Derry / Londonderry: Stroke City

Its very name speaks of deep-seated political, social, even linguistic divisions. Known to one section of its inhabitants as Derry, to another as Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second city has a complex linguistic history shaped by waves of settlement and political allegiance. Recently the city's inhabitants have embraced the unofficial name Stroke City, circumventing the linguistic minefield of Derry vs. Londonderry.

Melvyn Bragg travelled to the city with two communities, three names and even more varieties of spoken English to investigate how politics and prayer have influenced local speech.


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Stroke City

BBC Radio Foyle presenter Gerry Anderson on the origins of 'Stroke City'


All in a name

Dr Loreto Todd of Leeds University on the three main dialects of Northern Irish English


Up the Town on Me Own

13-year old Cathy McDermott of Catholic Thornhill School reads her poem 'Up the Town on Me Own'


To be or not to be

Dr Kevin McCafferty, an expert on Derry English, on the distinctive use of 'be'


Broke to the bone

Mary Murphy, originally from Galway, describes the rich use of metaphor in Derry English


Vowels across the divide


Can political and religious allegiances be heard in Derry English?

Deborah Steele and Alison Manning from Foyle & Londonderry College think so

But Dr Loreta Todd thinks not

And for Kevin McCafferty it's more a matter of class

Derry on the River Foyle