This study aims to pin down some of the pho-netic variation and oddities associated with Northern Ireland English (NIE) in general and the English of rural southwest Tyrone (ERST) in particular, Vowel quality and vowel quantity relationships are crucial here. ERST may have short or long vowels, depending on factors that are not phonologically interesting in other varieties of English. Vowel shifts from Middle English are only partly carried through, lead-ing to sociophonetic variation.