What is the Irish language based on?
It combines elements from the three major dialects and its pronunciation is based on the Connacht dialect. This is the form of the language taught in most schools. Between the 17th and early 20th centuries, the Irish language was gradually replaced by English in most parts of Ireland.
What are some other names for the Irish language?
Alternate names: Erse, Gaelic Irish, Irish Gaelic ^ Dalton, Martha (July 2019). "Nuclear Accents in Four Irish (Gaelic) Dialects". International Conference of Phonetic Science. XVI. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.486.4615. ^ Interinstitutional Style Guide: Section 7.2.4. Rules governing the languages of the institutions European Union, 27 April 2016.
What is the acute accent called in Irish?
One diacritic sign, the acute accent ( á é í ó ú ), known in Irish as the síneadh fada ("long mark"; plural: sínte fada ), is used in the alphabet. In idiomatic English usage, this diacritic is frequently referred to simply as the fada, where the adjective is used as a noun.
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Why is the Irish language not called "Gaelic"?
The Irish language should never be referred to as "Gaelic" because doing so is historically, socially, formally, and linguistically wrong. "Gaelic" is now correctly applied to the principal historic language of Scotland, although it also was referred to (in English) as "Irish" for most of its history.
Where is the Irish language written?
Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish. These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish transitioned into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from the 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh, including ecclesiastical terms: examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus, and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ).
How is Connacht Irish different from other dialects?
Features in Connacht Irish differing from the official standard include a preference for verbal nouns ending in -achan, e .g. lagachan instead of lagú, "weakening". The non-standard pronunciation of the Gaeltacht Cois Fharraige area with lengthened vowels and heavily reduced endings gives it a distinct sound. Distinguishing features of Connacht and Ulster dialect include the pronunciation of word-final broad bh and mh as [w], rather than as [vˠ] in Munster. For example, sliabh ("mountain") is pronounced [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 muid is used for "we were" instead of bhíomar .
How many Irish people speak in 2016?
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.
What is the IPA?
Irish ( Gaeilge in Standard Irish ), sometimes controversially known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish originated on the island of Ireland and was ...
What is the form of Gaeilge?
The form used in Classical Gaelic and generally up to the spelling reform of 1948 was Gaedhea lg. Gaeilge, spelled Gaedhilge before the reform, was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg. Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðelˠɡ] in Old Irish.
What is the oldest language in Europe?
With a basic written form known as Ogham dating back to at least the 4th century CE and written Irish in a Latin script since the 5th century CE, Irish has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. On the island, the language has three major dialects: Munster, Connacht and Ulster.
Where is Irish spoken?
Irish is a Celtic language spoken in mainly Ireland ( Éire ). There are also Irish speakers in the UK ( Ríocht Aontaithe ), the USA ( Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá ), Canada ( Ceanada) and Australia ( an Astráil ). According to the 2016 census, 1.76 million people in Ireland claim to speak Irish; 73,803 speak it daily; 111,473 speak it weekly;
When did the Irish language become the official language of Ireland?
Famine and migration in the 19th and 20th centuries led to its further decline. However when the Republic of Ireland came into being in 1922 , Irish was adopted as an official language, along with English, and the government and civil service become, in theory at least, officially bilingual. Irish terms were also adopted for the titles of public figures and organisations - Garda (Police), Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Dáil (Parliament).
What is the official name of Irish?
Names of the language. Irish is known as Irish, Gaelic or Irish Gaelic in English. The official standard name in Irish is Gaeilge /ˈɡeːlʲɟə/. Before the 1948 spelling reform, this was spelled Gaedhilge. In Middle Irish the name was spelled Gaoidhealg, in Classical Irish it was Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠɡ], and it was Goídelc in Old Irish.
What does eclipsis mean in Irish?
Eclipsis ( urú) happens after certain words, such as i, which means "in". Eclipsis in indicated by adding a extra consonant before the initial consonant. For example, the Irish for "in Paris" is i bParis [ ɪ bariʃ ]. The important thing to remember about eclipsed consonants is that only the first consonant is pronounced.
What are the three main dialects of Irish?
There are three main dialects of Irish: Munster ( An Mhumhain ), Connacht ( Connachta) and Ulster ( Ulaidh ). The Munster dialect is spoken mainly in Kerry ( Ciarraí) and Muskerry ( Múscraí) in the western part of County Cork ( Contae Chorcaí ). The Connacht dialect is spoken mainly in Connemara ( Conamara ), the Aran Islands ( Oileáin Árann) and Tourmakeady ( Tuar Mhic Éadaigh) in County Mayo ( Maigh Eo ). The main area where the Ulster dialect is spoken is the Rosses ( na Rosa ). The dialect of Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair) is essentially the same as the Ulster dialect.
What is the Irish name for Ulster?
In Ulster and northern Connacht, Irish is known as Gaedhilic/Gaeilic/Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲɪc] or Gaedhlag [ˈɡeːl̪ˠəɡ], In Munster it is known as Gaedhealaing/Gaoluinn/Gaelainn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠɪŋʲ/ˈɡeːl̪ˠɪnʲ].
How many people speak Irish in Ireland?
Irish is the main home language for about 4,130 people in Northern Ireland [ source ]. According to another source, there are about 9,000 fluent speakers of Irish in Britain. Whether this includes Northern Ireland is not clear.
What languages does Ireland speak?
Modern languages. A catch and release sign in Ireland. As well as Ireland's official languages (English and Irish), it also displays other European languages (French, German, Swedish, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Czech, Polish, as well as transliterated Russian).
What is the sign language of Ireland?
Irish Sign Language (ISL) is the sign language of most of Ireland. It has little relation to either spoken Irish or English, and is more closely related to French Sign Language (LSF). Northern Ireland Sign Language is used in Northern Ireland, and is related to both ISL and BSL in various ways.
What language do they speak in Northern Ireland?
Northern Ireland. Main articles: Languages of Northern Ireland, Irish gaelic, Irish language in Northern Ireland, and Ulster Irish. Further information: Languages of the United Kingdom § Northern Ireland. The predominant language in the education system in Northern Ireland is English with the Irish Medium schools teaching exclusively in ...
What languages are available for a junior certificate?
The Continental European languages available for the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate include French, German, Italian and Spanish; Leaving Certificate students can also study Arabic, Japanese and Russian. Some schools also offer Ancient Greek, Hebrew Studies and Latin at second level.
What is the dialect of Yola?
Yola was a dialect of Middle English, surviving in County Wexford up to the 19th century.
What was the language of the landed gentry?
Following the Tudor conquest of Ireland and the 1610–15 Ulster Planta tion, particularly in the old Pale, Elizabethan English became the language of court, justice, administration, business, trade and of the landed gentry. Monolingual Irish speakers were generally of the poorer and less educated classes with no land.
How many Chinese speakers are there in Ireland?
There are over 15,000 Chinese -speakers in Ireland. Shop in Dublin selling Eastern European food, with signage in Russian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Polish. With increased immigration into Ireland, there has been a substantial increase in the number of people speaking languages.
What does "just the one" mean in Irish?
This is the most evil phrase of them all. If some Irish person convinces you to go for “just the one”, meaning one beer, you have a rough night ahead of you. What’s going to happen is that they’ll order the beers first, paying for yours, and after that it’ll be your round, which brings us to our next point…
Who is Conor from Ireland?
Conor is an Irish born creative freelancer with strong experience as a camera operator, photographer, video editor, and writer. He graduated from Maynooth University. His work has taken him all over the world, but Ireland is where he calls home.
Is Ireland a North or South country?
Up North. Ireland is divided into two separate countries. The Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland. These names are a bit too cumbersome, so we’ve decided that we’re going to call Northern Ireland, “The North”. In similar fashion, people from the North call the Republic of Ireland “Down South”. Much simpler.
Do Irish people speak English?
If you’re preparing for your trip to Ireland, you might find that even though we do speak english here, it might not seem like it at times! We’ve taken certain liberties with the English Language, but if you follow this guide to Irish slang phrases, you’ll know how to have the craic without acting the maggot, so yer man in the pub won’t batter you. Confused yet? Don’t worry, we have your back…
How is ch pronounced in Ireland?
Some titles are not translated in Ireland. Instead of a “prime minister”, we have a Taoiseach. ‘Ch' is pronounced gutturally as in loch. Based on that and what I said above, you will see better why this is pronounced Tee-sho [ ch ].
What is the first official language of Ireland?
Irish is the first official language of Ireland. Many people think it’s English with an Irish spin, but not at all! The Irish language is also known as Gaeilge, and it’s a completely different language to English. I am here to tell you more about how it works and how you can learn it.
What is the Irish language week?
I wrote this post for Seachtain na Gaeilge (“Irish language week”). It’s the week celebrating the Irish language and culture leading up to St. Patrick's day.
Is C silent in Welsh?
The ‘c' is silent, but essential for recognising the original word when the modified one is written. This is way better than if the language was perfectly phonetic. Even if you knew the word crann it would be much more confusing for you to see grann in a dictionary or text. Welsh is in the same language family as Irish.
Do Irish speakers always help?
The best part of all, is that Irish speakers are generally always happy to help ! We are a long cry from arrogant perfectionists, something that holds too many people back from speaking a language. If you can form some sentences, we'll be very happy to hear them. Even if there are some grammatical mistakes 🙂.
Can you read Harry Potter in Irish?
The more adventurous of you can even read Harry Potter in Irish! ( Amazon ).
Can I learn Irish if I'm not in Ireland?
Even if you aren't in Ireland, the possibilities of listening to and practising Irish are endless! An idea that I've already mentioned before is to use meetup.com to see if there are other interested Irish learners in your city.
How many letters are there in the Irish language?
Lenited letters can go everywhere! The Irish language has only 18 letters. J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y, and Z are absent (well, K and Q are well represented by C!). Some of those letters are in fact sonorous forms of letters that exist in Irish. That’s the case of V, which is the sonorous form of B.
What is the sound of the alphabet with no V?
But the “v” sound is used. So with no V in the alphabet bh is used to create the sound.
Why does the h- after the b mean "b"?
Because it’s a lenited letter. The -h- after the b indicates it.
Is Gaelic the same as English?
In a sentence: Gaelic uses the same alphabet as English (the Latin alphabet), it’s just that it uses it in a different way to English. That’s why you find the Irish names ‘hard’.
Is Scottish Gaelic the same as Irish Gaelic?
Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic share fundamentally the same spelling system - which itself is fundamentally different to the spelling system in English. Look at my own name - Eòghann - and, if you are not familiar with Gaelic, hazard a guess about how it is pronounced (clue: the name is commonly Anglicised as Ewan, Euan, Ewen etc.). If you know Gaelic, however, you will find that its spelling system is far more regular and predictable than the English spelling system (which is a horrible mess, being a mish-mash of Anglo-Saxon, Norman French, Latin, Greek and more besides). The Gaelic system is not perfect (in fact, it’s quite complex), but it is regular: even if you don’t know how a word is pronounced, if you see it written down, you can predict the correct pronunciation with a far higher degree of accuracy than you can in English.
Is Irish a script language?
Irish is a fairly heavily inflected language. When written in its proper script, consonants have their sound modified where needed by having a dot placed above them, much like the dot in the lower case i, as here. In the present-day script, they decided to interpose the letter h after whichever consonant was to be modified. The result is that a page of written Irish looks most forbidding and additionally the nuisance is compounded since every page so set is visually mind-numbingly ugly.
Is EI pronounced differently in English?
Some letters and their combinations are pronounced differently in different languages. ‘English speakers cannot complain! As an example, ei’ is ‘ee’ in English but ‘eye’ as in the organ of sight in German and‘’ay’ as in the word play in Italian. English is confusingly unpredictable, compare the prononciation of through as ‘threw’, tough as ‘tuff’, though as ‘tho’. Or Leicester as ‘Lester’ and Worcester as ‘‘Wuster’.
What is the language of Ireland?
There are areas in Ireland , known as the Gaeltacht, in which the language is used for everyday speech. Those counties in Ireland that are part of the Gaeltacht include Donegal, Mayo, Galway, and Kerry. Over the past 100 years, the Irish language has been experiencing a revival. Although the use of Irish in rural areas, where it used to be common, ...
What do Irish children call their grandfathers?
In fact, most Irish children are English-speaking and call their grandfathers English names, such as grandpa, granddad, or pop. Granda is a popular version since it has a bit of Irish flavor and is easy to say. Although Irish is an official language of Ireland and of the European Union, only a minority of the Irish speak it today.
What is the Irish word for a great grandfather?
The formal term for a great-grandfather is s in-seanáthair. The Irish words for grandchildren are gariníon (gar-in-EE-in) for granddaughter and garmhac (gar-aWOK) for grandson. Grandmother in Irish is seanmháthair (shan-a-WAW-her), although that is the formal term, like grandfather, there are more loving, diminutive terms ...
What does "grandfather" mean in Irish?
The Irish word for grandfather is seanáthair, literally meaning "old father." Children would not be likely to address a grandfather by this term. They would use instead daideó, approximately pronounced DADJ-yoh, or móraí, which is approximately pronounced MO-ree.
What is the name of the grandfather in Irish?
There are a few terms for grandfather in the Irish spoken language, known as Irish Gaelic, although, English is spoken predominantly in Ireland, so, one of the most common names for grandfather is "granda.".
Who was the Irish travel writer who set off to test the often-quoted (perhaps erroneous)?
Irish travel writer Manchán Magan set off to test the often-quoted (perhaps erroneous) statistic that a quarter of Irish people speak Irish. Magan's account of his experiment gives you a good sense of the use of the Irish language in Ireland.
Do Irish people have authority?
Although the Irish are widely regarded as having an aversion to authority, that does not extend to authority within the family, especially paternal and grandfatherly authority, which is expected to be respected. The Irish value independence. Rather than living with family, elderly Irish prefer living on their own.
Overview
Irish (Standard Irish: Gaeilge), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century. Irish is still spoken a…
Names
In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard") the name of the language is Gaeilge, from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in Classical Gaelic. The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge. Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðelˠɡ] in Old Irish. Goidelic, used to refer to the language family, i…
History
Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish. These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from the 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin …
Status and policy
Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and debates are conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde, was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland. The record of his delivering his ina…
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.
Dialects
Irish is represented by several traditional dialects and 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 roughl…
Syntax and morphology
Irish is a fusional, VSO, nominative-accusative language. Irish is neither verb nor satellite framed, and makes liberal use of deictic verbs.
Nouns decline for 3 numbers: singular, dual (only in conjunction with the number d(h)á "two"), plural; 2 genders: masculine, feminine; and 4 cases: nomino-accusative (ainmneach), vocative (gairmeach), genitive (ginideach), and prepositional-locative (tabharthach), with fossilised traces of the older ac…
Orthography
Ogham was the writing system used to write Primitive Irish and Old Irish until Latin script was introduced in the 8th century CE. Gaelic type (cló Gaelach) was the main typeface used to write Irish until it was replaced by Roman type (cló Rómhánach) in the mid-20th century.
The traditional Irish alphabet (áibítir) consists of 18 letters: ⟨a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, …
Names of The Language
Relationship to Other Languages
- Irish is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, also known as Q-Celtic. It is closely related to Manx (Gaelg/Gailck) and Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), the other Goidelic languages. There is some degree of mutual intelligibility between them, particular between the Scottish Gaelic of Islay and Argyll, Ulster Irish, and Manx. The grammar and vocabulary of these languages are quit…
Dialects
- There are three main dialects of Irish: Munster (An Mhumhain), Connacht (Connachta) and Ulster (Ulaidh). The Munster dialect is spoken mainly in Kerry (Ciarraí) and Muskerry (Múscraí) in the western part of County Cork (Contae Chorcaí). The Connacht dialect is spoken mainly in Connemara (Conamara), the Aran Islands (Oileáin Árann) and Tourmakeady (Tuar Mhic Éadaigh…
The Official Standard
- During the 1950s and 1960s a standardised form of Irish, known the An Caighdeán Oifigiúil(The Official Standard) was developed. It combines elements from the three major dialects and its pronunciation is based on the Connacht dialect. This is the form of the language taught in most schools.
Decline and Revival
- Between the 17th and early 20th centuries, the Irish language was gradually replaced by English in most parts of Ireland. Famine and migration in the 19th and 20th centuries led to its further decline. However when the Republic of Ireland came into being in 1922, Irish was adopted as an official language, along with English, and the government and civil service become, in theory at l…
Origin of Writing in Ireland
- Irish first began to appear in writing in Ogham inscriptions between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. When St Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century, Irish writers began to write in Latin, and at the same time Irish literature written in the Latin alphabet began to appear. The Viking invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries led to the destruction of many early manuscripts, …
The Ogham Alphabet
- The Ogham alphabet was used to write Archaic Irish, Old Welsh and Latin and Ogham inscriptions have been found in various parts of Ireland and the British Isles. More information about Ogham
Gaelic Script
- The Gaelic Script originated in medieval manuscripts as a variant of the Latin alphabet. It was used for printing Irish until quite recently and is still used on road signs and public notices throughout Ireland. More information about the Gaelic Script
Modern Irish Alphabet
- Today Irish is usually written with a version of the Latin alphabet similar to the one used for Scottish Gaelic, though a spelling reform in 1957 eliminated some of the silent letters which are still used in Scottish Gaelic. Hear the Irish alphabet: The letters j (jé), k (ká), q (cú), v (vé), w (wae), x (ex), y (yé) and z (zae) do not occur in native Irish words, but do appear in some English loanw…
Irish Pronunciation
- Notes
1. Consonants are broad when preceded and/or followed by a, o or u, and slender when preceded and/or followed by e or i. 2. Lenition (séimhiú) is a change in soundthat occurs to the beginning of words caused by a preceding word,such as a preposition. Lenition is indicated by adding an h af…