Ulster Irish

Ulster Irish ( or , ) is the variety of Irish spoken in the province of Ulster. It "occupies a central position in the Gaelic world made up of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man". Ulster Irish thus has much in common with Scottish Gaelic and Manx. Within Ulster there have historically been two main sub-dialects: West Ulster and East Ulster. The Western dialect is spoken in parts of County Donegal and once was spoken in parts of neighbouring counties, hence the name 'Donegal Irish'. The Eastern dialect was spoken in most of the rest of Ulster and northern parts of counties Louth and Meath.

History

Ulster Irish was the main language spoken in most of Ulster from the earliest recorded times even before Ireland became a jurisdiction in the 1300s. Since the Plantation, Ulster Irish was steadily replaced by English and Ulster Scots, largely as a result of incoming settlers. The Eastern dialect died out in the 20th century, but the Western lives on in the Gaeltacht region of County Donegal. In 1808, County Down natives William Neilson and Patrick Lynch (Pádraig Ó Loingsigh) published a detailed study on Ulster Irish. Both Neilson and his father were Ulster-speaking Presbyterian ministers. When the recommendations of the first Comisiún na Gaeltachta were drawn up in 1926, there were regions qualifying for Gaeltacht recognition in the Sperrins and the northern Glens of Antrim and Rathlin Island. The report also makes note of small pockets of Irish speakers in northwest County Cavan, southeast County Monaghan, and the far south of County Armagh. However, these small pockets vanished early in the 20th century while Ulster Irish in the Sperrins survived until the 1950s and in the Glens of Antrim until the 1970s. The last native speaker of Rathlin Irish died in 1985.

According to Innti poet and scholar of Modern literature in Irish Louis de Paor, Belfast Irish, "a new urban dialect", of Ulster Irish, was "forged in the heat of Belfast during The Troubles" and is the main language spoken in the Gaeltacht Quarter of the city. The same dialect, according to de Paor, has been used in the poetry of Gearóid Mac Lochlainn and other radically innovative writers like him.

Phonology

Consonants

The phonemic consonant inventory of Ulster Irish (based on the dialect of Gweedore) is as shown in the following chart (see International Phonetic Alphabet for an explanation of the symbols). Symbols appearing in the upper half of each row are velarized (traditionally called "broad" consonants) while those in the bottom half are palatalized ("slender"). The consonants are neither broad nor slender.

Some characteristics of the phonology of Ulster Irish that distinguish it from the other dialects are:
* is always the approximant . In other dialects, fricative is found instead of or in addition to . No dialect makes a phonemic contrast between the approximant and the fricative, however.
* There is a three-way distinction among coronal nasals, , and laterals, , as there is in Scottish Gaelic, and there is no lengthening or diphthongization of short vowels before these sounds and . Thus, while "head" is in Connacht and in Munster, in Ulster it is (compare Scottish Gaelic )
* is pronounced as if it is spelled ( or ) after consonants other than . This happens in Connacht and Scottish Gaelic as well.
* is often realised as and can completely disappear word finally, hence unstressed - (a common suffix) is realised as , , or . For some speakers is realised as .

Vowels

The vowels of Ulster Irish are as shown on the following chart. These positions are only approximate, as vowels are strongly influenced by the palatalization and velarization of surrounding consonants.

The long vowels have short allophones in unstressed syllables and before . In addition, Ulster has the diphthongs .

* Before , where an unstressed schwa is found in other dialects, Ulster has with secondary stress (identical to ), e.g. "angry" and "hurling".
* is more fronted in Ulster than Connacht and Munster (where it is ), as or even preceding slender consonants. Unstressed and merge with as ().
* Stressed word final , , and preceding a syllable containing tend to represent . For example "good" and "chair", in contrast to and found in other regions.
* Stressed , , as well as after an initial , represent which generally merges with in younger speech.
* has three main allophones: morpheme finally and after broad consonants, before broad consonants, before slender consonants.
* Stressed and represent rather than which is found in the other dialects.
* before broad consonants merges with , and vice versa. That is, merges with before slender consonants.
* represents for many speakers, but it often merges with especially in younger speech.
* and are pronounced , unless beside where they raise to , the main realisation in other dialects, e.g. "mobile phone".
* Stressed , , and mainly represent , not as in the other dialects.
* Word final unstressed represents , not as in the other dialects, e.g. for "summer".
* Word final and merge with and , respectively, e.g. "baby", "make", "summer (gen.)" and "collect". Both merge with in Connacht, while in Munster, they are realised and , respectively.
*According to Ó Dochartaigh (1987), the loss of final schwa "is a well-attested feature of Ulster Irish", e.g. for "long".PlaceNames NI: Townland of Moyad Upper
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East Ulster and West Ulster

Differences between the Western and Eastern sub-dialects of Ulster included the following:
*In West Ulster and most of Ireland, the vowel written is pronounced (e.g. ), but in East Ulster it was pronounced (e.g. as it is in Scottish Gaelic (). J. J. Kneen comments that Scottish Gaelic and Manx generally follow the East Ulster pronunciation. The name is pronounced in Munster and in West Ulster, but in East Ulster, whence anglicized spellings like Shane O'Neill and Glenshane.
*In East Ulster, in the middle of a word tended to vanish and leave one long syllable. William Neilson wrote that this happens "in most of the counties of Ulster, and the east of Leinster".
*Neilson wrote was , especially at the beginning or end of a word "is still retained in the North of Ireland, as in Scotland, and the Isle of Man", whereas "throughout Connaught, Leinster and some counties of Ulster, the sound of is substituted". However, broad may become in the middle of a word (for example in "book").

Morphology

Initial mutations

Ulster Irish has the same two initial mutations, lenition and eclipsis, as the other two dialects and the standard language, and mostly uses them the same way. There is, however, one exception: in Ulster, a dative singular noun after the definite article is lenited (e.g. "on the tree") (as is the case in Scottish and Manx), whereas in Connacht and Munster, it is eclipsed (), except in the case of ''den'', ''don'' and ''insan'', where lenition occurs in literary language. Both possibilities are allowed for in the standard language.

Verbs

Irish verbs are characterized by having a mixture of ''analytic'' forms (where information about person is provided by a pronoun) and ''synthetic'' forms (where information about number is provided in an ending on the verb) in their conjugation. In Ulster and North Connacht the analytic forms are used in a variety of forms where the standard language has synthetic forms, e.g. "we praise" (standard , being a back formation from the verbal ending and not found in the Munster dialect, which retains as the first person plural pronoun as do Scottish Gaelic and Manx) or "they would praise" (standard ). The synthetic forms, including those no longer emphasised in the standard language, may be used in short answers to questions.

The 2nd conjugation future stem suffix in Ulster is (pronounced ) rather than , e.g. "I will bless" (standard ).

Some irregular verbs have different forms in Ulster from those in the standard language. For example:
* ( independent form only) "I do, make" (standard ) and "I did, made" (standard ''rinne mé'')
* (independent form only) "I see" (standard , Southern ''chím'', ''cím'' (independent form only))
* "I give" (standard , southern ''bheirim'' (independent only)), or "I do not give" (standard only ), and / "I will give" (standard , southern ''bhéarfad''(independent form only))
* (independent form only) "I get" (standard ), "I do not get"
* "I say, speak" (standard , "I do not say, speak", although is used to mean "I say" in a more general sense.)

Particles

In Ulster the negative particle (before a vowel , in past tenses - Scottish Gaelic/Manx ''chan'', ''cha do'') is sometimes used where other dialects use and . The form is more common in the north of the Donegal Gaeltacht. cannot be followed by the future tense: where it has a future meaning, it is followed by the habitual present. It triggers a "mixed mutation": and are eclipsed, while other consonants are lenited. In some dialects however (Gweedore), ''cha'' eclipses all consonants, except b- in the forms of the verb "to be", and sometimes f-:

In the Past Tense, some irregular verbs are lenited/eclipsed in the Interrogative/Negative that differ from the standard, due to the various particles that may be preferred:

Syntax

The Ulster dialect uses the present tense of the subjunctive mood in certain cases where other dialects prefer to use the future indicative:
:
:Sit down here by my side, Jamie, till I give you some advice and tell you my story.

The verbal noun can be used in subordinate clauses with a subject different from that of the main clause:

:
:I would like you to go there.

Lexicon

The Ulster dialect contains many words not used in other dialects—of which the main ones are Connacht Irish and Munster Irish—or used otherwise only in northeast Connacht. The standard form of written Irish is now . In other cases, a semantic shift has resulted in quite different meanings attaching to the same word in Ulster Irish and in other dialects. Some of these words include:

* is used to mean "to think" as well as "to make" or "to do", , and is used in other dialects, as well as in Ulster Irish.
* or (West Ulster), "look" (elsewhere , and ; this latter means rather "try" or "attempt" in Ulster)
* "opinion", southern - in Ulster, is most typically used in the meaning "approximate value", such as "about that time". Note the typically Ulster derivatives and "of the opinion (that...)".
*, "road" (southern and western and (cf. Scottish Gaelic , Manx ), and "way"). Note that alone is used as a preposition meaning "towards" (literally meaning "in the way of": = "he looked towards the sea"). In the sense "road", Ulster Irish often uses (lit. "big road") even for roads that aren't particularly big or wide.
*, "minute" (elsewhere , , , etc., and in Mayo Gaeltacht areas a somewhat halfway version between the northern and southern versions, is the word "móiméad", also probably the original, from which the initial M diverged into a similar nasal N to the south, and into a similar bilabial B to the north.)
*, "when?" (Connacht ; Munster , )
*, "what is?" (Connacht ; Munster , , , Scottish Gaelic )
*, "cabbage" (southern ; Scottish Gaelic )
*, "weir" (Connacht , standard )
*, "I hear" (southern , but is also attested in South Tipperary and is also used in Achill and Erris in North and West Mayo). In fact, the initial ''c-'' tends to be lenited even when it is not preceded by any particle (this is because there ''was'' a leniting particle in Classical Irish: yielded in Ulster)
*, "hard"-as in difficult (southern ), "tough"
*, "close" (southern and western ; in other dialects means "to move in relation to or away from something", thus = to shirk, = to close in) although druid is also used in Achill and Erris
*, "cattle" (southern = "one head of cattle", = "cattle", "beasts")
*, "wings" (southern )
*, "about, under" (standard , Munster , and is only used for "under"; and = "about"; = "about" or "with regard to")
*, "lazy" (southern and western , = "false, treacherous") although falsa is also used in Achill and Erris
*, "seagull" (standard )
*, "also" (standard )
*, , , , "Irish" (standard and Western , Southern , Manx , Scottish Gaelic ) although Gaeilg is used in Achill and was used in parts of Erris and East Connacht
*, "gate" (standard )
*, "short" (southern )
*, "calf" (southern and ) although gamhain is also used in Achill and Erris
*, "boy" (southern ; means "child" in Connemara)
*, "girl" (southern and )
*, "busy" (standard )
*, an adjective meaning "some" or "certain" is used instead of the southern . also means "certain" or "particular".
* is used to mean "I hear, perceive" as well as "I feel" (standard ) but generally refers to stories or events. The only other place where mothaím is used in this context is in the Irish of Dún Caocháin and Ceathrú Thaidhg in Erris but it was a common usage throughout most of northern and eastern Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and North Roscommon
*, "daughter" (standard ; Scottish Gaelic )
*, "news" (standard , but note that even Connemara has )
*, "soap" (standard , Connemara )
*, "youth", "young man", "boyfriend" (Southern = "gangly, young lad")
*, "table" (western and southern and , Scottish Gaelic )
* is used to mean "I can" as opposed to the standard or the southern . is also a preferred Ulster variant. Tig liom and its derivatives are also commonly used in the Irish of Joyce Country, Achill and Erris
*the word "wonderful" is used as an intensifier instead of the prefix used in other dialects.

Words generally associated with the now dead East Ulster Irish include:
* (feel, hear, perceive) - but also known in more southern Irish dialects
*, more standardized (tell) - but note the expression "telling stories, spinning yearns" used by the modern Ulster writer Séamus Ó Grianna.
* (evening)
*, more standardized spelling (anger)
* (sore)
* (yet)
* (cow)
* (hurry)
* (house)
* (duck)

In other cases, a semantic shift has resulted in quite different meanings attaching to the same word in Ulster Irish and in other dialects. Some of these words include:

* "head" (southern and western ; elsewhere, is used to mean "skull")
* "mare" (southern and western ; elsewhere, means "horse")

Notable speakers

Some notable Irish singers who sing songs in the Ulster Irish dialect include Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Róise Mhic Ghrianna, and Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin.

Notable Ulster Irish writers include Micí Mac Gabhann, Seosamh Mac Grianna, Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, Cosslett Ó Cuinn, Niall Ó Dónaill, Séamus Ó Grianna, Brian Ó Nualláin, Colette Ní Ghallchóir and Cathal Ó Searcaigh.

See also

* Irish language
* Gaeltacht
* Irish language in Northern Ireland

References

Bibliography

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* (book & 2 CDs in the Ulster dialect)
* (book & 2 CDs in the Ulster dialect)
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Literature

* annafast* olklore, Arranmore Island* olklore, Rannafast* ovel, the Rosses* ovel, the Rosses* ovel, the Rosses* ocal history, Gweedore* utobiography, Ulster* olklore, East Ulster: Antrim, Rathlin Island* ilcar* ssays, the Rosses* utobiography, unfinished novel, the Rosses* ovel, the Rosses* olklore, Rannafast* hort stories* olklore* hort stories* ssays*
* utobiography, Inishowen*
* egends, Tyrconnell* istory, folklore, memoirs, the Rosses* hort stories, the Rosses* iography, essays, the Rosses* ife story, the Rosses* iography, the Rosses* ocal tradition, the Rosses*
* hort stories, the Rosses* ravel book*
*
*
* olklore, Gweedore olklore, Gweedore* olklore, Rannafast* olklore, Rannafast* emoirs and local history, Tory Island/Magheroarty* olklore, Tír Eoghain* iography, folklore, the Rosses* ythology, the Rosses* ocal history, the Rosses* annafast(book & 1 CD in the Ulster dialect)
* ovel* he Rosses* ovel, the Rosses* utobiography, the Rosses* hort stories, the Rosses* ovel, the Rosses* hort stories the Rosses* ovel, the Rosses* hort stories, the Rosses* ovel, the Rosses* he Rosses* ilcar* olklore*
* ravel book, Gortahork* ythology, the Rosses* he Rosses* ocal history, the Rosses

External links

Gaelic resources focusing on Ulster Irish

A Yahoo group for learners of Ulster Irish

Oideas Gael
(based in Glencolmcille)
The Spoken Irish of Rann na Feirste

{{Connachta

Irish dialects
Ulster
Languages of Northern Ireland