# What accent might this be **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2019, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-might-this-be/830406 "2019-03-01T23:00:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-might-this-be/830406/1 "2019-03-01T23:00:28Z")
…If someone pronounces the president’s name: DOUGH-nold TRAAHMP. The first name is just how it looks. The first syllable is one and the same with the word. I can only describe the phonetic vowel sound in the last name this way. It’s like a blending of the ah in Zahn and the short a sound in Ham. My tongue always reaches the roof of my mouth if I repeat and hold it for at least a couple seconds. The person saying it like that has Irish origins and is doing it as an affectation, so there is an outside chance the answer is there is no answer. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-might-this-be/830406/2 "2019-03-02T00:10:08Z")
> **[Help:IPA/English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English)** > > Throughout Wikipedia, the pronunciation of words is indicated using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The following tables list the IPA symbols used for English words and pronunciations. Please note that several of these symbols are used in ways that are specific to Wikipedia, and differ from those used by dictionaries. > If the IPA symbols are not displayed properly by your browser, see the links below. > If you are adding a pronunciation using this key, such pronunciations should gener... Or else this thread will go absolutely nowhere. ---
**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 2, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-might-this-be/830406/3 "2019-03-02T15:52:10Z")
Is this person attempting a Scottish accent perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-might-this-be/830406/4 "2019-03-03T06:50:35Z")
That sounds like they are doing a Melania imitation. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-might-this-be/830406/5 "2019-03-03T16:17:18Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > That sounds like they are doing a Melania imitation. I was going to say, one of the Gabor sisters? Arianna Huffington? I definitely hear it in my head as Eastern European, even though the OP says Irish. ---
**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 3, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-might-this-be/830406/6 "2019-03-03T20:00:42Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I was going to say, one of the Gabor sisters? Arianna Huffington? I definitely hear it in my head as Eastern European, even though the OP says Irish. I don’t think it’s any kind of Irish accent or even an imitation of one. Characteristic of Irish speech is that the “u” in “Trump” would sound like the “u” in “put” (i.e. it is a more closed vowel), whereas the speaker in the OP moves towards a more open vowel, as well as lengthening it.