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Ulster English


Ulster English (also called Northern Hiberno-English or Northern Irish English) is a major variety of Irish English spoken in most of the province of Ulster. It is spoken throughout Northern Ireland. The dialect has been influenced by Ulster Irish and the Scots language, the latter of which was brought over by Scottish settlers during the Plantation of Ulster. The Scots language was itself influenced by Scottish Gaelic, providing another source of Gaelic influence to Ulster English.

The two major divisions of Ulster English are mid Ulster English, the most widespread variety, and Ulster Scots, sometimes regarded as a dialect of a Scots rather than English, spoken in much of northern County Antrim. Occasionally also recognised is a regional dialect of English that is transitional between mid Ulster English and southern Irish English, known as south Ulster English.

In general, Ulster English speakers' declarative sentences (with typical grammatical structure, i.e. non-topicalized statements) end with a rise in pitch, which is often heard by speakers of non-Ulster English as a question-like intonation pattern.

The following phonetics are represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

In the following chart, "UE" refers to Ulster English, which includes mid Ulster English (which may incorporate older, more traditional mid Ulster English), as well as Ulster Scots (English). "SSIE" here refers to a mainstream, supraregional southern Irish English, used in the chart for the sake of comparison.


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