- This article is about dialects of the Irish language. For dialects of English used in Ireland, see Hiberno-English and Ulster-Scots.
There are three major dialects of Modern Irish: Munster, spoken in Counties Cork, Kerry, and Clare; Connacht, spoken in Counties Galway and Mayo; and Ulster, spoken in County Donegal. In addition, a committee at the Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann has devised a standardized pronunciation known as the Lárchanúint ('Central Dialect'), which is based closely on the standard spelling of Irish. Although the Lárchanúint is an artificial dialect, every aspect of it corresponds to some spoken dialect. So nothing in the Lárchanúint is completely made up.
Lexical variation
Here are some examples of lexical items that vary across the dialects of Irish. U = Ulster, C = Connacht, M = Munster, N = Ulster and northern Connacht, S = Munster and southern Connacht. Forms marked with * are not recognized in the standard language.
| 'I hear' | cluinim (N) | cloisim (S)
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| 'cattle' | eallach (N) | beithígh (S)
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| 'calf' | gamhain (N) | lao (S)
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| 'sick' | tinn (N) | breoite (S)
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| 'fox' | madra rua (UM) | sionnach (C)
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| 'wings' | eiteogaí (U) | sciatháin (C)
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| 'at all' | ar chor ar bith (UC) | in aon chur (M)
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| 'soap' | *sópa (U) | *gallaoireach (C) | gallúnach (M)
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| 'cabbage' | cál (U) | gabáiste (CM)
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| 'under' | *fá (U) | *fé (M)
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| 'Irish' | *Gaeilig (U) | Gaeilge (C) | *Gaeilinn (M)
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| 'will see' | *tchífidh (U) | feicfidh (C) | *chífidh (M)
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| 'what is?' | cad é atá (U) | céard tá (C) | cad a thá (M)
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| 'table' | tábla (U) | bord (CM)
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| 'when?' | cá huair (U) | cén uair (C) | cathain (M)
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| 'seagull' | *faoileog (U) | faoileán (C) | *faoileann (M)
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| 'after' | i ndiaidh (U) | *thar éis (C) | tar éis (M)
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Phonological variation
The phonemic inventories and surface realizations of the spoken dialects differ from the general pattern discussed on the page Irish phonology in the following ways:
Munster
- The fricative [v] is found in syllable-onset position.
- Some, but not all, varieties have a phoneme /h´/ distinct from /h/.
- There are the additional diphthongs /əi/, /ou/, and /ia/.
- Word-internal clusters of obstruent + sonorant, [m] + [n/r], and stop + fricative are broken up by an epenthetic [ə], except that stop + liquid remains in the onset of a stressed syllable.
- Orthographic short a is diphthongized (rather than lengthened) before word-final m and the Old Irish tense sonorants /N L N´ L´ m m´/ (e.g. ceann [k´aun] 'head').
- Word-final /j/ is realized as [g´].
- Stress is attracted to noninitial heavy syllables: [kər|ka:n] 'pot', [m´alə|vo:g] 'satchel'. Stress is also attracted to [ax] in the second syllable: [kə|l´ax] 'rooster', [b´ə|naxt] 'blessing', [bə|kaxə] 'lame' (pl.).
- Unstressed /a/ surfaces as [a], rather than [ə], when the following syllable is stressed and contains a high vowel: [ka|l´i:n´] 'girl'; [k´ar|tu:] 'correct' (v.n.).
- In some varieties, long /a:/ is rounded.
Connacht
- There is vowel lengthening before word-internal clusters of voiced stop + liquid.
- Some varieties have maintained some or all of the Old Irish tense sonorants /N L N´ L´/ (but not /R R´/), often without lengthening of orthographic short vowels before them.
- In the variety spoken in Cois Fhairrge, underlying short /a/ is realized as a long front [a:] while underlying long /a:/ is realized as a back [ɑ:].
- /n/ is realized as [r] (or is replaced by /r/) after consonants other than [s]. This happens in Ulster as well.
Ulster
- The glide [w] is found for /v/ in all positions.
- Some or all of Old Irish /N L N´ L´/ (but not /R R´/) have been retained.
- Orthographic short vowels remain short before ll, m, nn.
- There is an additional long vowel, the mid-open back rounded /ɔ:/ (cf. the vowel of British English thought). This corresponds to the /o:/ of other dialects. The Ulster /o:/ corresponds to the /au/ of other dialects.
- The short mid vowel phoneme has three [+back] allophones: [o] adjacent to labials, [ɞ] (a mid central rounded lax vowel) before a voiced stop, a nasal or /L/, and [ɔ] elsewhere.
- The short high vowel phoneme has two [+back] allophones: [u] before word-final /w/ and /h/; [ɞ] elsewhere.
- Long vowels are shortened when in unstressed syllables.
- /n/ is realized as [r] (or is replaced by /r/) after consonants other than [s]. This happens in Connacht as well.
- Long /a:/ surfaces as a low front [æ:].
- Orthographic -adh in unstressed syllables is always [u] (this includes verb forms).
- Unstressed orthographic -ach is pronounced [ax], [ah], or [a].
Morphological variation
Initial mutations
In Donegal there is lenition instead of eclipsis of a singular noun after preposition + article:
| Don. ag an fhear | Standard ag an bhfear | 'at the man'
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| Don. ar an chrann | Standard ar an gcrann | 'on the tree'
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| Don. as an pháirc | Standard as an bpáirc | 'out of the garden'
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| Don. leis an chailín | Standard leis an gcailín | 'with the girl'
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| Don. ón chat | Standard ón gcat | 'from the cat'
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Nominal system
Many nouns have dialectal plurals different from those of the standard language:
| caoire | for caoirigh | 'sheep'
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| fearaibh | for fir | 'men'
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| focla | for focail | 'words'
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| spealta | for speala | 'scythes'
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| tamallacha | for tamaill | 'periods of time'
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In some dialects of Connacht the plural endings -anna and -acha are always replaced by -annaí and -achaí. It is also common in Connacht that all 2nd declension nouns end in slender consonants in the nominative singular.
Connacht
| -achaí, -annaí | for -acha, -anna | Pl. ending
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| bróig | for bróg | 'shoe'
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| ceird | for ceard | 'craft'
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| cluais | for cluas | 'ear'
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| cois | for cos | 'foot, leg'
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| láimh | for lámh | 'hand'
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Verbal system
In Munster synthetic forms (those with personal endings) are more often used than in the standard language, where analytic forms (those with a general ending + personal pronoun) are more common.
| Mun. molair | Standard molann tú | 'you (sg.) praise'
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| Mun. molaid | Standard molann siad | 'they praise'
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| Mun. mholas | Standard mhol mé | 'I praised'
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| Mun. mholais | Standard mhol tú | 'you (sg.) praised'
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| Mun. mholabhair | Standard mhol sibh | 'you (pl.) praised'
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| Mun. mholadar | Standard mhol siad | 'they praised'
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| Mun. molfad | Standard molfaidh mé | 'I will praise'
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| Mun. molfair | Standard molfaidh tú | 'you (sg.) will praise'
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| Mun. molfaid | Standard molfaidh siad | 'they will praise'
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In Connacht the nonstandard synthetic forms are used, if at all, only in responses. (Irish has no words for 'yes' and 'no'; rather, the verb of the question is repeated.)
Connacht
| "An molfaidh tú é?" (analytic) | 'Will you (sg.) praise him?'
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| "Molfad." (synthetic) | 'Yes.'
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| (Standard "Molfaidh.")
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| "Ar bhris tú na gloiní?" (analytic) | 'Did you break the glasses?'
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| "Níor bhriseas." (synthetic) | 'No.'
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| (Standard "Níor bhris.")
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In Ulster and North Connacht the analytic forms are even more common than in the standard language.
| N molann muid | Standard molaimid | 'we praise'
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| N mholadh muid | Standard mholaimis | 'we used to praise'
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| N mholadh siad | Standard mholaidís | 'they used to praise'
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| N mhol muid | Standard mholamar | 'we praised'
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| N molfaidh muid | Standard mholfaimid | 'we will praise'
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| N mholfadh muid | Standard mholfaimis | 'we would praise'
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| N mholfadh siad | Standard mholfaidís | 'they would praise'
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The 2nd conjugation future stem suffix in Ulster is -óch- [ah] rather than -ó-.
| Uls. beannóchaidh mé [b´aNahə m´ə] | Standard beannóidh mé [b´ano:j m´e:] | 'I will bless'
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| Uls. d'inseochadh siad [d´iN´s´ahu s´iəd] | Standard d'inseoidís [d´in´s´o:d´i:s´] | 'they would tell'
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Some irregular verbs have different forms in the dialects from those in the standard language.
'to do, make' in the present:
- Ulster independent ním, níonn tú/sé/sí/muid/sibh/siad
- Ulster dependent ní dhéanaim, ní dhean(ann) tú/sé/sí/muid/sibh/siad
- Connacht déanaim, déanaimid, déanann tú/sé/sí/sibh/siad
- Munster deinim, deinir, deinimid, deinid, deineann sé/sé/sibh
'to do, make' in the past, independent forms:
- Ulster rinn mé/tú/sé/sí/muid/sibh/siad
- Munster dheineas, dheinis, dhein sé/sí, dheineamar, dheineabhair,deaineadar
(The dependent forms in all dialects are very similar to the standard.)
'to see' in the present:
- Ulster independent tchím, tchí(onn) tú/sé/sí/muid/sibh/siad [t´s´i:(m)]
- Munster independent chím, chímid, chíonn tú/sé/sí/sibh/siad
(The dependent forms in all dialects are very similar to the standard.)
'to give' in the present:
- Ulster independent bheirim, bheir(eann) tú/sé/sí/muid/sibh/siad
- Ulster dependent ní thabhraim or ní thugaim, ní thabhrann or ní thugann
- Munster independent bheirim, bheirir, bheirimid, bheirid, bheireann sé/sí/sibh
- Munster dependent ní thugaim, ní thugair etc.; an dtugaim, an dtugair etc.
'to give' in the future:
- Ulster independent bhéarfaidh mé/tú/sé/sí/muid/sibh/siad
- Ulster dependent ní thabharfaidh; an dtabharfaidh
- Connacht tiúraidh mé/tú/sé/sí/sibh/siad, tiúraimid
- Munster independent bhéarfad, bhéarfair, bhéarfaimid, bhéarfaid, bhéarfaidh sé/sí/sibh
- Munster dependent ní thabharfad, ní thabharfair etc.; and tabharfad etc.
Particles
In Ulster cha(n) instead of ní and char instead of níor are sometimes used.
| Uls. Cha dtuigim. | Standard Ní thuigim. | 'I don't understand.'
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| Uls. Cha phógfaidh muid. | Standard Ní phógfaimid. | 'We will not kiss.'
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| Uls. Chan ólfadh siad é. | Standard Ní ólfaidís é. | 'They wouldn't drink it.'
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| Uls. Char thuig mé thú. | Standard Níor thuig mé thú. | 'I didn't understand you.'
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In Munster ná is used instead of nach.
| Mun. Ná tuigir mé? | Standard Nach dtuigeann tú mé? | 'Don't you (sg.) understand me?'
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| Mun. Ná hólaid bainne? | Standard Nach n-ólann siad bainne? | 'Don't they drink milk?'
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In Munster the particle do is sometimes used in the past.
| Mun. Do thuigeas thú. | Standard Thuig mé thú. | 'I understood you.'
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Syntactic variation
In Munster go (gur) is used instead of a (ar) as the indirect relative particle
| (1) | Munster | an fear go bhfuil a dheirfiúr san ospidéal
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| | Standard | an fear a bhfuil a dheirfiúr san ospidéal
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| | | 'the man whose sister is in the hospital'
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| (2) | Munster | an seomra gur chodlaíos ann
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| | Standard | an seomra ar chodail mé ann
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| | | 'the room that I slept in'
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All other important dialectal differences in the syntax relate to the use of the copula.
Ulster
In Ulster all present forms of the copula besides is and chan (= standard ní) end in b; furthermore it is very frequently the case that only the pronoun é is used after the copula, regardless of whether it refers to a masculine or feminine noun in the singular or plural.
| (3) | Ulster | Chan é Caitlín an múinteoir.
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| | Standard | Ní hí Caitlín an múinteoir.
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| | | 'Caitlín is not the teacher'
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| (4) | Ulster | Ab é Rónán an múinteoir?
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| | Standard | An é Rónán an múinteoir?
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| | | 'Is Rónán the teacher?'
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| (5) | Ulster | Deirtear gob é na daoine sin na múinteoirí.
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| | Standard | Deirtear gurb iad na daoine sin na múinteoirí.
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| | | 'It is said that those people are the teachers.'
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| (6) | Ulster | Deirtear nab é an múinteoir.
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| | Standard | Deirtear nach é an múinteoir.
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| | | 'It is said that he isn't the teacher.'
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Also in Ulster the pronouns é, í, iad may be absent between an indefinite noun in the predicate and the subject.
| (7) | Ulster | Is múinteoir Cáit.
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| | Standard | Is múinteoir í Cáit.
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| | | 'Cáit is a teacher.'
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| (8) | Ulster | Is scoláirí na fir sin.
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| | Standard | Is scoláirí iad na fir sin.
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| | | 'Those men are scholars.'
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| (9) | Ulster | Is sagart m'uncail.
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| | Standard | Is sagart é m'uncail.
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| | | 'My uncle is a priest.'
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In the standard language a pronoun may optionally be repeated at the end of a sentence after a definite predicate. Both possibilities are recognized by the standard language, but in practice the pronoun is there in Connacht and Munster, and is absent in Ulster.
| (10) | Standard | Is é an múinteoir (é).
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| | Ulster | Is é an múinteoir.
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| | Conn./Mun. | Is é an múinteoir é.
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| | | 'He is the teacher'
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| (11) | Standard | Is í an scoláire (í).
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| | Ulster | Is í an scoláire.
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| | Conn./Mun. | Is í an scoláire í.
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| | | 'She is the scholar.'
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| (12) | Standard | Is iad na sagairt (iad).
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| | Ulster | Is iad na sagairt.
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| | Conn./Mun. | Is iad na sagairt iad.
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| | | 'They are the priests.'
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| (13) | Standard | Is é sin fear mo ghruagaire (é).
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| | Ulster | Is é sin fear mo ghruagaire.
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| | Conn./Mun. | Is é sin fear mo ghruagaire é.
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| | | 'That is my hairdresser's husband'
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Connacht/Ulster
In the standard language there are two ways of forming a sentence like "I am a scholar": Is scoláire mé and Tá mé i mo scoláire. These sentences have slightly different shades of meaning: Is scoláire mé is more permanent (individual-level predicate ), Tá mé i mo scoláire more temporary (stage-level predicate ). In Connacht and Ulster there is a third construction, which corresponds to both meanings. The predicate is topicalized and the sentence ends with "which is in me" etc.
| (14) | Is | scoláire | atá | ionam.
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| | COP | scholar | D.R.-is | in-me
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- 'I am a scholar' (= Standard Is scoláire mé/Tá mé i mo scoláire)
| (15) | Is | mangach | atá | ann.
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| | COP | pollock | D.R.-is | in-it
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- 'It is a pollock' (= Standard Is mangach é)
| (16) | Is | Éireannach | atá | inti.
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| | COP | Irish person | D.R.-is | in-her
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- 'She is Irish.' (= Standard Is Éireannach í/Tá sí ina hÉireannach)
This construction is only possible when the logical subject is a pronoun. It cannot be used with nouns.
(17) * Is scoláire atá i m'athair.
(18) * Is Éireannach atá i mBríd.
South Connacht
In South Connacht the past tense form ba is not fused with a preceding particle, but remains an individual word.
ní ba, an mba, nach mba, go mba for standard níor(bh), ar(bh),nár(bh), gur(bh)
| (19) | SC | An mba mhúinteoir tú? | (20) | SC | An mb'iascaire tú?
|
| | Standard | Ar mhúinteoir tú? | | Standard | Arbh iascaire tú?
|
| | | 'Were you a teacher?' | | | 'Were you a fisherman?'
|
| (21) | SC | Ní ba mhúinteoir mé. | (22) | SC | Ní b'iascaire mé.
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| | Standard | Níor mhúinteoir mé. | | Standard | Níorbh iascaire mé.
|
| | | 'I was not a teacher.' | | | 'I was not a fisherman.'
|
| (23) | SC | Nach mba mhúinteoir tú? | (24) | SC | ...go mba mhúinteoir mé
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| | Standard | Nár mhúinteoir tú? | | Standard | ...gur mhúinteoir mé
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| | | 'Weren't you a teacher?' | | | '...that I was a teacher'
|
| (25) | SC | ...go mb'iascaire mé
| | Standard | ...gurbh iascaire mé
| | | '...that I was a fisherman'
|
Munster
In Munster, when an indefinite noun, an adjective, or a prepositional phrase forms the predicate of the copula, it is normal for the
predicate to come at the beginning of the sentence; next comes is ea ('it is'), and the subject comes at the end.
Predicate + is ea (ab ea in the past) + subject
| (26) | Munster | Feirmeoir is ea é.
|
| | Standard | Is feirmeoir é.
|
| | | 'He is a farmer'
|
| (27) | Munster | Bean de Mhuintir Thuathail ab ea í.
|
| | Standard | Ba bhean de Mhuintir Thuathail í.
|
| | | 'She was a woman of the O'Toole Family.'
|
| (28) | Munster | Leis an rí is ea na healaí.
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| | Standard | Is leis an rí na healaí.
|
| | | 'The swans belong to the king.'
|
| (29) | Munster | Ón bhFrainc ab ea an bhean uasal.
|
| | Standard | Is ón bhFrainc a bhí an bhean uasal.
|
| | | 'The lady came from France.'
|
See also
