Learner's Guide to Irish

Wong Donna

Description

This Irish-language course is directed at learners whose first language is English and particularly those living abroad and others who have had no exposure to the Irish language in the Irish educational system. The explanations and teaching notes are all in English and the course is suitable for complete beginners right through to intermediate level. The references and examples cited guide learners through the various dictionaries, grammars, dialects and forms which they encounter in the course of their studies.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: Cois Life
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781908057402
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A Learner’s Guide to Irish*
*Donna Wong

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

Tá Cois Life buíoch de Bhord na Leabhar Gaeilge agus den Chomhairle Ealaíon as a gcúnamh le foilsiú leabhar Gaeilge.
Foilsitheoirí/Publishers: Cois Life 2004
© Donna Wong
ISBN 1 901176 48 7
Comhairleoir eagarthóireachta/Editorial consultant: Ciarán Mac Murchaidh
Clúdach agus dearadh/Cover and design: Eoin Stephens
Clódóirí/Printers: Criterion Press
www.coislife.ie
62 Páirc na Rós, Ascaill na Cille, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Bhaile Átha Cliath, Éire
Table of Contents
I NTRODUCTION
The Author
The Book
Acknowledgements
C ONVENTIONS
Caighdeán Spelling
Length-Marks
The Gaelic Typeface
Grammatical Terms, Irish-English
Symbols, Abbreviations, and Terms in this Book
T OOLS
The Ó Dónaill Dictionary
The Dinneen Dictionary
Foclóir Póca ‘Pocket Dictionary’
Additional
P REVERBAL P ARTICLES
V ERBS
Person, Number, Tense, Mood
Analytic Forms vs. Synthetic Forms
Conjugation
Regular vs. Irregular
R EGULAR V ERBS
Monosyllabics with Final Consonant, Present and Past
Monosyllabics with Final Consonant, Imperfect and Conditional
Monosyllabics with Final Consonant, Future
Monosyllabics with Final -igh , Present and Past
Monosyllabics with Final -igh , Imperfect and Conditional
Monosyllabics with Final -igh , Future
Polysyllabics with Final -igh , Present and Past
Polysyllabics with Final -igh , Imperfect and Conditional
Polysyllabics with Final -igh , Future
Polysyllabics with Final -il , -in , -is , -aim , and -aing , Present and Past
Polysyllabics with Final il , -in , -is , -aim , and -aing , Imperfect & Conditional
Polysyllabics with Final il , -in , -is , -aim , or -aing , Future
Syncopating Polysyllabics with Final -il, -in, -ir, or -is, Present and Past
Syncopating Polysyllabics with Final -il, -in, -ir, or -is, Imperfect & Conditional
Syncopating Polysyllabics with Final -il , -in , -ir , or -is , Future
I RREGULAR V ERBS
Abair and Tabhair
Faigh and Téigh
Bí
Beir and Tar
Déan and Feic
Clois and Ith
T HE S UBSTANTIVE VS. THE C OPULA
Part 2
T HE C OPULA
Forms
A Case Study
Combined Forms
What is it?
Which is it?
Idioms with le and do
Emphasis
T HE V ERBAL N OUN
Features
Functions
T HE D EFINITE A RTICLE
N OUNS
Types
Gender, Number, Case
Uses of the Genitive Case
Plurals
Declensions
First Declension
Second Declension
Third Declension
Fourth Declension
Fifth Declension
Irregular
Mutations
Part 3
A DJECTIVES
Predicative vs. Attributive
Degrees
Plurals
Declensions
First Declension
Second Declension
Third Declension
Mutations
P RONOUNS
P REPOSITIONS
Functions and Types
Simple Prepositions
Compound Prepositions
Prepositional Pronouns
I NDEPENDENT VS. D EPENDENT C LAUSES
Direct vs. Indirect Quotation
Direct Quotation
Indirect Quotation
Direct Relative Clauses
Indirect Relative Clauses
‘I F ’ AND ‘I F N OT ’
S YNTAX
N UMBERS
Types
Cardinal
Ordinal
Personal
I NTERROGATIVES
L OOKALIKES
F OOTNOTES
Introduction
The Author
The Author is the entity who composes, revises, and agonizes over the Book.
There are two aspects of the Author that it is useful to know:
1) experience of the subject of the Book;
2) motivation for devising the Book.
I. Experience of Modern Irish
First of all, the Author is not one of the elect who acquire a new language effortlessly and unerringly. The Author is a native speaker of American English who had had no formal instruction in grammar, linguistics, or a Celtic language when she was introduced to Modern Irish. She spent five semesters studying Modern Irish at the University of California, Berkeley and at Harvard University, and spent time in the Irish-speaking areas of Ballyferriter and Carraroe. Her most valuable experience by far was three weeks of intensive tutoring by Séamas ‘An Buach’ Ó Cualáin and Mícheál ‘An tIascaire’ Mac Con Iomaire, two superb Irish teachers who are also native speakers from Conamara (see also Acknowledgements ).
What the Author did not learn from instructors, she learned by attending reading groups, working through texts, conversing with more advanced speakers, and grappling with grammar until the fascination of what was difficult resolved into the elation of what made sense.
II. Motivation for Writing a Modern Irish Textbook
In 1999 the Author was asked to teach second-year Irish at Boston College and began searching for a suitable textbook. Her own instructors had assigned Irish for Everyone , Buntús Cainte 1 , Learning Irish , New Irish Grammar , and Progress in Irish , and she had later acquired Beart agus Briathar , Buntús Cainte 2-3 , and Cogar! But the books that teach through dialogue do not explain grammar, the books that explain grammar offer too few examples, and the books that abound in examples assume familiarity with the language, the grammar, and/or linguistics. As a result, the Author had to concoct dozens of grammar handouts and exercises to fill in the gaps for her students. By the end of the year she had written 65% of the textbook she wished were available and resolved to write the remaining 35%. As the Author revised and expanded her handouts, she tested many of them in her first- and second-year Irish classes at Boston College and the Harvard Extension and Summer Schools. She also appealed to other Irish teachers for feedback on specific sections. The result is the Book.


The Book
The Book is the version of the work that exists when the Author despairs of perfecting it.
There are four aspects of the Book that it is useful to know:
1) intended audience;
2) organization and conventions;
3) recommended use;
4) limitations of liability.
I. Intended Audience
The Author wrote the Book from the perspective of an English-speaking learner of Irish, as an aid to other English-speaking learners of Irish, regardless of age, occupation, nationality, and motive. Her students have been undergraduates, graduates, professionals, retirees, people who have studied many languages, and people who have studied none. They have been as young as ten and old enough to have adult grandchildren. All that is required is a steadfast desire to learn Modern Irish and a willingness to invest the necessary time and effort.
The Book assumes no prior knowledge of Modern Irish and minimal knowledge of English grammar, so it will serve beginners ranging from those who have no experience of the Irish language and/or English grammar, to those who have an elementary grounding in both areas. Intermediate learners and instructors may use it as a reference tool and as a collection of alternatives to traditional categories and exercises.
II. Organization and Conventions
The Book is divided into sections and subsections, depending on the complexity of each topic. For example, the section Lookalikes has no subsections because it is simply a field guide to common little words. In contrast, the section Adjectives has numerous subsections that discuss aspects such as Predicative vs. Attributive , Plurals , Mutations , and First Declension .
Where subsections exist, their order of presentation is from simplest to most complicated. That is, the material in the first subsection prepares you to understand the second, third, and ensuing subsections, and the more you know, the more subsections you can skip. It is recommended that you skim all of the subsections on your first reading to confirm that you are familiar with grammatical terms as they are used in the Book.
A reference to a section indicates that every one of its subsections is relevant , e.g. ‘ Tools ’ encompasses all subsections of the section Tools .
A reference to a specific subsection indicates that it alone is immediately relevant , e.g. ‘ Tools: The Ó Dónaill Dictionary ’ points to only one of the subsections of the section Tools .
References to more than one subsection under the same section heading are separated by a tilde, ‘~’ , e.g. ‘ Adjectives: Plurals ~ Mutations ’ recommends two of the subsections of the section Adjectives .
Finally, the Author has boldfaced key phrases and terms. She has also underlined corresponding phrases in Irish and in translation, letters of a noun that change from case to case, mutations, and other important features.
III. Recommended Use
The Book will be most useful when used in conjunction with a class or a textbook that omits grammatical explanations. Read through the entire Table of Contents to get an idea of what is available. Then, as you work through the course, read the sections and subsections that address your current questions.
That said, every beginner should read Tools , which explains how to use the three most useful Modern Irish dictionaries . Never assume that the layout, abbreviations, etc. of other language dictionaries are the same as those of English dictionaries. The English language is devoid of several features, foremost noun genders, that are vital in languages such as Irish.
IV. Limitations of Liability
While the Author has made every effort to explain idioms and grammar points, she has not found a clear reason for every rule. Although she did not learn everything she needs to know in life from Star Wars , she does occasionally echo the warning of Jedi Master Yoda: ‘There is only do or do not . There is no why .’


Acknowledgements
Both the Author and the Book have been shaped by the fellow-teachers and fellow-learners with whom she has pondered, conversed, and commiserated. All of you are somewhere in the Book, and many of the examples are tributes to particular individuals, most of whom will be allowed to confess or deny their share of