Dublin English is the collection of diverse varieties ofHiberno-English spoken in the metropolitan area ofDublin, the capital ofIreland. Modern-day Dublin English largely lies on aphonological continuum between two extremes (largely, abroad versus general accent distinction).
The more traditional, lower-prestige, working-class, local urban accent on the one end is known by linguist Raymond Hickey aslocal Dublin English. As of the 21st century, most speakers from Dublin and its suburbs have accent features falling variously along the entire middle as well as the newer end of the spectrum, which together form what Hickey callsnon-local Dublin English, employed by the middle and upper class. On the extreme non-local end, a more recently developing, high-prestige, more widely regional (and even supraregional) accent exists,advanced Dublin English, only first emerging in the late 1980s and 1990s,[1] now spoken by most Dubliners born in the 1990s or later. Advanced Dublic English is also spoken by the same age group all across Ireland (except the north) as it rapidly becomes a new national standard accent, in Hickey's estimation.
In the most general terms, all varieties of Dublin English have the following identifying sounds that are often distinct from the other regional accents of Ireland,[2] pronouncing:
All these sounds are also typical of astandard Irish English accent, which developed out of Dublin but now largely transcends regional boundaries among the middle and higher classes throughout the Republic.
Local Dublin English (also, known by Hickey aspopular Dublin English orconservative Dublin English) refers to a traditional,broad, working-class variety spoken inDublin. It is the only Irish English variety that in earlier history was fully non-rhotic; however, as of the 21st century it is weakly rhotic,[3][4] and among the various Dublin accents it uniquely has:[5]
Evolving as a fashionable outgrowth of non-local Dublin English,[14]advanced Dublin English (also,new Dublin English and, formerly,fashionable Dublin English) is a relatively young variety that originally began in the early 1990s among the "avant-garde" and now those aspiring to a non-local "urban sophistication".[15] Advanced Dublin English itself, first associated with affluent and middle-class inhabitants ofsouthside Dublin, is probably now spoken by a majority of Dubliners born since the 1980s.[1]
This "new mainstream" accent of Dublin's youth, rejecting traditional working-class Dublin, has:
Advanced Dublin English largely evolved out of an even more innovative and briefly-fashionable accent,Dublin 4 (or D4) English, which originated around the 1970s or 1980s from middle- or higher-class speakers inSouth Dublin before spreading outwards and then rapidly disappearing. Also known asDART-speak after the suburban Dublin commuter railway system, or, mockingly,Dortspeak, this accent rejected traditional, conservative, and working-class notions of Irishness, with its speakers instead regarding themselves as more trendy and sophisticated.[16] However, particular aspects of the D4 accent became quickly noticed and ridiculed as sounding affected or elitist by the 1990s, causing its defining features to fall out of fashion within that decade.[17] Still, it originated certain (less salient) other features that continue to be preserved in advanced Dublin English today. The salient defining features that are now out of fashion include pronouncing theBATH andSTART lexical sets with a back, long and rounded vowel, thusa glass in the bar like[əglɒːsɪnðəbɒːɹ].[17] Other sounds, however, like the raising ofLOT andTHOUGHT to[ɒ~ɔ] and[ɔː~oː], respectively (whereas the two were traditionally merged and low in local Dublin English), have survived from D4 English into advanced Dublin English.
The strict centre of the Dublin English continuum ismainstream Dublin English, spoken by the middle class, particularly in the 20th century. Mainstream Dublin English of the early- to mid-20th century was the direct basis for astandard accent of Ireland that is no longer regionally specific, fairly widespread everywhere except in the north of Ireland, whereUlster English persists.[18][19] However, the majority of Dubliners born since the 1980s (led particularly by females) have shifted towards advanced Dublin English.[20] Advanced Dublin English may be in the process of overtaking mainstream Dublin English as the national prestige variety.[18]
Generally, the vowels of mainstream Dublin fall between the extremes of local Dublin and advanced Dublin accents; for instance,GOAT falls somewhere between the wider versus narrower diphthongs of these two accents. However, the low back vowels are of special note in mainstream Dublin, whereCLOTH (in some analyses, a mere subset ofLOT) is back, open, rounded, and short:[ɒ], while the vowel inTHOUGHT/NORTH is back, open, rounded, and long,[ɒː]. Thus,THOUGHT/NORTH is possibly distinct fromFORCE by height, fromCLOTH by length, and fromLOT by roundness, if at all.MOUTH is less raised than all other Dublin accents, thus:[aʊ]. Much variation exists for intervocalic /t/ (as incity orItaly), which can be theslit fricative[θ̠] common throughout Ireland, theglottal stop of local Dublin[ʔ], or atap[ɾ] reminiscent of Ulster and North American English.[5]
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