Irish orthography

Irish orthography has evolved over many centuries, since Old Irish was first written down in the Latin alphabet in about the sixth century AD. Prior to that, Primitive Irish was written in Ogham. Irish spelling is mainly based on etymological considerations, very much like English orthography, although a spelling reform in the mid-20th century simplified the relationship between spelling and pronunciation somewhat.

There are three dialects of spoken Irish: Ulster (now predominantly in County Donegal), Connacht (Counties Mayo and Galway), and Munster (Counties Kerry, Cork, and Waterford). Some spelling conventions are common to all the dialects, while others vary from dialect to dialect. In addition, individual words may have in any given dialect a pronunciation that is not reflected by the spelling.

The alphabet

[
Gaelic script.] Prior to the middle of the 20th century Irish was usually written using the uncial Gaelic script. The uncial alphabet, together with letter name pronunciations and lenited letters is shown below.

Use of the uncial script is today almost entirely restricted to decorative and/or self-consciously traditional contexts. The dot above the lenited letter is usually substituted with a following "h" in the standard Roman alphabet. The only other use of "h" Irish is for vowel-initial words after certain proclitics (e.g. "go hÉirinn", "to Ireland") and for words of foreign derivation such as "hata" "hat".

The alphabet now used for writing the Irish language consists of the following letters, written in antiqua:

:a á b c d e é f g h i í l m n o ó p r s t u ú;

Modern loanwords also make use of j k q v w x y z. Of these, j and v are the most common. The letter v also occurs in a small number of words of native origin in the language such as "vácarnach", "vác" and "vrác", all of which are onomatopoeic. It also occurs in a number of alternative colloquial forms such as "víog" instead of "bíog" and "vís" instead of "bís" as cited in Niall Ó Dónaill's "Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla". The letters q, w, x, y and z are used primarily in scientific terminology, although the phoneme /z/ does exist naturally in at least one dialect, that of West Muskerry, Co. Cork. k is the only letter not to be listed by Ó Dónaill. h when not prefixed to an initial vowel as an aspirate in certain grammatical functions, occurs primarily in loanwords as an initial consonant. The letters' names are spelt out thus: :á bé cé dé é eif gé héis í eil eim ein ó pé ear eas té ú :along with jé cá cú vé wae eacs yé zae.

Tree names were once popularly used to name the letters. Tradition taught that they all derived from the names of the Ogham letters, though it is now known that only some of the earliest Ogham letters were named for trees.

:ailm (white fir), beith (birch), coll (hazel), dair (oak), edad/eabhadh (poplar), fern/fearn (alder), gath/gort (ivy), uath (hawthorn), idad/íodhadh (yew), luis (rowan), muin (vine), nin/nion (ash), onn (gorse), peith (dwarf alder), ruis (holander), sail (willow), tinne/teithne (holly), úr (heather)

Although the uncial script remained common until the mid-20th century, efforts to introduce antiqua began much earlier. Theobald Stapleton's 1639 catechism was printed in antiqua, and also introduced simplified spellings such as "suí" for "suidhe" and "uafás" for "uathbhás", though these did not become standard for another 300 years.

Consonants

The consonant letters generally correspond to the consonant phonemes as shown in this table. See Irish phonology for an explanation of the symbols used and Irish initial mutations for an explanation of eclipsis. In most cases, consonants are "broad" (velarized) when the nearest vowel letter is one of a, o, u and "slender" (palatalized) when the nearest vowel letter is one of e, i.

Vowels

The following chart indicates how written vowels are "generally" pronounced. Each dialect has certain divergences from this general scheme.

;Observations
*When e, é, i, or í come after or before a consonant, they make the consonant slender.
*Between a consonant and a vowel, or vice-versa, e and i are usually silent, and just indicate that the adjacent consonants are slender. However, they may be pronounced in the digraphs ei, ia, io, oi, ui.
*The accented letters é and í are always pronounced.
*In digraphs and trigraphs containing a vowel with an acute accent (known in Irish as a "fada" or "síneadh fada"), only the accented vowel is normally pronounced.

The epenthetic vowel

In a sequence of short vowel + IPA|/l, r, n/ + labial or velar consonant an unwritten IPA|/ə/ gets pronounced between the IPA|/l, r, n/ and the following consonant:

* _ga. gorm IPA|/ˈgɔɾˠəmˠ/ "blue"
* _ga. dearg IPA|/ˈdʲaɾˠəg/ "red"
* _ga. dorcha IPA|/ˈd̪ˠɔɾˠəxə/ "dark"
* _ga. ainm IPA|/ˈanʲəmʲ/ "name"
* _ga. seanchaí IPA|/ˈʃan̪ˠəxiː/ "storyteller"
* _ga. leanbh IPA|/ˈlʲan̪ˠəw/ "child"
* _ga. colm IPA|/ˈkɔɫ̪əm/ "dove"

There is no epenthesis before voiceless stops or after long vowels and diphthongs:
* _ga. corp IPA|/kɔɾˠpˠ/ "body"
* _ga. olc IPA|/ɔɫ̪k/ "bad"
* _ga. téarma IPA|/tʲeːɾˠmˠə/ "term"
* _ga. dualgas IPA|/ˈd̪ˠuəɫ̪gəsˠ/ "duty"

Special pronunciations in verb forms

In verb forms some letters and letter combinations are pronounced differently from elsewhere.

In the imperfect, conditional, and imperative, "-dh" is pronounced IPA|/tʲ/ before a pronoun beginning with "s-":
* _ga. mholadh sé IPA|/ˈwɔɫ̪ətʲ ʃeː/ "he used to praise"
* _ga. bheannódh sibh IPA|/ˈvʲan̪ˠoːtʲ ʃɪvʲ/ "you (pl.) would bless"
* _ga. osclaíodh sí IPA|/ˈɔsˠkɫ̪iːtʲ ʃiː/ "let her open"

Otherwise it is pronounced IPA|/x/:
* _ga. mholadh an buachaill IPA|/ˈwɔɫ̪əx ə ˈbˠuəxəlʲ/ "the boy used to praise"
* _ga. bheannódh na cailíní IPA|/ˈvʲanoːx n̪ˠə ˈkalʲiːnʲiː/ "the girls would bless"
* _ga. osclaíodh Siobhán IPA|/ˈɔsˠkɫ̪iːx ˈʃʊwaːn̪ˠ/ "let Siobhán open"

In the preterite impersonal, "-dh" is pronounced IPA|/w/:
* _ga. moladh é IPA|/ˈmˠɔɫ̪əw eː/ "he was praised"
* _ga. beannaíodh na cailíní IPA|/ˈbʲan̪iːw nə ˈkalʲiːnʲiː/ "the girls were blessed"

"-(a)idh" and "-(a)igh" are pronounced IPA|/ə/ before a pronoun, otherwise IPA|/iː/:
* _ga. molfaidh mé IPA|/ˈmˠɔɫ̪hə mʲeː/ "I will praise"
* _ga. molfaidh Seán IPA|/ˈmˠɔɫ̪hiː ʃaːn/ "Seán will praise"
* _ga. bheannaigh mé IPA|/ˈvʲan̪ˠə mʲeː/ "I blessed"
* _ga. bheannaigh Seán IPA|/ˈvʲan̪ˠiː ʃaːn/ "Seán blessed"

In the future and conditional, "f" (broad or slender) has the following effects:
#After vowels and sonorants (IPA|/ɫ̪ lʲ mˠ mʲ n̪ˠ nʲ ɾˠ ɾʲ/) it is pronounced IPA|/h/:
#* _ga. molfaidh IPA|/ˈmˠɔɫ̪hiː/ "will praise"
#* _ga. dhófadh IPA|/ˈɣoːhəx/ "would burn"
#* _ga. déarfaidh IPA|/ˈdʲeːɾˠhiː/ "will say"
#It makes a voiced obstruent (IPA|/bˠ bʲ vʲ d̪ˠ g/) or IPA|/w/ voiceless:
#* _ga. scuabfadh IPA|/ˈsˠkuəpəx/ "would sweep"
#* _ga. goidfidh IPA|/ˈgɛtʲiː/ "will steal"
#* _ga. leagfadh IPA|/ˈlʲakəx/ "would lay"
#* _ga. scríobhfaidh IPA|/ˈʃcɾʲiːfˠiː/ "will write"
#* _ga. shnámhfadh IPA|/ˈhn̪ˠaːfˠəx/ "would swim"
#It is silent after a voicless obstruent (IPA|/k c x ç pˠ pʲ sˠ ʃ t̪ˠ tʲ/)
#* _ga. brisfidh IPA|/ˈbʲɾʲɪʃiː/ "will break"
#* _ga. ghlacfadh IPA|/ˈɣɫ̪akəx/ "would accept"
#But in the future and conditional impersonal "f" is often IPA|/fˠ, fʲ/
#* _ga. molfar IPA|/ˈmˠɔɫ̪fˠəɾˠ/ "one will praise"
#* _ga. dhófaí IPA|/ˈɣoːfˠiː/ "one would burn"
#* _ga. scuabfar IPA|/ˈsˠkuəbˠfˠəɾˠ/ "one will sweep"
#* _ga. brisfear IPA|/ˈbʲɾʲɪʃfʲəɾˠ/ "one will break"
#In the past participle "th" (also "t" after "d") is silent but makes a voiced obstruent voiceless:
#* _ga. scuabtha IPA|/ˈsˠkuəpˠə/ "swept"
#* _ga. troidte IPA|/ˈt̪ˠɾˠɛtʲə/ "fought"
#* _ga. ruaigthe IPA|/ˈɾˠuəcə/ "chased"

Diacritics

Irish spelling makes use today of only one diacritic, and formerly used a second. The acute accent ( _ga. síneadh fada "long sign") is used to indicate a long vowel, as in _ga. "bád" IPA|/bˠaːd̪ˠ/ "boat". However, there are some circumstances under which a long vowel is not indicated by an acute accent, namely:
*before "rd", "rl", "rn", "rr", for example _ga. "ard" IPA|/aːɾˠd̪ˠ/ "high", _ga. "eirleach" IPA|/ˈeːɾˠlʲəx/ "destruction", _ga. "dorn" IPA|/d̪ˠoːɾˠn̪ˠ/ "fist"
*in the groups "ae", "ao", "eo", for example _ga. "aerach" IPA|/ˈeːɾˠəx/ "gay", _ga. "maol" IPA|/mˠiːɫ̪/ "bare", _ga. "ceol" IPA|/coːɫ̪/ "music"
*in the groups "omh(a)" and "umh(a)", for example _ga. "comharsa" IPA|/ˈkoːɾˠsˠə/, _ga. "Mumhain" IPA|/mˠuːnʲ/ "Munster"
*long IPA|/iː/ and IPA|/uː/ before IPA|/aː/ or IPA|/oː/, e.g. _ga. "fiáin" IPA|/ˈfʲiːaːnʲ/ "wild", _ga. "ruóg" IPA|/ˈɾˠuːoːɡ/ "twine"

The overdot ( _ga. ponc séimhithe "dot of lenition", _ga. "buailte" "struck", or simply _ga. "séimhiú", "lenition") was formerly used, especially in Gaelic script, to indicate the lenited version of a consonant; currently a following letter "h" is used for this purpose. Thus the letters "Unicode|ḃ ċ ḋ ḟ ġ ṁ ṗ ṡ ṫ" are equivalent to "bh ch dh fh gh mh ph st th". In Old Irish orthography, the dot was used only for "Unicode|ḟ ṡ", while the following "h" was used for "ch ph th"; lenition of other letters was not indicated. Later the two systems spread to the entire set of lenitable consonants and competed with each other. Eventually the standard practice was to use the dot when writing in Gaelic script and the following "h" when writing in Roman letters.

As with most European languages such as French [It is a common misconception that French rules are to remove diacritics from capital letters. In fact, Académie Française prescription requires letters to maintain their diacritics regardless of case. However, due to difficulties in doing so with early typewriters and printers, a tradition of omission developed. This continues, but is also contributed to by the inability of standard French keyboards to input certain diacritics with capital letters. See .] , Spanish or German, Irish diacritics must be preserved in uppercase forms. If diacritics are unavailable (for example, on a computer using ASCII), there is no generally accepted standard for replacing it (unlike some languages like German, where the umlaut is replaced by a following "e" and ß is replaced by "ss"), and so it is generally just omitted entirely.

The tittle over the lower-case "i" is generally omitted in signage in Ireland, and in Gaelic script, lower-case "i" has no tittle. However, the tittle is generally included in printed material like books and newspapers and in electronic media like the Internet and CD-ROMs. Irish makes no graphemic distinction between dotted i and dotless ı (ie. they are not different letters), as languages like Turkish and Azeri do.

Punctuation

In general, punctuation marks are used in Irish much as they are in English. One punctuation mark worth noting is the Tironian "et" Unicode|⁊ which is generally used to abbreviate the word _ga. "agus" "and", much as the ampersand is generally used to abbreviate the word "and" in English.

The hyphen ( _ga. fleiscín) is used in Irish after the letters "t" and "n" when these are attached to a vowel-initial word through the rules of the initial mutations, as in _ga. "an t-arán" "the bread", _ga. "a n-iníon" "their daughter". However, the hyphen is not used when the vowel is capitalized, as in _ga. "an tAlbanach" "the Scotsman", _ga. "Ár nAthair" "Our Father". No hyphen is used with the "h" that is attached to a vowel-initial word: _ga. "a hiníon" "her daughter".

The hyphen is also used in compound words under certain circumstances:
*between two vowels, e.g. _ga. "mí-ádh" "misfortune"
*between two similar consonants, e.g. _ga. "droch-chaint" "bad language", _ga. "grod-díol" "prompt payment"
*in a three-part compound, e.g. _ga. "buan-chomhchoiste" "permanent joint committee"
*after the prefixes _ga. "do-", "fo-", "so-" before a word beginning with "bha, bhla, bhra, dha, gha, ghla, ghra, mha", e.g. _ga. "do-bhlasta" "bad tasting", _ga. "fo-ghlac" "subsume", _ga. "so-mharfacht" "mortality"
*in capitalized titles, e.g. _ga. "An Príomh-Bhreitheamh" "the Chief Justice"
*after "an-" "very" and "dea-" "good", e.g. _ga. "an-mhór" "very big", _ga. "dea-mhéin" "goodwill"

The apostrophe ( _ga. uaschama) is used to indicate an omitted vowel in the following cases:
*the prepositions _ga. "de" "from" and _ga. "do" "to" both become _ga. "d’" before a vowel (or "fh" + vowel, since "fh" is silent), as in _ga. "Thit sí d'each" "She fell from a horse" and _ga. "Tabhair d'fhear an tí é" "Give it to the landlord"
*the possessive pronouns _ga. "mo" "my" and _ga. "do" "your (singular)" become _ga. "m’" and _ga. "d’" before a vowel or "fh" + vowel, as in _ga. "m'óige" "my youth", _ga. "d'fhiacail" "your tooth"
*the preverbal particle _ga. "do" becomes _ga. "d’" before a vowel or "fh" + vowel, as in _ga. "d'ardaigh mé" "I raised", _ga. "d'fhanfadh sé" "he would wait"
*the copular particle _ga. "ba" becomes _ga. "b’" before a vowel or "fh" + vowel, as in _ga. "B'ait liom é sin" "I would like that" and _ga. "b'fhéidir" "maybe". However, _ga. "ba" retains its vowel before the pronouns _ga. "é", "í", "iad", as in _ga. "Ba iad na ginearáil a choinnigh an chumhacht" "It was the generals who kept the power"

Capitalisation

Capitalisation rules are similar to English. However, a prefix letter remains in lowercase when the base initial is capitalised ("an tSín" "China"). For text written in all caps, the prefix letter is often kept in lowercase, or small caps ("STAIR NA HÉIREANN" "THE HISTORY OF IRELAND"). [] An initial capital is used for: [Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí, §3.1]
*The first word of a sentence
*Personal names and placenames, though not the words "an", "na", "de" [Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí, §§ 3.1, 7.6, 10.2-10.3] ("Micheál Ó Murchú" "Michael Murphy"; "Máire Mhac an tSaoi" "Mary McEntee" "de Búrca" "Burke"; "Sliabh na mBan" "Slievenamon")
*Adjectives from personal names and placenames; though not for adjectives uses in extended senses ("bia Iodálach" "Italian food", but "cló iodálach" "italic type")
*Names of months, feast-days, and languages ("Meán Fómhair" "September"; "Oíche Nollag" "Christmas Eve"; "Fraincis" "French")
*Names of days of the week ("an Luan" "Monday"), as well as "Dé" ("Dé Luain" "on Monday")
*Definite titles [Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí, §§ 3.1, 3.4]
*Names of God; though not pronouns referring to God [Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí, §3.5]

Abbreviations

Irish has a number of abbreviations, most of which, like "lch." for _ga. "leathanach" ("p."/"page") and "m.sh." for _ga. "mar shampla" ("e.g."/"for example") are straightforward. Two that may require explanation are ".i." (which begins and ends with a full stop) for _ga. "eadhon" ("i.e."/"that is") and Unicode|"⁊rl." or "srl." for _ga. "agus araile" ("etc."/"and so forth").

ee also

* Scottish Gaelic alphabet

Notes

References

*cite book| title=Gramadach na Gaeilge agus Litriú na Gaeilge: An Caighdeán Oifigiúil| year=1994| location=Dublin| publisher=Oifig an tSoláthair
*cite book| last=Mac Eoin| first=Gearóid| chapter=Irish| pages=101–44| title=The Celtic Languages| editor=Martin J. Ball and James Fife (eds.)| location=London| publisher=Routledge| year=1993| id=ISBN 0-415-01035-7
*cite book| last=Ó Baoill| first=Dónall P.| title=Lárchanúint don Ghaeilge| year=1986| publisher=The Linguistics Institute of Ireland| location=Dublin| language=Irish| id=ISBN 0-946452-06-7
*cite book| last=Ó Siadhail| first=Mícheál| title=Learning Irish| edition=2nd edn.| year=1988| publisher=Yale University Press| location=New Haven| id=ISBN 0-300-04224-8