Irish dialects

In this post, I’m going to talk about the different dialects which exist in Ireland. This is a very interesting topic because, as we all know, the national language in Ireland is Gaelic, although both English and Gaelic, are the official languages in the country nowadays. Irish Gaelic is spoken by over ten thousand people in Gaeltacht which consider it their mother tongue. There are close to a hundred thousand who speak it fluently. It is the first official language in the Republic of Ireland and also an official language in the European Union.

We have to admit that Gaelic is a very complex language, spoken mainly in the area of Gaeltacht. And to complicate matters, Ireland has three different dialects which are: Ulster in the north, Connacht in the centre region and Munster in  the south. Connacht is the most difficult to understand of the three because of its strong pronunciation. 

Taking into account that there are big differences between each dialect in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation, words, etc, I will now mention some important features of these dialects to help us differentiate them.

 Munster Irish, the most archaic of all three, is mainly spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of Kerry and Muskerry, Cape Clear Island in the western part of County Cork and in An Rinn in County Waterford. Some typical aspects of this peculiar dialect is that:

-The Munster pronuntiation of the final -igh or -idh is -ig.

-In front of “ll” and nasals, some short vowels become longer and others are diphthongized.

-The particle “ea”, which serves to unify the subject and predicate, is frequently used.

-The eclipsis of nouns after a simple preposition + article. This eclipsis also affects d and t: 
 Munster: ag an ndoras instead of ag an doras= "at the door". 

Connacht Irish in the centre of Ireland, is mostly spoken in the Aran Islands and in Connemara. This last one is known as Connacht Irish. This dialect mostly shows an initial accent and it is the least archaic. There’s a sub dialect which is spoken in the  smaller region on the border of Galway and Mayo (Tuar Mhic Eadaigh, Eachleim, etc.)        

Some aspects are:

-The intervocalic h (ortography: -th-) tends to dissapear: bó'r= bother= "road".

-Connacht dialects show a particular form of verb used in direct relative clauses, ending in -s. This is used in the present and future tenses. 

-The initial variations are very similar to the ones of standard Irish, but sa (= "anns an" of Scottish Gaelic) does not lenite - it eclipses: sa mbaile instead of sa bhaile= "at home".

And lastly, the main area where the Ulster dialect is spoken is the Rosses and Donegal.

-Ulster shows a preference for compound prepositions: ionsar, "towards" instead of "chuig", ar son, "for" instead of "as" in "díol ar son ruda" = "pay for something" instead of "íoc as rud".

-The verbal conjugations in Ulster are more complicated than anywhere else. For example, most strong verbs still have a distinction between absolute and dependent forms in the present: tchí, "sees" - chan fheiceann, "doesn't see". Also, the verbs tabhair! and tar! use the present verbal particles even in the past tense: cha dtáinig, go dtáinig (standard: níor tháinig, gur tháinig); cha dtug, go dtug (standard: níor thug, gur thug).

-One notable feature feature of Ulster Irish is the use of the negative particle cha(n), whereas in Munster and in Connacht they say ni.

-The short clear o and a tend to be confused. 

-The combination simple preposition + article aspirates: ag an fhear instead of ag an bhfear= "by the man".

As you can see the differences are very complex and there has been a lot of discussion as to what standard Irish is. A good example is the greeting "how are you?". This greeting varies among Irish speakers just as it does between regions and social classes of English speakers:

• Ulster: Cad é mar atá tú? ("What is it as you are?")
• Connacht: Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú? ("What way [is it] that you are?")
• Munster: Conas taoi? or Conas tánn tú? ("How are you?")

History of Irish Music

   Ireland is well known as “the land of song”, but actually, there is no serious standard work of Irish music. As O'Curry has said in one of his main works 'Lectures on the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish': “Much has been confidently written on the ancient Irish music and musical instruments” but still, it is difficult to obtain a general agreement about Irish music.

     We all know that Music is a universal language. So is it, that in the ancient Ireland, the systems of law, medicine, poetry and music, according to Keating, “were set to music, being poetical compositions”. The bards (in irish, Ollamh) play one of the most important roles, because although they were not musicians, they were employees of noblemen, and they were paid for create stories in the shape of poems so they can be learned and transmited easily. And the word “Ogham” is related to musical significance, being Irish the earliest form of musical tablature. As Constantine Nigra writes – “The first certain examples of rhyme are found on Celtic soil and amongst Celtic nations, in songs made by poets, who are either of Celtic origin themselves or had long resided among the Celtic races... Final assonances, or rhyme, can have been derived solely from the laws of Celtic philology”. Obviously, music has also had a great importance in religion, being the perfect background for ceremonies and cults, and later, becoming the psalm tunes in church.

     There are solid proves that the Celts (about 500 years before Christ) have already musical instruments and composed melodies, using letters, the ogham scale and the ogham music tablature. It is not St. Patrick who introduced or taught music to the Irish people because they already have their own alphabet centuries previously. St. Patrick may have introduced the Roman letters to somehow translate the pre-Patrician Irish alphabet. With the Christian culture, the broadest work of music is compiled and composed in manuscripts mainly by monks.

     As for the instruments, Zeuss's Grammatica Celtica (1853) was the first book to give a clue to the nature of many old Irish instruments, but it is O'Curry again who give a list of ten instruments: 

Instrument	Translation	Performers	Instrument	Translation	Performers
Cruit and Clairseach1	Harp or Lyre	Cruitire	Stoc and Sturgan	Trumpets	Stocaire and Sturganaidhe
Psalterium, Nabla, Timpan, Kinnor, Trigonor and Ocht-tedach.	Stringed Instruments	Timpanach	Guthbuinne	Another kind of horns.	Graice
Buinne	Oboe or Flute	Buinnire	Pipai	Pipes	Pipaire
Bennbuabhal and Corn	Horns.	Graice	Feadan	Flute or Fife	Fedanach
Cuislenna	Bag-pipes.	Cuisleannach	Fidil	Fidil	--

¹The Cruit was smaller than the Clairseach and it was also played with the fingers or a bow. The commonest Clairseach is bigger and it has 30 strings.

     Much has been said for the old Irish scale, but in general, there is an agreement on its pentatonic pattern. And the apparent use of the minor mode by the ancient Irish that serves for the liviest dances and on the contrary the use of the major scale for the caoines. But in both, there is a melancholy mood in the tunes.

     And finally, here it is a song by the Chieftains called "O'Sullivan's march" that is a perfect example of Irish music; I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

Sources: W. H. Grattan Flood, University of Ireland, Fourth Edition “A History of Irish Music” (First edition, 1904).

History of Gaelic in Ireland

This Celtic language came to Ireland before 300BC. The first evidences are written names in commemorative stones known as Ogham.

     In the 5^th Century, when Christianity established In Ireland, the monks who wrote in roman lettering, started writing little poems and other things in Irish in the margins of manuscripts.  Christian Latin brought many terms to the Irish language, especially those related to literacy and religion.

     During the Early Christian Period, many Irish tribes established in Scotland and introduced their language and culture. As these Irish tribes gained more military, economic and political power the language became pervasive.

     In the 9^th Century, the Irish language became even more powerful spreading across whole Scotland and northern Britain. The arrival of the Vikings and their settlements introduced many maritime and commercial words to the Irish language, but these Vikings were defeated in the Battle of Contarf (1014) and the Irish-speaking world of Ireland and Scotland seemed to be at the height of their economic and cultural power.

     In the 12^th Century the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland brought new cultural and linguistic influences. These settlers who spoke Norman-French or English had a very good relation with the natives, this led to many new words coming into Irish, as well as changes in pronunciation and accent in some areas.

     From this period on, English was mainly spoken in the area around Dublin, and the Irish culture and society thrived and blossomed until the coming of the Tudors.

History of English Language in Ireland

     “The history of English involvement in Gaelic-speaking Ireland dates from the twelfth century, with the invasion of the country by Anglo-Norman knights, and the subsequent rule of King Henry II. English law was introduced almost immediately. The new settlers, however, were to adopt Irish ways of living, and despite attempt to halt this trend, the area of English control (known as ´the Pale’) was still relatively small by the end of the sixteenth century.

     During the sixteenth century there were renewed efforts made by the Tudor monarchs to establish English control throughout the country. Plantation schemes were set up to encourage English settlers in the south, and support was given to promote the spirit of the Reformation. The Irish chiefs were defeated in a series of wars during the reign of Elisabeth I, and this was followed by a renewed influx of Protestant settlers, mainly from the Scottish Lowlands.

     James I made available large tracts of land in the north of Ireland, and over 100,000 came to develop plantations there. Further campaigns to quell Irish rebellion took place in the seventeenth century, notably the one led by Oliver Cromwell in 1649-1650. Then in 1803 the Act of Union made Ireland part of the United Kingdom, a situation which remained until the 1920s, where there was partition between north (referred to as Ulster) and south.

     The linguistic consequence of these events was a steady development in the use of English, and a corresponding decline in the use of Gaelic, except among the poorer sections of the population. Today, English is used everywhere, with Gaelic found only in certain rural parts of the west (although it is an official language in the Irish Republic along with English). Since the nineteenth century, there have been several attempts to encourage the spread of Gaelic, but these have not affected the dominance of English. Even in the north, where the conflict was originally identified with the two languages, nowadays both sides use English. Still in all, there are differences reflected in the styles of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary between the Protestant and the Catholic communities because of their linguistic backgrounds (Ulster, Scots and Gaelic).”

 Crystal, David. The English Language. A guided tour of the language. London. Penguin. 2002.

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Welcome to our blog!

     We are a group of students from the University of Seville, Spain. We study English at college and this blog is part of a proyect for the subject Nuevas tecnologías aplicadas al inglés.

      Our aim is to show you some important aspects of Ireland like its culture, history and traditions, but mainly focusing on its languages.

     The title of our blog, The Spirit of Éire, relates to the translation of Ireland to Gaelic, which is the national language, apart from English that is co-official.

     We hope you all enjoy the blog and your commentaries will be welcomed!

Alba Mª Fernández, Álvaro Pérez, Anna-Leena Launonen, Borja Serrano, Julia García, Jessica García.