Ulster Irish is the
dialectThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other...
of the
Irish languageIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
spoken in the province of
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
. The largest
Gaeltachtis the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, The Gaeltacht, or An Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognizes that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
region today is in
DonegalCounty Donegal is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the Province of Ulster and is part of the Republic of Ireland. It was named after the town of Donegal ....
, so that the term
Donegal Irish is often used synonymously. Nevertheless records of the language as it was spoken in other counties do exist, and help provide a broader view of Ulster Irish. When the recommendations of the first Comisiún na Gaeltachta were drawn up in 1926, there were regions qualifying for Gaeltacht recognition in the Sperrin Mountains on the border between
County TyroneThe name Tyrone can refer to:*County Tyrone, a county in Northern Ireland, roughly corresponding to the ancient kingdom of Tír Eogain*An Earl of Tyrone*A small steam train which runs between Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland...
and
County LondonderryCounty Londonderry or County Derry is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland. It was named after its main town – and later city and administrative centre – Derry , which lies in the north-western corner of...
, as well as in the northern
Glens of AntrimThe Glens of Antrim or, simply, the Glens, or Antrim Mountains is a region of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, comprising nine glens, or valleys, that radiate from the Antrim Plateau to the coast. The inhabitants of the several glens are descended primarily from native Irish and Hebridean Scots...
around
Rathlin IslandRathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, and is the northernmost point of the region. Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, with a rising population of now just over 100 people, and is the most northerly inhabited island off the...
.
Ulster Irish is the
dialectThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other...
of the
Irish languageIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
spoken in the province of
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
. The largest
Gaeltachtis the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, The Gaeltacht, or An Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognizes that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
region today is in
DonegalCounty Donegal is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the Province of Ulster and is part of the Republic of Ireland. It was named after the town of Donegal ....
, so that the term
Donegal Irish is often used synonymously. Nevertheless records of the language as it was spoken in other counties do exist, and help provide a broader view of Ulster Irish. When the recommendations of the first Comisiún na Gaeltachta were drawn up in 1926, there were regions qualifying for Gaeltacht recognition in the Sperrin Mountains on the border between
County TyroneThe name Tyrone can refer to:*County Tyrone, a county in Northern Ireland, roughly corresponding to the ancient kingdom of Tír Eogain*An Earl of Tyrone*A small steam train which runs between Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland...
and
County LondonderryCounty Londonderry or County Derry is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland. It was named after its main town – and later city and administrative centre – Derry , which lies in the north-western corner of...
, as well as in the northern
Glens of AntrimThe Glens of Antrim or, simply, the Glens, or Antrim Mountains is a region of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, comprising nine glens, or valleys, that radiate from the Antrim Plateau to the coast. The inhabitants of the several glens are descended primarily from native Irish and Hebridean Scots...
around
Rathlin IslandRathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, and is the northernmost point of the region. Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, with a rising population of now just over 100 people, and is the most northerly inhabited island off the...
. The report also makes note of small pockets of Irish speakers in Northwest
County CavanCounty Cavan is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster. It was named after the town of Cavan . It is one of three counties situated in the province of Ulster without being part of Northern Ireland. The county is bordered by County Monaghan, County...
, Southeast
County MonaghanCounty Monaghan is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of the Republic of Ireland. It was named after the town of Monaghan ....
, and the far south of
County ArmaghCounty Armagh is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland. It was named after the town of Armagh....
. However, these small pockets vanished early in the 20th century while the Gaeltacht of the Sperrin Mountains survived until the 1950s and the Glens of Antrim Gaeltacht survived until the 1970s. The last native speaker of Rathlin Island Irish died in 1985.
In the 1960s, six families in Belfast formed the
Shaw's Road, also known as both and The Irish Houses is a small Gaeltacht in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.-History:...
"Gaeltacht", which has survived and even grown. The Irish-speaking area of the Falls Road in Belfast has recently been designated the "Gaeltacht Quarter." Because of historical connections with Ulster,
ManxManx , also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language spoken on the Isle of Man. The last native speaker, Ned Maddrell, died in 1974, but in recent years it has been the subject of language revival efforts, and it is now the medium of education at the , a primary school for four- to...
and the southern dialects of Scottish Gaelic share similarities with Ulster Irish.
Lexicon
The Ulster dialect contains many words not used in other dialects, or used otherwise only in
County MayoCounty Mayo is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Connacht. It was named after the village of Mayo . Mayo is the secondlargest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 15th largest in terms of population...
. In other cases, a semantic shift has resulted in quite different meanings attaching to the same word in Ulster Irish and in other dialects. Some of these words include:
, "look" (elsewhere , which means rather "try" or "attempt" in Ulster), "minute" (elsewhere ) "I hear" (southern ). In fact, the initial
c- tends to be lenited even when it is not preceded by any particle (this is because there
was a leniting particle in Classical Irish: yielded in Ulster) "cattle" (southern ) "calf" (southern ) "girl" (southern ) "road" (southern and western ). Note that alone is used as a preposition meaning "towards": = "he looked towards the sea" "close" (southern and western ; in other dialects means "to move relatively to something", thus = to shirk, = to close in) "wings" (southern ) "soap" (standard , Connemara ), "youth", "young man", "boyfriend" (Southern = gangly, young lad) "cabbage" (southern ) "about, under" (standard Munster 'fé', 'fí' and 'fá' is only used for 'under'; 'mar gheall ar' = "about") "Irish" (standard , Southern
Gaoluinn, Manx
Gaelg, Scottish
Gàidhlig) "what is?" (
ConnachtConnacht Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Connacht. Gaeltacht regions in Connacht are found in Counties Mayo and Galway...
;
MunsterMunster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Munster. Gaeltacht regions in Munster are found in the Dingle Peninsula Gaeltacht of west Kerry, in the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry, in Cape Clear Island off the coast of west Cork, in West Muskerry; Coolea,...
) "table" (western , southern or ) "when?" (Connacht ; Munster ) "seagull" (standard ) "lazy" (southern and western ,
fallsa = "false, treacherous")
- the word "wonderful" is used as an intensifier instead of the prefix used in other dialects.
In other cases, a semantic shift has resulted in quite different meanings attaching to the same word in Ulster Irish and in other dialects. Some of these words include:
"head" (southern and western ; elsewhere, is used to mean "skull")
"mare" (southern and western ; elsewhere, is used to mean "horse")
Phonology
The phonemic inventory of Ulster Irish (based on the dialect of
GweedoreGweedore is an Irish-speaking district located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal, Ireland. Gweedore is also the home of the northwest regional studios of the Irish language radio service RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, and it is officially the largest Irish-speaking parish in Ireland with a...
) is as shown in the following chart (see
International Phonetic AlphabetThe International Phonetic Alphabet
["The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...]
for an explanation of the symbols). Symbols appearing in the upper half of each row are
velarizedVelarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant.In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of three diacritics:...
(traditionally called "broad" consonants) while those in the bottom half are
palatalizedPalatalization or palatalisation generally refers to two phenomena:*As a process or the result of a process, the effect that front vowels and the palatal approximant frequently have on consonants;...
("slender"). The consonants are neither broad or slender.
Consonant
phonemes |
Labial Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips or with the lower lip and the upper teeth...
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Coronal Coronal consonants are articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical , laminal , domed , or sub-apical , as well as a few rarer orientations, because only the front of the tongue has such dexterity...
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Dorsal Dorsal consonants are articulated with the mid body of the tongue . They contrast with coronal consonants articulated with the flexible front of the tongue, and radical consonants articulated with the root of the tongue....
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GlottalGlottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricatives, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
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BilabialIn phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...
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Labio-
dentalIn phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth. The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...
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Labio-
velarThe term labiovelar is ambiguous. It may mean labial-velar , or it may mean labialized velar ....
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DentalIn linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth, such as , , , and in some languages...
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AlveolarAlveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...
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Alveolo-
palatalIn phonetics, alveolo-palatal consonants are palatalized postalveolar fricatives, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate...
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PalatalPalatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...
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VelarVelars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
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| Plosive A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. The terms plosive and stop are usually used interchangeably, but they are not perfect synonyms. Plosives are oral stops with a pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. The term is also used to...
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| Fricative Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...
/
ApproximantApproximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and "typical" consonants. In the articulation of approximants, articulatory organs produce a narrowing of the vocal tract, but leave enough space for air to flow without much audible turbulence. Approximants are...
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| Nasal A nasal consonant is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The oral cavity still acts as a resonance chamber for the sound, but the air does not escape through the mouth as it is blocked by the lips or tongue...
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TapIn phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.-Contrast with stops and trills:...
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Lateral
approximantLaterals are "L"-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue....
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The
vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s of Ulster 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.
The
long vowelsIn linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one such as in Australian English...
have short
allophoneIn phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar speech sounds that belong to the same phoneme. A phoneme is an abstract unit of speech sound that can distinguish words: That is, changing a phoneme in a word can produce another word...
s in
unstressedIn linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense....
syllables and before .
In addition, Ulster has the
diphthongIn phonetics, a diphthong, or , is a contour vowel—that is, a unitary vowel that changes quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a smooth movement of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words eye, boy, and cow...
s .
Some characteristics of the
phonologyPhonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system...
of Ulster Irish that distinguish it from the other dialects are:
- The only broad labial
Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips or with the lower lip and the upper teeth...
continuantA continuant is a sound produced with an incomplete closure of the vocal tract. That is, any sound except a stop . An affricate is considered to be a complex segment, composed of both a stop and a continuant.-See also:...
is the approximantApproximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and "typical" consonants. In the articulation of approximants, articulatory organs produce a narrowing of the vocal tract, but leave enough space for air to flow without much audible turbulence. Approximants are...
. In other dialects, fricativeFricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...
is found instead of or in addition to . No dialect makes a phonemicIn a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
contrast between the approximant and the fricative, however.
- Often in Ulster dialects, can become as in "teach" (Pronounced as the English "ch"). Likewise can become as in "dearg" (Pronounced as the English "j"). This is particularly evident in younger speakers of this dialect. Such pronunciation of the slender "t" and "d" is also the case in Scottish Gaelic and Manx
Manx is an adjective describing things or people related to the Isle of Man:* Manx people**Manx surnames* Isle of ManIt may also refer to:-Languages:* Manx language, also known as Manx or Manx Gaelic...
.
- There is a three-way distinction among coronal nasals and laterals: , , and there is no lengthening or diphthongization of short vowels before these sounds and . Thus, while "head" is in Connacht and in Munster, in Ulster it is corresponds to the of other dialects. The Ulster corresponds to the of other dialects.
- Long vowels are shortened when in unstressed syllables. is realized as (or is replaced by ) after consonants other than . This happens in Connacht as well.
- Orthographic in unstressed syllables is always (this includes verb forms).
- Unstressed orthographic is pronounced , , or .
Initial mutations
Ulster Irish has the same two
initial mutationsIrish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specific morphological and syntactic conditions...
, lenition and eclipsis, as the other two dialects and the standard language, and mostly uses them the same way. There is, however, one exception: in Ulster, a
dativeThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave Mary a book"....
singular
nounIn linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
after the
definite articleDefinite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on video and CD. The video/DVD and CD performances were both recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England. Both recordings cover topics such as The Italian Job, Pavlov's dogs and...
is lenited (e.g. "on the tree") (as is the case in Scottish and Manx), whereas in Connacht and Munster, it is eclipsed , except in the case of
den,
don and
insan, where lenition occurs in literary language. Both possibilities are allowed for in the standard language.
Verbs
Irish verbsIrish verb forms are constructed either synthetically or analytically.Synthetic forms are those which express the information about person and number in the ending: e.g. "I praise", where the ending -aim stands for "1st person singular present"...
are characterized by having a mixture of
analytic forms (where information about
personGrammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
is provided by a
pronounIn linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun with or without a determiner, such as you and they in English...
) and
synthetic forms (where information about number is provided in an ending on the verb) in their conjugation. In Ulster and North Connacht the analytic forms are used in a variety of forms where the standard language has synthetic forms, e.g. "we praise" (standard
molaimid,
muid being a back formation from the verbal ending and not found in the Munster dialect, which retains as the first person plural pronoun as does Scots Gaelic and Manx Gaelic) or "they would praise" (standard ). The synthetic forms, including those no longer approved in the standard language, may be used in short answers to questions.
The 2nd conjugation future stem suffix in Ulster is (pronounced ) rather than , e.g. "I will bless" (standard ).
Some irregular verbs have different forms in Ulster from those in the standard language. For example: (
independent formIn the Goidelic languages, dependent and independent verb forms are distinct verb forms used either with a preceding particle or, usually, without one . For example, in Irish, the past tense of the verb has two forms: the independent form and the dependent form...
only) "I do, make" (standard ) and "I did, made" (standard
rinne mé) (independent form only) "I see" (standard , Southern
chím (independent form only)) "I give" (standard , southern
bheirim), or "I do not give" (standard only ), and "I will give" (standard , southern
bhéarfad(independent form only))
Particles
In Ulster the
negative- Science and mathematics :* Negative and non-negative numbers* Negative mass* Negative energy * Electrical polarity* Negative lenses, uses to describe diverging optics...
particle (before a vowel , in past tenses - Scottish/Manx Gaelic
chan,
chan do) is sometimes used where other dialects use and . The form is more common in the north of the Donegal Gaeltacht. cannot be followed by the future tense: where it has a future meaning, it is followed by the habitual present. It triggers a "mixed mutation": and are eclipsed, while other consonants are lenited. In some dialects however (Gweedore),
cha eclipses all consonants, except b- in the forms of the verb 'to be', and sometimes f- :
| Ulster |
Standard |
English |
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| "I don't understand" |
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| "He isn't" |
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| "He will not be" |
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| "We do not kiss" |
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| "They wouldn't drink it" |
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| "I didn't understand you" |
Syntax
The Ulster dialect uses the present tense of the
subjunctive moodIn grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in dependent clauses to express wishes, commands, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or statements that are contrary to fact at present. It is sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood, as it often follows a...
in certain cases where other dialects prefer to use the future indicative:
- Sit down here by my side, Séimí, till I give you some advice and tell you my story.
The verbal noun can be used in subordinate clauses with a subject different from that of the main clause:
- I would like you to go there.
External links