A Comparative Study of the Vowel Systems in Wexford and Belfast English

This study compares the vowel systems of two regional varieties of Irish English—Wexford and Belfast—by integrating impressionistic and acoustic analyses. Guided by Daniel Jones’s vowelquadrilateral model, auditory transcriptions were plotted on IPA quadrilaterals to estimate tongue height and backness of the two varieties. Informed by Stevens’s quantal theory, which links formant frequencies and duration to perceptual vowel identity, F1, F2, F3, and absolute relative vowel durations of the two systems were extracted with Praat. The findings demonstrate notable differences in the realization of back vowels and diphthongs, accompanied by distinct durational patterns, thereby validating the characterization of Wexford English as a prototypical Southern Irish English variety and affirming Belfast English as emblematic of Northern Irish English.