I wondered, when I compared Ó Siadhails vocabulary list with the dictionary:

a) Some variant spellings of Ó Siadhail don't appear in "Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla",

b) some seem to be original (now obsolete ?) datives (IInd and Vth declension),

c) some appear with a reference to another variant. Only the latter is declinated and has a full lemma.


a) peictiúr, cupla, farc, orlár, suíleáil, deaide, posta, úlla, bricfásta
b) fuinneoig, Éirinn, láimh, spúnóig, bróig, muic, caraid, spád
c) feilméara, cisteanach, maime, feilm, driofúr


1) So, as a rule, do you always take the common dative singular also for nominative/accusative singular in Connacht Irish

2) Román wrote

quote:

CO has no literature in it. All real Irish literature is dialectal

Does that mean, every author creates creatively his own fancy forms, which you will find nowhere in a dictionary? Or spake he only about diction and idiom?

3) Are the forms of c) in the dictionary minor forms, which are accepted, but not recommended, so that they only indicate their existence without giving their declination scheme?

4) May I forget category a) as personal phantasies of the author to bring his written texts closer to his favourite dialect?

(Message edited by ingeborg on March 21, 2008)

(Message edited by ingeborg on March 21, 2008)

"1) So, as a rule, do you always take the common dative singular also for nominative/accusative singular in Connacht Irish "

The historical movement has been to replace the nom with the dative; this has been a general movement over most of Ireland, but is taken furthest, I'd say, in Connacht and to completion it seems in Cois Fhairrige, where feminine singulars are in old dative too (muic not muc -tho this happens in Donegal I think as well)


"Does that mean, every author creates creatively his own fancy forms, which you will find nowhere in a dictionary? Or spake he only about diction and idiom?"

Can't speak for him, but I'd say he means that real as opposed to translated or non natively written text is dialectical. I think also, some of the CO text is 'washed out' -they go beyond the spelling and remove the flavor


"Are the forms of c) in the dictionary minor forms, which are accepted, but not recommended, so that they only indicate their existence without giving their declination scheme?"

They look quiet dialectical. If a word is not found in any of the dictionaries -it probably is. It is not a huge language after all!


"May I forget category a) as personal phantasies of the author to bring his written texts closer to his favourite dialect? "

IF you want to have CO spelling then yes. However, Irish is not great at differentiation of a, u, o in certain poisitions, so urlár or orlár, so the spellings are not of great importance. See also scian vs sgian -it does not matter as the c is unexpoloded anyway, and as for Western Europe, aspiration vs non-aspiration is the major differentiator in stop consonants. Other spelling changes might work in that dialect (Dunnach for Domhnach, because the weaker broad n has dropped out, so it is a u before the n not an o).

quote:

The historical movement has been to replace the nom with the dative; this has been a general movement over most of Ireland, but is taken furthest, I'd say, in Connacht and to completion it seems in Cois Fhairrige, where feminine singulars are in old dative too (muic not muc -tho this happens in Donegal I think as well)

In Donegal it doesn't happen with all feminine nouns, unlike Connemara. In Donegal, it happens only with some feminine nouns, like teanga (>teangaidh), leaba (>-baidh), etc. But I don't think anybody would say fuinneoig, muic etc in the nominative.

In Connemara there may be exceptions to that rule too: the feminine nouns that end with -ach: I don't think they'd say "an ghealaigh", but "an ghealach".

"In Donegal it doesn't happen with all feminine nouns"

As I thought, but for some as you say