Irish Accent

Is it part of the Irish accent to pronounce “t” as “ch”? It makes “wet” sound as “wech”, “that” as “thach” and “later” as “lacher.” Sounds like Chilean accent in English. And I hate Chilean accent.

I’m listening to a book about Irish characters, and this horrible lisping pronunciation is very distracting. “Thach wech cach in a hach.” Brrr. 

I’ll try to reconcile myself to it if people say this is reflective of the linguistic reality of the region and not an affectation of the actress.

3 thoughts on “Irish Accent

  1. “part of the Irish accent to pronounce “t” as “ch”? It makes “wet” sound as “wech”, “that” as “thach” and “later” as “lacher.””

    There are a number of Irish accents, but t to ч not something I’ve noticed (haven’t known that many Irish people though).

    What I have heard and/or been told about in some dialects is that some t’s are sort of… whispered? whistled? close, maybe to something like хь…. later as лейхьр…. kind of….

    This might be a holdover from Irish where t’s turn into an h sound (called aspiration).

    In some modern British dialects ‘tune’ is now pronounced ‘chune’ (чун)…

    Like

    1. I’ve accepted “chune” and “groshery”, but this “wech cach” business is a step too far. It does sound like a “sh” sometimes. Like in “lay-sher” instead of “later.” But on other occasions it’s a very clear ch. I usually love all different variations of accent in English. But this, yegads. So annoying.

      Like

      1. “chune” and “groshery”

        I say ‘toon’ and ‘groshry’ (two syllables).

        Are these real Irish or someone doing their version of an Irish accent?

        by coincidence I just started watching ‘The Dry’ an Irish comedy (but realistic and serious at the same time). A 35 year old woman returns to Dublin for her Grandmother’s funeral after failing at her career in London. She recognized she’d become an alcoholic and stopped drinking a few months before her return… but her family is ten pounds of dysfunction in a nine-pound bag.

        Much better than I’d imagined it might be and is both funny and horrifying at the same time.

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a reply to Clarissa Cancel reply