# UK Accent that sounds American **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251 "2014-03-21T22:02:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/21 "2014-03-22T15:17:51Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I listened to the video. Definitely sounds like Ulster speech. I guess I can understand how an English listener might find it similar to American, because of what I said above, the strongly articulated rhotic quality of /r/, done in a similar manner to General American or Canadian: an approximant, not a trill as you’d hear in Scotland. Ulster accent sounds to me like a somewhat Scottish-influenced (in the vowels) Irish accent, or a variety of Irish accent devoid of the lilt heard in the Republic, which brings it closer to the flatness of American. I am always amazed that, to outsiders, northern Irish accents sound like “a variety of Irish accent”, part of some hypothetical “Irish accent” that would include Belfast, Dublin and Kerry. To my ear, Ulster speech (including Donegal) is entirely distinct from other Irish accents, and I can’t understand how it would be perceived as similar. I do agree, however, that it is very similar to Scottish accents. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/22 "2014-03-22T15:23:40Z")
I know what you mean. I can understand how it groups together with other Irish accents and some of the softer Scots accents, but it’s a different thing. But then there are people who can’t distinguish English accents from one another, which I also find weird - a Tyneside accent is nothing at all like an East Anglian accent, for example. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/23 "2014-03-22T15:30:55Z")
> [@Vashbul](#): > > But posters on IMDb insist the actor (who’s in fact Irish) has a Dublin 4 accent (the 4 refers to a particular district). Doesn’t sound like anything I’d call Irish, but then I’ve never been to Dublin. The reference to “Dublin 4” here is more about class than geography. A “Dublin 4” accent in this context refers to the accent of people from a professional or comfortable middle-class background who stereotypically attended fee-paying, rugby-playing schools. The majority of people with this kind of accent don’t physically live in Dublin 4. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/24 "2014-03-22T15:31:06Z")
Canadian here. My British (Welsh) music teacher used to tell me that the “North American” accent reminded him of his time living in Dover, in the West of England. He opined that they must have formed the largest chunk of English immigration to the new world early on. I don’t know anything about English dialects, but apparently they’re big on their rhotic accents over there. He definitely sounded like some kind of funny Englishman, in that video. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/25 "2014-03-22T16:50:05Z")
Nit: Dover is East (southeastern tip of England, closest to France) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/26 "2014-03-22T17:35:51Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > I am always amazed that, to outsiders, northern Irish accents sound like “a variety of Irish accent”, part of some hypothetical “Irish accent” that would include Belfast, Dublin and Kerry. To my ear, Ulster speech (including Donegal) is entirely distinct from other Irish accents, and I can’t understand how it would be perceived as similar. I do agree, however, that it is very similar to Scottish accents. That’s not surprising to me. People most familiar with that variety of accents would be best at telling them apart, due to the frequent, in-depth exposure to the styles and the varying details. Here in the US, a friend from Maine thought my husband and I had the same accent. We live in the suburbs of Chicago but he was born here, while I was born in Wisconsin and lived there through college, moving to the Chicago area afterwards. Someone from Illinois heard me speak and immediately exclaimed, “You sound like you’re from Wisconsin!” The Chicago area has quite a variety of neighborhood accents all on its own, as well. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/27 "2014-03-22T17:52:02Z")
> [@astro](#): > > He sounds like an Irish person who is especially susceptible to picking up the local accents and flattens certain inflections / pronunciations to what you would hear in mixed US technology circles which is probably where he spends 90% of his working life. He does not sound truly “American” in the slightest (IMO). He sounds to me like he’s from Co Down or Co. Antrim and has worked either in the US or with primarily US colleagues for plenty of time. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/28 "2014-03-22T17:53:27Z")
FWIW I have Northern Irish friends who’ve spent a lot of time in London or Australia and have a similar flattening “Mid-Atlantic” quality to their speech as the lad in the video has. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/29 "2014-03-22T17:56:01Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > There are various Irish accents. Some of them (Liam Neeson comes to mind) are not too dissimilar from American. Haven’t American accents incorporated some Irish influence, after all? Neeson has, to my ears, an Americanised accent but still distinctly Irish. Probably hard to say what his natural accent is, if he even has one, but I’ve heard him doing a more typical Ballymena accent and he has sounded far less American. Having said that accents of people in the north-east of Ireland and down by Waterford see to have elements that make them sound more American than the majority of other accents on this island or in Britain. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/30 "2014-03-22T18:01:55Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > I am always amazed that, to outsiders, northern Irish accents sound like “a variety of Irish accent”, part of some hypothetical “Irish accent” that would include Belfast, Dublin and Kerry. To my ear, Ulster speech (including Donegal) is entirely distinct from other Irish accents, and I can’t understand how it would be perceived as similar. I do agree, however, that it is very similar to Scottish accents. Louth/ North Meath/South Down/South Armagh/most of Monaghan/Cavan/Southern Fermanagh/South Donegal have commonalities across accents that constitute a “border” accent that to many in other parts of the south wouldn’t be considered Northern Irish. Think of the “Cyavan” man accent for a stereotypical idea of what I’m talking about. These accents form a clear bridge between Dublin/Midlands/Connaught accents and those of Northern Ireland and the rest of Ulster. Parts of Antrim and Donegal have accents that could easily be mistaken for Scottish by non-locals. Within Donegal alone, to my ears, accents vary immensely. Someone from Bundoran often has an accent that would be more likely mistaken for a Dundalk one than a Letterkenny. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/31 "2014-03-22T18:40:45Z")
The “oi” in Android, the “air” in wearables–tiny noticeable. The “oo” and “oh” and “ow:” the clearest something slightly off to an American ear. Good thread. I would _love_ for you Irish accent mavens to read Ulysses or the Wake with me and individuate characters by their accents and rhythms and phrase structure as transcribed in relatively normal orthography in Ulysses and absurdly accurate ones–to the extent of opacity–in the Wake. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/32 "2014-03-22T20:02:49Z")
Sounds like a Norn Iron accent that has become somewhat Americanized, the Ulster accent is usually harder. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/33 "2014-03-23T05:35:09Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Neeson has, to my ears, an Americanised accent but still distinctly Irish. Probably hard to say what his natural accent is, if he even has one, but I’ve heard him doing a more typical Ballymena accent and he has sounded far less American. Having said that accents of people in the north-east of Ireland and down by Waterford see to have elements that make them sound more American than the majority of other accents on this island or in Britain. Thanks! You’ve confirmed my hunches. Although Neeson’s accent has always sounded halfway Americanized to me too, I had a hunch that coming from Ulster might lend itself better to Americanization. In between the areas bordering the Republic and the Ulster Scots areas, the basic Northern Irish accent is what I was aiming at. (Disclosure: My ancestors on my mother’s side are from Armagh, Antrim, and Fermanagh.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/34 "2014-03-23T18:12:55Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > The “oi” in Android, the “air” in wearables–tiny noticeable. The “oo” and “oh” and “ow:” the clearest something slightly off to an American ear. > > Good thread. I would _love_ for you Irish accent mavens to read Ulysses or the Wake with me and individuate characters by their accents and rhythms and phrase structure as transcribed in relatively normal orthography in Ulysses and absurdly accurate ones–to the extent of opacity–in the Wake. That’s something I would enjoy immensely. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/35 "2014-03-23T18:19:30Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > Canadian here. My British (Welsh) music teacher used to tell me that the “North American” accent reminded him of his time living in Dover, in the West of England. He opined that they must have formed the largest chunk of English immigration to the new world early on. I don’t know anything about English dialects, but apparently they’re big on their rhotic accents over there. > > He definitely sounded like some kind of funny Englishman, in that video. I think your memory has confused Dover with probably Devon, which is West Country (Dover being south east coast, of white cliffs fame). Whichever, neither sounds anything like the guy in that video (who doesn’t sound anything like anyone from England) - he clearly has Northern Irish roots but has spent a LONG time in north America. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251/36 "2014-03-23T19:08:39Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I disagree. People in the Midwest sound slightly different to me. There is a “standard, newscaster American accent” and that’s what you hear in CA. And you hear that accent among people all over the US (even in areas noted for a certain accent). No way can you listen to someone from CA or Seattle and guess where they are from without knowing anything about them (except the LA affectation I noted above). And yes, there is a midwest accent that some people in the midwest have, but not all. I picked Indiana because it seems less prevalent there, but that’s only base on the people I know from Indiana and none of them has a typical midwest accent. Never spent much time in that state, though, so I could be wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-accent-that-sounds-american/684251.md?page=1)