A Dialect of Donegal

by E. 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. o̤ §§ 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. uə § 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. iə §§ 163–166	62
14. iu § 167	63
15. yə § 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. Lʹ §§ 221–227	82
4. lʹ §§ 228–233	84
5. N §§ 234–242	85
6. n §§ 243–248	88
7. Nʹ §§ 249–259	89
8. nʹ §§ 260–264	93
Note on the r sounds § 265	94
9. R §§ 266–268	94
10. r §§ 269–281	95
11. rʹ §§ 282–288	99
12. m §§ 289–295	102
13. mʹ §§ 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. fʹ §§ 317–322	111
3. v §§ 323–327	112
4. χ §§ 328-335	114
5. ꬶ §§ 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. pʹ §§ 364–367	124
3. b §§ 368–372	125
4. bʹ §§ 373–377	126
5. t §§ 378–386	127
6. tʹ §§ 387–393	129
7. d §§ 394–399	131
8. dʹ §§ 400–408	133
9. k §§ 409–416	134
10. kʹ §§ 417–423	136
11. g §§ 424–429	137
12. gʹ §§ 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)