SOFT-lengthening

Here one is again dealing with a traditional feature of Dublin English. The vowel of the LOT lexical set, when it occurs before a voiceless fricative, is lengthened. This in its turn is in keeping with the general Early Modern English lengthening of /a:/ before such fricatives and is seen in words like staff, pass, path in southern British English (Wells 1982: 203–206). In conservative mainstream Irish English SOFT-lengthening (to use a cover term with a typical word involving this length- ening) is not found, but again because it is present in fashionable Dublin English, it is spreading to the rest of the country.