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[[Image:Gaeltachtai le hainmneacha2.svg|thumb|right|The three dialects of the Irish language, with Connacht in the west.]]
[[Image:Iers.jpg|thumb|An Irish-language sign in County Galway]]
'''Connacht Irish''' is the [[dialect]] of the [[Irish language]] spoken in the province of [[Connacht]]. [[Gaeltacht]] regions in Connacht are found in [[County Mayo|Counties Mayo]] (notably [[Tourmakeady]], [[Achill Island]] and [[Erris]]) and [[County Galway|Galway]] (notably in parts of [[Connemara]] and on the [[Aran Islands]]). The Mayo and Galway varieties differ from each other in a variety of ways, as Mayo is geographically between Galway and Donegal, so Mayo Irish has a number of features in common with Donegal that Galway does not have.
==Lexicon==
Some differences between Mayo and Galway are seen in the lexicon:
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Mayo
! Galway
! Gloss
|-
| {{lang|ga|cluinim}} || {{lang|ga|cloisim}} || "I hear"
|-
| {{lang|ga|doiligh}} || {{lang|ga|deacair}} || "difficult"
|-
| {{lang|ga|úr}} || {{lang|ga|nua}} || "new"
|-
| {{lang|ga|nimhneach}} || {{lang|ga|tinn}} || "sore"
|}
Some words used in Connacht Irish that aren't found in other dialects include:, verbal noun {{lang|ga|''casadh''}} to mean "meet", (standard {{lang|ga|''buail, bualadh''}}), meaning a young child (the form is used in Munster Irish, but to refer to a young boy)., "kitchen" (Munster form {{lang|ga|''cistin''}})
Variant spellings include:, verbal noun of {{lang|ga|''tar''}}, "to come" (standard {{lang|ga|''teacht''}}), "again" (standard {{lang|ga|''arís''}}), "captain" (standard {{lang|ga|''captaen''}}), "cousin" (standard {{lang|ga|''col ceathrair''}}), "farm", "farmer" (standard {{lang|ga|''feirm, feirmeoir''}})
Variants distinctive of, but not unique to Connacht include:, "potato", "potatoes", "whiskey", emphatic form {{lang|ga|''muide''}} for the first person plural pronoun, [[Ulster Irish]] uses this form as well, whereas [[Munster Irish]] uses the standard, {{lang|ga|''sinn, sinne''}}.
==Phonology==
The [[phoneme|phonemic]] inventory of Connacht Irish (based on the accent of [[Tourmakeady]] in [[County Mayo|Mayo]]) is as shown in the following chart (see [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] for an explanation of the symbols). Symbols appearing in the upper half of each row are [[velarization|velarized]] (traditionally called "broad" consonants) while those in the bottom half are [[palatalization|palatalized]] ("slender"). The consonant {{IPA|/h/}} is neither broad or slender.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Consonant
phonemes
! colspan="6" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="6" | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! colspan="4" | [[Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Labiodental consonant|Labio-
dental]]
! colspan="2" | [[Labialized velar consonant|Labio-
velar]]
! colspan="2" | [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolo-
palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
!| [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|pˠ}}
{{IPA|pʲ}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|bˠ}}
{{IPA|bʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|t̪ˠ}}
|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|d̪ˠ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|tʲ}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|dʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|c}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|ɟ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|k}}
|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ɡ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]/
[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|fˠ}}
{{IPA|fʲ}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|vʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|w}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|sˠ}}
|| style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|ʃ}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|ç}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|j}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|x}}
|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ɣ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|h}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|mˠ}}
{{IPA|mʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|n̪ˠ}}
{{IPA|n̪ʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|nˠ}}
{{IPA|nʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
{{IPA|ɲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ŋ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!| [[Flap consonant|Tap]]
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ɾˠ}}
{{IPA|ɾʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!| [[Lateral consonant|Lateral
approximant]]
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|l̪ˠ}}
{{IPA|l̪ʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|lˠ}}
{{IPA|lʲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|}
The [[vowel]]s of Connacht Irish are as shown on the following chart. These positions are only approximate, as vowels are strongly influenced by the palatalization and velarization of surrounding consonants.
[[Image:Connacht Irish vowel chart.png|center|200px]]
In addition, Connacht has the [[diphthong]]s {{IPA|/iə, uə, əi, əu/}}.
Some characteristics of Connacht that distinguish it from the other dialects are:
* In some varieties, [[vowel length]]ening before word-internal clusters of [[voiced consonant|voiced]] [[stop consonant|stop]] + [[liquid consonant|liquid]] (e.g. {{IPA|/ɑːɡləʃ/}} {{lang|ga|''eaglais''}} "church"
* In some varieties, a four-way distinction among [[coronal consonant|coronal]] [[nasal consonant|nasals]] and [[lateral consonant|laterals]]: {{IPA|/n̪ˠ ~ n̪ʲ ~ nˠ ~ nʲ/, /l̪ˠ ~ l̪ʲ ~ lˠ ~ lʲ/}}, often without lengthening of orthographic short vowels before them.
* In the variety spoken in Cois Fharraige (the area along the north shore of [[Galway Bay]] between [[Barna]] and [[Costelloe|Casla]]), underlying short {{IPA|/a/}} is realized as a long [[front vowel|front]] {{IPA|[aː]}} while underlying long {{IPA|/aː/}} is realized as a [[back vowel|back]] {{IPA|[ɑː]}}. is realized as {{IPA|[r]}} (or is replaced by {{IPA|/r/}}) after consonants other than {{IPA|[s]}}. This happens in Ulster as well.
* Broad {{lang|ga|''bh''}} is rendered {{IPA|/w/}} even in initial positions, with a few exceptions.
* The inflected pronouns {{lang|ga|''agam, agat, againn, agaibh''}} are usually reduced into monosyllables {{IPA|/am/}}, {{IPA|/ad/}}, {{IPA|/an/}}, {{IPA|/aɡiː/}}
* The prepositions {{lang|ga|''do, di''}} are frequently pronounced (and sometimes written) in their lenited forms.
* The preposition and article {{lang|ga|''sa''}} causes eclipsis, where it causes lenition in the Caighdeán.
===Nouns===
In some dialects of Connacht the plural endings {{lang|ga|''-anna''}} and {{lang|ga|''-acha''}} are always replaced by ''-annaí'' and ''-achaí''. It is also common in many Gaelic-speaking areas of Connemara that the [[dative case|dative]] singular form of all [[Irish nominals|2nd declension nouns]] has been generally adopted as the [[nominative case|nominative]], giving these nouns the typical ending in [[palatalization|palatalized]] consonants in the [[nominative case|nominative]] singular. This is indicated in the [[Irish orthography|spelling]] by the letter ''i'' before the final consonant.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Connemara form || Standard form || Gloss
|-
| {{lang|ga|-achaí, -annaí}} || {{lang|ga|-acha, -anna}} || Plural ending
|-
| {{lang|ga|bróig}} ||{{lang|ga| bróg}} || "shoe"
|-
| {{lang|ga|ceird}} || {{lang|ga|ceard}} || "craft"
|-
| {{lang|ga|cluais}} || {{lang|ga|cluas}} || "ear"
|-
| {{lang|ga|cois}} || {{lang|ga|cos}} || "foot, leg"
|-
| {{lang|ga|láimh}} || {{lang|ga|lámh}} || "hand"
|}
===Verbs===
[[Irish verbs]] are characterized by having a mixture of ''analytic/an fhoirm scartha'' forms (where information about [[grammatical person|person]] and number is provided by a [[pronoun]]) and ''synthetic/an fhoirm tháite'' forms (where this information is provided in an ending on the verb) in their conjugation. In Galway and Mayo, as in Ulster, the analytic forms are used in a variety of forms where the standard language has synthetic forms, e.g. {{lang|ga|''molann muid''}} "we praise" (standard {{lang|ga|''molaimid''}}) or {{lang|ga|''mholfadh siad''}} "they would praise" (standard {{lang|ga|''mholfaidís}}''). However, the synthetic forms, including those no longer included in the standard language, may be used in answering questions.
Díonaim (I make/I do) in standard Irish (Déanaim)
Íosaim (I eat) in standard Irish (Ithim)
Connacht Irish favours the interrogative pronoun {{lang|ga|''cén''}} and forms based on it such as {{lang|ga|''cén t-am''}}, "what time" instead of the standard {{lang|ga|''cathain''}}, or {{lang|ga|''céard''}} instead of the standard {{lang|ga|''cad''}}. Relative forms of the verb such as {{lang|ga|''beas''}} for {{lang|ga|''beidh''}}, "will be", or {{lang|ga|''déananns/déanas''}}, "do", for {{lang|ga|''déanann''}} are frequently used.