In Vicipéid there are many single sentence articles and in a lot of them that sentence is: Y is ea é an X. (or Y is ea í an X" / "Y is ea iad na X-anna") which is meant to mean "X is a Y",
e.g. Ainmhí is ea é an scúnc, a skunk is an animal.
Even in a lot of long articles, obviously written by people with better language skills (than me) I found this construction, as well in elaborated articles about linguistics or about the Irish language.

But I would say that the correct form is either Is Y é (í, iad) X or Y is ea X but nothing in between.
Is ainmhí é an scúnc.
or
Ainmhí is ea an scúnc.

Does anyone really say "Ainmhí is ea é an scúnc"?

(I’ve changed already a lot of these articles ... so don’t say I’m wrong. )

I have never see the "is ea é" structure either. And, looking on GnaG, here's what it has to say about it:



So, basically, "ea" takes the place of the subpredicate, thus stopping the copula from directly interacting with the definite noun which removes the need for the subpredicate.

I googled around and found plenty of examples of this structure in reputable sources. Presumably this incorrect - or at least non-standard - use of the "sub-subject" is by analogy with Is ainmhi é/Is ainmhí é an scúnc. I wonder what An Cionnfhaolach, An Lon Dubh and Gumbi would say.




You mean the sub-subject (fo-ainmní), not the sub-predicate (fo-fhaisnéis).

Tá's agam mar is mé a scríobh GnaG.



Could you please cite an example?

I searched for "ea é an" in https://focloir.sketchengine.co.uk/auth ... rch?home=1
There aren't any examples with a sub-subject by native speakers.
One example has an antecedent "é" before a verbal noun phrase (... é an long a theacht ...)
"Tháinig uafás ar an slua go léir , mar míorúilt cheart ab ea é an long a theacht sa chuan agus gan á stiúradh agus á seoladh ach marbhán gan anam." (Seán Ó Cuirrín, Dracula)
Another example has an adverbial "an uair sin", so é is the only subject.
"Fear óg láidir crua fuinniúil ba ea é an uair sin." (an tA. Peadar Ua Laoghaire)
That's all.

There are even very few examples by non-native speakers.
e.g.
"Imeacht mór idirnáisiúnta is ea é an fhéile" (Lá) (I'd expect at least í an fhéile)
"Coincheap go hiomlán meánaicmeach ab ea é an t-oideachas tríú leibhéal." (Máire Ní Néill, Beatha Dhuine a thoil)
"Ábhar mór eile i mo shaol ab ea é an ceol." (idem)
There are some more examples with a following verbal noun phrase (such as above from Ó Cuirrín) but that's not what I searched for.

But there are 432 examples by native speakers (> 2000 native/non-native/unknown speakers) without a sub-subject but a following noun, preceded by the article an (... ea an ...)

My experience is that people say it when they then say more about the subject:

Lá brothallach ab' ea é an lá a bhíomair ann.

Other than that you can get like the following informal sentence:

baile mór 'sea é An Rinn

but this is like English, "It's a big city, New York".

However I don't think it's a normal way to construct an identification sentence.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal