Irish Language and Literature

The Evolution of Gaelic Language and Literature by Brendan Shea Composition IV Mrs. Bissel 31 November 1997

Thesis: A historical survey of the Gaelic language: its evolution, the linguistics and phonetics of the Irish dialect, and the language's literary significance over the last 1500 years.

History of the Gaelic Language

Prehistoric Ireland

Celts arrive
Ogham as first written language

Christianity

Monasteries bring Latin\Bible
Old Irish

Norse Invasion

Middle Irish, oral and written traditions do not agree

English Invasion

Arrival of English\French
Penal Laws begin destruction of Gaelic
Splintering of Dialects
Potato Famine cause Gaelic population to leave

Gaelic League

Renews Nationalism, helps create Free State
Caigdea/n Oifigiu/n created as standard
Modern State of Gaelic

Phonetics

Vowels

Stress always on first syllable
Long, with accents, are similar to Spanish
Short are similar to English

Consonants

13 consonants
Broad consonants: 'y' off-glide
Slender consonants: 'w' off-glide

Structure

Word order: verb-subject-predicate
Cases: Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, and Dative

Verbs

Present, past, imperfect, future, and conditional

Irish Literature

Early Period

Christian monastic writing: saints, biblical interpretations

Middle Period

Norse invasion hurts literary productivity

Early Modern Period

English invasion brings English and French ideas
Fionn Mac Cumhall - adventure stories
Amour courtois - brought from France

Post Classical Period

Irish Histories

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Non-Professional writers
"The Midnight Court"

Irish Revival

Short stories introduced
Poetry still common

The Evolution of Gaelic Language and Literature

The Gaelic language has one of the oldest extensive collections of literature in Western Europe, and has been one of the focal points for the national resurgence of Ireland and Scotland. Yet outside of Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Scotland, the language is rarely studied abroad, and even in the homelands it is being replaced by English, the Germanic vernacular of a country that has dominated the regions since the Norman invasion of 1066. The Gaelic language originated in Ireland, and is still spoken most widely there. While Manx and Scottish are technically independent languages, they would be better classified as dialects, with Scottish being classified mainly to assist in the nationalist movement. The Irish dialect of Gaelic is the most widely spoken, and nearly all modern Gaelic literature is written in this standard, with some Scottish and Manx authors adhering to this norm. Below is presented a historical survey of the Gaelic language - concentrating on its evolution as a language, the linguistics and phonetics of the Irish dialect, and the language's literary significance over the past 1500 years (Payne, Ceistanna, Moody).

According to F.J. Bryne, Ph.D.,Irish is an Indo European language and a member of the Celtic family of languages. Irish, Scottish, and Manx belong to the Q-Celtic, or Gaelic, branch of Celtic, while Breton and Welsh belong to the Brittanic, or P-Celtic branch (Moody 43-61, Ceistanna, Land).

Dr. G.F. Mitchell of Trinity University writes in essay "Prehistoric Ireland" that the first colonists arrived in Ireland around 6000 B.C., from Scandinavia via England. England and Ireland were connected to both each other and the continent at this time, and shortly after would break apart, beginning the separate evolution of their languages. Around 3000 BC the neolithic colonists arrived and began tilling the land. The Celtic people rose in Europe around 600 BC and reached Ireland around 150 B.C., bringing with them their language and knowledge of iron-working. The Celts intermarried with the indigenous peoples and their language was spread throughout the island. The first writing samples to be found in Ireland are the Ogham stones, which are grave markers inscribed with the names of the dead and their relatives. Ogham was written with the Roman Alphabet, and was not an accurate portrayal of the Gaelic that was spoken at that time (Moody 30-43, Language-Varieties, Stevenson).

A recent Archbishop of Armagh, Toma/s Cardinal O/ Fiach, sets the beginning of Irish Christianity at c.450 A.D., when both monasticism and literacy came to Ireland by route of a missionary from Roman Britain, St. Patrick. Hundreds of monasteries were founded in Ireland, teaching the Scriptures and the Latin language (Moody 61-76). These monasteries, in conjunction with the traditional Irish bards (filidh) developed the first Irish written language. This was the classical 'Old Irish', based on the Roman Alphabet. This literary standard helped make Ireland a seat of learning and literary productivity while the rest of Europe went through the dark ages. Liam De Paor, Ph.D., writes of the end of Ireland's Golden Age in his essay "The Age of the Viking Wars." The Norse invasion of 800 A.D. and subsequent assimilation of the Norse people introduced many new words into the Gaelic language. The word 'Ireland' is itself a Norse, word as are many of the major cities of Ireland: Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick being the three biggest (Moody 91-107). The Gaelic language also suffered during these time. Middle Irish developed during the centuries after the Norse invasion, and was never able to replace Old Irish effectively. Nancy Stevenson states that the oral and written traditions of Middle Irish did not agree, with many of the writers clinging to Old Irish, while the oral vernacular had evolved in the last several hundred years. Eventually, however, the Norse invaders were assimilated into the Gaelic culture, language, and religion. After 1014 A.D. and the battle of Clontarf, Ireland once again was under the control of an Irish high king, and stability returned to the country. During the succeeding years, the monasteries once again flourished, and a complete grammar was laid out for the Gaelic language (Moody 91-107).

In 1169 A.D., Irish culture was once again drastically changed, this time by a Norman invasion from England. The Normans brought with them the French and English languages and customs, but also encouraged Gaelic literature and poets. The result was a new literary standard, Early Modern Irish, which was used in all major works of the period, and was uniform throughout Ireland and Scotland. Dr. F.X. Martin, an expert on the time period, writes that Gaelic Ireland fell to the invaders at first, but slowly regained portions of the land over generations by converting the Norman lords to the Gaelic language and customs (Moody 123-144, Stevenson). In 1600's, Protestant England began the reconquering of Ireland, due to both the Reformation and the Irish support of the Yorkist cause in the War of the Roses (Moody 174-189). The late Maureen Wall of University College Dublin states that during this period the English monarchy and Parliament began the systematic destruction of the Irish language through enaction of various ordinances restricting the rights of non-Gaelic speakers (the Penal Laws) and the encouragement of English and Scottish settler (Moody 217-232; Land). During this period the split between Irish, Manx, and Scottish began in earnest, due to the isolation of speakers and lack of literary productivity, however, the written language was to remain almost solely Irish until the mid twentieth century.(Stevenson) In the next century the Penal Laws were gradually relaxed, but the Irish Catholic middle class was required to learn English in order to make a living. Soon Gaelic was common only in the poorer rural regions of the country. The rural population grew rapidly after the introduction of the potato as the staple food crop in Ireland. Because of this, the number of Gaelic speakers in the country actually increased, despite the number of converts to English in the larger cities. When the potato famine struck in 1848, a million Irish died, and another million emigrated. Nearly all of these were Gaelic speaking farmers. The population was cut by half in 4 years, and over the remainder of the century, it fell even more. By the turn of the century, only the poor western seaboard was Gaelic (Land).

The Gaelic League was founded near the beginning of the twentieth century, as a means to reestablish Irish nationalism in a population that was becoming rapidly Anglicized. This group got Gaelic put in the schools, encouraged its use as the vernacular, and encouraged traditional Irish customs and games. This organization succeeded in its goal of nationalizing Ireland. It contributed heavily to the atmosphere that created the Easter Rising in 1916 and the Anglo-Irish War in the succeeding years. In the Constitution of the Irish Free State, founded in 1922, Gaelic was declared the first official language, in a country that 20 years previously had been a mirror of England (Moody 294-324). A new 'standard' Irish, Caigdea/n Oifigiu/n was created in the 1950s, which simplified teaching, and eliminated dialectal differences. Unfortunately, this also created a language which was not the same as that spoken by native speakers -- those living in the Gaeltacht, along the western seaboard. Raghnal Payne compares the treatment of these native speakers, to the United States treatment of Native Americans: they claim to be protecting the culture, but they instead are isolating it. Gaelic is natively spoken by some 60,000 along the west coast, and is spoken to varying degrees by another million, most of these being residents of the larger cities of Ireland: Belfast, Cork, and Dublin. The language of government and business is English, although secondary school students are required to learn Gaelic (Payne).

The structure and spelling of the Gaelic language differ considerably from Germanic and Romantic languages. There are 5 vowels - 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', and 'u', each of which can be made long by adding an accent over it. The accent does not place stress on the vowel, it simply changes the vowel from long to short. The stress is always on the first syllable of Gaelic words, with few exceptions. The sound of the short vowels at the beginning of the word is similar to the vowels in English, while the sound of short vowels in the middle of words becomes a dull "uh". The long vowels are voiced similarly to Spanish vowels, with the exception of 'a/' which is voiced "a(w)". The vowels are also classified as broad or slender, with 'a', 'o', and 'u' being broad, and 'i' and 'e' being slender. These classifications do nothing to the sound of the vowels themselves, but rather modify the sounds of the consonants around them.

There are 13 consonants in Irish: 'b', 'p', 'f', 'm', 'c', 'g', 'l', 'n', 'r', 't', 'd', 's', and 'h'. The consonants can be voiced in many different ways, depending on the vowels adjacent to them, whether or not they are lenited, and their place in the word. Consonants which fall next to the vowels 'a', 'o', or 'u' are broad and are generally pronounced with a 'y' off-glide, whereas the broad consonants are pronounced with a slight 'w' off-glide. An example is the difference between the words 'beo' and 'bo/'. 'Beo' is pronounced 'byoh', and 'bo/' is pronounced 'boh'. Consonants are lenited by appending an 'h' to them (Pronunciation). This transforms the letter into a completely different sound (a list is included in appendix B). A consonant can also be mutated if it is located at the beginning of a word. This is done by adding another consonant to the front and pronouncing only the first. (These are also listed in the appendix).

Word order and noun case serve as the backbone for the structure of Gaelic sentences. The word order in Gaelic sentences is verb-subject-predicate, as opposed to the English standard of subject-verb-predicate. For example, the English "I am drinking tea" becomes "Am I at drinking of tea" (Payne). Gaelic meaning is not based on word order, but rather on the case of the noun. Nominative case is the subject, and is spelled the same as Accusative case, which relates to the direct object. Genitive case denotes possession and Dative case deals with the object of a preposition. For direct address Vocative case is used. Nouns are also classified by gender, although this has nothing to do with the sex of the object being defined.

There are 5 verb tenses in Gaelic: present, past, imperfect, future, and conditional. The gerund or verbal noun can be formed by adding a '-adh' or 'u/' to the end of a word. There are also two forms of the verb to be. 'Ta/' and 'bi' indicate temporary condition or location, and are similar in function to the Spanish verb 'estar, while 'is' denotes a permanent condition, similar to the Spanish 'ser' (All Grammar taken from: Payne, Pronunciation, Reid).

Gaelic literature has evolved as a series of reactions to the changes in the culture that created it. The early period of Irish literature coincides with the height of the Christian monasteries in Ireland (500-800). Gaelic, in the form of Old Irish had the largest and furthest developed literature collection of the Northern European languages. Much of the writing of this period consisted of poetry, epic sagas, and legal\ecclesiastical texts. The Christians borrowed from Pagan Ireland's myths and writing skills, but nearly all of the writing of the period was done in Christian monasteries. The voyage of Brendan, my namesake, was recorded in this period as a tale of wondrous journeys. Irish literature of this period developed the theme of ill-fated love, which was to a popular subject in succeeding European literature (Early Period).

The Norse invasion in 800 A.D. created a climate less conductive to the creation of literature. There was a good deal of literature written in this period, but much of it lack the innovativeness common in works of the previous centuries. Christian and biblical themes were still popular, as were Latin-Gaelic translations (Virgil's Aeneid). The legends of Flann Mainistretch were originally recorded during this period (Middle).

The first English invasion in 1169 sparked off a new wave of literary creativity. Both English and Gaelic noblemen were willing to sponsor Irish bards (filidh). These bards were trained in special colleges and were often composed poetry for their noble employers. The profession was often hereditary. This period also marked the beginning of Fenian literature, or literature centered around the hero of Irish legend - Fionn Mac Cumhall. He had appeared briefly in literature of the ninth century, but the first book based solely on him was Agallamh na Sean rach, written in the twelfth century. The book was based on the journeys of Fionn and his warrior band all across Ireland in the service of St. Patrick. The Norman nobles also contributed to the growth of Gaelic literature in this period. They translated many volumes from English and French, and several nobles composes love poetry based on the French "amour courtois". One of the better-known of these noble poets is the earl of Desmond-Gear id Mac Gearailt (1398) (Early Modern).

The second English invasion in the 1600s marked the end of the traditional Irish poet. Several histories of Ireland were composed, the most famous being Foras Feasa ar Eirinn by Seathrun. There is still a formidable collection of poetry dating from this period, but it is not as extensive as the previous period, when Gaelic and English Catholic lords still ruled Ireland (Post Classical).

The literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was composed almost solely by non-professional writers - farmers, teachers. Some stuck to the traditional forms of writing that had been in use since the early modern period. Another group experimented with and changed Gaelic literature. The most popular author of this type was Brain Merriman, composer of the most translated work in Gaelic literature -- the poem Cuirt an Mhean Oiche, or "The Midnight Court". Several authors emigrated to the U.S., and continued their writing in Gaelic. Much of the writing of this period was done in rural Ireland, which was still predominantly Gaelic (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries).

The Gaelic movement in the early 20^th century created a new generation of authors and readers for the Gaelic language. The short story was introduced and became a popular genre, even up to the present. Several authors are: Liam O Flaherty (1897-1984), Seosamh mac Grianna(1901-90), and Sean Mac Mathuna(b.1936). The novel has not been a popular form in the 20^th century, however, there have been several notable books: Niamh by Peadar Laoghaire and Cre na Cille by Mairtin Cadhain. Much of the Irish oral tradition has been recorded in the last century as well. Several of these written translations have become internationally renowned -- tOileanach "The Islandman" by Tomas Criomhthain. Poetry still flourishes in Ireland despite the fact that over half of the population cannot speak or write Gaelic. This genre is the most frequently translated into English, but it often loses most in the translation. (Irish Revival)

The Irish language may appear to have lost all the significance it once held. After all, the language is spoken as a first language by a mere 60,000 in Ireland, compared to several million English speakers. However, Gaelic culture and literature has played an important role in 20^th century history that belies its small population. The Irish and Scottish nationalist movements have gathered momentum, showing that 800 years of English rule has not removed the deep seated cultural differences between the Gaelic and Anglo-Norman peoples. Northern Ireland has been a war zone since 1921, and much of the fighting has its roots in cultural and religious differences.

While this paper showed the development of Gaelic language and literature as being reactionary to the events of Irish history, the language also was a pro-active force in Irish history. The literature and language of a people can define their cultural identity. In 1900, Gaelic was a dead language, and the Gaelic land were firmly under English control. Nearly a hundred years later, Ireland is independent, and Scotland show signs of the same nationalism, with increasing autonomy within Great Britain. These changes were helped tremendously by the revival of Gaelic literature and culture. Ireland did not create a nation before a culture, the nation sprang from the revival of its native language and culture. Such is the power of language and literature to effect history (Payne, Moody 313 - 383).

Appendix A

Source: "Focal an Lae: Language Timeline"

Appendix B: Lenitions and Mutations

Lenitions	Sound
bh(broad)	w
bh(slender)	v
ch(broad)	ch in "Bach"
ch(slender)	ch in "ich"
dh(broad)	g in "abogado"
dh(slender)	y
fh(broad)	silent
fh(slender)	silent
gh(broad)	broad dh
gh(slender)	y
mh(broad)	w
mh(slender)	v
ph(broad)	fy
ph(slender)	fy
sh(broad)	h
sh(slender)	h
th(broad)	h
Mutations	Sound
mb	m
gc	c
nd	n
bhf	w
ng	ng as in "king"
bp	b
dt	d