nobody uses it anyway, so we shouldn't bother about it...



that's right.



and we are very far from it. That's why I changed the standard spelling anytime it doesn't correspond to my dialect :-)



yes but it's not harder to learn that the verbal noun of "breathnaigh" is "breathnú", than to learn that the verbal noun of "breathnuigh is "breathnughadh". All these things are to be learnt anyway, and it's easy to learn that most verbs whose basic form ends by -aigh have a verbal noun in -ú...

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

Yes, it's easy enough to memorise that pattern, but it's not easier to comprehend what's going on with the verb; why the change from the 2nd. person Imp. to verbal noun happens in this way.
With the traditional orthography the process is regular and perfectly clear: the verb root takes the familiar suffix -adh, after the last letter is made broad (another regular, familiar change). Simplicity itself.

It would surely be in the interests of logic and regularity if the root (of any word - noun, verb, adjective) were to, as a rule, remain intact, undergoing only regular changes to it's basic form - initial and final* mutation (along with other common attendant changes like syncope, ch > gh, dh > th etc.).
The C.O. orthography disregards this entirely.


(*as Ó Siadhail calls it)

Irish is full of things you can't understand unless you know Old Irish (and even when you know Old Irish you can't understand all phenomena)... And other languages too :-) Knowing the origins of things is interesting but anyway you'll have to learn the rules...



but then the spelling doesn't correspond to pronunciation, so you get an advantage and you get a drawback And it's much longer to write...

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

It's beyond a matter of simply being interesting.
I believe it would make the task of learning these 2nd conj. verbs considerably easier for learners (this was certainly my own experience).
There are fewer rules, fewer "change patterns", to be learnt. These verbs behave like any other (apart from the future & conditional -ó-). The root takes the familiar set of suffixes and changes are regular.

Surely an orthography in which the basic form of the root (not just of words, but of affixes too, e.g. -mhar, -tha, ath-) is - as much as possible - preserved, undergoing a limited number of regular changes, can only be of huge benifit both to learners of the language and to native speakers' understanding of their own language.
Just one example: any student beyond the level of beginner could be expected to be able to infer the meaning of the word bláthmhar, even if he's never met with it before, as bláth and the function of the suffix -mhar are likely to be known to him.
Can the same be said for bláfar? Clearly not.


Well it doesn't conflict with the pronunciation either

Hasn't trying to concoct a spelling corrosponding to pronunciation been at the heart of the problem?
And they failed so thouroughly that eventually attempts were made to introduce an artificial pronunciation just to match their orthography! Ludicrous.
The dialects are Irish and the spelling should, as much as possible, allow all native speakers to see their pronunciation reflected in their language's orthography.

As for the length of ughadh, I did mention permitting the use of an apostrophe - the best of both worlds

Who attempted this, and when?

A committee, headed by Dónall P. Ó Baoill, which was set up by Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann at the behest of the Department of Education to devise a pronunciation system for "An Foclóir Póca" back in the 80's.

Thanks for that. A brave (given the amount of acrimony it would inevitably draw) if misguided endeavour.

Wasn't there a sasanach a while ago who went onto all the forums because he wanted singlehandedly to 'simplify' the spelling of Irish? Ructions followed, I seem to remember. If you're that way enclined, there's always Manx.

Manx spelling is anything but easy. Actually you can never know how to pronounce most words because the same letters or clusters aren't pronounced the same way according to the word (a bit like English, but maybe worse). But it's strange and nice to the eye (to mine anyway). But definitely, the Irish pronunciation is easier to guess from spelling once you've learnt the rules; in Manx, it looks like there's no rule...

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