Can I check first that you really do mean accents - pronunciation (for example, my late husband who had a middle class English accent pronounced "our" as "ah" whereas I, with a Welsh accent, say "ow-wuh") or dialects - vocabulary and constructions (my son in law doesn't say "our" at all, he uses the North of England "us")? If you do mean accents, I hope you won't write them out as this is what makes so much 19th century humorous writing so unreadable.
If you mean dialects, this gets tricky. I grew up in London but I wouldn't be able to help anyone with London usage of the time of Dickens, though my daughter might because she has studied 19th century literature. You best bet would probably be to read something like Somerville and Ross's "Irish R.M." stories.
Synge would be another possible model, though he's been criticised for overdoing the Hiberno-English. Just keep the old "less is more" dictum in mind when looking at some of these models.
Only skimming it so far, but some things leap out at me:
"Nay."
Irish English is notorious for avoiding "yes" and "no" in answers. (In Irish, you repeat the verb, so the answer to "Nach bhfuil sí anseo?" is "Níl".
"Unless she’s gone to America."
Irish has a perfect construction, but it's much more restricted in its usage than English's. So it's correspondingly rare in Hiberno-English.
"Ye"
This is a plural form. Perhaps there are some varieties where it was used as a polite singular (cf. French vous) but I've never come across them.
In general, is there a reason why the Irish characters speak so clipped? This makes sense with Tadhg, who's brusque and ornery, but what reason is there for Mairéad to say "Not many to choose from here" instead of "There's not many" (bzw. "It's not many they are to choose from")?
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If you mean dialects, this gets tricky. I grew up in London but I wouldn't be able to help anyone with London usage of the time of Dickens, though my daughter might because she has studied 19th century literature. You best bet would probably be to read something like Somerville and Ross's "Irish R.M." stories.
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Synge would be another possible model, though he's been criticised for overdoing the Hiberno-English. Just keep the old "less is more" dictum in mind when looking at some of these models.
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(If anybody wants to point and laugh, or more likely stare in disbelief, at the accents I've afflicted the Irish with, the tale in question can be seen here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-9_8-AUIjEzFlfj-Oma7VY_M7-jCdQLHqL85E6Pdwtg/edit?usp=sharing)
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"Nay."
Irish English is notorious for avoiding "yes" and "no" in answers. (In Irish, you repeat the verb, so the answer to "Nach bhfuil sí anseo?" is "Níl".
"Unless she’s gone to America."
Irish has a perfect construction, but it's much more restricted in its usage than English's. So it's correspondingly rare in Hiberno-English.
"Ye"
This is a plural form. Perhaps there are some varieties where it was used as a polite singular (cf. French vous) but I've never come across them.
In general, is there a reason why the Irish characters speak so clipped? This makes sense with Tadhg, who's brusque and ornery, but what reason is there for Mairéad to say "Not many to choose from here" instead of "There's not many" (bzw. "It's not many they are to choose from")?
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