Table Of ContentIrish
Aidan Doyle
Languages of the World/Materials 201
2001
LINCOM EUROPA
Published by LINCOM EUROPA 2001.
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Edited by Ulrich J. Luders
Printed in E.C.
Printed on chlorine-free paper
Die Deutsche Bibliothek -CIP Cataloguing-in-Publication-Data
A catalogue record for this publication is available from Die
Deutsche Bibliothek (http://www.ddb.de)
ISBN 3 89586 259 2
Contents
Preface 7
Abbreviations and symbols 8
0. Introduction 10
0.1 External history 10
0.2 The modern language 11
0.3 The surviving dialects 13
1. The sound system of Irish 14
1.1. Orthography and pronunciation 14
1.1.1. Vowel symbols 14
1.1.1.1. Single graphemes 14
1.1.1.2. Sequences of two graphemes 14
1.1.1.3. Sequences of three graphemes 15
1.1.2. Consonants 15
1.1.2.1. Palatalisation and ve1arisation 15
1.1.2.2. Sequences of consonants 16
1.1.2.2.1. The grapheme h 16
1.1.2.2.2. The orthographic representation of eclipsis 16
1.2. The phonetic system 16
1.2.1. Vocalic elements 17
1.2.1.1. Vowels 17
1.2.1.2. Vowel length 17
1.2.1.3. Diphthongs 18
1.2.2. Consonants 18
1.2.2.1. Place of articulation 18
1.2.2.2. Manner of articulation 18
1.3. Phonology and morphophonology 19
1.3.1. Syllabic structure 19
1.3 .1.1. Onsets 19
1.3.1.2. Codas, medial clusters, and epenthesis 19
1.3.1.3. Optional epenthesis 20
1.3.2. Syllable reduction 21
1.3.2.1. Intervocalic [h) 21
1.3.2.2. Loss of short vowels 21
1.3.3. Stress 21
1.3.4. Vowels 22
1.3.4.1. Quality 22
1.3.4.1.1. Palatalisation and vowel quality 22
1.3.4.1.2. Alternations in quality 23
1.3.4.2. Length 24
1.3.4.3. Stress-related alternations 25
1.3 .4.3 .1. Reduced vowels 25
1.3.4.3.2. Shortened vowels 25
1.3.5. Consonants 25
1.3.5.1. Palatalisation I velarisation 25
1.3.5.2. Voice 26
1.3.5.3. The fricatives [v] and [x] in medial position 27
1.4. Initial mutations 27
1.4.1. Lenition 27
1.4.2. Eclipsis 29
1.4.3. [h] insertion 30
1.4.4. [t] insertion 30
2. Morphology 31
2.0. Introduction 31
2.1. lnflectional morphology 31
2.1.1. The nominal complex 31
2.1.1.1. The declensional system 31
2.1.1.2. The definite article' 33
2.1.1.3. The attributive adjective 34
2.1.1.3.1. The declensional system 34
2.1.1.3 .2. Mutation of the adjective 35
2.1.2. The adjective and adverb 36
2.1.2.1. Predicative adjectives 36
2.1.2.2. The comparative and superlative 36
2.1.2.3. De-adjectival adverbs 37
2.1.3. Pronouns 37
2.1.3.1. Pronominal enclitics 38
2.1.3.2. Personal pronouns 38
2.1.3.2.1. Non-subject pronouns 38
2.1.3.2.2. Subject pronouns 39
2.1.3.3. Possessive pronouns 39
2.1.3.4. Prepositional pronouns 40
2.1.3.5. Demonstratives 40
2.1.4. The verb 41
2.1.4.1. Dialectal variation 41
2.1.4.2. Verbal categories 41
2.1.4.2.1. Tense and mood 41
2.1.4.2.2. Aspect 42
2.1.4.2.3. Passive and impersonal 42
2.1.4.2.4. The verbal noun 43
2.1.4.2.5. The copula and the substantive verb 43
2.1.4.3. Mutations and particles 43
2.1.4.4. Stems and endings 46
2.1.4.5. The conjugations 46
2.1.4.5.1. Regular verbs 46
2.1.4.5.2. Irregular verbs 49
2.1.4.5.3. The copula 52
2.1.4.5.4. Relative forms 53
2.1.5. Numerals 54
2.1.5 .1. Cardinals 54
2.1.5.2. Ordinals 58
2.2. Derivational morphology 58
2.2.1. Word formation and register 58
2.2.2. Affixation 59
2.2.2.1. Prefixation 59
2.2.2.2. Suffixation 60
2.2.3. Membership of more than one category 61
2.2.4. Compounding 61
3. Syntax 63
3.0. Introduction 63
3.1. Noun phrases 63
3.2. The copula and the substantive verb bi 64
3.2.1. The copula 65
3.2.2. The substantive verb 66
3.3. Word order 67
3.3.1. Finite clauses 67
3.3.1.1. Subject and verb 67
3.3.1.2. Objects, prepositional phrases, adverbials 68
3.3.2. Non-finite clauses 68
3.3.2.1. VN+object 68
3.3.2.2. Object+aL+VN 69
3.3.2.3. Pronominal objects 69
3.4. Complement clauses 70
3.4.1. Finite complements 70
3.4.2. Non-finite complements 71
3.4.3. Clauses dependent on non-verbal elements 72
3.5. Case 74
3.5.1. Non-finite clauses 74
3.5.2. Prepositional phrases and subjects 76
3.6. Raising 77
3.7. Noun movement 79
3.7.1. Passivisation 79
3.7.2. Unaccusative verbs 80
3.8. Wh-questions and relatives 82
3.8.1. Relative clauses 82
3.8.2. Interrogative clauses 86
3.9. Stylistic variation 89
3.9.1. Clefting 89
3.9.2. Heavy movement 90
3.9.3. Light movement 92
3.10. Ellipsis 94
3.11. Negation 96
3.11.1. Negative particles 96
3.11.2. Marking of negation 96
4. Texts 99
4.1. The Lord's Prayer 99
4.2. My Little Black Donkey 99
References 101
This book is dedicated to my parents
7
Preface
My thanks are due first and foremost to my colleague Edmund Gussmann, who
suggested to me that I should undertake this project, and offered his advice on various points,
particularly the chapter on phonology. I am very grateful to him for reading the manuscript
thoroughly and proposing many improvements, both as regards content and style.
I would like to thank my former colleague Eugeniusz Cyran for preparing the
typescript for publication in camera-ready form. Without his help, it would have taken me
much longer to complete the project. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the
Cultural Relations Committee of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, who financed this
technical editing.
This work was begun during my stay at the University of Bonn on a fellowship of the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. I would like to thank the foundation for its support, and
also Stefan Zimmer and Arndt Wigger for their help and encouragement during my visit.
While working on the book, I frequently made use of the library of the School of Celtic in the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies; having this facility available to me assisted me greatly
in my research. I should mention here as well the hospitality shown to me by Sean 6 Coileain
of University College Cork, who allowed me to make use of the resources of the Irish
Department there. Finally, I would like to thank Breandan 6 Buachalla for his encouragement
and advice over the years.
8
Abbreviations and symbols
In the phonetic transcriptions, the IPA system is followed. Palatalisation is marked by the
superscript'. Stress is only marked when it is relevant.
Mutations are marked by means of the following superscripts:
L - leniting, e.g. niL
E - eclipsing, e.g. goE
H - [h] insertion, e.g. naH
T - [t] insertion, e.g. anT
Dialects are marked by the following abbreviations:
C - Connemara
D - Donegal
K - Kerry
The following is a list of the other abbreviations used:
C Consonant
Cl. Clitic
Com par. Comparative
Cop. Copula
Oat. Dative
Dep. Dependent
Dim. Diminutive
Gen. Genitive
Imper. Imperative
lmpers. Impersonal
Ind. Independent
In terr. Interrogative
N Noun
Neg. Negative
Nom. Nominative
Non-rel. Non-relative
NP Noun Phrase
Pers.n. Personal name
Pl. Plural
pp Prepositional Phrase
Prep. Preposition
Pres. Present tense
PRT Particle
Rel. Relative
Sg. Singular
Sub. Subjunctive
Subj. Subject
9
v
Verb
Var. Variant
VA Verbal Adjective
VN Verbal Noun
Vow. Vowel
In the glosses, nouns and adjectives are in the nominative singular unless otherwise stated.
The gloss represents the root of the verb, unless some other form is being quoted.
