I see one of these threads has a comments "why do we need to define a ballad"? And linking into the earlier comment about the different deifnition of Ballads in Ireland I would say - you might want to define it in order to avoid a misunderstanding.

On the English folk scene we tend to think of a ballad as being a song which tells a story, often longish and maybe unaccompanied. To my Irish friends it means something lively and singable (in the Dublin City Ramblers tradition) - and believe me that would include things like Fields of Athenry. They would call an unaccompanied song "Sean Nos". So in an Irish pub if asked to sing a ballad they'd be pretty surprised to be met with Barbara Allen!

The other cross-cultural confusing terminology I have come across is that in an Irish context, songs have "airs" not tunes. Tunes don't have words!

Helen