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A Dialect of Donegal

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A Dialect of Donegal: Being the Speech of Meenawannia in the Parish of Glenties (1906)
by E. C. Quiggin
135093A Dialect of Donegal: Being the Speech of Meenawannia in the Parish of Glenties1906E. C. Quiggin

A DIALECT OF DONEGAL


BEING THE SPEECH OF MEENAWANNIA

IN THE PARISH OF GLENTIES




PHONOLOGY AND TEXTS


by

E. C. QUIGGIN,

FELLOW OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE







CAMBRIDGE:

at the University Press

1906



PREFACE.

THE present sketch is the first serious attempt at a scientific description of a northern dialect of Irish. Phonetic decay seems to have set in all over the Gaelic-speaking area; and consequently it is imperative that during the next ten or fifteen years every effort should be made to obtain scientific records of the speech of persons born before the famine who still have a firm grip of the vernacular. As a general rule the speech of the younger people is of little or no value to those who are trying to unravel the mysteries of Old and Middle Irish orthography, and unfortunately, whatever the Gaelic League may accomplish, it cannot preserve the vanishing sounds and shades of sounds of the older generation. Indeed I have been forcibly impressed with the great differences noticeable between speakers of different ages – a fact which is in large measure responsible for the publication of the material which I have collected during the last three years. Within this period I have fortunately been able to visit Donegal on several occasions; in addition to two long summers I have paid three brief visits to the county, and have thus had the inestimable advantage of allowing the dialect to strike my ear afresh at frequent intervals. This, however, does not render the task of describing a Gaelic dialect any the less formidable. Some of my statements may be regarded with scepticism by persons familiar with the Irish of Ulster, who will say perhaps that this or that characteristic is unknown to them; but I would reply that there are considerable variations within the limits of the county and that many peculiarities of Donegal given by Dinneen, J. C. Ward, and others I have failed to discover in Meenawannia. Not being a native speaker, my observations have naturally been restricted to a somewhat limited number of individuals.

My best thanks are due to the Cambridge Philological Society and to the Syndics of the University Press for their munificence in defraying more than two-thirds of the cost of this publication. I am also bound to express my appreciation of the manner in which the staff of the University Press have overcome the serious typographical difficulties incident to a work of this nature.

E. C. Q.


June 1906.

CONTENTS.

  page
Introductory 1
A. The Vowel System §§ 1–172 5–66
   (a) The back vowels α, α:, ɔ, ɔ:, o, o:, U, u:, o̤, ⅄, ⅄:, ö̤: 5–31
      1. α §§ 2–14 5
      2. α: §§ 15–21 9
      3. ɔ §§ 22–27 11
      4. ɔ: §§ 28–35 15
      5. o § 36 16
      6. o: §§ 37–40 17
      7. U §§ 41–43 19
      8. u: §§ 44–53 20
      9. §§ 54–60 23
      10. ⅄: §§ 61-68 26
      11. ö̤: §§ 69–73 29
   (b) The front vowels æ, ɛ, ɛ:, e, e:, ï, i, i:, y 31–49
      1. æ §§ 74–80 31
      2. ɛ §§ 81–85 33
      3. ɛ: § 86 35
      4. e §§ 87–91 35
      5. e: §§ 92–95 36
      6. ï §§ 96–107 38
      7. i §§ 108–115 43
      8. i: §§ 116–124 45
      9. y §§ 125–127 48
   (c) The irrational vowel ə §§ 128–138 49
   (d) The diphthongs 55–64
      1. αi §§ 139–141 55
      2. αu §§ 142–144 56
      3. α:i §§ 145–146 57
      4. α:u §§ 147–148 58
      5. ɔi, ɔ:i §§ 149–150 58
      6. § 151 59
      7. ui § 152 59
      8. ɛi § 153 60
      9. ɛu(w) § 154 60
      10. ɛə §§ 155–157 60
      11. ei §§ 158–161 61
      12. e:i § 162 62
      13. §§ 163–166 62
      14. iu § 167 63
      15. § 168 63
      16. əu § 169 63
      17. ə⅄ § 170 63
      18. əi § 171 64
   (e) Nasal vowels § 172 64
B. The Consonants §§ 173–436 66–140
   (a) h, j, w §§ 174–202 67–77
      1. h §§ 174–187 67
      2. j §§ 188–193 72
      3. w §§ 194–202 75
   (b) The liquids and nasals §§ 203–308 77–108
   Note on l, m, n and r sounds § 203 77
      1. L §§ 204–213 78
      2. l §§ 214–220 81
      3. §§ 221–227 82
      4. §§ 228–233 84
      5. N §§ 234–242 85
      6. n §§ 243–248 88
      7. §§ 249–259 89
      8. §§ 260–264 93
   Note on the r sounds § 265 94
      9. R §§ 266–268 94
      10. r §§ 269–281 95
      11. §§ 282–288 99
      12. m §§ 289–295 102
      13. §§ 296–300 105
      14. ŋ §§ 301–304 106
      15. ɲ §§ 305–308 108
   (c) The spirants f, fʹ, v, χ, ꬶ, ç, s, ʃ §§ 309–356 108–121
      1. f §§ 309–316 108
      2. §§ 317–322 111
      3. v §§ 323–327 112
      4. χ §§ 328-335 114
      5. §§ 336–339 116
      6. ç §§ 340–346 117
      7. s §§ 347–350 119
      8. ʃ §§ 351–356 120
   (d) The labial, dental and guttural stops §§ 357–436 122–140
   Note on the stops and s (ʃ) § 357 122
      1. p §§ 358–363 122
      2. §§ 364–367 124
      3. b §§ 368–372 125
      4. §§ 373–377 126
      5. t §§ 378–386 127
      6. §§ 387–393 129
      7. d §§ 394–399 131
      8. §§ 400–408 133
      9. k §§ 409–416 134
      10. §§ 417–423 136
      11. g §§ 424–429 137
      12. §§ 430–436 139
C. Synthesis §§ 437–494 141–157
      1. Notes on the Consonants §§ 437–439 141
      2. Metathesis §§ 440–442 142
      3. Dissimilation §§ 443–444 142
      4. Loss of Consonant §§ 445–447 143
      5. Loss of Vowel §§ 448–450 144
      6. Vowel-shortening § 451 145
      7. Uncertainty of Initial § 452 145
      8. Sandhi §§ 453–472 146
      9. Vowel-length §§ 473–476 150
      10. Stress §§ 477–478 152
      11. Stress of Compounds §§ 479–483 153
      12. Sentence-stress §§ 484–492 154
      13. Intonation § 493 156
      14. Characteristics of Donegal Irish § 494 157
Word-lists 158–191
      Old and Middle Irish 158
      Modern Irish 168
      Scotch Gaelic 190
      Manx 191
Texts 194–245
      Seanfhocla 194
      Riddles 196
      Catches 196
      Áindrías an Ime 196
      Éamonn Ua Ciórrthais 200
      Eóin Ua Miodhchán agus an Sionnach 215
      Scéal Ghiolla na gCochall Craicionn 215
      Leadairt na bhfear mór 237
      Na trí daill ⁊ an Chevalier i mBaile-átha-clíath 241
Notes on the Texts 247








ADDENDUM.

p. 55 l. 16 for ‘begins’ read ‘ends in’.

Notes (author)
Notes (Wikisource)

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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