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Draft:Mid-Ulster English

  • Comment: This draft is a draft on a subtopic of an existing article, Ulster English. Discussion as to whether a separate article for the subtopic is warranted should be on the talk page of the parent article, Talk:Ulster English.
    Please discuss the suitability of creating a separate subtopic article on the talk page of the parent article. Please resubmit this draft if there is rough consensus at the parent talk page to create the child article, or with an explanation that the child draft satisfies either general notability on its own or a special notability guide. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:28, 20 June 2023 (UTC)


Mid-Ulster English
Mid Ulsther English
Native toUlster
RegionUnited Kingdom (County Tyrone, County Londonderry, County Fermanagh, County Armagh, County Antrim, and County Down), Ireland (County Donegal)
Early forms
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
Legend:
  Ulster Scots
  Mid-Ulster English
  South Ulster English
  Southern Hiberno-English
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Speech example
An example of a middle-class male from Belfast (David Trimble).
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Speech example
An example of a male from Derry (Eamonn McCann).
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Speech example
An example of a male from Belfast (George Best).
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Mid-Ulster English, also spelled Mid Ulster English, (Ulster Scots: Mid-Ulstèr Inglis, Irish: Béarla Lár Uladh), also called Standard Northern Irish,[1] Ulster Scots: Staundart Norlin Airish, Irish: Éireannach Tuaisceartach Caighdeánach) often abbreviated to MUE, is a subdialect of Ulster English. It is spoken in some parts of Northern Ireland and Donegal.[2] The term Mid-Ulster English sometimes means English in Northern Ireland not derived from Scots.[3] Despite its name, Mid-Ulster English is spoken in most parts of Ulster. It is spoken in every county in Northern Ireland plus County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.

Classification edit

Mid-Ulster English is a dialect of Ulster English and is closely related to Ulster Scots English. South Ulster English is another dialect related to MUE, which is a transitional dialect between Southern Hiberno-English and MUE.

History edit

17th century and the Plantation of Ulster edit

During the Plantation of Ulster, many English-speaking Northern English people and Scots-speaking Southern Scottish people would move to Ulster, planting the west and east respectively.[4][5] Meanwhile, Ulster Irish remained in the more southern parts. With the influence or the three languages, the central dialect would become the 17th century Mid-Ulster dialect.[6][7][8]

Expansion edit

As the central dialect spread around with immigration, it eventually expanded to most of the Ulster region.[9] Because of this expansion, Mid-Ulster English started to be claimed as the standard Ulster dialect.[8] This approximately went from the east of County Down, of Northern Ireland, all the way towards western County Donegal, of the Republic of Ireland.

Modern day edit

The local rural Belfast and Derry dialects come from this dialect. The most spoken dialect in the Ulster region, the expansion helped it to get more speakers. Groups like the Mid Ulster English Society were founded to protect and promote the dialect. Warren Maguire, a senior lecturer in the English language, has studied the dialect, specifically his local Southwest Tyrone dialect.[10]

Phonology edit

The sounds of Mid-Ulster English are known to sound like a combination of Hiberno-English and Ulster Scots English.[11] As such, many features in Mid-Ulster English are combined, having influences from both varieties.[12] Its phonology is a bit different to other English dialects in the isles.[13] The phonology of Mid-Ulster English is shown to have many features from other languages, with various different vowels and other features absent in different varieties of English.[14] The symbols below are those of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Consonants edit

  • Rhoticity is present in the Mid-Ulster dialect, like in other Ulster dialects.[2]
  • Mid-Ulster has g-dropping, which means the gerund or present participle -ing, pronounced /ɪŋ/ in verbs such as running is pronounced /ɪn/.
  • The dialect also has lowering, which makes the speaker sound more low pitch.
  • The phoneme /x/ as in ach is mostly realised as the uvular /χ/ instead of the velar /x/. This sound is only used in loanwords and place names.
  • In between /ɑ/ or /ɛ/ after /k/ or /g/, a palatalised sound can be heard.[15]
  • The dialect has a which-witch distinction, meaning that phoneme wh would be pronounced /ʍ/ instead of /w/.
  • Before r or er, t and d would make interdental /t̪͆/ and /d̪͆/ sounds respectably, as in painter [pen.t̪͆əɹ].[16][17]
  • Medial -pp-, -ck-, and -tt- are pronounced voiced instead of voiceless.[17]

Vowels edit

 
Monophthongs of Mid-Ulster, from Maguire (2020).
 
Diphthongs of Mid-Ulster
Monophthongs
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Close i ʉ
Close mid e o
Mid ə
Open mid ɛ ɜ ɔ
Open a ɑ ɒ
Diphthong Example
/aɪ/ /aɪl/ I'll
/ɔɪ/ /bɔɪ/ boy
/əɪ/ /əɪl/ I'll
/əʉ/ /həʉ/ how
  • The diphthong /ɑʊ/ in RP is pronounced more like /əʉ/.
  • /ʊ/ in "food" and /u/ in "boot" are pronounced like /ʉ/.
  • The epenthesis, or helping vowel, is used in some consonant clusters, for example film [fɜ.ləm].[18]
  • /æ/ is lowered to /a/.[19]
  • The diphthong /eɪ/ is often shortened to /e/ most of the time. Few realisations pronounce this as /ɪ/.
  • The diphthongs /əɪ/ and /aɪ/ can be used interchangeably.
  • RP /ɪ/ is often realised as /ɛ̈/, /ɜ/, or /ə/.
  • /ʌ/ is instead realised as centralised /ɔ̈/.

Vocabulary edit

MUE Standard English Type Etymology
aye, ay yes adverb From Scots aye
betther better adjective From standard English better
cowl cold adjective From Scots cauld
eejit idiot noun From standard English idiot
jist just adverb From standard English just
niver never adverb From Scots nivver
oul old adjective From Scots auld
wee a generic diminutive adjective From Scots wee
wean child noun From wee + Scots ane
wumman woman noun From Scots wumman

Sample text edit

This sample text is the poem John the Liar by Rev. William Forbes Marshall.

Well, it was freezin' hard.
An' bitther cowl; an' min' ye I had play,
(Yon mare's the deil for gettin' on hir en:)
But there wos John, he had his two han's up, Scared like an peghin, with no hat or coat;
A man's unaisy when he sees the like.
"The Lord bliss me, sez I, 'what's wrong?' Sez he,
'Be gomentays, I went an' killed two pigs, Ye niver seen the like of them two pigs, Throth they wor tarra; jist the five months oul".
"The deil a hair I care, sez I, 'ye killed A score of pigs; stan' out the road!'

See also edit

Bibliography edit

  • Maguire, Warren (2020-09-21). Language and Dialect Contact in Ireland: The Phonological Origins of Mid-Ulster English. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-5293-9.

References edit

  1. ^ Valpa, Ana (2020-04-23). "Ulster English". Medium. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  2. ^ a b Trudgill, Peter (1984-05-17). Language in the British Isles. CUP Archive. pp. 117–118. ISBN 978-0-521-24057-4.
  3. ^ Hickey, Raymond (2002-01-01). A Source Book for Irish English. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-90-272-3753-8.
  4. ^ "IV. The Scots in Ulster". Turnbull Clan. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  5. ^ "Plantation of Ulster | Discover Ulster-Scots". Discover Ulster-Scots. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  6. ^ Hickey, Raymond (2012-12-06). Areal Features of the Anglophone World. Walter de Gruyter. p. 69. ISBN 978-3-11-027942-9.
  7. ^ "BBC - History - Wars and Conflicts - Plantation of Ulster - Ulster Scots". BBC. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  8. ^ a b Maguire (2020), p. 10
  9. ^ Г, Ніколенко А. Лексикологія англійської мови – теорія і практика. [англ.].: Навчальний посібник для ВНЗ. Нова Книга. pp. 362–363. ISBN 978-966-382-076-7.
  10. ^ Maguire, Warren. "Southwest Tyrone English". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  11. ^ Trudgill, Peter (1984-05-17). Language in the British Isles. CUP Archive. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-0-521-24057-4.
  12. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Blake, Norman Francis; Burchfield, Robert; Lass, Roger; Romaine, Suzanne (1992). The Cambridge History of the English Language. Cambridge University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-521-26478-5.
  13. ^ Maguire (2020), p. 15
  14. ^ Hickey, Raymond (2024-01-05). The Oxford Handbook of Irish English. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-19-885615-3.
  15. ^ Wells, John (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 442.
  16. ^ Adams, G. Brendan (1964). Ulster Dialects. An Introductory Symposium. Cultra: Ulster Folk Museum. p. 2.
  17. ^ a b Macafee, C.I. (1996). Concise Ulster Dictionary. Oxford University Press. pp. xi.
  18. ^ Hickey, Raymond (2004). Irish English: Phonology. Vol. 1. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. p. 81.
  19. ^ Patrick, Peter L. (1999-01-01). Urban Jamaican Creole: Variation in the Mesolect. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-4875-6.

External links edit

Category:British English Category:Dialects of English Category:Languages of Ireland Category:Languages of Northern Ireland Category:Ulster

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