West Irish folk-tales and romances/Appendix

by William Larminie

THE PHONETIC TEXT.

WHEN folk-lore is narrated by peasants in their own dialect, it seems desirable, for various reasons, that the tales should be recorded in that dialect, and not in some form of speech differing from it more or less widely. This being conceded, the question arises, when one takes to recording Irish folk-lore, how the object is to be attained. It needs but a very small acquaintance with the ordinary Irish orthography to perceive that, if it is adhered to, the object cannot be even aimed at. The greatest defect in the English language is admitted to be its extraordinary spelling. But in this respect it is completely outdone by Irish Gaelic, which is troubled in an aggravated form with every evil that afflicts English. Different sounds are written in the same way. Identical sounds are written in different ways. Silent letters attain to a tropical forestine luxuriance, through which the tongue of the learner despairs of hewing a way. There are, moreover, cases in which there is no indication in writing of single sounds, and even syllables, which are actually pronounced; and there is at least one case of a word being written as if it began with a vowel, while it really begins with a consonant.

One of the chief reasons for this state of affairs is the attempt which has been made to represent an exceedingly numerous and varied series of sounds with a meagre alphabet of eighteen letters. The system of orthography developed, though highly ingenious, has proved entirely inadequate to its purpose. But if this be true of the so-called classical speech of the few educated persons, whose original pronunciation has been to some slight extent modified by the influence of books, far more decidedly must it be affirmed of the actual peasant dialects which, for two hundred years at least, have taken each of them its own way, uncontrolled by any central influence. Of these the mere sounds cannot be given at all on the basis of the common spelling. Here are two of the simplest examples. The Donegal pronunciation of the word “tá” cannot be written by any device known to Irish orthography; neither can the Kerry pronunciation of “glean.” The strange spectacle is sometimes witnessed of an attempt to give the actual sound of Irish words by means of a spelling based on English values,—of Chaos applying for help to Confusion.

In addition to the reasons which might be urged generally in favour of recording folk-lore in the dialect of the narrators, is one which is largely peculiar to Irish tales. I will indicate it in the briefest manner. Words are of frequent occurrence which are not to be found in the dictionaries. If one of these words contains the sound of v or w, you cannot tell, if writing in the ordinary way, whether to use b or m aspirated. If by mistake you choose the wrong letter, you may afterwards throw yourself or others entirely on a wrong scent. But if the actual v or w is written, you will not be responsible for misleading any one. It is further to be observed that these stories constitute the only body of matter having an intrinsic interest, which can be used as a vehicle for placing some considerable specimens of the spoken language before Continental and other students, who have little opportunity of gaining acquaintance with it directly.

It is true that the difficulties in the way of accurately writing the dialects are formidable. Not only, as already remarked, are the sounds of Irish exceptionally numerous and subtle in any one dialect that may be chosen, but the dialects are well-nigh innumerable. While certain broad differences are characteristic of Kerry, Connaught, and Donegal respectively, there are minor varieties in every district, shading off in every possible combination into those of the surrounding districts. The native of Ballymore does not speak as the inhabitant of Ballybeg, only two miles away; and the native of Ballybeg probably has several pronunciations, of which he will give you the benefit impartially. This last statement must appear almost incredible, but its truth is unquestionable. I have taxed the peasants with these variations, and they have admitted them, only observing “that's how the word's said there,” i.e., in that context.

The alphabet which now follows is the work of Mr. James Lecky, whose untimely death was a severe blow to the study of modern Irish. In addition to the list here given, Mr. Lecky had noted some additional distinctions, the precise value of which I do not understand. I have therefore not employed them in my own stories, and though I have included one story written down by himself, I have been obliged to omit them.

THE ALPHABET.

	Phonetic Spelling.	Ordinary Spelling.	English.
a	maq	mac	son
aa	laa	lá	day
ai	maih	maith	good
aai	faainnje	fáinne	a ring
æ	bæn	bean	a woman
ææ	fæær	feárr	better
e	lesj	leis	with
ee	sjee	sé	he

	Phonetic Spelling.	Ordinary Spelling.	English.
eei	eeisjg	éisg	of a fish
i	min	min	meal
ï or ii	sjï	sí	she
o	qos	cos	foot
oo	boo	bó	cow
ou	qoul	ca bh-fhuil	where is?
oi	oiărq	adharc	a horn
u	muq	muc	a pig
uu	tuu	tú	thou

ă, ĕ, ǐ, ŏ, ŭ, are obscure sounds of the ordinary short vowels, ă occurs frequently, the others rarely. i final has the value of y in English “city.”

b	baan	bán	white
d	madu	madadh	a dog
dj	djæs	deas	pretty
dd	meeădd-sjin	meud-sin	all that[1]
f	fis	fios	knowledge
fj	fjuu	fiú	worth
g (slender g)	gæær	geárr	short
c (broad g)	cas	gas	stalk
ç (broad asp.)	mŏ çort	mŏ ghort	my field
h	huc	thug	took
hj	mŏ hjool	mŏ sheól	my sail
j	mŏ jæærher[2]	mo dhearbhráthair	my brother
k (slender c).	kool	ceól	music[3]
q (broad c).	qos	cos	foot
x (q asp.)	xirj	chuir	put[4]
l	lee	lé	with
lj	balje	baile	town
ll	llonc	long	ship
llj	lljæbwi	leaba	bed
m	maq	mac	son
n	noos	nós	custom
nj	njïr	nior	neither
nn	bonn	bonn	bottom

	Phonetic Spelling.	Ordinary Spelling.	English.
nnj	qrinnju	cruinniughadh	assembly
p	paaisjdje	páisde	child
r	rud	rud	thing
rj	erjĕ	aire	attention
rr	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$see remarks.
rrj
s	saal	sál	heel
sj	sjæn	sean	old
t	taa	tá	is
tj	tjïrj	tír	country
tt[5]	hitt-sjee	thuit-sjee	he fell
v	mŏ væn	mŏ bhean	my wife
w	waru	mharbh	killed

) = a glide, (iota subscript) is the sign of nasality, mrææ̨.

The most important features in the foregoing are,—(1) the use of j, which when initial has the German value, to mark slenderness, when attached to another consonant; (2) the use of c for broad g, dictated partly by the necessity of economising the resources of the Roman alphabet, and by the consideration that c, in most alphabets of uncertain value, and therefore sometimes entirely discarded by phoneticians, is thereby fixed and utilised; (3) the doubling of the vowels, a practice known in old Irish, to indicate length. The accents thus disappear, and, no dots to indicate aspiration being required, the diacritics, whose number is such a frequent source of error, are almost entirely got rid of, the only exception being ‿ the mark of obscurity, which may be usually omitted without harm, as it never appears except on an unstressed syllable. In the Connaught and Donegal dialects the stress is thrown forward. There are a few exceptions, which are the following: ănsjin, ănsjo, ănoxt, ămæsg, ălig (all), ămax, amwijh, estjæx, estih, ăraan, anisj. All these have the stress on the last syllable, and the final vowel is in every case not obscure. rr, written in a few cases, is doubtful. rrj corresponding to llj and nnj does not, I think, occur on the coast of Connaught, and but rarely in Donegal. The j is, however, really pronounced as a separate consonant along with the following vowel. Thus, “Tïcerr-je.”

The Connaught values of the letters, specially those of Renvyle, are the basis of the alphabet.

1. Sound hard, as English d.
2. Donegal pronunciation.
3. k asp. = hj.
4. q asp. often = h.
5. Sound hard.