Dia dhuit,

Riann (Ryan, as Báerla) is ainm dom.

...and that's about the most I can say in Irish without the risk of sounding really stupid.

I'm 23 and a linguistics student at a fairly major university in western Canada. Recently became interested in Irish after starting to play the whistle and running across some beautiful music as Gaelige (I'd been curious about it before, but not really motivated to learn it) and being that the language is a part of my family's heritage and is endangered, I figured that's a good enough reason to tackle it.

Can anyone recommend any good resources (preferably ones that use the international phonetic alphabet for describing Irish sounds, as as a linguist I find this much easier to handle) for someone just starting off with Irish?

Go raibh maith agat,

Sláinte,
Ryan

The only textbooks I know that make good use of IPA are Ó Siadhail's Learning Irish and Dillon & Ó Cróinín's Teach Yourself Irish. [Note: Not the current edition of TYI.] The first is the superior textbook overall. Both are based in the pronunciation, grammar, and lexicon of specific varieties: Cois Fhairrge (Connacht) in the case of Ó Siadhail and West Muskerry (Munster) in the case of Dillon & Ó Cróinín.

Go n-éiri an t-ádh leat!

LI and TYI don't really use IPA, but a phonological transcription (while IPA is basically used for phonetics, ie. much more precise and complicated than phonology).

Fáilte romhat! Welcome to the study of Irish. It will be a long and frustrating endeavor but ultimately rewarding.

I'll endorse Learning Irish by Ó Siadhail. It is not perfect by any means but it is the most thorough text I've encountered. If you can master that you'll be darn near fluent!

Have fun!

Is that the one that's for sale on the 'shop' section of the website?

To your knowledge is there a version available with CD's? I don't have ready access to a tape deck.

In the mean time, since I'm a poor starving student...can anyone point me to a website that gives a good starting point of the basics? There's got to be some good ones out there, honestly I taught myself to read the Arabic script (still can't really understand the language, however) almost entirely online.

http://www.nualeargais.ie/gnag/gram.htm this is an excellent overview

quote:

To your knowledge is there a version available with CD's? I don't have ready access to a tape deck.

Yes, Amazon and others have it.

For a beginner I'd also recommend Buntús Cainte, which Daltaí has. It doesn't have IPA but it is a good place to start, although you'll still need to get an additional book that teaches grammar. I ordered my copy of Buntús form Daltaí, which I highly recommend.

Welcome to the study of Irish! It really is a wonderful language to learn. I wish more people would. Encourage your friends too...speaking and practicing with them will help you retain your knowledge. But as a linguist I'm sure you know that...

"can anyone point me to a website that gives a good starting point of the basics?"

This site is usually a good starting point. www.maths.tcd.ie/gaeilge/

It's the first site I ever went to, and it is very basic, but I like it. I think it was once someone's school project or something.

Also check out www.BYKI.com and download the free software for Irish. It's not much more than vocabulary, but I've found that vocabulary, idioms, and conjugations tend to be the hardes things about Irish as a language.

Good Luck

Slainte!
Sieirál

Dia is Muire duit a Ríáin is céad míle fáilte romhat isteacht chuig na Daltaí.


Go n-éirí an Ghaeilg leat is go n-éirí do chúrsa léinn leat mar a chéile.
Good luck with the Irish and good luck with your studies likewise.

Is de réir a chéile a tógadh na caisleáin agus is de réir a chéile a bhrisfear iad.
The castles were built gradually and it is by and by they'll be broken!

Glac go réidh é. Go dtaitní tóraíocht dúchas do mhuintire is do thodhchaí féin leat!
Take it handy and enjoy the trip into your people's past and your own future!

A Lughaidh,

quote:

LI and TYI don't really use IPA, but a phonological transcription (while IPA is basically used for phonetics, ie. much more precise and complicated than phonology).

I think we may have a slight confusion of terms here. IPA refers only to the actual symbols involved, not the kind of transcription they are employed in. You are correct that neither work uses a narrow phonetic transcription; rather they prefer transcriptions so broad they are nearly phonemic. I could be wrong, but I suspect the OP is less concerned with absolute phonetic precision than simply avoiding horrible ad hoc transcriptions along the lines of "guh ruh MAH gut" or "guh row moy ah-gut" for go raibh maith agat. From this point of view, even as approximate a rendering as /gə rɛv mah agət/ represents a tremendous improvement.

>>From this point of view, even as approximate a rendering as /gə rɛv mah agət/ represents a tremendous improvement.

This. My aim is not to get all the phonetic detail that a narrow transcription would entail - I'm not trying to sound like a native speaker right off the bat (though that would be nice - but simply to be able to capture the sounds of the language in terms of place and manner of articulation so I can at least attempt a bona fide Irish pronunciation.

If you're interested in studying along with Buntús Cainte, you can join a study group at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buntuscainte-allparts/

You'll find other study groups that follow along with a particular book also at yahoogroups.com

Fáilte is fiche romhat, a Riann, mar dalta nua. We shall watch your progress with interest.

Seanfhear

If you're going to study with Ó Siadhail's Learning Irish I suggest you join the following yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coisfhairrge

Also, if you are going to get LI, you might find this very useful too http://www.phouka.com/stenson/intro.htm . Basically those are just exercises made to accompany the book Learning Irish.

I hope this helps!

Go raibh maith agat, a Angmair! Is é an gearán is mó le hÓ Siadhail atá agam an easpa cleachtadh oiriúnach.