Irish language

For other uses, seeIrish language (disambiguation).

"Gaoidhealg" redirects here. For the shared literary form that was in use from the 13th to the 16th–18th century, seeClassical Gaelic.

Irish
Irish Gaelic Gaelic
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
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Goidelic Irish
Early forms	Primitive Irish Old Irish Middle Irish Early Modern Irish
Standard forms	An Caighdeán Oifigiúil(written only)
Dialects	Connacht Irish Leinster Irish† Munster Irish Newfoundland† Ulster Irish
Writing system	Latin(Irish alphabet) Ogham(historically) Irish Braille
Official status
Official language in	Ireland Northern Ireland 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),is aGoidelic languageof theInsular Celticbranch of theCeltic language group,which is a part of theIndo-European language family.Irish isindigenousto the island ofIrelandand 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.

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.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.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.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.

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.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

In Irish

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.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.

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.

In English

In English (includingHiberno-English), the language is usually referred to asIrish,as well asGaelicandIrish Gaelic.The termIrish Gaelicmay be seen when English speakers discuss the relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx).Gaelicis a collective term for the Goidelic languages,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;as well as Scottish Gaelic.

History

Main article:History of the Irish language

Written Irish is first attested inOghaminscriptions from the 4th century AD,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.

The distribution of the Irish language in 1871

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.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.

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.

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.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.

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.

Status and policy

Main article:Status of the Irish language

Ireland

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.

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.

Bilingual sign inGrafton Street,Dublin

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.

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.

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.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).In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish.Misneachstaged 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.

Bilingual road signs inCreggs,County Galway

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.The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern.

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.

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.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.

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.

In November 2016,RTÉreported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through theDuolingoapp.Irish presidentMichael Higginsofficially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project".

Gaeltacht

Main article:Gaeltacht

The percentage of respondents who said they spoke Irish daily outside the education system in the 2011 census in the State.

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,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."

In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas.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:

• 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

Official Languages Act 2003

Main article:Official Languages Act 2003

Dublin airport sign in both English and Irish languages

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.Compliance with the Act is monitored by theAn Coimisinéir Teanga(Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them.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.The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation.All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions.

Official Languages Scheme 2019–2022

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.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."

20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010–2030

Main article:20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010–2030

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.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"

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.By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968.

Northern Ireland

Main article:Irish language in Northern Ireland

A sign for the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland, in English, Irish andUlster Scots.

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.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.After the 1998Good Friday Agreement,the language gradually received a degree offormal recognition in Northern Irelandfrom the United Kingdom,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 languageand in 2022 it approvedlegislation to recognise Irish as an official languagealongside English. The bill receivedroyal assenton 6 December 2022.

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.

European Parliament

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.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.

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

Main articles:Irish language outside IrelandandIrish language in Newfoundland

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;figures released for the period 2006–2008 show that 22,279Irish Americansclaimed to speak Irish at home.

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.Certain Irish vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation features are still used in modernNewfoundland English.

Usage

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.

Daily Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas between 2011 and 2016

Gaeltacht Area	2011	2016	Change 2011–2016
			No.	%
County Cork	982	872	110	11.2%
County Donegal	7,047	5,929	1,118	15.9%
Galway City	636	647	11	1.6%
County Galway	10,085	9,445	640	6.3%
County Kerry	2,501	2,049	452	18.1%
County Mayo	1,172	895	277	23.6%
County Meath	314	283	31	9.9%
County Waterford	438	467	29	6.6%
All Gaeltacht Areas	23,175	20,586	2,589	11.2%
Source:

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%+).

Dialects

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.Newfoundland,in eastern Canada, had a form of Irish derived from the Munster Irish of the later 18th century (seeNewfoundland Irish).

Connacht

Main article:Connacht Irish

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.

Munster

Main article:Munster Irish

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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".
5. 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).
6. Eclipsis of⟨f⟩aftersa:sa bhfeirm,"in the farm", instead ofsan fheirm.
7. 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".
8. 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

Main article:Ulster Irish

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.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

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).

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.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

The Pale– According to Statute of 1488

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".

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%.

General decline

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):

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.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.The Irish census of 1851 showed that there were still a number of older speakers in County Dublin.Sound recordings were made between 1928 and 1931 of some of the last speakers inOmeath,County Louth (now available in digital form).The last known traditional native speaker in Omeath, and in Leinster as a whole, was Annie O'Hanlon (née Dobbin), who died in 1960.Her dialect was, in fact, a branch of the Irish of south-east Ulster.

Urban use from the Middle Ages to the 19th century

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,"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".

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).

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.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".

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.

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.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.There were still an appreciable number of Irish speakers inCounty Dublinat the time of the 1851 census.

In other urban centres the descendants of medieval Anglo-Norman settlers, the so-calledOld English,were Irish-speaking or bilingual by the 16th century.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".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...

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.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 ".Irish speakers constituted over 40% of the population of Cork even in 1851.

Modern urban usage

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.By the 1930s Dublin had a lively literary life in Irish.

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.

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.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.

It has been suggested that the comparative standard is still the Irish of the Gaeltacht,but other evidence suggests that young urban speakers take pride in having their own distinctive variety of the language.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.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.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.

Standardisation

Main article:An Caighdeán Oifigiúil

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-Gaeilgeprovide 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.

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 1953and updated in 2012and 2017.

Phonology

Main article:Irish phonology

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.

Consonant phonemes

		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

Vowel phonemes

	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

Main articles:Irish grammar,Irish declension,Irish conjugation,andIrish syntax

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

Main article:Irish initial mutations

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.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

Main article:Irish orthography

The official symbol of the Irish Defence Forces, showing a Gaelic typeface with dot diacritics

A nativewriting system,Ogham,was used to write Primitive Irish and Old Irish untilLatin scriptwas introduced in the 5th centuryCE.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⟩.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.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

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.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.

Sample text

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.

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.

See also

• 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

References

Bibliography

• 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

• 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

• Learn IrishGrammar with audio and pronunciation
• An GaelMagazine– Irish Gaelic Arts, Culture, And History Alive Worldwide Today
• Trinity College Dublin The Irish Language Synthesiser

Dictionaries

• Teanglann.ie– Dictionaries and terminology resource
• General Gaelic Dictionaries