http://www.coisceim.ie/muintirsleibhe.html

The book's title is which follows the grammar of the noun, but i wonder how many people would be more comfortable with following the logical/referent number and saying a dteanga?

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Interesting. I don't know what the convention would be for Irish. In English, I'd use "their," therefore my instinct would be "a dteanga"...but that's English.

Redwolf

It could be in reference to "muintir" specifically, thus a teanga. A dteanga could work too I imagine, when in reference to the phrase "muintir na sléibhe".

An mhuintir a rabhamar ag caint orthu
(Foclóir Uí Dhónaill)

So, I'd prefer a dteanga

My instinct would absolutely have been 'a dteanga'. My instincts are not exactly fool proof..... In English, it is a very common mistake to confuse the singular and plural. The choir sang their songs instead of its songs etc. Interesting stuff with the 'a teanga'.

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The English varies by country too, which can make it even more confusing. For example, in the U.S., we would treat "choir" in that case as a collective singular: The choir sang its songs. But I believe the opposite is true in England (not sure about Irish usage).

Redwolf

We say, 'the choir sang its songs' and I think that's correct in England too, but it's certainly misused regularly.

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If native speakers use it, it's not misused. Really, it's just a big dialect thing. See [url="Collective Singular"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_singular[/url]

Er...we're talking about English here. Words and phrases certainly do get "misused."

Redwolf

Not by native speakers. That's a core assumption of linguistics. It might not be standard, but it's certainly correct for their dialect. Telling someone that either collective singular is wrong/right (it's a dialect thing), is akin to telling a Connacht Irish speaker that sa should never eclipse.