Irish Translation Forum

January 12 2006, 13:04 PM

jamesnp wrote:
JSmith13 wrote:There really isn't a 'Leinster' dialect per se. Ulster, Munster, Connaught, and Standard, all of which you'll see used here. I try to stick as closely to standard as I can, but it's just a preference.

Not entirely right, there is, or at least was a Leinster dialect, though it died out in the mid 20th century.

When speaking you should use whatever dialect you want, though when writing it can only be considered correct to use the official standard.

Look at it this way, do you write formal English using local idioms or sayings or make your spelling reflect your accent? No. Same is the (or should be, though many seem to take umbrage) the case in Irish.

Usually though this only really affects grammar and the lexicon in Irish remains the same in all dialects, though preference is given to certain words over others.

-jp

Thanks. I've always wondered why there was no Leinster listed when talking about dialects. Why did it die out?

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January 12 2006, 13:13 PM

JSmith13 wrote:
Thanks. I've always wondered why there was no Leinster listed when talking about dialects. Why did it die out?

I've often wondered that - You'd have thought there would have been a small community somewhere.

January 12 2006, 13:15 PM

Asarlaí wrote:
JSmith13 wrote:
Thanks. I've always wondered why there was no Leinster listed when talking about dialects. Why did it die out?

I've often wondered that - You'd have thought there would have been a small community somewhere.

Aontaím leat faoi sin. I've always wondered why poor Leinster was left out.

January 12 2006, 14:16 PM

Well, there is still a Gaeltacht in Meath... though that is actually the remnants of a group of Conemara speakers who upped and left conemara in one go... so they speak Conemara Irish.

The last Leinster speaker died, and with him the dialect.

The Anglicisations of place names still reflect the Leinster dialect's pronunciation though. For example, where I live, Cill Iníon Léinín or Killiney must have been pronounced something like Cill'éinín with a soft N.

I'd love to do some research on it, maybe for my Phd.

-jp

January 12 2006, 14:20 PM

JSmith13 wrote:There really isn't a 'Leinster' dialect per se.

Leigh é seo. :lach:

January 12 2006, 14:24 PM

jamesnp wrote:Well, there is still a Gaeltacht in Meath... though that is actually the remnants of a group of Conemara speakers who upped and left conemara in one go... so they speak Conemara Irish.

The last Leinster speaker died, and with him the dialect.

The Anglicisations of place names still reflect the Leinster dialect's pronunciation though. For example, where I live, Cill Iníon Léinín or Killiney must have been pronounced something like Cill'éinín with a soft N.

I'd love to do some research on it, maybe for my Phd.

-jp

Which dialect was it closer to? I'd be interested to see how it's written and hear how it's spoken.

January 12 2006, 14:29 PM

I've no idea. Information about it isn't that easy to find. I hear there's a few recordings of it though, so I might look into that.

January 12 2006, 14:29 PM

I think the Leinster dialect died out because of the plantations.

Irish speakers in Leinster (and to a lesser extent, Ulster and Munster) were sent to Connaught, killed, or forced to speak English. If they were sent to Connaught, their dialect would have adjusted over the generations until it eventually died out there too.

January 12 2006, 14:32 PM

Richie wrote:or forced to speak English.

By their parents... had a fascinating lecture on how the Irish killed Irish, not the British, the other day.

-jp

January 12 2006, 14:32 PM

Richie wrote:I think the Leinster dialect died out because of the plantations.

Irish speakers in Leinster (and to a lesser extent, Ulster and Munster) were sent to Connaught, killed, or forced to speak English. If they were sent to Connaught, their dialect would have adjusted over the generations until it eventually died out there too.

That makes sense, a chara.

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