http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the-doegen-records-web-projec t/

The Doegen records are now online folks. Magnificent.

Seo an nasc díreach

http://dho.ie/doegen/

Iontach maith. Mór an truaighe nach bhfeiceam an áit bheacht arb as don chainteoir. Chan fhacaidh mé ach ainm na condádh... Ach nach iomaí áit i gCo. Dhún na nGall nó i gCo. na Gaillimhe!

Is fíor dhuit. N'fheadar ar bhailigh siad eolas níos cruinne? B'fhiú an cheist a chuir.

396 clips!

Connacht: 117
Leinster: 17
Munster: 120
Ulster: 144
http://dho.ie/doegen/counties

There are only 16 leinster clips in Irish, and those are all for Louth, which is - in terms of dialect at least - Ulster.

A pity, since there would have been vestiges of Irish in the South of county Dublin and in Wicklow.

Is dóigh liom gurbh é seo an file, Máirtín Ó Direáin. Tá cuir síos ina leabhar Feamainn Bhealtaine gur ghlac sé páirt i dtaifeadadh.

http://dho.ie/doegen/ga/LA_1156g1

An cainteoirí dúchais iad uilig? Tá iontas orm go bhfuil cainteoir as Co. BhÁC ann (char éist mé leis go fóill, le fírinne).

Tá iontas orm go bhfuil cainteoir as Co. BhÁC ann...

Oráid i mBéarla atá ann ón Taoiseach.

Ré eile a bhí ann agus ní raibh an córas cumarsáide an lae inniu ar fáil do na taighdeoirí. Mar sin ní raibh sé de acmhainn acu teacht ar a lán de na cainteoirí.

Cérbh é an ceantar Gaelach ba mhó san aimsir sin nach bhfuil ann feasta? Tír Eoghain?

(Message edited by ormondo on November 14, 2009)

Nach gcuireann na taifeadtaí cumha go háirithe orthu siúd óna contaethe nach bhfuil an Ghaelainn ann a thuilleadh ach a bhfuil na cainteoirtí dúchasacha deireannacha na gcontaethe sin le cloisint ar na taifeadtaí céanna?

quote:

A pity, since there would have been vestiges of Irish in the South of county Dublin and in Wicklow.

If you had written "there would have been vestiges of Irish in south Kilkenny", it would come as no surprise. There were almost 4,000 Irish speakers recorded in the 1891 census. Surely some would have still been living and still actively speaking the language in 1928. Even if only a few hundred remained or whatever.

But Wicklow!? This comes as a big surprise to me since even in the mid 19th century, Wicklow was noted for having very few Irish speakers. In the 1851 census, for example, just 135 individuals claimed to be Irish speakers. The lowest total in the country. All bilingual and scattered throughout eight baronies. In 1891, 176 speakers (0.3% of the population).

Two surveys also noted the almost total lack of Irish in the county. Stokes in 1800 where he put Wicklow in the 'Scarcely any Irish' category.

Stat. Survey of 1801:

quote:

'It is very remarkable, that although the Irish language is common in all the counties around, in the county of Wicklow the Irish language is unknown. Nor did I find any of the natives of this county, even in the most remote vales in the midst of the mountains, accustomed to speak the Irish language'.

(From B. Ó Cuív, Irish Dialects and Irish-Speaking Districts, pg. 81, DIAS, Dublin, 1951)
Surely an exaggeration ('language is unknown'), but add it all up and I think it shows that Irish was rarely spoken in Wicklow by the early 19th century. So to hear that it remained into the 1920s...that's hard to believe. Do you have more information? I'm particularly interested in counties like Wicklow and Wexford. Ones most people associate with heavy anglicisation.

If native Leinster Irish still survived in the period 1928-1931, I'd have thought it would have been in south Kilkenny first and foremost.

The last speaker of Leinster Irish died quite recently.He was a Canadian born to a woman from Kilkenny.I wonder if anyone thought to record him?

I once stumbled - in the online meaning- upon a book/pamphlet called something like:'Concerning the late Rebellion in Wexford..' by a Protestant clergyman.He notes in passing that,although most of the populace speak Irish,it is beginning to die out.This was written in the early 1800s.

Major Sarr,who helped put down the Rebellion in Wicklow and Wexford,devoted his retirement to the study of Irish.He must have heard quite a bit of it so! Would the Irish in kilkenny have been so very different to that of Waterford?

I have heard recordings of Kilkenny Irish. There is also notes in an Eigse from the soxties and in the LASID.

We need to get this info. and message out there.

I have fired together a site about South Down Irish, cluaindaimh.blogspot.com

I hope that others put things together about where there are.

middle Class Dub has done some stuff on Meath and Dublin.

http://middleclassdub.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-12-02T08%3A50%3A00Z&m ax-results=7

quote:

I have heard recordings of Kilkenny Irish.

Where? When? How? etc

:)

RBE.

Could you be less cryptic please!?

Roinn Béaloideas Éireann

Maybe there is a bootleg somewhere on the Internet?

The NCC were distributing bootleg doegan records and alot of Tyrone recordings for years. Maybe they have one for you?

I remember a buck telling me that they copied stuff that they considered the public property of Irish people.

Ah, I see how it's done.
http://www.ucd.ie/irishfolklore/en/visitingthenationalfolklorecollection/

quote:

Researchers wishing to listen to audio or to view video material should e-mail for an appointment or phone the number below.

Address:
National Folklore Collection,
Newman Building,
University College Dublin,
Belfield,
Dublin 4.

quote:

The earliest sound recordings in the National Folklore Collection were made on wax-cylinder recording machines, the earliest of which date from 1897

!!!

GGN,

Do you remember in which year(s) the Kilkenny Irish audio was recorded? I wonder if any other Leinster Irish recordings exist?

1930 I think.

Not sure, they keep these things a bit hush hush.

I would be surprised if they did not have some Meath material which would have survived into the same period.

Why dont you write, let us know how you get on.