The native speaker examined home : two stalking fallacies anatomized

John Miles O'Reilly

Description

GIFT OF o^ja-JSa^K\e.Arn The firststance, Sottnf. very thing he meets is all different from inthe Irish his manual ; the different from that and from the thenext, manual, third different from all the fourth worsethree, again, and so on from worse to still and worst ofagain worse, there is no such as orall, that, seemingly thing better, in the that the merits of all aboutmatter,worse, appear that about worth-is, meritless,equal, equally equally and no end of the andless, varieties, moreover; every themof all is the as it lives in thevariety language mouths of isthe He then to to reflectpeople. apt begin it lives inthat this as the mouths of thelanguage people is somewhat a thanorder the sane-larger practical, sound of it would have led him at first to looking expect, which will drive him to ask one :morequestionprobably whether there is such as a literature,any thing any- with in no matter how inferior itthing uniformity it, be to this sacred but thismay bewildering possession, Irish ? In hislegion-tongued mouths-of-the-people or or or German he had theLatin, Greek, seenFrench, same word and inflected in the sameinvariably spelled hadin he ever looked into. Inway, every grammar every he had found the same in In dictionary iformity. every of literature he had ever read he had foundpiece prose the same in word he met;uniformity living practice every was identical in with the in which he hadshapeshape it in other as well as with itsmet prose piece,every in the and the lexicon.

Sujets

• Irish language
• Verb
• HIStory
• Revival
• Usage

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

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GIFT OF
o^ja-JSa^K\<~o^/v^THE
NATIVE SPEAKER
EXAMINED HOME
Two FallaciesStalking
Anatomized
By
REV. M. C.C.J. O'REILLY,
DUBLIN
;
&SEALY, BRYERS, WALKER,
MIDDLE ABBEY STREET
1909.,'V
<9hWJUl.fMAl&f.MMM
PKEFACE.
this volume is told in theThe of littlepurpose
title. It is a for the admission of commonsimply cry
of the Irish Itinto the treatment language.sanity
is a humble contribution towards the of thesaving
from its natural the Nativegreat enemy,language
It is a therespectful againstSpeaker. protest
absurd uses made of the Native word andSpeaker,
man above all the mischievous delusion
; else, against
that the Native is a fit teacher ofSpeaker ipso facto
—the where he never butlanguage except teaches,
is ever on the hearthstone. It is ait,killing kindly
meant hint to such as it that themay concern, day
of for in Irish andimpunity ineptitudes grammar
Irish be farediting may already spent.
The Authoe.
239958CONTENTS.
Book I.
The First Great The NativeFallacy— Speaker
Himself.
Book II.
—The Second Great The NativeFallacy Speaker's
Verb.NATIVE SPEAKERTHE
CHAPTER I.
The Native Speaker and the Scholar in Commas.
inThe Beautiful I be said to beused, think, Unity
is better fittedthereNow,Variety. scarcely anything
to with this definition thanand illustratesquare
for as must and
; alwayslanguage language, spoken,
lend itself to endless shades of but,variety,everywhere
there is written to see after andthethen, speechalways
to the To tounity. seek, therefore, destroysafeguard
or to discredit in the written of auniformity language
is a so towards andnation, visibly monstrositypurpose
clean fails to under-thatchaos, average comprehension
or evenhow sane man couldstand it,professany
willit. Such men ofentertain and, course,may say,
do not enter-that it is not their thatpurpose, theysay
no use to us when we see but tootain it but this is of
;
or that whether itthat it and that do,theyplainly is,
or it is at rateor or whethernot, do, not, anyis, they
visible trend of their and method.the unmistakable plan
needor of action in itselfThe bent of an action, plan
to be real. Indeednot be at all everyconscious, nearly
aor schematist that ever nourished professedprojector
and ofandof reformation, manypurificationpurpose
amust have entertained such purpose,doubtless,them,
had such athat their workand believe tendencya 2 / Vh: SPEAKER.
That believed so to be so much tothey is, sure, their
itbut for all acredit, is, clean outside thethat, thing
which is not what believed about theirquestion, they
but the nature and trend of that work of itself.work,
This Ireland has ever been fromsingularly exempt
of native manufacture atheresies,religious rate,any
of heresies in the sensebut, ofradical, etymological
— —choices it must be allowed that we haveparties
seldom been afflicted with obstinate famine.any very
but inAnd it falls out wonted course that thereso,
should be a choice in or its intovogue, elbowing way
at There and one of ais,vogue, present. distinctly
unconventional socharacter, unconventional, indeed,
that it is the circumstances of the weakonly peculiar
whom it be to scandalize that couldsomewhat,might apt
seriousever entitle it to notice more thanany laughter.
are andBut the in thisweak, connection, very weak,
and the of a short and velvetnumerous;very prospect
ends is tooroad to their something altogether inviting,
Theto lure them from the wisenot to be apt highway.
road to Irish is held outof a short and velvet
prospects
this is the one andthe and onlyheresy,by present
it needful to call attention towhich could makereason
the little ones out of theto amuseits clearit, aptitude
to follow theroad ofwholesome mirage.high study,
is no Irishis this : ThereThe genuine exceptheresy
41 the mouths of theas it lives inthe people."language
butnot in thisis a itself,there truth, propositionNow,
becausesimulatedin fact it, and,it, by•suggested by
and thusconfused withto it,simulated it, apt getby
it. The truth simu-the fraud ofto sheltershield andto
the mouths ofas it lives inthethatlated is, language
it is stillin as far as living—thethepeople—