Although there were comments and discussion on an OP's email translation question recently that developed into a more general "friendly" discussion, it started me thinking. Without recourse to any books or notes and just from the gut, isn't the Caighdeán Oifigiúil less of a standard and more of an official version? I would welcome opinions on the matter if people are interested in discussing it. To be honest all I know of the Caighdeán is that I think it was invented in the 50's for official documents and such. It's interesting to note that there were no dialects of Gaelic in the modern sense many centuries ago. Perhaps, although it started as some sort of arbitration point between the dialects, if people are learning the Caighdeán as a spoken language then maybe it could become less of an official version in time to come and more of a fourth dialect. Any ideas?

the problem is that it is taught and most of what is published in Irish is in standard Irish, and not much support is given to the natural language, ie. Gaeltacht Irish.



what do you mean? Of course there were dialects...



It can't be like a fourth dialect because it's an artificial language... It can't be compared with the Gaeltacht dialects, which derive from Middle Irish and Old Irish etc.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Theres stuff in the Caighdeán Oifigiúil that isn't even used in any Gaeltacht.

(Bhí mé 'cuartughadh an chnaipe "Is maith liom é" )

That's right, the non-Gaeltacht things of standard Irish are either made-up things or real things that have disappeared.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

That's really interesting. I presumed that the standard was a combination of Gaeltacht Irish (from all over the shop!) and artificial bits. It never occurred to me that it would try to reintroduce things that have been lost from Gaeltacht Irish.

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One example among others, the -amar ending in the past tense 1pl: Munster people say -amair (with slender r), Connachta and Ulster people don't use it, they use muid/sinn after the lenited root of the verb, eg.

d'ól muid (C, U)
d'ólamair (M)
d'ólamar (standard)

-amar did exist but it looks like it has disappeared from the Gaeltacht dialects now.

The rules that definite the choices of standard forms are strange... they say they choose the simplest forms when possible, and things that are in use. Well, using the Connachta/Ulster conjugation would have been much simpler and much more common in the Gaeltacht...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

I think theres some Clare Irish(which is dead now) in the standard like conas tá tú, the amar endings etc.

In An Teanga Bheo, faghthar "-amair" agus conas ataoi/tánn tú/táir/taíonn tú ach ní "atá tú" (lch 82)...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Some interesting things there. Thanks guys.

Tá mé buartha a Bhen, scríobh tusa "Clare" agus thuig mise "Oileán Chléire"! nuair a bhí tú 'labhairt fá chondáidh 'n Chláir, áit difriúil ar fad. Gabh mo leithscéal, léigh mé go róghasta.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne