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Mid Ulster English (Ulster Anglo-Irish) is the dialect of most people in Ulster , including those in the two main cities. It represents a cross-over area between Ulster Scots and Hiberno-English .
It is an English-based Dialect spoken across mid Ulster between the Lagan and Clogher valleys in areas historically Planted by settlers, the majority of which came from the West Midlands . The dialect has enjoyed higher social prestige than the Ulster Scots dialects that have influenced it to varying degrees. The dialect is currently encroaching on the Ulster Scots area, especially in the Belfast commuter belt, and may eventually consume it.


PHONOLOGY

Main article: Phonemic Differentiation .

Phonetics are in IPA .


Vowels



  • Vowels have Phonemic vowel length with one set of lexically long and one of lexically short Phonemes . This may be variously inluenced by the Scots System .

  • in after e.g. ''want'', ''what'', ''quality''.

  • and distinction in ''cot'', ''body'' and ''caught'', ''bawdy''. Some varieties neutralise the distinction in long environments, e.g. ''don'' = ''dawn'' and ''pod'' = ''pawed''.

  • ''like'', ''light'', ''meat'' and ''beard'' also with , , ,

  • may occur before palatalized consonants, e.g. ''king'', ''fish'' , ''condition'', ''brick'' and ''sick''.

  • may occur in such words as ''beat'', ''decent'', ''leave'', ''Jesus'' etc.

  • Laggan Valley before in ''take'' and ''make'' etc.

  • before velars in ''sack'', ''bag'', and ''bang'' etc.

  • Merger of - in all monosyllables e.g. ''Sam'' and ''psalm'' .

  • may occur before and in ''tap'' and ''top'' etc.

  • before in ''floor'', ''whore'', ''door'', ''board'' etc.

  • Vowel oppositions before , e.g. ''earn'', ''for'' and ''four''.



Consonants

  • Rhoticity , that is, retention of in all positions.

  • Palatalisation of in the environment of front vowels.

  • Clear in all positions.

  • Aspiration in words beginning with ''dr'' and ''tr'' for example ''drum'' and ''tractor''

  • for in words like ''pepper''

  • for in words like ''butter''

  • for in words like ''packet''

  • - contrast in ''which'' - ''witch''.

  • Dental realisations of may occur through Irish influence before , e.g. ''ladder'', ''matter'' ''dinner'' and ''pillar'' etc.

  • Lenition of in ''hand'' , ''candle'' and ''old'' etc.

  • Lenition of in ''lamb'' and ''sing'' , ''thimble'', ''finger'' etc.

  • and for ''th''.

  • for ''gh'' is retained in proper names and a few dialect words or pronunciations, e.g. '' Lough '', ''trough'' and ''sheugh''.



VOCABULARY

Much Non-standard vocabulary found in Mid 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.

Furthermore, speakers of the dialect conjugate many verbs according to how they are formed in Scots, eg. ''driv'' instead of ''drove'' as the past tense of ''drive'', etc.


SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS