What dialect of English has more in common with Irish English, American or British English?

[T. DarcyJones]

Originally Posted by TyrannosaurusZack

I didn't say it sounded like American, I said of all the English accents in England, West Country sounds the closest to American. When you compare it so Cockney, or Liverpool, or a Manchester accent, you'd see that they sound radically different, while West Country is still very different but closer than any of the others.

YouTube - The odd accent of Tangier VA (from AMERICAN TONGUES)The closest true English accent to that of the people of Tangier Island is undoubtably "Cornish" from the County of Cornwall on the furthest westerley point of southern England.

I concur.... Although pretty wierd, these guys could be fishermen arriving back in Falmouth harbour Cornwall.

[RIGHT][/RIGHT]

[Bernie20]

The Irish accent is most related to the west country accents of England. It is also interesting to note that Dublin was given to the people of Bristol as a colonly in 1171 and many people from Bristol settled there. This obviously had an effect on the development of Hibernian English.

A History of Bristol
History of Dublin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The earliest charter was issued by Henry II in 1171-1172, giving the men of Bristol the right to live in the City of Dublin.
Dublin City Council: Pre 1840 Collections I

[CravingMountains]

Probably American. The reason why American English has such a strong R pronunciation is because of Irish influence. British accents don't tend to stress the R so much. I would reckon their vocabulary usage is more similar to British though. Would an Irish person ever use "reckon" in a sentence. ^_^

[irish_bob]

I don't think any English or irish accent - dialect is all that comparable to any American accent , certainly not in the way a northern irish accent sounds very like a Scottish accent

[spicymeatball]

Originally Posted by CravingMountains

Probably American. The reason why American English has such a strong R pronunciation is because of Irish influence. British accents don't tend to stress the R so much. I would reckon their vocabulary usage is more similar to British though. Would an Irish person ever use "reckon" in a sentence. ^_^

Scots-Irish influence I think.

[Mmega]

If an Irish person asks a Canadian or American where the ham is, they might not know what he's talking about, because to us it will sound like homm. Irish vowels are definitely more similar to England, but it's the rhoticity which can sound North American.

[Frihed89]

Upper class English sounds somewhat close to upper class Bostonian.