pronounced as /notice/Ulster English,[1] also called Northern Hiberno-English or Northern Irish English, is the variety of English spoken mostly around the Irish province of Ulster and throughout Northern Ireland. The dialect has been influenced by the local Ulster dialect of the Scots language, brought over by Scottish settlers during the Plantation of Ulster and subsequent settlements throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. It also coexists alongside the Ulster dialect of the Irish (Gaelic) language.
The two major divisions of Ulster English are Mid-Ulster English, the most widespread variety, and Ulster Scots English, spoken in much of northern County Antrim along a continuum with the Scots language.[2] [3] South Ulster English is a geographically transitional dialect between Mid-Ulster English and English spoken south of Ulster, in the Republic of Ireland.
In general, Ulster English speakers' declarative sentences (with typical grammatical structure, i.e. non-topicalized statements) end with a rise in pitch, which is often heard by speakers of non-Ulster English as a question-like intonation pattern.[4]
The following phonetics are represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
In the following chart,[5] "UE" refers to Ulster English, which includes Mid-Ulster English (which may incorporate older, more traditional Mid-Ulster English), as well as Ulster Scots (English). "SSIE" here refers to a mainstream, supraregional southern Hiberno-English, used in the chart for the sake of comparison.
| English diaphoneme | UE | SSIE | Example words | |
| pronounced as /äˑ~a/ | pronounced as /æ~a/ | bath, trap, man | ||
| pronounced as //ɑː// | pronounced as /ɑː~äˑ/ | pronounced as /aˑ~äˑ/ | blah, calm, father | |
| conservative pronounced as //ɒ// | pronounced as /ɒ~ɑ~ä/ | pronounced as /ä/ | bother, lot, top | |
| divergent pronounced as //ɒ// | pronounced as /ɒː/ pronounced as /ɔː/ pronounced as /äː/ | pronounced as /ɒː/ | cloth, loss, off | |
| pronounced as //ɔː// | all, bought, saw | |||
| pronounced as //ɛ// | pronounced as /ɛ/ | dress, met, bread | ||
| pronounced as //ə// | pronounced as /ə/ | about, syrup, arena | ||
| pronounced as //ɪ// | pronounced as /ɪ̈~ë/ pronounced as /ə~ɘ/ pronounced as /ɛ/ | pronounced as /ɪ/ | hit, skim, tip | |
| pronounced as //iː// | pronounced as /iˑ/ | pronounced as /iˑ/ | beam, chic, fleet | |
| pronounced as //i// | e | i | happy, monkeys, sari | |
| pronounced as //ʌ// | pronounced as /ɞ~ʌ̈/ | pronounced as /ʊ~ʌ̈/ | bus, flood, young | |
| pronounced as //ʊ// | pronounced as /ʉ/ pronounced as /ʊ̈/ | pronounced as /ʊ/ | book, put, should | |
| pronounced as //uː// | pronounced as /uː/ | food, glue, new | ||
| Diphthongs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //aɪ// | pronounced as /äˑe~ɜi/ | pronounced as /aɪ~äɪ~ɑɪ/ | eye, five, try | |
| pronounced as /ɐi~ɜi/ | bright, dice, site | |||
| pronounced as //aʊ// | pronounced as /ɐʏ~ɜʉ/ | pronounced as /æʊ~ɛʊ/ | now, ouch, scout | |
| pronounced as //eɪ// | pronounced as /eː~ɪː/ | pronounced as /eː/ | lame, rein, stain | |
| pronounced as //ɔɪ// | pronounced as /ɔɪ/ | pronounced as /ɒɪ/ | boy, choice, moist | |
| pronounced as //oʊ// | pronounced as /oˑ/ | pronounced as /oʊ/ | goat, oh, show | |
| R-coloured vowels | ||||
| pronounced as //ɑːr// | pronounced as /ɑˑɻ/ | pronounced as /ɑˑɹ~äˑɹ/ | barn, car, park | |
| pronounced as //ɪər// | pronounced as /iˑɚ/ | pronounced as /iˑɹ/ | fear, peer, tier | |
| pronounced as //ɛər// | pronounced as /ɛˑɚ/ | pronounced as /eˑɹ/ | bare, bear, there | |
| pronounced as //ɜːr// | pronounced as /ɚˑ/In more traditional Mid-Ulster English, this phoneme may be split, resulting in a distinction between [ɚˑ] and [ɛˑɚ], so that words like urn and earn, for example, are not homophones. | burn, first, learn | ||
| pronounced as //ər// | pronounced as /ɚ/ | doctor, martyr, parker | ||
| pronounced as //ɔːr// | pronounced as /ɔˑɚ/ | pronounced as /ɒˑɹ/ | for, horse, war | |
| pronounced as /oˑɚ/ (rural: pronounced as /[ʉˑɚ]/) | pronounced as /oˑɹ/ | four, hoarse, wore | ||
| pronounced as //ʊər// | pronounced as /øˑɚ/ | pronounced as /uˑɹ/ | moor, poor, tour | |
Other, less overarching features of some Ulster varieties include:
The morphology and syntax of Irish is quite different from that of English, and it has influenced both Northern and Southern Hiberno-English to some degree.
Irish has separate forms for the second person singular (tú) and the second person plural (sibh), ("thou" and "ye" respectively in archaic and some intimate, informal English). Ulster English mirrors Irish in that the singular "you" is distinguished from the plural "you". This is normally done by using the words yous, yousuns or yis.[12] For example:
Irish lacks words that directly translate as "yes" or "no", and instead repeats the verb in a question (positively or negatively) to answer. As such, Northern and Southern Hiberno-English use "yes" and "no" less frequently than other English dialects.[13] [14] For example:
This is not necessarily true in Ulster English where "Aye" for yes and "Naw" for no are used, probably a Scottish influence.
The absence of the verb "have" in Irish has influenced some grammar. The concept of "have" is expressed in Irish by the construction ag ("at") mé ("me") to create agam ("at me"). Hence, Ulster English speakers sometimes use the verb "have" followed by "with me/on me".[15] For example:
Much non-standard vocabulary found in Ulster English and many meanings of Standard English words peculiar to the dialect come from Scots and Irish. Some examples are shown in the table below. Many of these are also used in Southern Hiberno-English, especially in the northern half of the island.
| Ulster English | Standard English | Type | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ach!, och!, ack! | annoyance, regret, etc. | interjection | Pronounced or . Usually used to replace "ah!" and "oh | ". Ach is Irish for "but", and can be used in the same context. Och is Irish and Scottish Gaelic for "alas", and again can be used in the same context.[16] Cf. German, Dutch, Frisian ach and English agh, German and Dutch have both ach and och. |
| aul, oul | old | adjective | Pronounced . From auld, an archaic form of old that is still used in Scots and Northern English dialects. | |
| aye, auy | yes | adverb | Used throughout northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England. General Scots and dialect/archaic English, first attested 1575. | |
| bake | mouth or face | noun | A different pronunciation and extended meaning of beak. Dutch bek or bakkes are used as rude words for mouth, too. | |
| banjax | to break/ruin/destroy, a mess | verb noun | Used throughout Ireland; origin unknown.[17] | |
| bine | cigarette | noun | Possibly from Woodbine (cigarette). | |
| blade | girl | noun | Mainly used in Tyrone with different meanings depending on usage, but always refers to a female. "Look at thon blade" – "Look at that girl"; "Our blade" – "My sister/cousin" (Can also be used as a term of endearment in this form) | |
| boak, boke | to retch/vomit, vomit | verb noun | From Scots bowk.[18] | |
| bog | wetland/toilet | noun | From Irish and Scottish Gaelic bogach meaning "wetland". | |
| boggin/bogging | disgusting, ugly or otherwise generally unappealing. | adjective | Probably derived from bog (see above) | |
| boreen | a narrow road/lane/track | noun | From Irish bóithrín meaning "small road".[19] | |
| bout ye? | how are you? | greeting | From the longer version "What about ye?" ("What about you?"), which is also used.[20] [21] | |
| bru | unemployment benefits | noun | Pronounced . Shortened from welfare bureau.[22] | |
| cat-melodeon | awful | adjective | Probably a combination of cat and melodeon, referencing the sound of a screeching cat and badly-played melodeon tunes.[23] [24] The second part is pronounced . | |
| caul, coul | cold | adjective | Pronounced . From Scots cauld meaning "cold".[25] | |
| carlin' | old woman | noun | From Norse kerling meaning "woman" (especially an old woman).[26] | |
| carnaptious | quarrelsome/irritable | adjective | From Scots.[27] | |
| claggerd | covered with something adhesive (usually dirt) | adjective | From Scots claggert meaning "besmeared".[28] | |
| cowp | to tip over/to fall over | verb | From Scots.[29] | |
| crack, craic | banter/fun/gossip/news (e.g. "What's the crack?) | noun | Crack is originally a Scots/Northern English word meaning something like "news", "gossip" or "fun". Originally spelt crack but the Gaelicized spelling craic started in the 1960s and is now common. | |
| craitur, craytur | a term of endearment (e.g. "The poor craitur") | noun | From the Hiberno-English pronunciation of creature where ea is realised pronounced as //e// (see above) and -ture as archaic pronounced as //tər// rather than the standard affricate pronounced as //tʃər//. | |
| culchie | farmer/rural dweller | noun | Origin uncertain—either from Irish coillte meaning "woods";[30] from Irish cúl a' tí meaning "back of the house" (for it was common practise for country people to go in the back door of the house they were visiting);[31] or from the -culture in "agriculture". | |
| dander | walk | noun/verb | From Scots or Northern English. | |
| dead-on | okay/no problem | interjection adjective | Origin uncertain. | |
| drawk, drawky | to soak/drench, wet/showery | verb adjective | From Irish droch-aimsir meaning "bad weather" or "wet weather"[32] or the less likely Scots draik/drawk.[33] | |
| eejit | idiot | noun | From the Hiberno-English and Scottish English pronunciation of idiot. Popularised in England to some extent by Terry Wogan. | |
| feck | a mild form of fuck | interjection | Gained popularity following its frequent use in the 1990s comedy TV series Father Ted, and is more commonly found in Hiberno-English. | |
| fella | man | noun | From English fellow; ultimately from Norse felagi. | |
| footer, futer | fidget/waste time | verb | Via Scots fouter from Old French foutre. Perhaps from Irish fútar.[34] | |
| fernenst/forninst/fornenst | in front of/facing/against/opposite/beside | adjective | From Scots or Northern English. | |
| founder, foundered | cold, to be cold | noun adjective | From Scots foundert/foondert/fundert which can mean "(to be) chilled".[35] | |
| geg, geggin' | joke, joking | noun/verb | From English gag. | |
| glen | valley | noun | From Irish gleann. | |
| gob, gub | mouth | noun | From Irish gob, which can mean "mouth". | |
| grub | food | |||
| gutties, guddies | running shoes | noun | From Scots, in which it is used to mean anything made of rubber. Note also the phrase "Give her the guttie" meaning "Step on it (accelerate)".[36] | |
| hai, hey | an exclamation to call attention or to express pleasure, surprise, bewilderment, etc. | exclamation | Filler word used at the end of a sentence.[37] [38] | |
| hallion | a good-for-nothing | noun | From Scots hallion meaning "rascal".[39] | |
| hesp | a scolding old woman | noun | Perhaps from Irish easpan.[40] Cf. Scots hesper: a hard thing to do; a difficult person to get on with.[41] | |
| hoak, hoke | to search for/to forage (e.g. "Have a hoak for it") | verb | From Scots howk.[42] | |
| hooley | party | noun | Origin unknown; perhaps a variant of Irish céilí.[43] | |
| houl | hold | verb | Pronounced . From Scots/Northern English. | |
| jap | to splatter; to splash; (of a frying pan) emit tiny 'sparks' of hot fat | verb | From Scots jaup.[44] | |
| jouk, juke | to dodge/to go | verb | From Scots jouk meaning "to dodge".[45] | |
| keen, keenin', keenin' | to lament/to wail, lamenting/wailing, shrill (in terms of sound) | verb noun adjective | From Irish caoin meaning "lament". Keening was a traditional practice done by woman at Irish funerals. | |
| lock'a | an unspecified amount (e.g. "In a lock'a minutes") | determiner | From Irish loca meaning "a pile of" or "a wad of", or simply an extended meaning of "lock" as in "a lock of hair". | |
| loch, lough | lake/sea inlet | noun | Pronounced . From Irish loch. | |
| lug | ear | noun | From Scots. Originally from Norse, used to mean "an appendage" (cf. Norwegian lugg meaning "a tuft of hair"). Used throughout Scotland & Ireland. | |
| malarky, malarkey | nonsense | noun | Probably from Irish. | |
| munya | great/lovely/attractive | adjective | Origin unknown.[46] | |
| oxter | armpit/under-arm | noun | From Scots.[47] Dutch oksel = armpit | |
| poke | ice-cream | noun | From Scots poke meaning "bag" or "pouch". | |
| potcheen | hooch/bootleg alcohol | noun | From Irish poitín. | |
| quare, kwer | very/considerable (e.g. "A quare distance") | adjective adverb | A different pronunciation and extended meaning of "queer".[48] Used throughout Ireland. | |
| scrawb | scratch/scrape | noun/verb | From Irish scráib.[49] Cf. Northern English scrab and Dutch schrapen (to scrape). | |
| scunner/scunder, scunnerd/scunderd | to annoy/embarrass, annoyed/embarrassed | verb adjective | From Scots scunner/scunnert meaning "offended" or "fed up".[50] | |
| sheuch, sheugh | a small shallow ditch (pronounced pronounced as //ˈʃʌx//) | noun | From Scots sheuch.[51] | |
| skite, skitter, scoot | to move quickly | verb | From Norse skjuta meaning "to shoot" (cf. Norwegian skutla meaning "to glide quickly"). | |
| skite | to splatter with force | verb | From Norse skjuta. | |
| slew | a great amount | noun | From Irish slua meaning "a crowd/multitude".[52] | |
| smidgen | a very small piece | noun | From Irish smidean. | |
| snig | to snap-off/lop-off | verb | Origin unknown.[53] Cf. Scots sneg[54] < sneck.[55] | |
| stour | dust | noun | From Old French estour.[56] | |
| targe | a sharp-tongued woman | noun | From Scots[57] | |
| tae | tea | noun | Pronounced | |
| tip | dump or dumpster | noun | ||
| til | to | preposition | From Norse til. | |
| the-day, the-night, the-marra | today, tonight, tomorrow | noun/adverb | From Scots the day, the nicht, the morra. | |
| thon | that | adjective | From Scots; originally yon in archaic English, the th by analogy with this and that.[58] | |
| thonder | there (something distant but within sight) | adjective | From Scots; originally yonder in archaic English. | |
| throughother | disorganised and careless | adjective | Probably from Irish. However, it has parallels in both Goidelic (e.g. Irish trína chéile) and Germanic (e.g. Scots throuither,[59] Dutch doorelkaar, door-een, German durcheinander). | |
| wee | little, but also used as a generic diminutive | adjective | From Middle English. Used throughout the north of Ireland and in Scotland. | |
| weean, wean | child | noun | From Scots wee (small) + ane (one).[60] | |
| wheeker | excellent | adjective | From Scots wheech meaning "to snatch". Onomatopoeic.[61] | |
| wheen[62] | a few/several | determiner | From Scots.[63] Usually used in the phrase "a wheen of..." | |
| whisht | be quiet (a command) | interjection | The Irish huist,[64] meaning "be quiet", is an unlikely source since the word is known throughout England and Scotland where it derives from early Middle English whist[65] (cf. Middle English hust[66] and Scots wheesht[67]). | |
| wojus | awful/expression of surprise | adjective | Probably a variation of odious. Can also be used as an expression of surprise, usually to something negative. In this case it is most likely a shortened form of "Oh Jesus!" Used throughout Ireland. | |
| ye | you (singular) | pronoun | From Middle English ye, but pronounced with a short e sound. | |
| yous, yousuns | you (plural) | pronoun | See grammar derived from Irish or Scottish Gaelic. |
Furthermore, speakers of the dialect conjugate many verbs according to how they are formed in the most vernacular forms of Ulster Scots, e.g. driv instead of drove and driven as the past tense of drive, etc. (literary Scots drave, driven). Verbal syncretism is extremely widespread, as is the Northern subject rule.
The speech in southern and western County Donegal, southern County Tyrone, southern County Londonderry, northern County Fermanagh, north County Armagh, southwestern County Antrim and most of County Down form a geographical band across the province from east to west. On the whole, these areas have much more in common with the Derry accent in the west than inner-city Belfast in the east. This accent is often claimed as being the "standard" Northern Irish dialect as it is the most widely used. Parts of the north of County Monaghan (an area centred on Monaghan Town and known as North Monaghan) would roughly fall into this category, but only to a certain extent. Bundoran, a town at the southern extremity of County Donegal, also has quite a western Ireland accent, as do parts of the south-west extremity of County Fermanagh.
The broad, working-class Belfast dialect is not limited to the city itself but also takes in neighbouring urban areas in the local vicinity (such as Lisburn, Carrickfergus and Newtownards), as well as towns whose inhabitants originally came from Belfast (such as Craigavon). It is generally perceived as being associated with economically disadvantaged areas, and with youth culture. This however is not the dialect used in the media (even those outlets which are based in Belfast). Features of the accent include several vowel shifts, including one from pronounced as //æ// to pronounced as //ɛ// before or after velars (pronounced as //bɛɡ// for bag). Nowadays, this shift largely only happens before pronounced as //k//, so pack and peck are homophones as pronounced as //pɛk//.
The Belfast dialect is now becoming more frequently heard in towns and villages whose inhabitants would have traditionally spoken with a distinctively rural accent. Examples of such areas are Moira, Ballyclare, Dromore and Ballynahinch. It could be said that many young people in these areas prefer to use the more cosmopolitan city accent, as opposed to the local variant that their parents or people in other areas would use.
Other phonological features include the following:
Some of the vocabulary used among young people in Ulster, such as the word "spide", is of Belfast origin.
The accent of Derry City, which is also heard in northeastern County Donegal (including Inishowen), and northern and western County Tyrone (including Strabane). There is a higher incidence of palatalisation of the velar plosives pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //ɡ//,[69] (e.g. pronounced as /[kʲɑɹ]/ "kyar" for "car"). However, the most noticeable difference is perhaps the intonation, which is unique to the Derry, Letterkenny and Strabane area. The accent of the Finn Valley and especially The Laggan district (centred on the town of Raphoe), both in East Donegal, together with the accent of neighbouring West Tyrone and the accent of the westernmost parts of County Londonderry (not including Derry City), are also quite Scottish sounding. A variety of Ulster Scots is spoken in these areas. This West Ulster variety of Ulster Scots is considered to be quite similar to the Scots spoken in Ayrshire in south-west Scotland.
See main article: Ulster Scots dialects. This region is heavily influenced by the historic presence of Scots and covers areas such as northern and eastern County Antrim, the Ards Peninsula in County Down, The Laggan district in County Donegal and northeastern County Londonderry. The strong Scots influence is noticeable in those districts and Scots pronunciations are often heard. People from here are often mistaken by outsiders as Scottish. This area includes the Glens of Antrim, where the last native Irish speakers of a dialect native to what is now Northern Ireland were to be found. It has been stated that, in the written form, Gaelic of this area continued to use standardised Irish forms, while the spoken dialect continued to use the Scottish variant, and was in effect not different from the Scots Gaelic of Argyll and Galloway.
In the 1830s, Ordnance Survey memoirs came to the following conclusion about the dialect of the inhabitants of Carnmoney, east Antrim: "Their accent is peculiarly, and among old people disagreeably, strong and broad." The BBC conducted a sociolinguistic survey of Ulster Scots grammar.[70] East Donegal also has a strong Ulster Scots dialect (see below).
South Armagh, south Monaghan, south Fermanagh, south Donegal, and a small part of north Leitrim, and north Cavan[71] [72] natives speak their own distinct variety of English.[73] Areas such as southern and western County Armagh, central and southern County Monaghan (known locally as South Monaghan), northern County Cavan and the southern 'strip' of County Fermanagh are the hinterland of the larger Mid-Ulster dialect. The accent gradually shifts from village to village, forming part of the dialect continuum between areas to the North and Midlands (as it once did in Gaelic). This accent is also used in north County Louth (located in Leinster) and in part of the northern 'strip' of County Leitrim (in Connacht). There are areas that show a mixture of accents with Ulster-English and Hiberno-English.
These areas fall along the east coastline. South Ulster English's phonology is markedly different from Ulster Scots and majority Ulster English in several aspects, including preservation of dichotomous pattern of phonemic vowel length seen in Middle English.[74] Another feature of South Ulster English is the drop in pitch on stressed syllables. A prominent phonetic feature of South Ulster is the realisation of pronounced as //t// as a fricative with identical characteristics of the stop, i.e. an apico-alveolar fricative in weak positions.[75]