Irish language
Irish | |
---|---|
| |
Standard Irish:Gaeilge | |
Pronunciation | Connacht Irish:[ˈɡeːlʲɟə] Munster Irish:[ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] Ulster Irish:[ˈɡeːlʲəc] |
Region | Ireland |
Ethnicity | Irish people |
Native speakers | L1:unknown People aged 3+ stating they could speak Irish "very well": (ROI, 2022) 195,029 Daily users outside education system: (ROI, 2022) 71,968 (NI, 2021) 43,557 L2:unknown People aged 3+ stating they could speak Irish: (ROI, 2022) 1,873,997 (NI, 2021) 228,600 |
Early forms | |
Standard forms | An Caighdeán Oifigiúil(written only) |
Dialects |
|
Latin(Irish alphabet) Ogham(historically) Irish Braille | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Ireland[a] Northern Ireland[2] European Union |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | ga |
ISO 639-2 | gle |
ISO 639-3 | gle |
Glottolog | iris1253 |
ELP | Irish |
Linguasphere | 50-AAA |
![]() Proportion of respondents who said they could speak Irish in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland censuses of 2011 | |
Irish(Standard Irish:Gaeilge), also known asIrish Gaelicor simplyGaelic(/ˈɡeɪlɪk/GAY-lik),[3][4][5][6][7][8]is aGoidelic languageof theInsular Celticbranch of theCeltic language group,which is a part of theIndo-European language family.[7][4][9][10][6]Irish isindigenousto the island ofIreland[11]and was the population'sfirst languageuntil the 19th century, whenEnglishgradually becamedominant,particularly in the last decades of the century. Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland'sGaeltachtregions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022.[12]
The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system.[12]Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users inIrelandoutside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in theGaeltachtand 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968.[12]In response to the 2021 census ofNorthern Ireland,43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it.[13]From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000Irish Americansreported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of the language.[14]
For most of recordedIrish history,Irish was the dominant language of theIrish people,whotook it with them to other regions,such asScotlandand theIsle of Man,whereMiddle Irishgave rise toScottish GaelicandManx.It was also, for a period, spoken widely acrossCanada,with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890.[15]On the island ofNewfoundland,aunique dialectof Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century.
With awriting system,Ogham,dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced byLatin scriptsince the 5th century AD, Irish hasone of the oldest vernacular literaturesinWestern Europe.On the island, the language has three major dialects:Connacht,MunsterandUlster Irish.All three have distinctions in theirspeechandorthography.There is alsoAn Caighdeán Oifigiúil,astandardisedwritten form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditionalIrish alphabet,a variant of theLatin alphabetwith 18letters,has been succeeded by thestandard Latin alphabet(albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily inloanwords).
Irish hasconstitutionalstatus as thenational and first official languageof theRepublic of Ireland,and is also an official language ofNorthern Irelandand among the officiallanguages of the European Union.The public bodyForas na Gaeilgeis responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body butAn Caighdeán Oifigiúil,the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input.
Names
[edit]In Irish
[edit]InAn Caighdeán Oifigiúil( "The Official [Written]Standard") the name of the language isGaeilge,from the SouthConnachtform, spelledGaedhilgeprior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally thegenitiveofGaedhealg,the form used inClassical Gaelic.[16]The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent⟨dh⟩inGaedhilge.Older spellings includeGaoidhealg[ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ]in Classical Gaelic andGoídelc[ˈɡoiðʲelɡ]inOld Irish.Goidelic,used to refer to the language family, is derived from the Old Irish term.
Endonymsof the language in the various modern Irish dialects include:Gaeilge[ˈɡeːlʲɟə]in Galway,Gaeilg/Gaeilic/Gaeilig[ˈɡeːlʲəc]in Mayo andUlster,Gaelainn/Gaoluinn[ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ]in West/Cork, KerryMunster,as well asGaedhealaingin mid and East Kerry/Cork and WaterfordMunsterto reflect local pronunciation.[17][18]
Gaeilgealso has a wider meaning, including theGaelic of Scotlandand theIsle of Man,as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished asGaeilge na hAlban,Gaeilge MhanannandGaeilge na hÉireannrespectively.[19]
In English
[edit]In English (includingHiberno-English), the language is usually referred to asIrish,as well asGaelicandIrish Gaelic.[20][21]The termIrish Gaelicmay be seen when English speakers discuss the relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx).[22]Gaelicis a collective term for the Goidelic languages,[6][23][7][10][24]and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" (/ɜːrs/URS) was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish;[25]as well as Scottish Gaelic.
History
[edit]Written Irish is first attested inOghaminscriptions from the 4th century AD,[26]a stage of the language known asPrimitive Irish.These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change intoOld Irishthrough the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from the 6th century, used theLatin alphabetand is attested primarily inmarginaliato Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed someLatinwords, some viaOld Welsh,includingecclesiastical terms:examples areeaspag(bishop) fromepiscopus,andDomhnach(Sunday, fromdominica).
By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved intoMiddle Irish,which was spoken throughout Ireland,Isle of Manand parts ofScotland.It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including theUlster Cycle.From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, intoScottish Gaelicin Scotland, and into theManx languagein theIsle of Man.
Early Modern Irish,dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, as attested in the work of such writers asGeoffrey Keating,may be said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on.
From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind thisshiftwere complex but came down to a number of factors:
- Discouragement of its use by the Anglo-Irish administration.
- TheCatholic Church's support of English over Irish.
- The spread of bilingualism from the 1750s onwards.[27]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Irishin1871.jpg/220px-Irishin1871.jpg)
The change was characterised bydiglossia(two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) andtransitional bilingualism(monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By the mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools.[28]Increasing interest in emigrating to theUnited StatesandCanadawas also a driver, as fluency in English allowed the new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during theGreat Faminewere Irish speakers.[29]
Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them a cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards, the language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language.[30]
This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched theGaelic revivalin an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language.[31]The vehicle of the revival was the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature.
Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the ProtestantChurch of Irelandalso made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in a religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by LeinstermanMuircheartach Ó Cíonga,commissioned byBishop Bedell,was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival.[32]
It has been estimated that there were around 800,000monoglotIrish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by the end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911.[33]
Status and policy
[edit]Ireland
[edit]Irish is recognised by theConstitution of Irelandas the national and first official language ofRepublic of Ireland(English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English.[34]
In 1938, the founder ofConradh na Gaeilge(Gaelic League),Douglas Hyde,was inaugurated as the firstPresident of Ireland.The record of his delivering his inauguralDeclaration of OfficeinRoscommonIrish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect.[35][36][37][38]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Bilingual_sign_Grafton_Street_Dublin_Ireland.jpg/220px-Bilingual_sign_Grafton_Street_Dublin_Ireland.jpg)
In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication.[39]
From the foundation of theIrish Free Statein 1922 (seeHistory of the Republic of Ireland), new appointees to theCivil Service of the Republic of Ireland,includingpostal workers,tax collectors,agricultural inspectors,Garda Síochána(police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well.[40]
In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like theLanguage Freedom Movement,the requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language.
Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (seeEducation in the Republic of Ireland). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination calledScrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge.As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need a pass inLeaving CertificateIrish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced byAn Coimisinéir Teanga,the Irish language ombudsman).
TheNational University of Irelandrequires all students wishing to embark on a degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate orGCE/GCSEexaminations.[41]Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed withdyslexia.
NUI Galwayis required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of the vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3).[42]In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish.Misneach[further explanation needed]staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced thatCiarán Ó hÓgartaigh,a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at the beginning of the following academic year.[43]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/IMG_Creggs2764.jpg/220px-IMG_Creggs2764.jpg)
For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects.[44][45][46]The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern.[47][48][49][50]
In 2007, filmmakerManchán Maganfound few Irish speakers inDublin,and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentaryNo Béarla.[51]
There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known asGaelscoileannaat primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools.[52]In 2009, a paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority.[53]
Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in the other official language, if not already passed in both official languages.[1]
In November 2016,RTÉreported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through theDuolingoapp.[54]Irish presidentMichael Higginsofficially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project".[55]
Gaeltacht
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Percentage_stating_they_speak_Irish_daily_outside_the_education_system_in_the_2011_census.png/250px-Percentage_stating_they_speak_Irish_daily_outside_the_education_system_in_the_2011_census.png)
There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish is still spoken daily to some extent as afirst language.These regions are known individually and collectively as theGaeltacht(pluralGaeltachtaí). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000,[56]are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it is only inGaeltachtareas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent.
According to data compiled by theDepartment of Tourism, Culture, Arts,Gaeltacht,Sport and Media,only 1/4 of households inGaeltachtareas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of theGalway-Mayo Institute of Technology,described the Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster".The Irish Times,referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaperFoinse,quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but the number now is between 20,000 and 30,000."[56]
In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas.[57]In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified asGaeltacht.Today, the strongestGaeltachtareas, numerically and socially, are those of SouthConnemara,the west of theDingle Peninsula,and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as theFíor-Ghaeltacht(trueGaeltacht), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish.
There areGaeltachtregions in the following counties:[58][59]
- County Galway(Contae na Gaillimhe)
- Connemara(Conamara)
- Aran Islands(Oileáin Árann)
- Carraroe(An Cheathrú Rua)
- Spiddal(An Spidéal)
- County Mayo(Contae Mhaigh Eo)
- County Donegal(Contae Dhún na nGall)
- County Kerry(Contae Chiarraí)
- Dingle Peninsula(Corca Dhuibhne)
- Iveragh Peninsula(Uibh Rathach)
- County Cork(Contae Chorcaí)
- County Waterford(Contae Phort Láirge)
- County Meath(Contae na Mí)
Gweedore(Gaoth Dobhair), County Donegal, is the largestGaeltachtparish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in theGaeltachtare attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go tocéilitheand are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged.
Policy
[edit]Official Languages Act 2003
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Dublin_airport_sign_in_both_English_and_Irish_Gaelic_languages.jpg/220px-Dublin_airport_sign_in_both_English_and_Irish_Gaelic_languages.jpg)
The Act was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies.[60]Compliance with the Act is monitored by theAn Coimisinéir Teanga(Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004[61]and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them.[60]There are 35 sections included in the Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames.[62]The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation.[63]All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions.[64]
Official Languages Scheme 2019–2022
[edit]The Official Languages Scheme was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of theOfficial Languages Act 2003.[65]The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to theDepartment of the Taoiseach,it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build a better future for Ireland and all her citizens."[66]
20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010–2030
[edit]The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language.[67]The 30-page document published by theGovernment of Irelanddetails the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including:
- "Education"
- "TheGaeltacht"
- "Family Transmission of the Language – Early Intervention"
- "Administration, Services and Community"
- "Media and Technology"
- "Dictionaries"
- "Legislation and Status"
- "Economic Life"
- "Cross-cutting Initiatives"[68]
The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run.[69]By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968.[70]
Northern Ireland
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Multilingual_sign_Department_Culture_Leisure_Arts_Northern_Ireland.jpg/220px-Multilingual_sign_Department_Culture_Leisure_Arts_Northern_Ireland.jpg)
Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972,Northern Irelandhad devolved government. During those years the political party holding power in theStormont Parliament,theUlster Unionist Party(UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists.[71]In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government.[72]After the 1998Good Friday Agreement,the language gradually received a degree offormal recognition in Northern Irelandfrom the United Kingdom,[73]and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.In the 2006St Andrews Agreementthe British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language[74]and in 2022 it approvedlegislation to recognise Irish as an official languagealongside English. The bill receivedroyal assenton 6 December 2022.[75]
The Irish language has often been used as a bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such asAn Dream Dearg.[76]
European Parliament
[edit]Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in theEuropean Parliamentand at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages.
While an officiallanguage of the European Union,only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs.[77]This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish a fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history.[78]
Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish.
Outside Ireland
[edit]The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vastdiaspora,chiefly toGreat Britainand North America, but also toAustralia,New ZealandandArgentina. The first large movements began in the 17th century, largely as a result of theCromwellian conquest of Ireland,which saw many Irish sent to theWest Indies.Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing fromthe Famine.This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them.
Relatively few of the emigrants were literate in Irish, but manuscripts in the language were brought to both Australia and the United States, and it was in the United States that the first newspaper to make significant use of Irish was established:An Gaodhal.In Australia, too, the language found its way into print. TheGaelic revival,which started in Ireland in the 1890s, found a response abroad, with branches ofConradh na Gaeilgebeing established in all the countries to which Irish speakers had emigrated.
The decline of Irish in Ireland and a slowing of emigration helped to ensure a decline in the language abroad, along with natural attrition in the host countries. Despite this, small groups of enthusiasts continued to learn and cultivate Irish in diaspora countries and elsewhere, a trend which strengthened in the second half of the 20th century. Today the language is taught at tertiary level in North America, Australia and Europe, and Irish speakers outside Ireland contribute to journalism and literature in the language. There are significant Irish-speaking networks in the United States and Canada;[79]figures released for the period 2006–2008 show that 22,279Irish Americansclaimed to speak Irish at home.[14]
The Irish language is also one of the languages of theCeltic League,a non-governmental organisation that promotesself-determination,Celtic identity and culture inIreland,Scotland,Wales,Brittany,Cornwalland theIsle of Man,known collectively as theCeltic nations.
Irish was spoken as a community language until the early 20th century on theisland of Newfoundland,in a form known asNewfoundland Irish.[80]Certain Irish vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation features are still used in modernNewfoundland English.[81]
Usage
[edit]The 2016 census data shows:
The total number of people who answered 'yes' to being able to speak Irish in April 2016 was 1,761,420, a slight decrease (0.7 per cent) on the 2011 figure of 1,774,437. This represents 39.8 per cent of respondents compared with 41.4 in 2011... Of the 73,803 daily Irish speakers (outside the education system), 20,586 (27.9%) lived in Gaeltacht areas.[82]
Daily Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas between 2011 and 2016
[edit]Gaeltacht Area | 2011 | 2016 | Change 2011–2016 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | ||||||||
County Cork | 982 | 872 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
County Donegal | 7,047 | 5,929 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
Galway City | 636 | 647 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
County Galway | 10,085 | 9,445 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
County Kerry | 2,501 | 2,049 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
County Mayo | 1,172 | 895 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
County Meath | 314 | 283 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
County Waterford | 438 | 467 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
All Gaeltacht Areas | 23,175 | 20,586 | ![]() |
![]() | |||||
Source:[83]
|
In 1996, the three electoral divisions in the State where Irish had the most daily speakers were An Turloch (91%+), Scainimh (89%+), Min an Chladaigh (88%+).[84]
Dialects
[edit]Irish is represented by several traditionaldialectsand by various varieties of "urban" Irish. The latter have acquired lives of their own and a growing number of native speakers. Differences between the dialects make themselves felt in stress, intonation, vocabulary and structural features.
Roughly speaking, the three major dialect areas which survive coincide roughly with the provinces ofConnacht(Cúige Chonnacht),Munster(Cúige Mumhan) andUlster(Cúige Uladh). Records of some dialects ofLeinster(Cúige Laighean) were made by theIrish Folklore Commissionand others.[85]Newfoundland,in eastern Canada, had a form of Irish derived from the Munster Irish of the later 18th century (seeNewfoundland Irish).
Connacht
[edit]Historically, Connacht Irish represents the westernmost remnant of a dialect area which once stretched from east to west across the centre of Ireland. The strongest dialect of Connacht Irish is to be found inConnemaraand theAran Islands.Much closer to the larger Connacht Gaeltacht is the dialect spoken in the smaller region on the border between Galway (Gaillimh) and Mayo (Maigh Eo). There are a number of differences between the popular South Connemara form of Irish, the Mid-Connacht/Joyce Country form (on the border between Mayo and Galway) and the Achill and Erris forms in the north of the province.
Features in Connacht Irish differing from the official standard include a preference for verbal nouns ending in-achan,e.g.lagachaninstead oflagú,"weakening". The non-standard pronunciation ofCois Fharraigewith lengthened vowels and heavily reduced endings gives it a distinct sound. Distinguishing features of Connacht and Ulster dialect include the pronunciation of word-final/w/as[w],rather than as[vˠ]in Munster. For example,sliabh( "mountain" ) is[ʃlʲiəw]in Connacht and Ulster as opposed to[ʃlʲiəβ]in the south. In addition Connacht and Ulster speakers tend to include the "we" pronoun rather than use the standard compound form used in Munster, e.g.bhí muidis used for "we were" instead ofbhíomar.
As in Munster Irish, some short vowels are lengthened and others diphthongised before⟨ll, m, nn, rr, rd⟩,in monosyllabic words and in the stressed syllable of multisyllabic words where the syllable is followed by a consonant. This can be seen inceann[cɑːn̪ˠ]"head",cam[kɑːmˠ]"crooked",gearr[ɟɑːɾˠ]"short",ord[ouɾˠd̪ˠ]"sledgehammer",gall[gɑːl̪ˠ]"foreigner, non-Gael",iontas[ˈiːn̪ˠt̪ˠəsˠ]"a wonder, a marvel", etc. The form⟨(a)ibh⟩,when occurring at the end of words likeagaibh,tends to be pronounced as[iː].
In South Connemara, for example, there is a tendency to replace word-final/vʲ/with/bʲ/,in word such assibh,libhanddóibh(pronounced respectively as "shiv," "liv" and "dófa"in the other areas). This placing of the B-sound is also present at the end of words ending in vowels, such asacu([ˈakəbˠ]) and 'leo([lʲoːbˠ]). There is also a tendency to omit/g/inagam,agatandagainn,a characteristic also of other Connacht dialects. All these pronunciations are distinctively regional.
The pronunciation prevalent in theJoyce Country(the area aroundLough CorribandLough Mask) is quite similar to that of South Connemara, with a similar approach to the wordsagam,agatandagainnand a similar approach to pronunciation of vowels and consonants but there are noticeable differences in vocabulary, with certain words such asdoiligh(difficult) andfoscailtebeing preferred to the more usualdeacairandoscailte.Another interesting aspect of this sub-dialect is that almost all vowels at the end of words tend to be pronounced as[iː]:eile(other),cosa(feet) anddéanta(done) tend to be pronounced aseilí,cosaíanddéantaírespectively.
The northern Mayo dialect ofErris(Iorras) andAchill(Acaill) is in grammar andmorphologyessentially a Connacht dialect but shows some similarities to Ulster Irish due to large-scale immigration of dispossessed people following thePlantation of Ulster.For example, words ending -⟨bh, mh⟩have a much softer sound, with a tendency to terminate words such asleoanddóibhwith⟨f⟩,givingleofaanddófarespectively. In addition to a vocabulary typical of other area of Connacht, one also finds Ulster words likeamharc(meaning "to look" ),nimhneach(painful or sore),druid(close),mothaigh(hear),doiligh(difficult),úr(new), andtig le(to be able to – i.e. a form similar toféidir).
Irish PresidentDouglas Hydewas possibly one of the last speakers of theRoscommondialect of Irish.[36]
Munster
[edit]Munster Irish is the dialect spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of the counties ofCork(Contae Chorcaí),Kerry(Contae Chiarraí), andWaterford(Contae Phort Láirge). The Gaeltacht areas of Cork can be found inCape Clear Island(Oileán Chléire) andMuskerry(Múscraí); those of Kerry lie inCorca DhuibhneandIveragh Peninsula;and those of Waterford inRing(An Rinn) andOld Parish(An Sean Phobal), both of which together formGaeltacht na nDéise.Of the three counties, the Irish spoken in Cork and Kerry is quite similar while that of Waterford is more distinct.
Some typical features of Munster Irish are:
- The use ofsyntheticverbs in parallel with a pronominal subject system, thus "I must" iscaithfeadin Munster, while other dialects prefercaithfidh mé(mémeans "I" ). "I was" and "you were" arebhíosandbhísin Munster but more commonlybhí méandbhí túin other dialects. These are strong tendencies, and the personal formsbhíosetc. are used in the West and North, particularly when the words are last in the clause.
- Use ofindependent/dependent forms of verbsthat are not included in the Standard. For example, "I see" in Munster ischím,which is the independent form; Ulster Irish also uses a similar form,tchím,whereas "I do not see" isní fheicim,feicimbeing the dependent form, which is used after particles such asní( "not" ).Chímis replaced byfeicimin the Standard. Similarly, the traditional form preserved in Munsterbheirim"I give" /ní thugaimistugaim/ní thugaimin the Standard;gheibhimI get/ní bhfaighimisfaighim/ní bhfaighim.
- When before⟨ll, m, nn, rr, rd⟩and so on, in monosyllabic words and in the stressed syllable of multisyllabic words where the syllable is followed by a consonant, some short vowels are lengthened while others arediphthongised,inceann[cɑun̪ˠ]"head",cam[kɑumˠ]"crooked",gearr[ɟɑːɾˠ]"short",ord[oːɾˠd̪ˠ]"sledgehammer",gall[gɑul̪ˠ]"foreigner, non-Gael",iontas[uːn̪ˠt̪ˠəsˠ]"a wonder, a marvel",compánach[kəumˠˈpˠɑːnˠəx]"companion, mate", etc.
- Acopularconstruction involvingea"it" is frequently used. Thus "I am an Irish person" can be saidis Éireannach méandÉireannach is ea méin Munster; there is a subtle difference in meaning, however, the first choice being a simple statement of fact, while the second brings emphasis onto the wordÉireannach.In effect the construction is a type of "fronting".
- Both masculine and feminine words are subject to lenition afterinsan(sa/san) "in the",den"of the", anddon"to/for the":sa tsiopa"in the shop", compared to the Standardsa siopa(the Standard lenites only feminine nouns in the dative in these cases).
- Eclipsis of⟨f⟩aftersa:sa bhfeirm,"in the farm", instead ofsan fheirm.
- Eclipsis of⟨t⟩and⟨d⟩after preposition + singular article, with all prepositions except afterinsan,denanddon:ar an dtigh"on the house",ag an ndoras"at the door".
- Stressis generally on the second syllable of a word when the first syllable contains a short vowel, and the second syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong, or is -⟨(e)ach⟩,e.g.Ciaránispronounced[ciəˈɾˠaːn̪ˠ]opposed to[ˈciəɾˠaːn̪ˠ]in Connacht and Ulster.
Ulster
[edit]Ulster Irish is the dialect spoken in the Gaeltacht regions of Donegal. These regions contain all of Ulster's communities where Irish has been spoken in an unbroken line back to when the language was the dominant language of Ireland. The Irish-speaking communities in other parts of Ulster are a result of language revival – English-speaking families deciding to learn Irish. Census data shows that 4,130 people speak it at home.
Linguistically, the most important of theUlsterdialects today is that which is spoken, with slight differences, in bothGweedore(Gaoth Dobhair= Inlet of Streaming Water) andThe Rosses(na Rossa).
Ulster Irish sounds quite different from the other two main dialects. It shares several features with southern dialects ofScottish GaelicandManx,as well as having many characteristic words and shades of meanings. However, since the demise of those Irish dialects spoken natively in what is today Northern Ireland, it is probably an exaggeration to see present-day Ulster Irish as an intermediary form between Scottish Gaelic and the southern and western dialects of Irish. Northern Scottish Gaelic has many non-Ulster features in common with Munster Irish.
One noticeable trait of Ulster Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx is the use of the negative particlecha(n)in place of the Munster and Connachtní.Though southern Donegal Irish tends to usenímore thancha(n),cha(n)has almost oustedníin northernmost dialects (e.g.RosguillandTory Island), though even in these areasníl"is not" is more common thanchan fhuilorcha bhfuil.[86][87]Another noticeable trait is the pronunciation of the first person singular verb ending-(a)imas-(e)am,also common to the Isle of Man and Scotland (Munster/Connachtsiúlaim"I walk", Ulstersiúlam).
Leinster
[edit]Down to the early 19th century and even later, Irish was spoken in all twelve counties of Leinster. The evidence furnished by placenames, literary sources and recorded speech indicates that there was no Leinster dialect as such. Instead, the main dialect used in the province was represented by a broad central belt stretching from west Connacht eastwards to theLiffey estuaryand southwards toWexford,though with many local variations. Two smaller dialects were represented by the Ulster speech of counties Meath and Louth, which extended as far south as theBoyne valley,and a Munster dialect found in Kilkenny and south Laois.
The main dialect had characteristics which survive today only in the Irish of Connacht. It typically placed the stress on the first syllable of a word, and showed a preference (found in placenames) for the pronunciation⟨cr⟩where the standard spelling is⟨cn⟩.The wordcnoc(hill) would therefore be pronouncedcroc.Examples are the placenames Crooksling (Cnoc Slinne) in County Dublin and Crukeen (Cnoicín) in Carlow. East Leinster showed the same diphthongisation or vowel lengthening as in Munster and Connacht Irish in words likepoll(hole),cill(monastery),coill(wood),ceann(head),cam(crooked) anddream(crowd). A feature of the dialect was the pronunciation of⟨ao⟩,which generally became[eː]in east Leinster (as in Munster), and[iː]in the west (as in Connacht).[88]
Early evidence regarding colloquial Irish in east Leinster is found inThe Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge(1547), by the English physician and traveller Andrew Borde.[89]The illustrative phrases he uses include the following:
English | Leinster Irish | |
---|---|---|
Anglicised spelling | Irish spelling | |
How are you? | Kanys stato? | [Canas 'tá tú?] |
I am well, thank you | Tam a goomah gramahagood. | [Tá mé go maith, go raibh maith agat.] |
Sir, can you speak Irish? | Sor, woll galow oket? | [Sir, 'bhfuil Gaeilig [Gaela'] agat?] |
Wife, give me bread! | Benytee, toor haran! | [A bhean an tí, tabhair arán!] |
How far is it to Waterford? | Gath haad o showh go part laarg?. | [Gá fhad as [a] seo go Port Láirge?] |
It is one a twenty mile. | Myle hewryht. | [Míle a haon ar fhichid.] |
When shall I go to sleep, wife? | Gah hon rah moyd holow? | [Gathain a rachamaoid a chodladh?] |
The Pale
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/The_Pale_According_to_the_Statute_of_1488.jpg/190px-The_Pale_According_to_the_Statute_of_1488.jpg)
The Pale(An Pháil) was an area around late medieval Dublin under the control of the English government. By the late 15th century it consisted of an area along the coast fromDalkey,south ofDublin,to the garrison town ofDundalk,with an inland boundary encompassingNaasandLeixlipin theEarldom of KildareandTrimandKellsin County Meath to the north. In this area of "Englyshe tunge" English had never actually been a dominant language – and was moreover a relatively late comer; the first colonisers were Normans who spoke Norman French, and before these Norse. The Irish language had always been the language of the bulk of the population. An English official remarked of the Pale in 1515 that "all the common people of the said half counties that obeyeth the King's laws, for the most part be of Irish birth, of Irish habit and of Irish language".[90]
With the strengthening of English cultural and political control, language change began to occur but this did not become clearly evident until the 18th century. Even then, in the decennial period 1771–81, the percentage of Irish speakers in Meath was at least 41%. By 1851 this had fallen to less than 3%.[91]
General decline
[edit]English expanded strongly in Leinster in the 18th century but Irish speakers were still numerous. In the decennial period 1771–81 certain counties had estimated percentages of Irish speakers as follows (though the estimates are likely to be too low):[91]
- Kilkenny 57%
- Louth 57%
- Longford 22%
- Westmeath 17%
The language saw its most rapid initial decline in counties Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Wexford, and Wicklow. In recent years, County Wicklow has been noted as having the lowest percentage of Irish speakers of any county in Ireland, with only 0.14% of its population claiming to have passable knowledge of the language.[92]The proportion of Irish-speaking children in Leinster went down as follows: 17% in the 1700s, 11% in the 1800s, 3% in the 1830s, and virtually none in the 1860s.[93]The Irish census of 1851 showed that there were still a number of older speakers in County Dublin.[91]Sound recordings were made between 1928 and 1931 of some of the last speakers inOmeath,County Louth (now available in digital form).[94]The last known traditional native speaker in Omeath, and in Leinster as a whole, was Annie O'Hanlon (née Dobbin), who died in 1960.[28]Her dialect was, in fact, a branch of the Irish of south-east Ulster.[95]
Urban use from the Middle Ages to the 19th century
[edit]Irish was spoken as a community language in Irish towns and cities down to the 19th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was widespread even in Dublin and the Pale. The English administratorWilliam Gerard(1518–1581) commented as follows: "All English, and the most part with delight, even in Dublin, speak Irish,"[96]while theOld EnglishhistorianRichard Stanihurst(1547–1618) lamented that "When their posterity became not altogether so wary in keeping, as their ancestors were valiant in conquering, the Irish language was free dennized in the English Pale: this canker took such deep root, as the body that before was whole and sound, was by little and little festered, and in manner wholly putrified".[97]
The Irish of Dublin, situated as it was between the east Ulster dialect of Meath and Louth to the north and the Leinster-Connacht dialect further south, may have reflected the characteristics of both in phonology and grammar. In County Dublin itself the general rule was to place the stress on the initial vowel of words. With time it appears that the forms of the dative case took over the other case endings in the plural (a tendency found to a lesser extent in other dialects). In a letter written in Dublin in 1691 we find such examples as the following:gnóthuimh(accusative case, the standard form beinggnóthaí),tíorthuibh(accusative case, the standard form beingtíortha) andleithscéalaibh(genitive case, the standard form beingleithscéalta).[98]
English authorities of the Cromwellian period, aware that Irish was widely spoken in Dublin, arranged for its official use. In 1655 several local dignitaries were ordered to oversee a lecture in Irish to be given in Dublin. In March 1656 a converted Catholic priest, Séamas Corcy, was appointed to preach in Irish at Bride's parish every Sunday, and was also ordered to preach atDroghedaandAthy.[99]In 1657 the English colonists in Dublin presented a petition to the Municipal Council complaining that in Dublin itself "there is Irish commonly and usually spoken".[100]
There is contemporary evidence of the use of Irish in other urban areas at the time. In 1657 it was found necessary to have an Oath of Abjuration (rejecting the authority of the Pope) read in Irish inCorkso that people could understand it.[101]
Irish was sufficiently strong in early 18th century Dublin to be the language of a coterie of poets and scribes led by Seán and Tadhg Ó Neachtain, both poets of note.[102]Scribal activity in Irish persisted in Dublin right through the 18th century. An outstanding example was Muiris Ó Gormáin (Maurice Gorman), a prolific producer of manuscripts who advertised his services (in English) inFaulkner's Dublin Journal.[103]There were still an appreciable number of Irish speakers inCounty Dublinat the time of the 1851 census.[104]
In other urban centres the descendants of medieval Anglo-Norman settlers, the so-calledOld English,were Irish-speaking or bilingual by the 16th century.[105]The English administrator and travellerFynes Moryson,writing in the last years of the 16th century, said that "the English Irish and the very citizens (excepting those of Dublin where the lord deputy resides) though they could speak English as well as we, yet commonly speak Irish among themselves, and were hardly induced by our familiar conversation to speak English with us".[106]In Galway, a city dominated by Old English merchants and loyal to the Crown up to theIrish Confederate Wars(1641–1653), the use of the Irish language had already provoked the passing of an Act ofHenry VIII(1536), ordaining as follows:
- Item, that every inhabitant within oure said towne [Galway] endeavour themselfes to speake English, and to use themselfes after the English facon; and, speciallye, that you, and every one of you, doe put your children to scole, to lerne to speke English...[107]
The demise of native cultural institutions in the seventeenth century saw the social prestige of Irish diminish, and the gradual Anglicisation of the middle classes followed.[108]The census of 1851 showed, however, that the towns and cities of Munster still had significant Irish-speaking populations. Much earlier, in 1819, James McQuige, a veteranMethodistlay preacher in Irish, wrote: "In some of the largest southern towns, Cork,Kinsaleand even the Protestant town ofBandon,provisions are sold in the markets, and cried in the streets, in Irish ".[109]Irish speakers constituted over 40% of the population of Cork even in 1851.[110]
Modern urban usage
[edit]The late 18th and 19th centuries saw a reduction in the number of Dublin's Irish speakers, in keeping with the trend elsewhere. This continued until the end of the 19th century, when theGaelic revivalsaw the creation of a strong Irish–speaking network, typically united by various branches of theConradh na Gaeilge,and accompanied by renewed literary activity.[111]By the 1930s Dublin had a lively literary life in Irish.[112]
Urban Irish has been the beneficiary, from the last decades of the 20th century, of a rapidly expanding system ofGaelscoileanna,teaching entirely through Irish. As of 2019 there are 37 such primary schools in Dublin alone.[113]
It has been suggested that Ireland's towns and cities are acquiring a critical mass of Irish speakers, reflected in the expansion of Irish language media.[114]Many are younger speakers who, after encountering Irish at school, made an effort to acquire fluency, while others have been educated through Irish and some have been raised with Irish. Those from an English-speaking background are now often described asnuachainteoirí( "new speakers" ) and use whatever opportunities are available (festivals, "pop-up" events) to practise or improve their Irish.[115]
It has been suggested that the comparative standard is still the Irish of the Gaeltacht,[116]but other evidence suggests that young urban speakers take pride in having their own distinctive variety of the language.[117]A comparison of traditional Irish and urban Irish shows that the distinction between broad and slender consonants, which is fundamental to Irish phonology and grammar, is not fully or consistently observed in urban Irish. This and other changes make it possible that urban Irish will become a new dialect or even, over a long period, develop into a creole (i.e. a new language) distinct from Gaeltacht Irish.[114]It has also been argued that there is a certain elitism among Irish speakers, with most respect being given to the Irish of native Gaeltacht speakers and with "Dublin" (i.e. urban) Irish being under-represented in the media.[118]This, however, is paralleled by a failure among some urban Irish speakers to acknowledge grammatical and phonological features essential to the structure of the language.[114]
Standardisation
[edit]There is no single official standard for pronouncing the Irish language. Certain dictionaries, such asFoclóir Póca,provide a single pronunciation. Online dictionaries such asFoclóir Béarla-Gaeilge[119]provide audio files in the three major dialects. The differences between dialects are considerable, and have led to recurrent difficulties in conceptualising a "standard Irish." In recent decades contacts between speakers of different dialects have become more frequent and the differences between the dialects are less noticeable.[120]
An Caighdeán Oifigiúil( "The Official Standard" ), often shortened toAn Caighdeán,is a standard for the spelling and grammar of written Irish, developed and used by the Irish government. Its rules are followed by most schools in Ireland, though schools in and near Irish-speaking regions also use the local dialect. It was published by the translation department ofDáil Éireannin 1953[121]and updated in 2012[122]and 2017.
Phonology
[edit]In pronunciation, Irish most closely resembles its nearest relatives,Scottish GaelicandManx.One notable feature is that consonants (except/h/) come in pairs, one "broad" (velarised,pronounced with the back of the tongue pulled back towards the soft palate) and one "slender" (palatalised,pronounced with the middle of the tongue pushed up towards the hard palate). While broad–slender pairs are not unique to Irish (being found, for example, inRussian), in Irish they have a grammatical function.
Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Glottal | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
broad | slender | broad | slender | broad | slender | |||
Stop | voiceless | pˠ | pʲ | t̪ˠ | tʲ | k | c | |
voiced | bˠ | bʲ | d̪ˠ | dʲ | ɡ | ɟ | ||
Continuant | voiceless | fˠ | fʲ | sˠ | ʃ | x | ç | h |
voiced | w | vʲ | l̪ˠ | lʲ | ɣ | j | ||
Nasal | mˠ | mʲ | n̪ˠ | nʲ | ŋ | ɲ | ||
Tap | ɾˠ | ɾʲ |
Front | Central | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
short | long | short | short | long | |
Close | ɪ | iː | ʊ | uː | |
Mid | ɛ | eː | ə | ɔ | oː |
Open | a | ɑː |
Thediphthongsof Irish are/iə,uə,əi,əu/.
Syntax and morphology
[edit]Irish is afusional,VSO,nominative-accusative language.It is neitherverbnorsatellite framed,and makes liberal use ofdeicticverbs.
Nounsdeclinefor 3numbers:singular,dual(only in conjunction with the numberdhá"two" ),plural;2genders:masculine, feminine; and 4cases:nomino-accusative(ainmneach),vocative(gairmeach),genitive(ginideach), andprepositional-locative(tabharthach), with fossilised traces of the olderaccusative(cuspóireach).Adjectivesagreewith nouns innumber,gender,andcase.Adjectives generally follow nouns, though some precede orprefixnouns.Demonstrativeadjectiveshaveproximal,medial,anddistalforms. Theprepositional-locativecase is called thedativeby convention, though it originates in the Proto-Celtic ablative.
Verbsconjugatefor 3tenses:past,present,future;2aspects:perfective,imperfective;2 numbers:singular,plural;4moods:indicative,subjunctive,conditional,imperative;2 relative forms, the present and future relative; and in some verbs,independentanddependentforms. Verbsconjugatefor 3personsand an impersonal form which isactor-free; the 3rd person singular acts as a person-free personal form that can be followed or otherwise refer to any person or number.
There are two verbs for "to be", one forinherent qualitieswith only two forms,is"present" andba"past" and "conditional", and one fortransient qualities,with a full complement of forms except for the verbal adjective. The two verbs share the one verbal noun.
Irish verb formation employs a mixed system during conjugation, with bothanalyticandsyntheticmethods employed depending on tense, number, mood and person. For example, in the official standard, present tense verbs have conjugated forms only in the 1st person and autonomous forms (i.e.molaim'I praise',molaimid'we praise',moltar'is praised, one praises' ), whereas all other persons are conveyed analytically (i.e.molann sé'he praises',molann sibh'youpl.praise'). The ratio of analytic to synthetic forms in a given verb paradigm varies between the various tenses and moods. The conditional, imperative and past habitual forms prefer synthetic forms in most persons and numbers, whereas the subjunctive, past, future and present forms prefer mostly analytical forms.
The meaning of thepassive voiceis largely conveyed through the autonomous verb form, however there also exist other structures analogous to thepassivalandresultativeconstructions. There are also a number of preverbalparticlesmarking thenegative,interrogative,subjunctive,relative clauses,etc. There is averbal nounandverbal adjective.Verb forms are highlyregular,many grammars recognise only11 irregular verbs.
Prepositionsinflectforpersonandnumber.Different prepositionsgoverndifferentcases.In Old and Middle Irish, prepositionsgoverneddifferent cases depending on intendedsemantics;this has disappeared in Modern Irish except in fossilised form.
Irish has no verb to express having; instead, the wordag( "at", etc.) is used in conjunction with the transient "be" verbbheith:
- Tá leabharagam."I have a book." (Literally, "there is a book at me", cf. Russian У меня есть книга, Finnishminulla on kirja,Frenchle livre est à moi)
- Tá leabharagat."You (singular) have a book."
- Tá leabharaige."He has a book."
- Tá leabharaici."She has a book."
- Tá leabharagainn."We have a book."
- Tá leabharagaibh."You (plural) have a book."
- Tá leabharacu."They have a book."
Numeralshave three forms: abstract, general and ordinal. The numbers from 2 to 10 (and these in combination with higher numbers) are rarely used for people, numeral nominals being used instead:
- a dó"Two."
- dhá leabhar"Two books."
- beirt"Two people, a couple",beirt fhear"Two men",beirt bhan"Two women".
- dara,tarna(free variation) "Second."
Irish has both decimal and vigesimal systems:
10:a deich
20:fiche
30: vigesimal –a deich is fiche;decimal –tríocha
40: v.daichead, dá fhichead;d.ceathracha
50: v.a deich is daichead;d.caoga(also:leathchéad"half-hundred" )
60: v.trí fichid;d.seasca
70: v.a deich is trí fichid;d.seachtó
80: v.cheithre fichid;d.ochtó
90: v.a deich is cheithre fichid;d.nócha
100: v.cúig fichid;d.céad
A number such as 35 has various forms:
a cúigdéag is fichid"15 and 20"
a cúig is tríocha"5 and 30"
a cúigdéag ar fhichid"15 on 20"
a cúig ar thríochaid"5 on 30"
a cúigdéag fichead"15 of 20 (genitive)"
a cúig tríochad"5 of 30 (genitive)"
fiche 's a cúigdéag"20 and 15"
tríocha 's a cúig"30 and 5"
The latter is most commonly used in mathematics.
Initial mutations
[edit]In Irish, there are two classes of initialconsonant mutations,which express grammatical relationship and meaning in verbs, nouns and adjectives:
- Lenition(séimhiú) describes the change ofstopsintofricatives.[123]Indicated inGaelic typeby anoverdot(ponc séimhithe), it is shown inRoman typeby adding an⟨h⟩.
- caith!"throw!" –chaith mé"I threw" (lenition as a past-tense marker, caused by the particledo,now generally omitted)
- gá"requirement" –easpa an ghá"lack of the requirement" (lenition marking the genitive case of a masculine noun)
- Seán"John" –a Sheáin!"John!" (lenition as part of the vocative case, the vocative lenition being triggered bya,the vocative marker beforeSheáin)
- Eclipsis(urú) covers the voicing of voiceless stops, andnasalisationof voiced stops.
- Athair"Father" –ár nAthair"our Father"
- tús"start",ar dtús"at the start"
- Gaillimh"Galway" –i nGaillimh"in Galway"
Mutations are often the only way to distinguish grammatical forms. For example, the only non-contextual way to distinguishpossessive pronouns"her", "his" and "their", is through initial mutations since all meanings are represented by the same worda.
- his shoe –a bhróg(lenition)
- their shoe –a mbróg(eclipsis)
- her shoe –a bróg(unchanged)
Due toinitial mutation,prefixes,clitics,suffixes,rootinflection,endingmorphology,elision,sandhi,epenthesis,andassimilation;the beginning, core, and end of words can each change radically and even simultaneously depending on context.
Orthography
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Badge_of_the_Irish_Defence_Forces.svg/220px-Badge_of_the_Irish_Defence_Forces.svg.png)
A nativewriting system,Ogham,was used to write Primitive Irish and Old Irish untilLatin scriptwas introduced in the 5th centuryCE.[124]Since the introduction of Latin script, the maintypefaceused to write Irish wasGaelic typeuntil it was replaced byRoman typeduring the mid-20th century.
The traditional Irishalphabet(áibítir) consists of 18letters:⟨a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u⟩;it does not contain⟨j, k, q, v, w, x, y, z⟩.[125][126]However contemporary Irish uses the full Latin alphabet, with the previously unused letter used in modernloanwords;⟨v⟩occurs in a small number of (mainlyonomatopoeic) native words andcolloquialisms.
Vowels may beaccentedwith anacute accent(⟨á, é, í, ó, ú⟩;Irish andHiberno-English:(síneadh) fada"long (sign)" ), but it is ignored for purposes of alphabetisation.[127]It is used, among other conventions, to marklong vowels,e.g.⟨e⟩is/ɛ/and⟨é⟩is/eː/.
Theoverdot(ponc séimhithe"dot of lenition" ) was used in traditionalorthographyto indicatelenition;An Caighdeán uses a following⟨h⟩for this purpose, i.e. the dotted letters (litreacha buailte"struck letters" )⟨ḃ, ċ, ḋ, ḟ, ġ, ṁ, ṗ, ṡ, ṫ⟩are equivalent to⟨bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh, th⟩.
The use of Gaelic type and the overdot today is restricted to when a traditional style is consciously being used, e.g.Óglaiġ na h-Éireannon theIrish Defence Forces cap badge(seeabove). Extending the use of the overdot to Roman type would theoretically have the advantage of making Irish texts significantly shorter, e.g.gheobhaidh sibh"you (pl.) will get" would becomeġeoḃaiḋ siḃ.
Spelling reform
[edit]Around the time of theSecond World War,Séamas Daltún, in charge ofRannóg an Aistriúcháin (The Translation Department of theIrish government), issued his own guidelines about how tostandardiseIrishspellingandgrammar.Thisde factostandard was subsequently approved by the State and developed intoan Caighdeán Oifigiúil,which simplified and standardised the orthography and grammar by removing inter-dialectalsilent lettersand simplifying vowel combinations. Where multiple versions existed in different dialects for the same word, one was selected, for example:
- beirbhiughadh→beiriú"cook"
- biadh→bia"food"
- Gaedhealg/Gaedhilg/Gaedhealaing/Gaeilic/Gaelainn/Gaoidhealg/Gaolainn→Gaeilge"Irish language"
An Caighdeándoes not reflect all dialects to the same degree, e.g.cruaidh/kɾˠuəj/"hard",leabaidh/ˈl̠ʲabˠəj/"bed", andtráigh/t̪ˠɾˠaːj/"beach" were standardised ascrua,leaba,andtrádespite the reformed spellings only reflecting South Connacht realisations[kɾˠuə],[ˈl̠ʲabˠə],and[t̪ˠɾˠaː],failing to represent the other dialectal realisations[kɾˠui],[ˈl̠ʲabˠi],and[t̪ˠɾˠaːi](in Mayo and Ulster) or[kɾˠuəɟ],[ˈl̠ʲabˠəɟ],and[t̪ˠɾˠaːɟ](in Munster), which were previously represented by the pre-reformed spellings.[128]For this reason, the pre-reform spellings are used by some speakers to reflect the dialectal pronunciations.
Other examples include the genitive ofbia"food" (/bʲiə/;pre-reformbiadh) andsaol"life, world" (/sˠeːlˠ/;pre-reformsaoghal), realised[bʲiːɟ]and[sˠeːlʲ]in Munster, reflecting the pre-Caighdeán spellingsbídhandsaoghail,which were standardised asbiaandsaoildespite not representing the Munster pronunciations.[129][130]
Sample text
[edit]Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights
Irish: Saolaítear gach duine den chine daonna saor agus comhionann i ndínit agus i gcearta. Tá bua an réasúin agus an choinsiasa acu agus ba cheart dóibh gníomhú i dtreo a chéile i spiorad an bhráithreachais.[131] |
English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[132] |
See also
[edit]- Béarlachas,Anglicisms in Irish
- Buntús Cainte,a course in basic spoken Irish
- Comparison of Scottish Gaelic and Irish
- Cumann Gaelach,Irish language Society
- Dictionary of the Irish Language
- Fáinne,a lapel pin for Irish speakers
- Goidelic substrate hypothesis
- Hiberno-Latin,a variety ofMedieval Latinused in Irish monasteries. It included Greek, Hebrew and Celtic neologisms.
- Irish language outside Ireland
- Irish nameandPlace names in Ireland
- Irish words used in the English language
- Irish,a subject of the Junior Cycle examination in Secondary schools in Ireland
- List of artists who have released Irish-language songs
- List of English words of Irish origin
- List of Ireland-related topics
- List of Irish-language given names
- List of Irish-language media
- Modern literature in Irish
- Status of the Irish language,a detailed account of the current state of the language.
- Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ab"Constitution of Ireland".Government of Ireland.1 July 1937. Archived fromthe originalon 17 July 2009.Retrieved19 June2007.
- ^Ainsworth, Paul (6 December 2022)."'Historic milestone' passed as Irish language legislation becomes law ".The Irish News.Retrieved7 December2022.
- ^"Our Role Supporting You".Foras na Gaeilge.Retrieved8 January2021.
... between Foras na Gaeilge and Bòrd na Gàidhlig, promoting the use of Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic in Ireland and Scotland...'
- ^abO'Gallagher, J. (1877).Sermons in Irish-Gaelic.Gill.
- ^Ó Flannghaile, Tomás (1896).For the Tongue of the Gael: a Selection of Essays and Philological on Irish-Gaelic Subjects.Gill.
- ^abc"Gaelic definition and meaning".Collins English Dictionary.
- ^abc"Gaelic".Cambridge English Dictionary.Cambridge University Press.Retrieved22 December2018.
- ^"Irish language".Britannica.2021.
- ^"Our Role Supporting You".Foras na Gaeilge.Retrieved8 January2021.
... between Foras na Gaeilge and Bòrd na Gàidhlig, promoting the use of Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic in Ireland and Scotland...'
- ^ab"Gaelic: Definition of Gaelic by Merriam-Webster".Merriam-Webster.com.Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.
- ^""Reawakening the Irish Language through the Irish Education System: Challenges and Priorities""(PDF).International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education.
- ^abc"Irish Language and the Gaeltacht – CSO – Central Statistics Office".www.cso.ie.19 December 2023.Retrieved17 February2024.
- ^"Frequency of Speaking Irish".nisra.gov.uk.21 March 2023.
- ^ab"1. Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for the United States: 2006–2008",Language(table), Census, 2010
- ^Doyle, Danny (2015).Míle Míle i gCéin: The Irish Language in Canada.Ottawa: Borealis Press. p. 196.ISBN978-0-88887-631-7.
- ^Dinneen, Patrick S.(1927).Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla[Irish and English dictionary] (in Irish) (2d ed.). Dublin: Irish Texts Society. pp. 507 s.v.Gaedhealg.ISBN1-870166-00-0.
- ^Doyle, Aidan;Gussmann, Edmund(2005).An Ghaeilge, Podręcznik Języka Irlandzkiego.Redakcja Wydawnictw Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego. pp. 423k.ISBN83-7363-275-1.
- ^Dillon, Myles;Ó Cróinín, Donncha(1961).Teach Yourself Irish.London:English Universities Press.p. 227.
- ^Ó Dónaill, Niall, ed. (1977).Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla.p. 600 s.v.Gaeilge.
- ^"Ireland speaks up loudly for Gaelic".The New York Times.29 March 2005.Archivedfrom the original on 8 January 2014.Retrieved19 February2017.An example of the use of the word "Gaelic" to describe the language, seen throughout the text of the article.
- ^"Irish: Ethnologue".Ethnologue.Retrieved22 December2018.
Alternate names: Erse, Gaelic Irish, Irish Gaelic
- ^Dalton, Martha (July 2019). "Nuclear Accents in Four Irish (Gaelic) Dialects".International Conference of Phonetic Science.XVI.CiteSeerX10.1.1.486.4615.
- ^"Interinstitutional Style Guide: Section 7.2.4. Rules governing the languages of the institutions".European Union.27 April 2016.
- ^"Gaelic".The Free Dictionary.
- ^"House of Commons, 1 August 1922: Ireland: Erse language (18)".Hansard.157.London, UK:Houses of Parliament.1240–1242. 1 August 1922.
Sir CHARLES OMAN asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has protested against the recent attempt of the Provisional Government in Ireland to force compulsory Erse into all official correspondence, in spite of the agreement that Erse and English should be equally permissible.. MR CHURCHILL.. I do not anticipate that Irish Ministers will willingly incur the very great confusion which would inevitably result from the use of Irish for the material parts of their correspondence.
- ^Irving, Jenni."Ogham".World History Encyclopedia.Retrieved27 March2024.
- ^De Fréine, Seán (1978).The Great Silence: The Study of a Relationship Between Language and Nationality.Irish Books & Media.ISBN978-0-85342-516-8.
- ^abÓ Gráda 2013.
- ^O'Reilly, Edward (17 March 2015).""The unadulterated Irish language": Irish Speakers in Nineteenth Century New York ".New-York Historical Society.Archivedfrom the original on 29 July 2017.Retrieved29 July2017.
- ^See the discussion inWolf, Nicholas M. (2014).An Irish-Speaking Island: State, Religion, Community, and the Linguistic Landscape in Ireland, 1770–1870.University of Wisconsin Press.ISBN978-0-299-30274-0.
- ^McMahon 2008, pp. 130–131.
- ^"The Irish language and the Church of Ireland".Church of Ireland.Archivedfrom the original on 10 July 2017.Retrieved29 July2017.
- ^Watson, Iarfhlaith; Nic Ghiolla Phádraig, Máire (September 2009)."Is there an educational advantage to speaking Irish? An investigation of the relationship between education and ability to speak Irish".International Journal of the Sociology of Language(199): 143–156.doi:10.1515/IJSL.2009.039.hdl:10197/5649.S2CID144222872.
- ^"Ireland speaks up loudly for Gaelic".The New York Times.29 March 2005.Archivedfrom the original on 8 January 2014.Retrieved19 February2017.
- ^Murphy, Brian (25 January 2018)."Douglas Hyde's inauguration – a signal of a new Ireland".RTÉ.Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2018.Retrieved6 September2018.
- ^ab"Douglas Hyde Opens 2RN 1 January 1926".RTÉ News.15 February 2012.Archivedfrom the original on 6 January 2013.Retrieved8 May2013.
- ^"Allocution en irlandais, par M. Douglas Hyde".Bibliothèque nationale de France.28 January 1922.Retrieved6 September2018.
- ^"The Doegen Records Web Project".Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2018.
- ^"Census of Population 2016 – Profile 10 Education, Skills and the Irish Language – CSO – Central Statistics Office".23 November 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 12 February 2018.Retrieved11 February2018.
- ^Ó Murchú, Máirtín (1993). "Aspects of the societal status of Modern Irish". In Ball, Martin J.; Fife, James (eds.).The Celtic Languages.London: Routledge. pp. 471–90.ISBN0-415-01035-7.
- ^"NUI Entry Requirements – Ollscoil na hÉireann – National University of Ireland".Nui.ie.Archivedfrom the original on 5 July 2012.Retrieved7 July2012.
- ^"Obligation to appoint Irish speakers".Archived fromthe originalon 30 November 2005.
- ^Wilson, Jade (26 June 2024)."University of Galway president Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh to step down from his role".The Irish Times.Retrieved2 August2024.
- ^"Academic claims the forced learning of Irish 'has failed'".Independent.ie.19 January 2006.
- ^Regan, Mary (4 May 2010)."End compulsory Irish, says FG, as 14,000 drop subject".Irish Examiner.
- ^Donncha Ó hÉallaithe: "Litir oscailte chuig Enda Kenny":BEO.ieArchived20 January 2011 at theWayback Machine
- ^Siggins, Lorna (16 July 2007)."Study sees decline of Irish in Gaeltacht".The Irish Times.
- ^Nollaig Ó Gadhra, 'The Gaeltacht and the Future of Irish,Studies,Volume 90, Number 360
- ^Welsh Robert and Stewart, Bruce (1996). 'Gaeltacht,'The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature.Oxford University Press.
- ^Hindley, Reg (1991).The Death of the Irish Language: A Qualified Obituary.Taylor & Francis.
- ^Magan, Manchán (9 January 2007)."Cá Bhfuil Na Gaeilg eoirí? *".The Guardian.London.Archivedfrom the original on 29 January 2017.Retrieved17 December2016.
- ^"Why choose Irish-medium education? | Gaeloideachas".gaeloideachas.ie.Retrieved15 December2023.
- ^See the discussion and the conclusions reached in 'Language and Occupational Status: Linguistic Elitism in the Irish Labour Market,' The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 40, No. 4, Winter, 2009, pp. 435–460:Ideas.repec.orgArchived29 March 2015 at theWayback Machine
- ^"Over 2.3m people using language app to learn Irish".RTE.25 November 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 4 September 2017.Retrieved23 September2017.
- ^"Ar fheabhas! President praises volunteer Duolingo translators".The Irish Times.Archivedfrom the original on 11 October 2017.Retrieved23 September2017.
- ^abSiggins, Lorna (6 January 2003). "Only 25% of Gaeltacht households fluent in Irish – survey".The Irish Times.p. 5.
- ^Hindley 1991, Map 7: Irish speakers by towns and distinct electoral divisions, census 1926.
- ^"The Gaeltacht | Our Language & the Ghaeltacht".Údarás na Gaeltachta.Retrieved15 December2023.
- ^"Gaeltacht Affairs".www.gov.ie.5 October 2020.Retrieved15 December2023.
- ^abTrinity College Dublin (5 November 2020)."Official Languages Act 2003".
- ^"Official Languages Act 2003".www.gov.ie.22 July 2020.Retrieved10 December2020.
- ^An Coimisinéir Teanga.Official Languages Act 2003: Guidebook(PDF).pp. 1–3.
- ^"Official Languages Act 2003 (and related legislation)".www.gov.ie.31 August 2020.Retrieved10 December2020.
- ^"Review of Official Language Act 2003".www.gov.ie.3 July 2015.Retrieved10 December2020.
- ^"Irish Language Policy".www.gov.ie.July 2019.Retrieved10 December2020.
- ^Roinn an Taoisigh (2019).Official Languages Act 2003: Language Scheme 2019–2022.p. 3.
- ^"20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language".www.gov.ie.29 September 2020.Retrieved10 December2020.
- ^Government of Ireland (2010).20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010–2030.p. 11.
- ^Breadun, Deaglan De."Plan could treble number speaking Irish, says Cowen".The Irish Times.Retrieved10 December2020.
- ^"Irish Language and the Gaeltacht – CSO – Central Statistics Office".www.cso.ie.19 December 2023.Retrieved19 February2024.
- ^"CAIN: Issues: Language: O'Reilly, C. (1997) Nationalists and the Irish Language in Northern Ireland: Competing Perspectives".Cain.ulst.ac.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 9 October 2015.Retrieved31 October2015.
- ^"GPPAC.net".Archived fromthe originalon 13 May 2007.
- ^"Belfast Agreement – Full text – Section 6 (Equality) –" Economic, Social and Cultural issues "".Cain.ulst.ac.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 22 November 2013.Retrieved7 July2012.
- ^"Irish language future is raised".BBC News.13 December 2006.Archivedfrom the original on 15 March 2007.Retrieved19 June2007.
- ^Ainsworth, Paul (6 December 2022)."'Historic milestone' passed as Irish language legislation becomes law ".The Irish News.Retrieved18 February2023.
- ^"Thousands call for Irish Language Act during Belfast rally".The Irish Times.Archivedfrom the original on 15 November 2017.Retrieved15 January2018.
- ^"Is í an Ghaeilge an 21ú teanga oifigiúil den Aontas Eorpach"[Irish is the 21st official language of the European Union] (in Irish). Archived fromthe originalon 18 March 2008.Retrieved14 June2008.
- ^Boland, Lauren (31 December 2021)."Irish to be fully recognised as an official EU language from New Year's Day".TheJournal.ie.Retrieved1 January2022.
- ^O Broin, Brian."An Analysis of the Irish-Speaking Communities of North America: Who are they, what are their opinions, and what are their needs?".Academia(in Irish).Archivedfrom the original on 10 May 2012.Retrieved31 March2012.
- ^Mannion, John (February 2003)."The Irish in Newfoundland".Heritage: Newfoundland & Labrador.
- ^Clarke, Sandra; Paddock, Harold; MacKenzie, Marguerite (1999)."Language".Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador.
- ^"7. Irish".Report of the 2016 Census of Ireland.Dublin, Ireland: Central Statistics Office. 2017. pp. 66, 69.
Of the 1.76 million who said they could speak Irish, 73,803 said they speak it daily outside the education system, a fall of 3,382 on the 2011 figure.... (421,274) said they never spoke Irish.... Of the 73,803 daily Irish speakers (outside the education system), 20,586 (27.9%) lived in Gaeltacht areas. The total population of all Gaeltacht areas in April 2016 was 96,090
- ^"Census 2016 Summary Results – Part 1 – CSO – Central Statistics Office".Cso.ie.Archivedfrom the original on 30 July 2017.Retrieved29 July2017.
- ^"Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media"(PDF).www.gov.ie.
- ^"The Doegen Records Web Project".Archivedfrom the original on 8 September 2018.
- ^Hamilton, John Noel (1974).A Phonetic Study of the Irish of Tory Island, County Donegal.Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast.
- ^Lucas, Leslie W. (1979).Grammar of Ros Goill Irish, County Donegal.Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast.
- ^Williams 1994, pp. 467–478.
- ^Borde, Andrew (1870). Furnivall, F.J. (ed.)."The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge".N. Trubner & Co. pp. 131–135.
- ^"State of Ireland & Plan for its Reformation" inState Papers Ireland,Henry VIII, ii, 8.
- ^abcSee Fitzgerald 1984.
- ^"The Irish Language in Co. Wicklow".27 June 2019.
- ^Cited in Ó Gráda 2013.
- ^"The Doegen Records Web Project | DHO".Dho.ie. 5 September 1928.Archivedfrom the original on 19 March 2016.Retrieved19 March2016.
- ^"Cur síos ar an chainteoir ó dhúchas deireannach ón Ó Méith, Co Lú, Anna Uí AnnluainCur síos ar an chainteoir ó dhúchas deireannach ón Ó Méith, Co Lú, Anna Uí Annluain".RTÉ Archives.Retrieved22 October2022.
- ^See "Tony Crowley," The Politics of Language in Ireland 1366–1922: A Sourcebook "andLeerssen, Joep,Mere Irish and Fior-Ghael: Studies in the Idea of Irish Nationality, Its Development and Literary Expression Prior to the Nineteenth Century,University of Notre Dame Press 1997, p. 51.ISBN978-0268014278
- ^Ellis, Henry (ed.).The Description of Ireland,An Electronic Edition: Chapter 1 (The Names of Ireland, with the Compasse of the Same, also what Shires or Counties it Conteineth, the Diuision or Partition of the Land, and of the Language of the People)
- ^See Ó hÓgáin 2011.
- ^Berresford Ellis, Peter (1975).Hell or Connnaught! The Cromwellian Colonisation of Ireland 1652–1660,p. 156. Hamish Hamilton. SBN 241-89071-3.
- ^Berresford Ellis 1975, p. 193.
- ^Berresford Ellis 1975, p. 190.
- ^Williams & Uí Mhuiríosa 1979, pp. 279 and 284.
- ^Ní Mhunghaile 2010, pp. 239–276.
- ^See Fitzgerald, 1984.
- ^McCabe, p.31
- ^Quoted in Graham Kew (ed.),The Irish Sections of Fynes Moryson's unpublished itinerary(IMC, Dublin, 1998), p. 50.
- ^Quoted inHardiman, James,The History of the Town and Country of the County of Galway.Dublin 1820: p. 80.
- ^Ó Laoire 2007, p. 164.
- ^Quoted in de Brún 2009, pp. 11–12.
- ^Fitzgerald, Garrett, 'Estimates for baronies of minimal level of Irish-speaking amongst successive decennial cohorts, 117-1781 to 1861–1871,' Volume 84,Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy1984
- ^Ó Conluain & Ó Céileachair 1976, pp. 148–153, 163–169, 210–215.
- ^Máirín Ní Mhuiríosa, "Cumann na Scríbhneoirí: Memoir" inScríobh 5,pp. 168–181, Seán Ó Mórdha (ed.), An Clóchomhar Tta 1981.
- ^"Dublin: Gaelscoileanna – Irish Medium Education".Retrieved8 April2020.
- ^abcÓ Broin, Brian (16 January 2010)."Schism fears for Gaeilgeoirí".The Irish Times.Archivedfrom the original on 16 February 2018.Retrieved16 February2018.
- ^Walsh, John; OʼRourke, Bernadette; Rowland, Hugh (October 2015).Research Report on New Speakers of Irish(PDF)(Report). Foras na Gaeilge.Retrieved8 June2023.
- ^Seoighe, Stiofán (22 July 2019)."Gá le doirse a oscailt do nuachainteoirí na Gaeilge: Cén chaoi gur féidir cainteoirí gníomhacha, féinmhuiníneacha a dhéanamh astu seo a fhoghlaimíonn an Ghaeilge ar scoil?"[Need to open doors for new speakers of Irish: How can active, self-confident speakers be made from those who learn Irish at school?].The Irish Times(in Irish).Retrieved19 August2019.
- ^Nic Fhlannchadha, S.; Hickey, T.M. (12 January 2016). "Minority Language Ownership and Authority: Perspectives of Native Speakers and New Speakers".International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.21(1): 38–53.doi:10.1080/13670050.2015.1127888.hdl:10197/7394.S2CID67833553.
- ^Ní Thuathaláin, Méabh (23 July 2019)."'I'm gonna speak Irish the way that's natural for me' – craoltóir buartha faoi éilíteachas shaol na Gaeilge ".Tuairisc.ie.Archived from the original on 4 September 2019.Retrieved19 August2019.
{{cite news}}
:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^"Leabharlann Teanga agus Foclóireachta".www.teanglann.ie.Retrieved8 April2020.
- ^"Irish Dialects copy of Irishlanguage.net".Archived fromthe originalon 1 July 2016.Retrieved31 October2015.
- ^"Beginners' Blas".BBC.June 2005.Archivedfrom the original on 3 March 2009.Retrieved18 March2011.
- ^"An Caighdeán Oifigiúil"[The Official Standard](PDF)(in Irish). January 2012.Archived(PDF)from the original on 25 April 2018.Retrieved26 February2018.
- ^"III the morphonology of Irish".The Sound Structure of Modern Irish.De Gruyter Mouton. 11 April 2014. pp. 235–316.doi:10.1515/9783110226607.235.ISBN978-3-11-022660-7.
- ^"Celtic languages – Irish | Britannica".www.britannica.com.
- ^Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostai.L. A. Ó hAnluain, Christian Brothers (Eagrán nua ed.). Baile Átha Cliath: An Gúm. 1999.ISBN1-85791-327-2.OCLC46449130.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^"Irish Orthography".www.nualeargais.ie.Retrieved23 October2022.
- ^"Irish 'fada' to get legal protection – and must appear in all State IT systems and computer keyboards".independent.8 July 2021.Retrieved31 December2022.
- ^Doyle, Aidan;Gussmann, Edmund(2005).An Ghaeilge, Podręcznik Języka Irlandzkiego.Redakcja Wydawnictw Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego. p. 417.ISBN83-7363-275-1.
- ^Doyle, Aidan;Gussmann, Edmund(2005).An Ghaeilge, Podręcznik Języka Irlandzkiego.Redakcja Wydawnictw Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego. p. 412.ISBN83-7363-275-1.
- ^Doyle, Aidan;Gussmann, Edmund(2005).An Ghaeilge, Podręcznik Języka Irlandzkiego.Redakcja Wydawnictw Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego. p. 432.ISBN83-7363-275-1.
- ^"Universal Declaration of Human Rights".Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- ^"Universal Declaration of Human Rights".United Nations.
Bibliography
[edit]- McCabe, Richard A..Spenser's Monstrous Regiment: Elizabethan Ireland and the Poetics of Difference.Oxford University Press2002.ISBN0-19-818734-3.
- Hickey, Raymond.The Dialects of Irish: Study of a Changing Landscape.Walter de Gruyter,2011.ISBN3110238306.
- Hickey, Raymond.The Sound Structure of Modern Irish.De Gruyter Mouton2014.ISBN978-3-11-022659-1.
- De Brún, Pádraig.Scriptural Instruction in the Vernacular: The Irish Society and its Teachers 1818–1827.Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies2009.ISBN978-1-85500-212-8
- Doyle, Aidan,A History of the Irish Language: From the Norman Invasion to Independence,Oxford, 2015.
- Fitzgerald, Garrett, 'Estimates for baronies of minimal level of Irish-speaking amongst successive decennial cohorts, 117–1781 to 1861–1871,' Volume 84,Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy1984.
- Garvin, Tom,Preventing the Future: Why was Ireland so poor for so long?,Gill and MacMillan,2005.
- Hindley, Reg (1991, new ed.).The Death of the Irish Language: A Qualified Obituary.Routledge.ISBN978-0-4150-6481-1
- McMahon, Timothy G..Grand Opportunity: The Gaelic Revival and Irish Society, 1893–1910.Syracuse University Press2008.ISBN978-0-8156-3158-3
- Ó Gráda, Cormac. 'Cé Fada le Fán' inDublin Review of Books,Issue 34, 6 May 2013:"CÉ FADA LE FÁN".Drb.ie.Archivedfrom the original on 11 October 2017.Retrieved23 September2017.
- Kelly, James & Mac Murchaidh, Ciarán (eds.).Irish and English: Essays on the Linguistic and Cultural Frontier 1600–1900.Four Courts Press2012.ISBN978-1846823404
- Ní Mhunghaile, Lesa. 'An Eighteenth Century Irish scribe's private library: Muiris Ó Gormáin's books' inProceedings of the Royal Irish Academy,Volume 110C, 2010, pp. 239–276.
- Ní Mhuiríosa, Máirín. 'Cumann na Scríbhneoirí: Memoir' inScríobh 5,ed. Seán Ó Mórdha.Baile Átha Cliath: An Clóchomhar Tta1981.
- Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí.Labhrann Laighnigh: Téacsanna agus Cainteanna ó Shean-Chúige Laighean.Coiscéim 2011.
- Ó Laoire, Muiris.Language Use and Language Attitudes in IrelandinMultilingualism in European Bilingual Contexts: Language Use and Attitudes,ed. David Lasagabaster and Ángel Huguet. Multilingual Matters Ltd. 2007.ISBN1-85359-929-8
- Shibakov, Alexey.Irish Word Forms / Irische Wortformen.epubli 2017.ISBN9783745066500
- Williams, J. E. Caerwyn & Ní Mhuiríosa, Máirín (ed.).Traidisiún Liteartha na nGael.An Clóchomhar Tta 1979.
- Williams, Nicholas. 'Na Canúintí a Theacht chun Solais' inStair na Gaeilge,ed. Kim McCone and others. Maigh Nuad 1994.ISBN0-901519-90-1
External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Discover Irish
- "Learning Irish?,"BBC
- Giotaí and Top 40 Offigiúla na hÉireannprogrammes
- Irish Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words(from Wiktionary'sSwadesh-list appendix)
Grammar and pronunciation
[edit]- Learn IrishGrammar with audio and pronunciation
- An GaelMagazine– Irish Gaelic Arts, Culture, And History Alive Worldwide Today
- Trinity College Dublin The Irish Language Synthesiser