rhotic. It means there is a phonotactic constraint on the distribution of /r/. In non-rothic accents it is excluded in preconsonantal and absolute final positions and is retained only pre-vocalically. Thus run /rʌn/, but start /stɑːt/, star /stɑː/. Although, RP allows /r/ to be inserted after certain vowels at a word boundary when the next word begins with a vowel, for example in phrases such as I saw it /aɪ sɔːrɪt/. This intrusive /r/ is not to be found in Irish English, as this consonant appears only where it is orthographically justifiable (Hickey 2007).

Yod dropping Yod dropping refers to a process where the sequence /ju:/ has been simplified to /u:/. In Irish English, clear conditions for yod dropping can be defined as outlined by Hickey (2007, p 325) bellow: a) Deletion assumes that /j/ is not in absolute initial position, i.e. it must be preceded by another segment, hence for example you or youth will always retain the yod, /ju:/ and /ju:t/ respectively.

b) The segment before /j/, in the onset in which it is deleted, is regularly a sonorant, in effect /n/ or /l/ as /j/ does not occur after /r/ in an onset, hence lute /lu:t/, news /nu:z/. After /s/ yod is also deleted, hence suit /su:t/. c) The sonorant in question is alveolar, hence news /nu:z/ but mews /mju:z/ (and cute /kju:t/ with a non-sonorant velar stop). d) The syllable to which the onset in question belongs is stressed, hence numerous /ˈnu:mərəs/ but numerical /njʊˈmɛrɪkl/, Italian /ɪˈtæljən/.

Wells (1982) claims that for RP speakers the yod is optional in the environment of a preceding /θ, s, z, l/, as in enthusiasm /ɪnˈθ(j)u:zɪæzm/, suit /s(j)u:t/, resume /rɪˈz(j)u:m/, lute /l(j)u:t/, but after /n, t, d/ it is consistently retained, as in news /nju:z/, tune /tju:n/, duke /dju:k/.

Yod coalescence Wells informs us that yod coalescence in stressed syllables is common in Dublin speech. It may result in some homophones, for example, dew – due – Jew [dʒu:]; tune [tʒu:n], in RP usually [dju: , tju:n]. (Wells 1982) happY tensing In RP, the second unstressed syllable of happY was traditionally analysed as a rather lax closed vowel [ɪ] assigned to the lexical set KIT. In Irish English, the speaker uses a closer and tenser quality [i] and has been phonemicised as such, /i/, since speakers intuitively treat it as belonging to the vowel in FLEECE rather than KIT. If we phonemicise the vowel in Irish happy as /i/, we must deduce that in this respect, compared to Irish English RP shows phonotactic constraints on the use of /i/ because it does not occur in unstressed positions. IE permits this occurrence. However, it does not seem to be the case for the present day RP, as Cruttenden comments that the current changes in RP include the replacement of final /ɪ/ by /i(:)/.

(Cruttenden 2008). Therefore, happY tensing appears to be an ongoing process even in Britain.

The position of /h/ The phonological distribution of /h/ is not restricted in Irish English. RP allows only syllable-initial position. In Irish English /h/ occurs also intervocalically and in word final positions. It is true, though, that this wider distribution involves only geographical and personal names of Irish Gaelic origin, as in Fahy /ˈfæhi:/, Haughy /ˈhɒ:hi:/, McGrath /məˈgra:h/, Kiltimagh /ˌkɪltʃɪˈmɒh/ (Wells 1982, p 433)

Schwa absorption Wells (1982) mentions this optional process in Irish English. It refers to the disappearance of schwa between a vowel and a liquid or a nasal in words such as vowel /vaʊl/ (RP /vaʊəl/), Brian /braɪn/, mower /moʊr/. Optional use of schwa absorption then results in a series of rhymes: owl – vowel, silent – violent, fair – player; as well as homophones: pear – payer /pe:r/, more – mower /mo:r/ (in vernacular varieties), line – lion /laɪn/, bowl – bowel /baʊl/, runes – ruins /ru:nz/ (Wells 1982, p 434) The last pair of homophones demonstrates an operation of schwa reduction together with one other process, namely vowel reduction. Vowel reduction occurs in unstressed syllables, as in naked /ˈne:kəd/, whereas RP /ˈneɪkɪd/. When employing the vowel reduction process, ruins /ˈruːɪnz/ changes to /ru:ənz/. The optional schwa absorption then changes it to /ru:nz/.

Vowels before /r/ Schwa absorption mentioned above might potentially serve as an evidence of another distributional difference. The presence of the centring diphthongs, before etymologically justifiable /r/ in RP means that closed monophthongs cannot appear in this context. On the other hand, in Irish English, as there are no centring diphthongs, plus

24 when the schwa absorption process is applied in the case of mower, the range of vowels that can appear immediately before /r/ is considerably broader, almost limitless. In Table 5 below, I present only those that would be relevant to supraregional Irish English, provided that schwa absorption process is applied.

Table 5 – Distribution of vowels in the environment of a following /r/

Words RP IE (DE)

weary ɪə iː

spirit ɪ ɪ

fairy eə eː

ferry e e

Tara ɑː aː

marry æ æ

sorry ɒ ɒ ɔ

Laura ɔː ɒː ɔː

story ɔː oː

hurry ʌ ʌ

jury ʊə uː

pirate aɪ aɪ

dowry aʊ aʊ æʊ

Máire ɔɪ ɒɪ ɔɪ

mower əʊə oʊ əʊ

operate ə ə

Distributional differences concerning the occurrence of vowels in the environment of following /r/ can now be read easily from the Table 5. It shows that in the 25 given environment Irish English permits occurrence of monophthongs /i(ː), e(ː), u(ː)/ while RP is in this respect constricted.

Schwa epenthesis Schwa epenthesis is a process of [ə] insertion. We might call it intrusive [ə] and it is said to be restricted to popular speech (Wells 2005). There are two environments in which the intrusive /ə/ occurs. The first is between a plosive, including /t/, and a liquid or nasal, as can be illustrated in the following words: petrol [ˈpɛtəɹəl], Dublin [ˈdʊbəlɪn], Kathleen [ˈkætəliːn]. The other environment is between two consonants, each of which is either a liquid or nasal, as in words: film [ˈfɪləm], form [ˈfɔɹəm], Drimnagh [ˈdɹɪmənə], tavern [ˈtævəɹən] (Wells 1982) or Jameson [ˈdʒeːməsən]. Schwa epenthesis can be seen as the inverse of schwa absorption. However, the two processes can be operating together, resulting in realisations such as apron /ˈeːpərn/ (Wells 1982, 435).

[d] epenthesis [d] insertion might be observed in popular Dublin speech where it operates in two environments. The first one is between a preceding /l/ or /n/ and a following /z/. This may create homophones such as bills – builds /bɪldz/, holes – holds, mines – minds /maɪndz/. The other environment is between a preceding /r/ and a following [n] or [l]. In this case the intrusive [d] assumes a nasal or lateral release respectively, as in turned [ˈtʌɹdnd], girls [ˈgɛɹdlz], snoring [snɔːrdn] (Wells 1982, p 435).

2.5 Realisational differences Realisational differences are differences in phonetic realisations. In chapter 2.4, dealing with systemic differences, we were interested only in the contrastive sounds, phonemes, which make differences of meaning within language. It is the area that is

26 studied by phonology. However, as Crystal remarks: „When we listen carefully to the way people speak English, we will hear hundreds of slight differences in the way individuals pronounce particular sounds.“ (Crystal 2003, p 236). It means that the phonemes presented in chapter 2.4 may actually be pronounced very differently in both varieties, even if they have the same symbol for the particular sound in its system. It is the task for phonetics to describe exactly what these differences of articulation are. To distinguish between the phonological and phonetic approach, linguists introduced the use of different kinds of brackets, as can be seen in some transcriptions above. Slant brackets // are used when sounds are being discussed from a phonological point of view, as part of the system, regardless of the particular way they are articulated. Square brackets [ ], on the other hand, are used to show the actual phonetic realisation of a given phoneme.

2.5.1 Realisation of vowels The majority of differences between accents involve realisation of vowel phonemes. For realisational differences of vowels we shall provide a list of standard lexical sets from Table 3. A phonetic description of the relevant vowels draws chiefly from Hickey (2007) and it will be simultaneously compared to RP where necessary. For this part, readers are advised to get familiar with the cardinal vowel diagram first (see Appendix 2).

KIT /ɪ/ Realisation of this vowel is identical to that found in RP. Part of tongue is nearer centre than front, raised to just above half-close position; lips are loosely spread; tongue lax. No lowering or centralisation is found in southern IE.

DRESS /ɛ/ This vowel is a bit lowered to a position slightly above cardinal [ɛ], unlike RP, which has /e/ in the middle between cardinals [e] and [ɛ].

TRAP /æ/ The quality of this vowel is opener, commonly around cardinal [a]. In vernacular varieties it is raised before /r/, e.g. car [kæːɹ]

LOT /ɒ/ The realization of a low back vowel /ɒ/ is typically an unrounded [ɑ], often somewhat fronted [ɑ+] (see Appendix 3 for diacritics). In Dublin English it is raised to [ɔ].

STRUT /ʌ/ The quality of this vowel is strikingly different from RP. A retracted and perhaps slightly rounded short vowel is used here. This is often written as [ʌ] where the two dots indicate centralisation from the cardinal vowel. In RP it is realized as [a]. In some Dublin speech the STRUT set has the same vowel as the FOOT set. In vernacular varieties there can be a degree of rounding [ɔ].

FOOT /ʊ/ In supraregional Irish English, the quality of this vowel is the same as in RP. Tongue is nearer centre than back, raised to just above half-close position; lips are closely but loosely rounded; tongue is lax. Perhaps a fronted realisation may be found in Dublin English.

FLEECE /iː/ Realisation of this vowel is identical to that found in RP. Front of tongue is raised to slightly below and behind close front position; lips spread; tongue tense.

FACE /eː/ A long monophthong [eː] is the normal realization in IE. The closing diphthong [eɪ] is not found but the whole vowel may be lowered in vernacular varieties, i.e. [fɛːs]

BATH /aː/ The long vowel [aː] is found here, unlike RP /ɑ:/ which is slightly fronted from cardinal [ɑ].

THOUGHT /ɒː/ The vowel in this set is rather open and in fact unrounded, therefore [ɑː], unlike RP and DE /ɔ:/ which is raised to a position in the middle between cardinals [o] and [ɔ].

GOOSE /uː/ In supraregional Irish English, this vowel is the same as in RP. Back of tongue is raised to just below close position; lips closely rounded; tongue tense. In local Dublin English the vowel may be broken, e.g. [skuʷəl]. In its unbroken form, the vowel is quite forwarded, as []

PRICE /aɪ/ Basically, there are three types of realisation of this diphthong. General Irish English varieties have [aɪ], eastern dialects including local Dublin English have [əɪ]. In some Dublin speech it may have a retracted starting point so it would appear as [ɑɪ] but, as Hickey explains, this feature is rather recessive. (2007)

MOUTH /aʊ/ In eastern dialects and in Dublin there is a front starting point for the vowel in this set [æ], in colloquial speech [ɛ]. Due to the great influence of Dublin English the raised starting point is spreading very quickly, again especially among young females (Hickey 2007). Traditionally, however, Irish English has a lower starting point, thus [aʊ]. Compare with RP, where the starting point is normally much more retracted to a position closer to cardinal [ɑ].

CHOICE /ɒɪ/ The starting point of this vowel is quite open, except for newer varieties of Dublin English which have characteristic raising of the onset towards cardinal [ɔ] or perhaps even more so, towards [o], e.g. toy [tɔɪ] or [toɪ]. RP normally positions the starting point of this vowel between these two cardinals.

GOAT /oʊ/ In mainstream Irish English there is normally slight diphtongisation with a higher end point, i.e. [goʊṱ]. However, in traditional and rural varieties outside Dublin it is

29 very common to hear a long monophthong [o:], therefore [go:ṱ]. In Dublin English, the realisation with a centralised starting point is found here, [əʊ], just like in RP. In some Dublin speech we may encounter a diphthong with a lower unrounded starting point: [gʌoṱ]

NEAR /iː(r)/, SQUEAR /eː(r)/, CURE /uː(r)/ It was mentioned earlier that the three centring diphthongs of RP, consisting of a vowel plus schwa, do not exist in Irish English. In Irish English, these sets have a long vowel followed by /r/.

START /ɑː(r)/ In mainstream varieties there is some retraction before /r/, i.e. [stɑːɹt]. Local Dublin English does not show this and has a rather fronted realization, i.e. [stæː(ɹ)t]. In RP, the vowel is lying between back and central position, [ɑ+ː].

NORTH /ɒː(r)/ Traditionally, the vowel in this set is quite open. Although, in Dublin English it has been raised significantly and merged with the FORCE vowel for many speakers. Consequently, for speakers to whom this concerns, words like morning and mourning are homophones, whereas for mainstream speakers, the first word would have a lower vowel than the second. In RP, the vowel for this lexical set is identical to that found in THOUGHT, that is somewhere in the middle between cardinals [o] and [ɔ], i.e.

[nɔːθ], where the symbol marks raising.

FORCE /oː(r)/ The vowel in this set is back half-closed [oː] and is typical of all varieties of Irish English. The open realization, typical of the NORTH set, does not apply here. Again, in RP this vowel is identical to that of THOUGHT.

NURSE /ɚː/ A centralised rhotacised schwa, without lip rounding, is found in this set. In local Dublin English, the vowel is raised, retracted and often non-rhotic, i.e. [nʊː(ɹ)s]. RP being non-rhotic, the schwa is not rhotacised, thus long [əː].

30 lettER /ɚ/ A rhotacised schwa is found in this set, except in local Dublin English, which is only very weakly rhotic. In non-rhotic forms of Dublin English the vowel here is rather low, usually in the region of [ɐ]. RP has [ə]. commA /ə/ The same as in RP, a schwa is found in this set which may be a bit lowered in local Dublin English. happY /i/ This was already discussed in chapter 2.4 under happY tensing. The vowel in this set is fronted and tense, as opposed to RP lax [ɪ].

2.5.2 Realisation of consonants It has already been mentioned earlier, that the majority of realisational differences between accents concern vowels. However, those concerning consonants tend to be the most prominent ones and often serve as indicators of Irish English.

Lenition and realisations of /t/ Lenition is a peculiar feature of Irish English referring to phonetic weakening. It usually manifests itself as a shift from plosive to fricative. For the supraregional variety it typically involves only one sound, [ṱ]7, sometimes referred to as „slit-t“. It is a very prominent feature and serves as an indicator of Irish English as it is maintained through all stylistic levels in all parts of the country. As Hickey says, /t/ in IE is realized as a plosive only when it occurs immediatelly before a stressed vowel, either word-initially or word-medially, as in: tea [ti:], titanic [taɪˈtænɪk]; or immediately before or after a non-vocalic segment, as in: lightening [laɪtnɪŋ], bent [bɛnt]. In Dublin English, however, there is a tendency for a very slight affrication where /t/ appears word initially, i.e. two [tsu:] (Hickey 2007,p 318).

7 The diacritics [ ˰ ] is taken from Hickey (2007). Wells (1982) uses [ ˛ ] 31

In all other environments, the tongue does not create a complete obstruction to the air flow, it merely approaches the alveolar ridge but allows a narrow passage for the air to escape through, thus resulting in /t/ being realized as slit-t [ṱ], voiceless apico- alveolar fricative. The occurrence of [ṱ] can be seen in the following examples: but [bʌṱ], butter [ˈbʌṱɚ], educate [ˈɛdʒuke:ṱ]. “The fricative realization of alveolar plosives is particularly audible with /t/, given the fortis nature of this consonant” (Hickey 2007, p 319), however, frication also comes in operation with voiced /d/ as can be demonstrated in wood [wuḓ]. In urban varieties of the east coast (including Dublin), the lenition does not stop with [ṱ] but may go even further, up to the removal of the oral gesture, resulting in either a glottal fricative [h] or glottal stop [ʔ], as in water [wɒ:hɚ, wɒ:ʔɚ] (Hickey 2007).

Dental plosives /t , d/ In the case of supraregional Irish English, we cannot really consider [t , d] as realizations of /θ, ð/, because these are completely absent from its phonological system. Furthermore, they create phonemic opposition as was shown in 2.3.2, therefore must assume a status of phonemes. They occur in environments where RP has /θ, ð/ plus in the environment of a following /r/ (Wells 1982). [t] is strongly aspirated in initial positions. See the following examples: thin [tʰɪn], this [dɪs], petrol [ˈpɛtəɹəl]. As Wells explains, “the distinction between pairs such as tin and thin, fate and faith, den and then, breed and breath thus depends on place of articulation rather than on manner.” (Wells 1982, p 429). That is why the difference between [t , d] and [t,d] is not always heard by a non-Irish ear. Neutralization of dentals [t , d] to [t,d] may occur in two environments. The first environment is before /l/, as in athlete [ˈætli:t] and faithless [ˈfe:tləs] (compare with faith [ˈfe:t] ). According to Wells, a more common is the neutralization in the other environment, that is before /s/, making faiths and fates homophones [ˈfe:ts]. (1982)

Realisation of wh- Mainstream Irish English generally distinguishes phonetically between which [ʍɪtʃ] and witch [wɪtʃ] (see 2.3.2). Irish English traditionally uses a voiceless labio-velar approximant in all words which are written with initial wh-. Although, Hickey informs us that Dublin English is losing this distinction by voicing the first segment in which. (Hickey 2007)

Realisation of /l/ In RP, two allophones of /l/ are recognized: clear, alveolar [l], and dark, velarised [ɫ]. For clear [l], the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate at the same time as the tip makes contact with the upper-teeth ridge, “thus giving a front vowel resonance to the consonant” (Cruttenden 2008, p 216). For dark [ɫ], the tip of the tongue also makes contact with the upper-teeth ridge, “the front of the tongue being somewhat depressed and the back raised in the direction of the soft palate, giving a back vowel (or velarised) resonance” (Cruttenden 2008, p 216). Clear [l] appears in RP only when a vowel or /j/ follows, dark [ɫ] in all other instances. In supraregional Irish English, lateral /l/ is realised as clear [l] in all environments: compare RP feel [fi:ɫ] and milk [mɪɫk] with Irish English [fi:l] and [mɪlk]. Hickey, however, mentions recent changes in Dublin English which include a velarised realisation of /l/ in syllable-final position, as in field [fi:ɫd], meal [mi:ɫ], deal [di:ɫ]. As he remarks further, because of the spread of the new Dublin pronunciation, dark [ɫ] has become a characteristic of younger non-local speakers in the south of Ireland, especially females. (Hickey 2007).

Realisations of /r/ Hickey (2007) claims, that throughout the southern Ireland, /r/ can be found in three main realisations: as a velarised alveolar approximant, retroflex approximant, and uvular approximant.

Velarised Alveolar Approximant [ɹ]: Velarised alveolar approximant can be found in conservative mainstream varieties of southern Irish English. It can be indicated by the normal symbol for a frictionless approximant together with the diacritic for velarisation, [ɹ]. Velarised alveolar approximant can be found particularly in final and preconsonantal positions, e.g. core [ko:ɹ], barn [bɑ:ɹn]. An offglide from a front vowel to this velarised [ɹ] can be heard especially in tear [te:ɹ] (Hickey 2005). Wells says that before stressed vowels, /r/ is usually realized as a post alveolar approximant, just like in RP, with fricative variants after /t,d/ (1982), e.g. run [ɹʌn]. Retroflex Approximant [ɻ]: According to Hickey, retroflex approximant is a recent innovation introduced to Dublin English. This realisation is said to be present with younger female speakers and has spread very rapidly outside the Dublin area. Hickey thinks that it will soon become the prevailing realization of /r/ for all mainstream varieties of Irish English in the south. (Hickey 2005). Wells (1982) restricts the use of a retroflex [ɻ] to environments other than before a stressed vowel, e.g. sorry [sɒɻi], farm [faːɻm], where [ʍe:ɻ] Uvular Approximant [ʁ]: A uvular [ʁ] is found only in local varieties in north-east Leinster, e.g. in square [skwɛəʁ], beer [biəʁ]. This uvular [ʁ] is recessive and now only found in syllable-final positions, but Hickey believes it is a remnant of a much wider distribution.

2.6 Lexical differences Lexical differences are differences in lexical incidence. Although the system maybe the same, the occurrence/incidence of phonemes in a given lexical item or items is different, and “this difference is not simply a consequence of syllable-position” (Cruttenden 2008, p 83). These differences correspond to the differences in the phonological shape of the representations stored in the speaker’s mental lexicon. (Wells 1982).

NORTH/FORCE The NORTH/FORCE distinction is to a large extent a matter of lexical incidence. It is rather difficult to elicit an all-pervasive rule specifying which words contain /ɒːr/ and which contain /oːr/, because no such rule seems to be pervasive in all instances. Nonetheless, Hickey says that the majority of words with /oːr/ derive from French loanwords in Middle English. This higher vowel would also seem to occur preferentially before /_rt, _rs/ or just /_r/, whereas the lower vowel, /ɒːr/ predominates in pre-nasal positions, i.e. before /_rn/ (Hickey 2007). RP speakers who would wish to adopt an Irish accent would in this case have to learn by heart all the individual items in which the relevant phonemes occur so they could substitute them for their /ɔ:/ appropriately. Below we present some words that belong to each of the sets: NORTH /ɒːr/: horse, gorse, Morse, Norse, born, corn, scorn, absorb, fork, lord FORCE /oːr/ : court, sport, force, forge, fort, port, source, fore, lore, pore, score, hoarse

/ʊ/ vs /u:/ Irish English and RP both have the contrasting phonemes /ʊ/ and /u:/ in their inventory, as in put and boot respectively. The lexical distribution of these phonemes in the two accents correspond on the whole. But there are a few words that in RP belong with the lexical set FOOT but in Irish English they retain the historical /u:/. Among them are for example book /bu:k/, cook /ku:k/, crook /kru:k/, brook /bru:k/, look /lu:k/, rook /ru:k/, hook /hu:k/, and other words with the spelling -ook.

LOT/CLOTH In Irish English a phonemic opposition is established in pairs such as stock-stalk, knotty-naughty, clod-clawed, collar-collar. But some varieties and especially Dublin English have a long vowel /ɒ:/, typical for the lexical set THOUGHT, in words such as doll and was. RP normally contains /ɒ/ in both LOT and CLOTH words. Some other words which belong to this CLOTH lexical set follows: off, cough, trough , broth, froth, cross,

35 across, loss, floss, toss, soft, croft, lost, cost, frost, gone, moth, boss, long, strong, wrong, song, thong, coffee. Wells (1982) reports that some of these words might be subject to free variation, meaning that one speaker may fluctuate between both /ɒ/ and /ɒ:/.

Many and Any Hughes (1979) and Wells (1982) both report the use of /æ/, instead of /ɛ/, in words many and any. In Dublin English, however, many is said to have /ɛ/, just like RP, while anything fluctuates between the two possibilities.

PRIDE/PRICE For some speakers the retraction of the starting point to [ɑɪ] may take place but only when it is stressed and followed by a voiced consonant or a word boundary, as in pride. Hickey explains that such speakers have a conditional realization of /aɪ/ similar to that in so-called Canadian Raising. (Hickey 2007)

Jaysus Wells (1982) mentions one rather recessive feature that may occur in rural or conservative working-class urban varieties. It retains the historical pronunciation in words such as steal and meat, making them homophonous with stale and mate respectively, hence /ste:l/ and /me:t/. The most common items in which /e:/ instead of /i:/ may still be reported are leave /le:v/, meat /me:t/, eat /e:t/, beat /be:t/, cheat /tʃe:t/, tea /te:/, mean /me:n/, easy /e:zi/, quay /ke:/, treat /tre:t/, either /e:dr/, and Jesus /dʒe:zəs/.

Aunt vs. Ant For most Irish people aunt and ant are homophones, i.e. /ænt/. Only sophisticated middle-class Dubliner seem to distinguish in pronunciation between aunt /a:nt/ and ant /ænt/, just like RP does.

Auld The vowels /aʊ/ and /oʊ/ (or in more vernacular varieties /o:/ ) normally stand in opposition to each other. However, there is one characteristically Irish peculiarity of lexical incidence where /aʊ/ rather than /oʊ/ is used before /_ld/ in certain words, especially old and bold. Wells says that with old it may be restricted to humorous and non-literal use, as the oul’ fella [aʊ]. He talks about two distinct words old: “one is vaguely self-deprecating, but otherwise virtually meaningless, and pronounced with the MOUTH vowel; the other is the ordinary word, pronounced with the GOAT vowel. Where’s my [aʊl] coat? may thus mean something different from Where’s my [oʊld] coat. (Wells 1982, p 427)

2.7. Suprasegmentals Authors agree that prosodic features , such as rhythm, stress, intonation and voice quality, play an important role in distinguishing between accents. However, Wells expresses regrets that a coherent account has not been given yet about how these vary from accent to accent (1982).

Stress patterning By far the most conspicuous prosodic difference between Irish English and RP are the non-standard stress patterns in the former. It typically involves the placement of stress on the last syllable (sometimes called a heavy syllable) of a trisyllabic form, usually a verb, e.g. eduˈcate, adverˈtise, reaˈlise, investiˈgate, distriˈbute, concenˈtrate, recoˈgnize, subseˈquently, speciaˈlise (Hickey 2007). Wells (1982) states that stress patterning in Irish English is flexible in general and all the verbs mentioned above can also be heard with the stress placement identical to RP.

Intonation Intonation of southern Irish English is one of the areas which has been studied very little. Nevertheless, those studies that have been carried out did not reveal any striking differences from RP. Wells (1982) mentions one difference of some importance, that in Irish English yes/no questions are usually uttered with a low-fall nuclear tone, as against the low-rise of RP. In 2004, Esther Grabe published findings of the IViE project (Intonational Variation in English) conducted between years 1997 and 2002. They collected a comparable speech data from several dialects of English spoken in the British Isles, including Dublin English, with the aim to provide linguistic analyses of intonation patterns in the corpus and a comparison of intonational variation between accents in statements, wh-questions, yes/no questions and declarative questions. The results for Dublin English showed that declarative sentences where produced with a falling nuclear tone in 94% of cases. The remaining 6% involved a rising nuclear tone. For wh-questions, 77% of wh-questions were produced with a falling tone, 5.6% with a fall-rise tone, and 16.7% with a rising tone. 68% of Yes/no questions were produced with a falling tone, 15.8% with a fall-rise, and 15.8% with a rise. Declarative questions were produced with a rising nuclear tone in 50% of cases, 27.8% had a falling tone, 22.2% had a rise-fall (Grabe 2004).

3. Practical part The practical part consists of two main section. In the first section I present the results of a comprehensive analysis which examines the use of the distinctive features of Irish accent in the speech of three native Irish speakers and compares them to Received Pronunciation. The second section presents a 45 minute long lesson plan on the Irish accent with suggested exercises for intermediate (B2) learners.

3.1 Methodology In this section, the most important features of the supraregional Irish English, described in the theoretical part, will be illustrated on speech of three native Irish speakers. At the very beginning, I was deciding between two possible ways of collecting the data for analysis. The first and a popular method is to record native speakers reading one and the same text. The advantage of this method is that the text can be designed so that it contains all the desired keywords for analysis and the data from different speakers are directly comparable to one another. I refused this method because it does not produce a natural, spontaneous flow of speech. When reading a text, and especially under the circumstances of being recorded at it, people tend to use the “reading voice” and may unconsciously change their pronunciation in order to make it more understandable for general public so in result they do not sound like their natural selves. For this reason, I chose the road less travelled and decided to analyse chunks of spoken text extracted from films and TV productions, as I believe that the Irish actors playing Irish characters are a better source of the spontaneous and authentic Irish accent. However, the disadvantage of this method is that films and TV shows never contain long monologues with all the keywords suitable for analysis. That is why the distinctive features of the Irish accent will be demonstrated on a series of isolated sentences taken from across the whole film or TV show seasons. The table below presents information about the speakers whose speech was analysed; their names, gender, age at the time of

39 making, places of origin, and names of the films/tv shows from which the samples were taken.

Table 6 – Basic information about the analysed speakers

Speaker Name Gender Age Place Source

1 Ardal O'Hanlon M 30 Co. Monaghan “Father Ted”

2 Chris O'Dowd M 28 Co. Roscommon “IT Crowd”

“The Guard”/”In 3 Brandan Gleeson M 54 Dublin Bruges”

I soon learned that simple watching the film/TV show and waiting for the desired phenomena to occur is very difficult and time-consuming since there were about twenty features I was looking for and focusing on all of them at once proved impossible. Should anybody after me attempt to analyze any kind of accent in films and TV shows I devised the following method which considerably accelerates the process of searching for the distinctive phonetic-phonological phenomena. I downloaded the appropriate subtitles from opensubtitles.org in .srt format that can be imported to a word processor (e.g. Microsoft Word). Once opened in Word, I used the “find” tool to look for clusters of letters which are usually realised as one of the sounds in question. For example, when I was looking for a word where the sound from the lexical set NEAR could occur, I was trying the following combinations one by one: -ere-,-eer-, -ier-, -ear-, -eri-. I had to check whether it is used by one of the speakers and whether the feature is clearly audible and without any background noise (like canned laughter, music, etc.). To locate the utterance in the actual footage was easy since the .srt file also contains times of appearance of the subtitles on screen. Once I found a representative sample I could proceed to the actual analysis.

The analysis was carried out directly from the video files, prior to any kind of editing, to avoid the risk of possible quality loss due to sound compression that could have taken place during the process of audio extraction or cropping. Besides, for illustrating certain features it is important to observe the lip movements of the speakers. For the analysis I used in-ear headphones, sometimes also known as canalphones, which are inserted in the ear canal itself. They allow the sound to go directly in the ear canals without any loss. By obstructing the ear canals, they also block out any possible environmental noise which could negatively affect the analysis. With the headphones on, I listened to the whole utterance repeatedly, focusing on every single word and especially on the keywords, so that a complete phonetic transcription could be provided. I was constantly switching between video files and examined the focused phonetic- phonological feature in all speakers at once so that I could detect any possible differences between them. I was also comparing it to the RP pronunciation that I found in the online version of Cambridge Dictionary8. After the analyses, the audio tracks were extracted from the video files using the converting tool of VLC media player v. 1.1.11 and saved as mp3. The audio tracks were subsequently cropped in the sound editing software Audacity v. 2.02 so that they would contain only the analysed samples. The samples were then burned on a CD which is enclosed with this work.

3.2 Results This part aims to describe the analyses of the samples and present their results. The structure of this section draws from the theoretical part so each of the chosen phonetic-phonological features will be examined individually. At the beginning of each sub-section dedicated to one of the distinctive features of the Irish accent, I provide a complete orthographic and phonetic transcription of the samples for all speakers. Stress marks are used only in words where the stress does not

8 http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/ 41 fall on the first syllable. In the orthography, the target words are underlined. The IPA transcriptions of the keywords, where the distinctive feature occurs, are then summarised in tables and sorted according to their speakers. The tables also contain a column for RP to allow a direct comparison of the keywords with their RP equivalents. The RP transcription was taken from the Cambridge Dictionary Oline. In the case of vowels, we provide their approximate location on the vowel diagram as it is the best way to illustrate the nature of the sound, provided that readers are familiar with the system of cardinal vowels. The findings, summarised in tables, are subsequently commented on and the results are presented.

3.2.1 Systemic differences In this section, we are going to listen to audio recordings of the three speakers in order to inspect the differences in the phonemic inventory of Irish English. Firstly, we will demonstrate the absence of centring diphthongs /ɪə, eə, ʊə/ in lexical sets NEAR, SQUARE, CURE. Then we shall have a look at the distinction of lexical sets START /ɑ:/ vs. BATH /a:/, NORTH /ɒ:/ vs. FORCE /o:/ and WITCH /w/ vs. WHICH /hw/.

3.2.1.1 Absence of centring diphthongs NEAR Speaker 1: Well, it's not usually serious, is it, Ted? I mean, I was hit by lightning a few times, I never had to go to hospital. [wɛl ɪts nɒt ju:ʒuəli si:riəs ɪz ɪt tɛd | aɪ mi:n aɪ wəz hɪt baɪ ə laɪtnɪn ə fju: taɪmz | aɪ nɛvɚ hæd tə goʊ tə hɒspɪtl] Speaker 2: Oh really? Really, why don't you come down here and make me then? [o: ri:li waɪ doˑntʃʊ kʌm daʊn hi:r ənd me:k mi dɛn] Speaker 3: Just forget about home for a while, see how the land lies in six years, seven years. [dʒəst fəgɛt əˈbaʊt hoʊm fər ə hwaɪl | si: haʊ də lænd laɪz ɪn sɪks ji:rz | sevn ji:rz]

SQUARE Speaker 1: Well Ted, to be fair now, it is a bit weird you happened to think of it as well. [wɛl tɛd | tə bi fe:r næʊ | ɪt ɪz ə bɪt wi:rdʒʊ hæpnd tə tʰɪŋk ɒv ɪt əz wɛl] Speaker 2: And we are perfectly fine down here, thank you very much. We're more than capable of taking care of ourselves. [ænd wi: ɑ:r pɚ:rfɛktli faɪn daʊn hi:r θæŋk jʊ vɛri mʌtʃ | wi:r mo:r dən ke:pəbl əv te:kɪŋ ke:r ɒv aʊɚˈsɛlvz] Speaker 3: There was this sort of freezing for hanging over everything, and it made it look almost like a fairytale or something. [dɚ wəz dɪs | sɒ:rt əv fri:zɪn fɒg hæŋɪn oʊvɚ ɛvritʰɪŋ | ænd ɪt me:d ɪt lʊk ɒ:lmoʊst laɪk ə fe:rite:l ɚ sʌmtɪn]

CURE Speaker 1: I thought there was something up with the holy stone alright. Wasn’t someone cured there? [aɪ tʰɒ:t dɚ wəz sʌmtɪn ʌp wɪ də hoʊli stoʊn ɒ:lˈraɪt | wɒznt sʌmwʌn kju:rd de:r] Speaker 2: Ok. Now, I'm curious. Give us a look at the picture then. [oʊke: naʊ aɪm kju:riəs | gɪv əs ə lʊk ət də pɪktʃɚ dɛn] Speaker 3: You’re about the worst tourist in the whole world. [ju:r əˈbæʊt də wɚ:rst tu:rɪst ɪn də hoʊl wɚ:rld]

Table 7 – Absence of centring diphthongs

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

NEAR /sɪəriəs, hɪə, jɪəz/ [si:riəs] [hi:r] [ji:rz]

/feə, keə, SQUARE [fe:r] [ke:r] [fe:rite:l] feəriteɪl/

/kjʊəd, kjʊəriəs, CURE [kju:rd] [kju:riəs] [ju:r, tu:rɪst] jʊə, tʊərɪst/

From Table 6 we can read that there are no centring diphthongs in Irish English.

Where RP has centring diphthongs /ɪə, eə, ʊə/, Irish English has a long monophthongs /i:, e:, u:/ respectively, followed by /r/. The phonemes for the long monophthongs found in lexical sets NEAR, SQUARE and CURE are therefore identical to those in FLEECE, FACE and GOOSE, i.e. /ni:r, fli:s/, /skwe:r, fe:s/, /kju:r, gu:s/, although, the actual phonetic realisations might be slightly different.

3.2.1.2 START vs. BATH Speaker 1: a) Ted, we hardly even know him when you think about it. Does he have much a family? [tɛd wi hɑ:rdli i:vn noʊ ɪm hwɛn ju tʰɪŋk əˈbaʊt ɪt | dəz hi hæv mʌtʃ əv ə fæmli] b) Last year I had a go at the horse riding and it was just fantastic. [la:stʃi:r aɪ həd ə goʊ ət də hɒ:rs raɪdɪŋ ænd ɪt wəz dʒʌst fænˈtæstɪk] Speaker 2: a) He bought the tickets on the phone when we were in the pub, I could hardly say no, could I? [hi bɒ:t də tɪkɪts ɒn də fo:n wɛn wi wər ɪn də pʌb | aɪ kʊd hɑ:rdli se: no: | kʊd aɪ] b) No, that’s the music you hear when...I’m sorry, are you from the past? [no: dæts də mju:zɪk jʊ hi:r wɛn | aɪm sɒri ɑ:r jʊ from də pa:st] Speaker 3: a) Couldn’t get enough of it, the medieval part of town. [kʊdnt gɛt ɪnʌf əv ɪt | də mɛdɪi:vl pæ:rt əv taʊn] b) The things that have gone between us in the past. [də θɪŋz dət həv gɒn bɪˈtwi:n əs ɪn də pa:st]

Table 8 – START vs. BATH

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

START /hɑːdli, pɑːt/ [hɑ:rdli] [hɑ:rdli] [pæ:rt]

BATH /lɑːst, pɑːst/ [la:st] [pa:st] [pa:st]

Table 8 demonstrates that RP shares the same vowel, /ɑː/ in both lexical sets START and BATH. Irish English, on the other hand, shows a distinctive vowel quality in the given lexical sets. For START words, it is [ɑ:] with Speakers 1 and 2. Speaker 3 shows a more fronted and slightly raised realisation, [æ:], which corresponds with the local Dublin pronunciation. The BATH lexical set contains a fronted open vowel /a:/ with all speakers. Since we already have these lexical sets here, we will also mark the approximate phonetic realisations on a vowel diagram. The positions for RP are taken from Crystal (2003). The positions for Irish English are roughly estimated by the author. A black dot represents the realisation in RP and green dots with numbers correspond to Speakers 1, 2 and 3. Where there are no numbers, the green dot refers to all or the remaining Speakers.

START BATH

3.2.1.3 NORTH vs. FORCE Speaker 1: a) Ted, look, there’s a fortune teller! Come on. We’ll have one go in there. [tɛd lʊk dɚz ə fɒ:rtʃən tɛlɚ | kʌm ɒn wil həv wʌn goʊ ɪn de:r] b) God, I’m not reading that book any more. [gɒd aɪm nɒt ri:dn dæt bʊk ɛni mo:r] Speaker 2: a) Didn’t know what a stress machine was this morning and now we have two of them. [dɪdnt no: wɒt ə strɛs məˈʃi:n wɒz dɪs mɒ:rnɪŋ ænd naʊ wi həv tu əv dəm] b) At least everything is back to normal, as long as no one goes through that door. [li:st ɛvritɪŋ ɪz bæk tə nɒ:rml | əz ˈlɒŋ əz no: wʌn go:z tru: dæt do:r] Speaker 3: a) And this morning, and this afternoon, we are doing what I want to do. [ænd dɪs mɒ:rnɪŋ | ænd dɪs a:ftɚnu:n| wi: ər du:ɪŋ | wɒt aɪ wɒnt tə du:] b) Anything else? You’re boring the hole off me. [ɛniθɪŋ ɛls | jɚ bo:rɪŋ də ho:l ɒf mi]

Table 9 – NORTH vs. FORCE

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

NORTH /ˈfɔːtʃuːn, [fɒ:rtʃən] [mɒ:rnɪŋ] [mɒ:rnŋ] mɔːnɪŋ/

FORCE /mɔː, dɔː, [mo:r] [do:r] [bo:rɪŋ] bɔːrɪŋ/

In Table 8 we can see that in RP, the lexical sets NORTH and FORCE contain the same vowel phoneme, /ɔː/. However, the recordings analysis confirmed the NORTH/FORCE distinction at all three Irish speakers. In words fortune and morning, RP /ɔː/ corresponds to Irish English /ɒ:/, while in more, door, boring, RP /ɔː/ corresponds to Irish English /o:/. The long monophthong /ɒ:/ in NORTH lexical set is identical to that of

THOUGHT. Therefore the extra phoneme in Irish vowel inventory must be the long monophthong /o:/. Again, since we are already dealing with these lexical sets, it is appropriate at this point to clarify the realisational differences between RP and Irish English. The positions on the vowel chart for Irish English are again only approximate.

NORTH FORCE

We can see that the RP vowel for both lexical sets is positioned between mid-close and mid-open cardinals. From the recordings we can hear that the vowel in words fortune and morning is considerably lowered and in Speakers 1 and 3 quite unrounded, closer to cardinal [ɑ]. Speaker 2 preserves a certain degree of lip rounding. On the other hand, the vowel in words more, door, boring is raised to mid close position, close to cardinal [o]. Perhaps in Speaker 1 the vowel is slightly lowered, [o].

3.2.1.4 WITCH vs. WHICH Speaker 1: Ted, if you had three wishes, what would they be? [ɪf ju həd triː wɪʃɪz | hwɒt wʊd de: bi] Speaker 2: And while I was working on it, she rested a cup on my back. [ænd waɪl aɪ wəz wɚːkɪŋ ɒn ɪt | ʃi rɛstɪd ə kʌp ɒn maɪ bæk] Speaker 3: He was a 1what, er, 2what do you call it? Spastic, yeah. Wheeled off. [hi wəz ə hwɒt | ɚ | wɒt də ju kɒ:l ɪt | spæstɪk je: | hwi:ld ɒf]

Table 10 – WITCH vs. WHICH

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

/wɪʃɪz, wʊd, WITCH [wɪʃɪz, wʊd] [wəz, wɚːkɪŋ] [wəz] wəz, wɜːkɪŋ/

/wɒt, waɪl, [1hwɒt, WHICH [hwɒt] [waɪl] [2wɒt] wi:ld/ hwi:ld]

As we can see, RP uses /w/ in both lexical sets. In the theoretical part, we learned that mainstream Irish English generally distinguishes phonetically between WITCH and WHICH. The voiced labio-velar glide /w/ is to be found in WITCH lexical set. The voiceless labio-velar glide /hw/ is to be found in instances where there is wh- in orthographical transcription, such as which, while, what, etc. However, in Table 9 we can observe some inconsistency in the use of /hw/ between the three speakers. Speaker 1 distinguishes between /w/ and /hw/, hence we can hear the voiced labio-velar glide in words wishes and would and the voiceless glide in what. /hw/ is particularly audible in Speaker 3 in the word wheeled. His use of /hw/ in the first instance of what is less prominent due to a minor voicing of the first segment, yet, it can still be identified as the voiceless labio-velar glide. However, his second instance of what is completely voiced, thus making it sound as /w/. Therefore we must assume that for Speaker 3 the distinction of lexical sets WITCH and WHICH is a matter of free variation. A complete absence of the voiceless labio-velar glide is observed in Speaker 2 who pronounces the words was, working as well as while with the voiced labio-velar glide /w/. According to what Hickey (2007) tells us, it might be a consequence of the Dublin English influence as it tends to lose the WITCH/WHICH distinction by voicing the first segment in which.

3.2.2 Distributional differences In this part, we will analyze recordings in order to find distributional differences. Firstly, we shall explore the phonotactic distribution of /r/. Then, we will continue with the distribution of /j/. Finally, we will have a look at schwa epenthesis.

3.2.2.1 Rhoticity Speaker 1: No, it’s no fair on you. You had your heart set on it. [noʊ | ɪts nɒt fe:r ɒn ju: | ju hədʒɚ hɑːrt sɛt ɒn ɪt] Speaker 2: Yeah, we need to post a classified lonely hearts ad online that makes me sound like a psycho so that I can prove to Jen that all women love bastards and therefore win 20 pounds. [je: | wi niːd tə po:st ə klæsɪfaɪd lo:nli hɑːrts æd ɒnˌlaɪn dət me:ks mi saʊnd laɪk ə saɪko: so: dət aɪ kən pruːv tə dʒɛn dət ɒːl wɪmɪn lʌv baːstɚdz ənd de:rfoːr wɪn twɛnti paʊndz] Speaker 3: I’m Irish, sure. Racism is part of my culture. [aɪm aɪrɪʃ ʃɚː | re:sɪzm ɪz pæːrt əv maɪ kʌltʃɚ]

Table 11 – Distribution of /r/

Position Traditional RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

Pre-consonantal /hɑːt, [hɑːrts, [hɑːrt] [pæːrt] bɑːstəd, pɑːt/ baːstɚdz]

Absolute-final /feə, ðeəfɔː, [fe:r] [de:rfoːr] [ʃɚː, kʌltʃɚ] ʃɔː, kʌltʃə/

Table 10 tells us that traditional RP is non-rhotic because it does not allow occurrence of /r/ in pre-consonantal and absolute final positions. Irish English, on the other hand, permits the distribution of /r/ in both environments, as can be heard in all

Speakers. In words bastards, sir and culture we can hear that the schwa is rhotacised, /ɚ/, as against RP, where there is normal schwa /ə/9. To conclude, we proved that Irish English is firmly rhotic.

3.2.2.2 Yod dropping Speaker 1: No, honestly, I saw it on the news. [noʊ | ɒnɪstli | aɪ sɒː ɪt ɒn də njuːz] Speaker 2: That guy is famous, he’s a mouth. They call him “The News”. [dət ɡaɪ ɪz fe:məs | hiz ə maʊt | deɪ kɒːl ɪm də njuːz]

Speaker 3: They can be deadly weapons, too. What if he knew karate. [de: kən bi dɛdli wɛpənz tuː | wɒt ɪf hi njuː kəˈraːti]

Table 12 – Yod Dropping

RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

/njuːz/ [njuːz] [njuːz] [njuː]

Although the conditions for yod dropping, as outlined in the theoretical part, were met, the deletion of the palatal approximant /j/ does not take place any of the Speakers. The segment before /j/ in our case is the sonorant /n/. For this environment, Hickey (2007) reports the drop of /j/. Yet, in our samples it is underlyingly present in all Speakers. A difference can be detected on the level of actual phonetic realization. In RP, it is realised as two segments, where [n] is followed by [j], thus [nju:z]. In Speakers 1, 2 and 3, however, we can hear that the palatal approximant /j/ is merged with /n/ to yield a palatal nasal [ɲ], thus [ɲu:z].

9 Despite the use of the phonemic symbol /ɜ:/ in RP, its actual phonetic realisation is [ə:] 50

3.2.2.3 Schwa epenthesis Speaker 1: Or maybe we should just stay and see a bit of the film first. [ɒr me:bi wi ʃəd dʒəst ste: ən siː ə bɪt əv də fɪləm fɚːst] Speaker 2: I really have to see this film soon. [aɪ ri:li hæv tə si: dɪs fɪlm su:n] Speaker 3: Are you just going to list the whole lot of film titles with numbers in them [ju: dʒəst ɡo:ən tə lɪst də ho:l lɒt əv fɪləm taɪtlz wɪd nʌmbɚz ɪn dəm]

Table 13 – Schwa epenthesis

Word RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

film /fɪlm/ [fɪləm] [fɪlm] [fɪləm]

To sum up, we found that schwa epenthesis comes into operation only with Speakers 1 and 3, where the schwa is inserted in the cluster of sonorants /l/ and /m/, thus making the sonorants belong to different syllables, [.fɪl.əm.]. In the same environment, Speaker 2 does not demonstrate this schwa insertion and pronounces it in the same manner as RP /.fɪlm./. According to Hickey (2007), schwa epenthesis is a prominent phonological process in most varieties of Irish English (p 307). We are unable to tell whether the absence of this process in Speaker 2 should be interpreted as a feature applying to a whole regional or social variety, or whether it is an idiosyncratic manifestation of that one person.

3.2.3 Realisational differences This part will analyse the samples for differences on the level of phonetic realisation. We will start with vowels and then proceed with consonants. The symbols for allophonic variations are used only in the words of focus. The realisation of vowels will be demonstrated via the location on the vowel diagram and compared to RP, where the

51 black dot again represents the realisation in RP and green dots with possible numbers will indicate Speakers 1, 2 and 3.

3.2.3.1 TRAP Speaker 1: The ants are back, Ted. [di ants ɚ bak tɛd] Speaker 2: And while I was working on it, she rested a cup on my back. [and waɪl aɪ wəz wɚːkɪŋ ɒn ɪt | ʃi rɛstɪd ə kʌp ɒn maɪ bak] Speaker 3: You’re not gonna bring that boy back. [jur nɒt gɒnə brɪŋ dət bɔɪ bæk]

Table 14 – TRAP

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

TRAP /bæk/ [antz, bak] [bak] [bæk]

In the TRAP lexical set we found that the lower vowel [a], typical of mainstream Irish varieties, is particularly audible with Speakers 1 and 2. Speaker 3 uses a slightly retracted form of RP /æ/, thus [æ].

3.2.3.2 LOT Speaker 1: I mean, I was hit by lightning a few times, I never had to go to hospital. [aɪ mi:n aɪ wəz hɪt baɪ ə laɪtnɪn ə fju: taɪmz | aɪ nɛvɚ hæd tə goʊ tə hɑspɪtl]

Speaker 2: I don’t know if it’s the loss of blood or the melting plastic from the monitor but I feel great. [aɪ dəʊnt nəʊ ɪf ɪts də lɑs əv blʌd ɚ də mɛltɪŋ plæstɪk frəm də mɑnɪṱɚ bət aɪ fiːl ɡre:ṱ] Speaker 3: He was just a lollipop man. He came at me with a bottle. [hi wəz dʒəst ə lɑlipɑp mæn | he keɪm ət mi wɪd ə bɑtl]

Table 15 – LOT

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

/hɒspɪtl, lɒs, mɒnɪtə, LOT [hɑspɪtl] [lɑs, mɑnɪṱɚ] [lɑlipɑp, bɑtl] lɒlipɒp, bɒtl/

For the LOT lexical set, we confirmed that RP and Irish English differ only in the degree of roundedness. Irish English contains the unrounded vowel [ɑ], as against RP [ɒ]. The unroundedness is particularly audible with Speaker 2 in the word loss.

3.2.3.3 STRUT Speaker 1: I’d love that cup. [aɪd lʌv dat kʌp] Speaker 2: The picture on the cup. [də pɪktʃɚ ɒn də kʌp] Speaker 3: I’ll head back in a couple of hours or something. [aɪl hɛd bæk ɪn ə kʌpl əv aʊɚz ɚ sʌmtɪn]

Table 16 – STRUT

Lesical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

STRUT [lav, kap, kapl] [lʌv, kʌp] [kʌp] [kʌpl]

For some reason, RP phonological transcription of this lexical set established the use of the symbol /ʌ/, thus /strʌt/. However, this is rather misleading from the phonetic point of view since the cardinal [ʌ] is a back, open-mid vowel and as we can see from the diagram, RP /ʌ/ is in fact a central vowel [a], with a neutral lip position (Roach 2000). In our comparison we must insist on the transcription [a] for RP to distinct from the Irish English [ʌ], which is actually closer to the open-mid back cardinal [ʌ], as was confirmed in all Speakers. A slight degree of rounding can be heard.

3.2.3.4 FACE Speaker 1: I didn’t even shave this morning. [aɪ dɪdn t iːvn ʃe:v dɪs mɒːnɪn] Speaker 2: We’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves. [wir mo:r dən ke:pəbl əv te:kɪŋ ke:r ɒv aʊɚˈsɛlvz] Speaker 3: I know I’m awake but I feel like I’m in a dream. [aɪ noʊ aɪm əˈweɪk bʌt aɪ fiːl laɪk aɪm ɪn ə driːm]

Table 17 - FACE

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

/ʃeɪv, keɪpəbl, FACE [ʃe:v] [ke:pəbl, te:kɪŋ] [əˈweɪk] əˈweɪk/

The recordings confirmed the long monophthong, [e:], only in Speakers 1 and 2, as can be heard in words shave [ʃe:v], capable [ke:pəbl] and taking [te:kɪŋ]. Speaker 3 realises the vowel in FACE words as a closing diphthong [eɪ], identical to that found in RP, thus awake [əˈweɪk]. The starting point of the diphthong is lower than the appropriate long monophthong. The long monophthong [e:] is the normal realisation in southern Irish English. Of all sources, only Hughes (2005) reports the possibility of a narrow diphthong [eɪ] in Dublin English.

3.2.3.5 GOAT Speaker 1: God, Ted, I’m so sorry. It was just a joke. [gɒd tɛd | aɪm soʊ sɒri | ɪt wəz dʒʌst a dʒoʊk] Speaker 2: I don’t like goat’s anything! I don’t like goats being involved in any stage of the food production process. [aɪ dont laɪk ɡo:ts ɛniθɪŋ | aɪ dont laɪk ɡo:ts biːɪŋ ɪnˈvɒlvd ɪn ɛni ste:dʒ əv də fuːd prəˈdʌkʃn pro:sɛs] Speaker 3: He put a loaded gun to his head this morning. [hi pʊt ə lo(ʊ)dɪd ɡʌn tu hɪz hɛd dɪs mɒːrnɪŋ]

Table 18 – GOAT

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

/səʊ, dʒəʊk, GOAT gəʊts, prəʊses, [soʊ, dʒoʊk] [ɡo:ts, pro:sɛs] [lo(ʊ)dɪd] ləʊdɪd/

A diphthongal realisation is audible with Speakers 1 and 3, who both have the starting point near the cardinal [o]. However, in Speaker 3 the diphthongization is not carried out entirely, there is only a slight indication towards [ʊ], as can be heard in the word loaded [lo(ʊ)dɪd]. Speaker 2 shows the long monopthong [o:], which is typical of rural and vernacular varieties outside Dublin, thus [ɡo:ts, pro:sɛs].

3.2.3.6 /t/ realisations Speaker 1: a) God, it’s lovely out. [gɒd ɪts lʌvli aʊṱ] b) Will I put more water in and turn it on again? [wɪl aɪ pʊt moː wɒ:ṱər ɪn ənd tɚːn ɪt ɒn əˈɡɛn] Speaker 2: a) No indication whatsoever. He just kissed me on my bottom. Out of nowhere. [no: ˌɪndɪˈke:ʃn ˌwɒtso:ˈɛvɚ | hi dʒʌst kɪst mi ɒn maɪ bɒṱəm | aʊṱ əv no:we:r] b) And I’ll tell you something. This is not the last he has heard of me. [ənd aɪl tɛl ju sʌmtʰɪŋ | dɪs ɪz nɒt də laːst hi həz hɚːd əv miː] Speaker 3: a) We're not staying here getting pissed. [wir nɒt ste:ɪŋ hir ɡetn pɪst]

b) Well, you’ve picked up a very pretty prostitute. [wɛl juv pɪkt ʌp ə vɛri prɪɾi prɒstɪtjuːʔ]

Various realisations of /t/ in the recordings are presented in Table 12 and sorted according to Speakers and the environment in which they occur.

Table 19 – Realisations of /t/

Position Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

Word initial [tɚːn] [tɛl] -

Intervocalic [wɑ:ṱər] [bɑṱəm] [ɡetn, prɪɾi]

Word-final [aʊṱ] [aʊṱ] [prɑstɪtjuːʔ]

Pre-consonantal [ɪts] [ˌwɑtso:ˈɛvɚ] -

Post-consonantal - [laːst] [ste:ɪŋ]

Table 17 exhibits a wide range of /t/ realisations in different positions and different speakers. Although we are missing the data for Speaker 3 in our sample for word-initial position, the realisation there is always an alveolar stop, [t], as is heard in Speakers 1 and 2. In intervocalic position, all speakers show some degree of lenition. In Speaker 2, the lenition does not go beyond a voiceless apico-alveolar fricative [ṱ]. For Speaker 1, we used the same symbol, but the realisation is in fact halfway between [ṱ] and the glottal fricative [h]. Although it is less audible, Speaker 3 does not show any degree of lenition in the word getting, but a lenition in the form of a slight tapping can be heard in the word pretty [prɪɾi].

Word-finally, Speakers 1 and 2 have the same voiceless apico-alveolar fricative, [ṱ], while in Speaker 3 the lenition goes even further, towards the removal of the oral gesture, to glottal stop [ʔ]. The available data for pre-consonantal and post consonantal positions show the use of alveolar stop /t/. To summarise Table 17, we found that a certain degree of lenition occurs in intervocalic and word-final positions. All other environments demonstrated the alveolar stop /t/. Nevertheless, we must not think of our findings as universal rules. It is very probable that the degree of lenition fluctuates even within one speaker and could be driven by further conditioned environments. We also found that lenition does not always show clear-cut boundaries between its stages and should therefore be treated more as a continuous scale.

3.2.3.7 Th- realisations Speaker 1: Ted, if you had three wishes, what would they be? [ɪf ju həd triː wɪʃɪz | hwɒt wʊd de: bi] Speaker 2: Actually you know what? That doesn't really work as a thing...because jam lasts for ages. [æktʃuəli ju no: wɒt | dət dʌznt ri:li wɚːk əz ə tʰɪŋ | bɪkəz dʒæm laːsts fər e:dʒɪz] Speaker 3: It was just that initial, dual carriageway thing sort of put him off for a second. [ɪt wəz dʒʌst dæṱ ɪˈnɪʃl | dʒu:əl kærɪdʒweɪ θɪŋ sɒ:rtə pʊt hɪm ɒf fər ə sɛkənd]

Table 20 – Realisations of th-

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

THIN /θriː, θɪŋ/ [triː] [tʰɪŋ] [θɪŋ]

THIS /ðeɪ, ðæt/ [de:] [dət] [dæṱ]

Both RP and Irish English realise the orthographical thin two ways, as the THIN and THIS lexical sets suggest. In Table 18, we can read that RP contains the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ in THIN words and the voiced dental fricative /ð/ in THIS words, as is demonstrated in /θriː, θɪŋ/ and /ðeɪ, ðæt/. In Speakers 1 and 2, we hear that the manner of articulation is changed from fricatives to plosives. Therefore in words three and thing, we hear the voiceless dental stop [t] and the voiced dental stop [d] in they and that. Speaker 3 shows this “th- fortition” only in the THIS lexical set, therefore [dæṱ] (also notice that the final segment is lenited to fricative [ṱ]; In Speaker 3 we did not observe this degree of lenition in recordings under Chapter 3.2.3.6 and it only proves that the degrees of /t/ lenition fluctuate even within one person). In the word thin, however, we hear the voiceless dental fricative [θ], just like in RP. Hickey (2007 reports that [θ] can be heard with some speakers, but ONLY word finally “as an approximation to standard English in careful speech or in a reading style” (Hickey 2007, p 330). The initial use of [θ] in thin could therefore be viewed as an idiosyncratic feature of Speaker 3 rather than as a feature pervading a whole regional or social variety.

3.2.3.8 Realisation of /l/ Speaker 1: Well, it wasn’t a real horse, Ted. Like...It was this old fellow with a saddle on him. [wɛl ɪt wɒznt ə ri:l hɒːrs | tɛd | laɪk | ɪt wəz dɪs oʊld fɛlə wɪd ə sædl ɒn ɪm] Speaker 2: I don’t know if it’s the loss of blood or the melting plastic from the mɒnitor but I feel great. [aɪ dəʊnt nəʊ ɪf ɪts də lɑs əv blʌd ɚ də mɛltɪŋ plæstɪk frəm də mɒnɪṱɚ bət aɪ fiːl ɡre:ṱ] Speaker 3: a) Harry called last night. [hæri kɒːld laːst naɪt] b) You were gonna kill yourself. [ju wɚ ɡɒnə kɪl jɚˈsɛlf]

Table 21 – Realisations of /l/

Lexical set RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

LOOK /laɪk, felə, lɒs, [laɪk, fɛlə] [lɑs, blʌd] [laːst] blʌd, lɑ:st/

/weɫ, rɪəɫ, əʊɫd, RAIL meɫtɪŋ, fi:ɫ, kɪɫ, [wɛl, ri:l, oʊld] [mɛltɪŋ, fiːl] [kɪl, jɚˈsɛlf] jəˈseɫf/

The lexical sets LOOK and RAIL in Table 19 stand for different positions where different allophones of /l/ can be found in RP. As we can see in the column for RP, clear [l] is found only before vowels. In other environments, RP uses the dark, velarised form of l, [ɫ], as is demonstrated in words such as [weɫ, rɪəɫ, meɫtɪŋ]. The analysis of the samples showed that the dark [ɫ] is not present with either of the Speakers and that they all use the clear, alveolar lateral [l] not only pre-vocalically, but also pre-pausally and pre-consonantally.

3.2.4 Lexical differences From lexical differences, we shall have a look at the possible retention of /e:/ in the exclamation of Jesus and then we will see if there is any difference in the pronunciation of words many and any.

3.2.4.1 Jaysus Speaker 2: Oh no! Jesus! /o: no: | dʒi:zəs/ Speaker 3: Jesus, he gave him a hell of a clout. /dʒe:zəs hi ge:v hɪm ə hɛləvə klaʊt/

Table 22 – Jaysus

Word RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

Jesus /dʒiː.zəs/ - [dʒi:zəs] [dʒe:zəs]

The historical /e:/ is a receding feature and is now usually audible, if at all, only in the exclamation of the word Jesus, as is demonstrated by Speaker 3, [dʒe:zəs]. Speaker 2 shows the same pronunciation as RP, [dʒiːzəs]. We lack sufficient data for Speaker 1, most likely because his character is a catholic priest and they tend to avoid the use of Lord’s name in vain.

3.2.4.2 Many and Any Speaker 1: Is it any good, do you know? /ɪz ɪt æni ɡʊd | du jə noʊ/ Speaker 2: Many people come down here to visit. /mɛni pi:pl kʌm daʊn hi:r tu vɪzɪt/ Speaker 3: Not many people. /nɒt mɛni pi:pl/

Table 23 – Many/Any

Word RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

Many/Any /eni, meni/ [æni] [mɛni] [mɛni]

The incidence of /æ/ in many/any has been found only in Speaker 1, [æni]. Speakers 2 and 3 do not show this lexical difference and pronounce it with the standard /ɛ/, which is usually acceptable in Dublin English.

3.2.5 Suprasegmentals In this part we shall analyse the recordings for possible unusual stress patterning in trisyllabic verbs.

Speaker 1: On this day, Galway liberated from Indians. /ɒn dɪs de: | ɡɒːlwe: ˈlɪbəre:tɪd frəm ɪndiənz/ Speaker 2: I can help you with all this other stuff, you know, give you some tips on business and presentation, leaving you free to concentrate on this. /aɪ kən hɛlp ju wɪd ɒ:l dɪs ʌdɚ stʌf | ju no: | ɡɪv ju səm tɪps ɒn bɪznɪs ənd ˌpreznˈte:ʃn | liːvɪŋ ju: friː tə ˈkɒnsəntre:t ɒn dɪs/ Speaker 3: Just didn’t realise. /dʒəst dɪdnt ˌriəˈlaɪz/

Table 24 – Stress patterning

RP Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

/ˈlɪbəreɪtɪd, [ˈlɪbəre:tɪd] [ˈkɒnsəntre:t] [ˌriəˈlaɪz] ˈkɒnsəntreɪt, ˈrɪəlaɪz/

In the theoretical part, we learned that Irish English has a very flexible stress patterning and allows stress to be place on the last syllable of a trisyllabic form, usually a verb. In the samples, we found stress on the last syllable only in Speaker 3 in the word reaˈlise. Speakers 1 and 2 did not show any difference in the stress placement.

3.3 Lesson plan One of the main ideas of this thesis is to put the topic, distinctive features of Irish accent, into context of second language teaching. The point of this part is therefore to suggest a 45 minute long lesson plan on the Irish accent that could be introduced in higher grades of secondary education, to intermediate learners. It will be built around the handout that is presented at the end of this section and will also cover methodological support for the individual exercises. The exercises in the handout are based mostly on listening activities and are designed to introduce the area of English accents to learners, to get them familiar with the Irish accent in particular and to let them discover its most prominent features for themselves. The recordings for listening are taken from various films and TV shows and can be found on the enclosed CD. For the purpose of the lesson we chose only those distinctive features of Irish accent that we consider the most prominent ones and that could be easily discernible by learners. They are the following: th- fortition in THIN [tʰɪn], /t/ frication in GET [geṱ], the distinction of WITCH /witʃ/ and WHICH /hwitʃ/, the long monopthong in FACE /fe:s/, and the retraction and possible rounding in STRUT [strʌt]. Since the area of English accents is a marginal topic, learners should be informed of the fun and playful nature of the whole lesson so that it can be carried out in a relaxed atmosphere.

Head of the Lesson Plan Topic: English Accents, Irish accent Time: 45-60 minutes Level: Intermediate (B2) and above Materials: the handout, the CD with audio recordings, a CD player, a map of Europe/Ireland, a blackboard

Aims: After completing the lesson, the students will know the most prominent features of Irish accent. They will be able to recognize an Irish accent and they will also be able to understand it.

Body of the lesson plan Introduction (5 min): At the beginning, the teacher will say that the topic of the lesson will be English accents and one accent in particular (may be revealed immediately or after the first exercise). The teacher should check first that students understand the basic terms. Let them make pairs and give them 2 minutes to discuss the following questions: What is an accent? What is the difference between “accent” and “dialect”. After 2 minutes, the teacher elicits some of their ideas and correct them if necessary. Some follow-up questions to the students can be: Do you have an accent? What English accents do you know?

Exercise 1 (8 minutes): The main purpose of the first listening is to illustrate that there exist more than one English accent. Tell the students that they will hear 5 different accents of English and let them try to match the samples with their appropriate accents. Assure them that you expect nothing more than a wild guesswork, that this is supposed to be just a funny game. After the listening, check for the correct answers, e.g. “Which accent was number 1?” “Irish.” “Raise your hands those who think it was an Irish accent!”. When they learn the correct answers, let them listen to it once more. Answer key: 1. American, 2. Irish, 3. Liverpool, 4. London Posh, 5. Scottish

After the exercise, tell the students that this lesson will focus on the Irish accent. In agreement with the interdisciplinary approach to teaching, the teacher might find out their preconceptions about Ireland’s geography (have somebody show Ireland on the map. “What is the capital of Ireland?”, etc). At this point, it would be appropriate to explain in a few words the linguistic situation in Ireland and its historical background. It is

64 sufficient to point out that the original Irish language is called Irish Gaelic and belongs to the Celtic branch of the Indo-European family (along with Scottish Gaelic and Manx). English first arrived in Ireland with Anglo-Normans who took over Dublin in 1171. However, due to a progressive cultural and linguistic assimilation, English finds itself almost extinct by 1600, only to be reborn with a new wave of English colonisation of the island in the seventeenth century. Gradually, English took over almost completely and Irish is now actively spoken only in regions called Gaeltacht.

Exercise 2 (10 min): In this exercise, the students will try to find the distinctive features of Irish accent on their own. Before the listening, the teacher may ask the students to transcribe the words on the blackboard, provided that they are familiar with the IPA transcription. If they are not, teachers can either transcribe the words themselves or use the orthographic transcriptions. Before the listening, make them say each word aloud to check they know the pronunciation in RP. Tell them that they will hear each of these words twice. The first time they will hear it in RP (may be necessary to explain what RP is) and the second time in Irish accent. The students will underline where exactly in the word they hear a difference. The recording can be played twice. After that, invite students to the blackboard one by one and have them underline where they think they heard a difference. After they had a go, correct the answers if necessary and bring their attention to the individual features and explain the differences in detail. After this short lecture, play the recording one more time. Now that they know where in the word the change occurs, it should be easier for them to hear it. Stop after each set and make them repeat the word in both accents. Answer key: Every sound in question is represented twice: baby, rainforest, great, bet, cup, mother, thing, three, wheeled, whatever.

Exercise 3 (5 min): Now that they have learned the distinctive features of Irish accent they get a chance to speak like Irish. Give them one minute to think about the two sentences

65 and suggest that they mark where the changes occur. Then let each student speak them aloud.

Exercise 4 (5 min): This is a typical listening comprehension exercise where students are asked to complete the text. The purpose of this exercise is to check that the students can now understand the Irish accent. Play the recording twice. After you check the answers, ask them if, by any chance, they recognised who the speaker was and where it was taken from. Some of the students might be able to tell that it was taken from the British sitcom IT Crowd. Answer key: bottom, up, truth, sitting, worthless, beforehand, lips, rest

Exercise 5 (10 min): The last exercise is the same as the first one and serves to check that the students can now recognize an Irish accent among other accents. It does not matter if they misidentify any of the other accents. This exercise is completed successfully when they correctly identify at least the Irish one. Answer key: 1. RP, 2. Scottish, 3.American, 4. Irish

All the recordings are taken from the following sources: Clerks (1994), Father Ted (1995), Red Dwarf (1988), The King’s speech (2010), Brave (2012), IT Crowd (2006), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (audiobook, read by Stephen Fry), Community (2009). The handout, together with a short questionnaire, is presented on the next two pages, should the teachers wish to copy it for their students. It can also be found on the enclosed CD.

Irish Accent

Exercise 1 – You will hear 5 different English accents. Try to match the samples with their accents.

Sample 1 IRISH

Sample 2 SCOTTISH

Sample 3 LONDON POSH

Sample 4 AMERICAN

Sample 5 LIVERPOOL

Exercise 2 – You will hear 10 words. Every word will be repeated twice. Listen and underline where exactly in the word you hear a difference. b a b y m o th er r ai n f o r e s t th i ng g r ea t th r ee (wishes) b e t wh ee l ed (off) c u p wh a t e v er

Exercise 3 – Try to say the following sentences with an Irish accent.

I think I’ll take a break for a while. I will sit on my bottom and drink a cup of tea.

Exercise 4 – Listen to Roy and fill in the gaps. - My arse is not a canvas! My ...... is not a kissing post, sir. Okay, you can dress this ...... however you

67 like, with your fancy words, but the ...... remains. That man, ...... there, kissed me on my bike rack and I was not expecting it and it rendered an expensive massage ...... - And I am here today so that no man need be kissed on his sweetmeats by this man ever again, unless they have arranged it ...... for some reason. - Will you be silent? - I will not be silent! I will never be silent! I will not stop until those ...... are behind bars! How dare you? I trusted you. My trouser hams are not for sale, sir! I put my arse in your hands. I ...... my case.

Exercise 5 – You will hear 4 different accents of English; American, Scottish, Irish and RP. Try to guess which is which.

Sample 1 =

Sample 2 =

Sample 3 =

Sample 4 = ______

QUESTIONNAIRE: Age: Gender: I have studied English for ______year(s). This lesson was fun: (good) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 (bad) The instructions were clear: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 I have learned something new: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 I would like to learn about other English accents as well: YES/NO

3.4 Survey The lesson plan along with the handout was tried out on a group of seven intermediate (B2) learners, 6 females and 1 male between the age of 19 and 22, in the Language School of the Capital City of Prague in Školská street. The eight participant was their teacher, a 57 year-old native speaker of Irish English who represents the control subject in this survey. I followed the lesson plan as described in section 5 with only a few changes. I postponed checking the correct answers in Exercises 1 and 5 to after their handouts were collected, so that I could later analyse their original answers and see if the objectives of the lesson plan were met, that is, if by the lesson completion the learners were able to recognize the Irish accent. As a feedback, I attached a simple questionnaire at the end of the handout. All the completed handouts can be found in Appendix 4.

3.4.1 Results In Exercise 1, only the control identified all the accents correctly. Nobody from the observed group managed to identify the Irish accent. Two people managed to recognise the Scottish accent, one recognised the American accent and one recognised the London posh. In the last exercise, 5 out of 7 people managed to identify the Irish accent among other accents. Also, six people correctly identified the American accent, five people recognised the Scottish accent and four people recognised RP. After I collected their handouts, I played the recording from Exercise 1 one more time and checked for their answers. This time, 5 out of 7 people were able to identify the Irish accent correctly. To sum up our findings, the objective of the lesson was largely met since at the beginning of the lesson nobody was able to recognise the Irish accent but by the end of it, 5 out 7 of the students managed to do so. The success rate of the lesson plan was therefore 71,5%.

The questionnaire showed that five students thought the lesson was mostly fun (1-2), two students thought it was average (3). Everybody considered the instructions clear (1) and they all had impression they learned something new (1-2). Finally, it revealed that 5 out of 7 students would like to learn about other English accents as well.

4. Conclusion The aim of this thesis has been to present the topic of distinctive phonetic and phonological features of southern Irish English. The theoretical part discussed the historical development of English in Ireland and its main inputs. The next chapters provided a detailed overview of the distinctive phonetic-phonological features of Irish English with a concentration on its supraregional variety. The structure of the description drew from Wells’s comparative framework so the distinctive features were sorted according to the systemic differences, distributional differences, realisational differences and lexical differences, where Received Pronunciation served as a reference accent. In the practical part we analysed the speech of three native Irish speakers from different parts of Ireland in order to see if it conforms to the Irish way of pronouncing. We confirmed most of the distinctive features in all the Speakers, although none of them could be entirely fitted in the supraregional category as they all showed indications of locality, e.g. Speaker 2’s pronunciation of goat, /go:t/, as against supraregional /goʊt/. In some cases we found that certain distinctive features are subject to fluctuation, either within the whole variety or within the speaker himself, e.g. the degree of /t/ lenition or the inconsistency in the use of the voiceless labio-velar glide /hw/ by Speaker 3. The fluctuation in one person could be explained and potentially predicted through a further study of the various environments where the feature does or does not occur. Sometimes we proved a complete absence of some prominent distinctive feature, which is otherwise generally prevalent across all southern Irish English varieties, in one of the Speakers, e.g. the use of the voiceless dental fricative /θ/, instead of commonly acceptable dental stop /t/, word-initially by Speaker 3. Since these divergences are not described in any of the sources, we should therefore treat them as idiosyncratic manifestations of that particular speaker rather than of a whole regional or social variety. Finally, we put the topic of the thesis in context of second language teaching and designed a 45 minute long lesson plan on the Irish accent along with a handout that could be presented to intermediate (B2) learners in higher grades of secondary education. The

71 applicability of the lesson plan and the handout was tried out in practice on a group of Czech students. At the lesson completion, 5 out of 7 students were able to recognise the Irish accent which proved that the lesson plan worked. The questionnaire at the end of the handout revealed that the students enjoyed the lesson and they showed interest in learning about other English accents as well. Languages as well as their accents are relatively dynamic entities that are constantly developing, merging and in some cases dying. We are unable to tell how long the information presented in this thesis will remain valid but it is possible that in fifty years time it will ask for a revision. For now I can only hope the readers enjoy reading this thesis just as I enjoyed writing it.

5. Works cited CRUTTENDEN, Alan. Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. 7th Edition. London: Hodder Education, 2008 CRYSTAL, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 GRABE, Ester. Intonational variation in urban dialects of English spoken in the British Isles. In: Gilles, P. and Peters, J. (eds.) Regional Variation in Intonation. Linguistische Arbeiten, Tuebingen, Niemeyer, 2004, 9-31 GRABE, E., KOCHANSKI, G. and COLEMAN, J. The intonation of native accent varieties in the British Isles - potential for miscommunication? In: Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, K. and Przedlacka, J. (eds.), English Pronunciation Models: A Changing Scene. 2nd Edition Peter Lang, 2008, 311-338 HICKEY, Raymond. Irish English: History and Present Day Forms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007 HICKEY, Raymond. The phonology of Irish English. In: Kortmann, Bernd et al. (ed.) Handbook of varieties of English. Volume 1: Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004, 68-97 HUGHES, A.,TRUDGILL, P., WATT, D. English Accents and Dialects: An Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of English in the British Isles. 4th Edition. London: Hodder Education, 2005 Internetional Phonetic Association. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999 McMAHON, April. An Introduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002

NEWBROOK, Mark. Received Pronunciation in Singapore: A Sacred Cow?, 1986, In: Brown, A. (ed.) Teaching English Pronunciation: A Book of Readings, London: Routledge, 1991 ROACH, Peter. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course. 3rd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000 ROACH, Peter. English Phonetics and Phonology: Glossary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009 WELLS, John. Accents of English I: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982 WELLS, John. Accents of English II: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982

6. Appendices 6.1 Table of Appendices Appendix 1 – The Map of Ireland 76 Appendix 2 – The Cardinal Vowel Diagram 77 Appendix 3 – Diacritics 78 Appendix 4 – Completed handouts 79

Appendix 1 – The Map of Ireland

(http://www.visitireland.com/ireland_map.html)

Appendix 2 – The Cardinal Vowel Diagram

(Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, 1999)

To hear how the cardinal vowels sound, visit the following page: http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm

Appendix 3 – Diacritics

(Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, 1999)

Appendix 4 – Completed Handouts