However, by the 16th century, England had conquered the Irish and colonized Ireland. This led to the majority of Irish people speaking English as a first or second language. Written English in Ireland is much the same as standard British English, but spoken dialects have some differences and regional dialects sound very different. Thus English in the northeast of the island developed in relative isolation from other English-speaking areas such as Dublin, while the political situation over the course of the twentieth century has meant that Northern Ireland has continued to develop a linguistic tradition that is distinct from the rest of Ireland [1].
There are some features of the Irish accent on a Segmental level:
The sound /a:/ becomes similar to the sound /æ/, e.g.: calm – /kɑːm/ - /kæm/; father - /ˈfɑːðər/ - / ˈfæðər/ [3].
In Irish English the sound /r/ is pronounced clearly in all positions, e.g.: car – /kær/, corner – /korner/, far – /fær/ [2].
The sounds /θ,ð/ are replaced with blind /t/, /d/, e.g. : that – /dæt/, thirty – /tɜːtɪ/ [2].
The diphthong /ai/ is pronounced as /ɔi/, e.g.: like – /lɔik/, Irish – /ɔirɪʃ/ [2].
As for Suprasegmental level Northern Irish English also has a very distinctive intonation pattern and a broad Northern Irish accent is characterized by a very noticeable tendency to raise the pitch towards the end of an utterance, even if the speaker is not asking a question [1].
Sources:
BRITISHLIBRARY [Электронный ресурс]. Accents and Dialects of Northern Ireland. URL: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/find-out-more/northern-ireland/
The online language blog [Электронный ресурс]: http://engblog.ru/11-english-accents
YouTube. [Электронный ресурс]. Accents of the British Isles: Northern Irish. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEaT4W7LL60&index=2&list=PL_Zjf61X10RIqL3ln7rk2WUAyhz8mT_G1