I recently received the book Irish Nouns, by Andrew Carnie. Here's my initial impression:
1. The books is very well written and organized. The author, Andrew Carnie, is a professional linguist, so the book comes from the perspective of someone able to explain the structure of nouns. But instead of being overly academic and out of reach for mere learners like myself, each linguistic term is explained. What I find very helpful, is that whenever a grammatical term is introduced, its Irish equivalent is include parenthetically - makes for better learning of these important terms that much easier.
2. The first 76 pages covers basic concepts but also includes the author's presentation of what he considers to be the 10 declensions of Irish nouns. This section will take numerous readings for me to comprehend. But, as the author mentions in his dedication of the book to his late father who taught him ... "categorizing and listing things has its own special beauty."
3. The middle of the book is devoted to 1,200 Irish nouns. This will be my favorite part of the book. I've held the theory for some time that one of the important building blocks of understanding a lanuage is through its nouns. This section is detailed to the hilt, with each head word in both Irish and English and each declension fully shown.
4. The next section contains about 10,000 nouns and it looks very much like a dictionary. But I do notice that there are descriptors after each word that most likely refer back to earlier sections of the book.
5. Then comes the section on the declension of adjectives - how cool! This for me is a very daunting subject, but I'll have to belly up sooner or later and start to get a grasp on how adjectives are declined.
6. There are a couple of appendices including one on mapping between declensional systems and another on the pronunciation of Irish words. Both sections have their own appeal.
In closing my remarks about the book, I'd like to point out the obvious, before someone does it for me.
This book isn't for everyone - there are those here who know everything about the Irish language who wouldn't need a book like this. Then there are those here who are in a constant struggle with others and themselves over dialectical issues. I don't know how they would they take to a book like this, but for those who are looking to learn more about the basics and complexities of Irish nouns, this book looks like the ticket.
Final note: The author mentions that... Michal Boleslav Mechura has produced a very helpful program that uses the principles articulated in this book..... it can be accessed at:
http://www.potafocal.com/infhill. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but is he a member here at Daltaí?
(Message edited by student on June 25, 2009)
