Dublin English refers to the diverse varieties of Irish English spoken in the metropolitan area of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Modern-day Dublin English largely lies on a phonological continuum, ranging from a more traditional, lower-prestige, local urban accent on the one end—local Dublin English—to a more recently developing, higher-prestige, non-local accent on the other end, whose most advanced characteristics only first emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s—new Dublin English. The majority of Dubliners born since the 1980s has shifted towards the most innovative non-local new Dublin accent, which is the most extreme variety in rejecting the local accent's traditional features. Most speakers from Dublin and its suburbs have accent features falling variously along the entire middle as well as the newer end of the spectrum, which together form what is called non-local Dublin English, spoken by middle- and upper-class natives of Dublin and the greater eastern Irish region surrounding the city. The strict middle of this continuum is called mainstream Dublin English, spoken by middle-class speakers. Mainstream Dublin English has become the basis of an accent that has otherwise become supraregional everywhere except in the north of the country, though new Dublin English may be overtaking it.
Phonology
In the most general terms, all varieties of Dublin English have the following identifying sounds that are often distinct from the rest of Ireland, pronouncing:
Local Dublin English refers to a traditional, broad, working-class variety spoken in Dublin. It is the only Irish English variety that in earlier history was non-rhotic; however, it is today weakly rhotic, and it uniquely pronounces:
as.
as.
as.
as.
as.
and, respectively, as and.
The local Dublin accent is also known for a phenomenon called "vowel breaking", in which,, and in closed syllables are "broken" into two syllables, approximating,,, and, respectively.
Damien Dempsey – "his distinctly Dublin sounds" and "a working class Dublin accent"
Conor McGregor
New Dublin English
Evolving as a fashionable outgrowth of the mainstream non-local Dublin English, new Dublin English is a youthful variety that originally began in the early 1990s among the "avant-garde" and now those aspiring to a non-local "urban sophistication". New Dublin English itself, first associated with affluent and middle-class inhabitants of southside Dublin, is probably now spoken by a majority of Dubliners born since the 1980s. It has replaced moribund D4 English, which originated around the 1970s from Dubliners who rejected traditional notions of Irishness, regarding themselves as more trendy and sophisticated; however, particular aspects of the D4 accent became quickly noticed and ridiculed as sounding affected, causing these features to fall out of fashion by the 1990s. This "new mainstream" accent of Dublin's youth, rejecting traditional working-class Dublin, pronounces:
as open as.
may be, with a backer vowel than in other Irish accents, though still relatively fronted.
as high as or even, causing a re-split in the cot–caught merger that traditionally characterised Dublin speech.
