Question About Ulster Accents

[Vasily Zaitsev]

Yesterday I was listening to a report about the new government in Northern Ireland. Contained therein was a sound clip of Ian Paisley in which he was actually speaking instead of yelling.

I was struck by how "light" his accent was to my Midwestern American ears. It sounded almost like it would be at home on an educated person from rural Illinois, Kansas, or Iowa.

Is FM Paisley's accent typical of Ulster Scots?

[Masty]

Paisley is from Ballymena - County Antrim, not far from where I was raised. I've also been asked if I was a Scot, so I would say yes - his accent is fairly typical of those from County Antrim at least. To my ears though, I can tell the difference between someone from County Londonderry and someone from say, Belfast. The regional accents with-in Northern Ireland are as distinct as they are with-in any country world wide.

[shanemac]

In county Wicklow you can tell which town someone's from. Basically Dubs in Bray and nearby villages, boghopper culchies in West-Wicklow and this kind of weird "high at the start, low in the middle, high at the end" tonal accent in Wicklow town and Arklow. The county's only like 40 miles north-south.

[Milesian]

I've also been asked if I was a Scot, .

LOL! Where did this happen, ya Jock-wannabee?

[Masty]

oh look, my own personal stalker. How gay.

http://209.85.62.26/5700/181/emo/bigfinger.gif