What do you call words like “sa” and “san” where the preposition and article are reduced to something else? Contractions? Abbreviations? Is there an actual term for them?

And when you use them, the grammatical rules applicable to preposition + article still apply, yes? “In the box” would still have bosca eclipsed (sa mbosca), correct?

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Táim ag foghlaim Gaelainn na Mumhan

Tá fáilte roim nach aon cheartú!
I am a learner. Any translations offered are practice and should not be used unless confirmed.

You'd think so, but no. According to FGB, "sa" lenites consonants b,c,g,m, and p, and prefixes t to the initial s of feminine nouns. "San" lenites f. Other than those letters, they cause no initial mutations.

Redwolf

In Donegal you would (probably) say - sa bhosca
but in Conamara we say - sa mbosca

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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'Contractions' (certainly not 'abbreviations'), I suppose, in everyday English. Our resident philologists, The Wizards of Oz and Brittany, may have a fancier term for it though.

'Bocsa/sa bhocsa' a deirtear i nDún na nGall

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Go raibh maith agaibh as an eolas. My bad, I should have clarified. Táim ag foghlaim Gaelainn na Mumhan. I'll add that to my signature.

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Táim ag foghlaim Gaelainn na Mumhan

Tá fáilte roim nach aon cheartú!
I am a learner. Any translations offered are practice and should not be used unless confirmed.

i mbosca/sa bhosca in Munster.

There's a good explanation of the prepositions at this site http://www.nualeargais.ie/gnag/praepos.htm

And we had a discussion about them on these forums not too long ago viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1419&hilit=prepositions

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

By the way, I think it's "Dhá cheist agam, le bhur dtoil".

There is no simple answer to this question as each dialect and even sub- dialect has its own rules and so does the caighdeán. But as you are studying Munster Irish then the simple answer is "yes" to a certain degree.



sa mbosca/ sa mbaile in Ring and Kerry. Sa bhosca in Cork and Kerry. Kerry uses both.

Munster Irish tends to just ignore the DNTLS rules:

ag an doras (standard)
ag an ndoras (Munster)

"t" séimhiús "s" in all genders when "sa" is used.

sa tseomra
sa tsiopa
sa tsao(i)l

Munster Irish does not séímhiú however, when other réamhfhocail are used with s:

ar an tsráid (standard)
ar an sráid (Munster)

There are some exceptions:

"ins an" and "go dtí" are not suppose to bring about the dative but the ainmneach. However, in Kerry, you'd often hear a fluent native Kerry speaker say: "go dtí an mbaile" instead of "go dtí an baile"

"Ins na" does bring about the dative however as does all the plural exceptions to the rule like "idir" etc..

Here's recent a discussion about the changes brought about by the réamhfhocail in Munster Irish:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1419

crossed with Mick

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice