Just got back from a week in Corca Dhuibhne, where I learned a load of new words and phrases,
got to talk to a monoglot and went to several interesting talks!

I also got to meet Saoirse and inflict my terrible Irish on her and family!

However I learned a lot about the spoken dialect, since I got to speak to several very
patient native speakers. So I'll use this thread to discuss that, if nobody minds!

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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

Cool idea for a thread. It was great to meet you. No terrible Irish, no inflicting at all - possibly from my/our side, but certainly not from yours! Gorgeous part of the country. I await your observations with interest......

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Cheapas nach raibh aon aonteangaigh fágtha sna Gaeltachtaí?

I didn't think there were any monoglots left in the Gaeltachts?

Bhuel, I dtaobh an fhir seo, d'fhoghlaim sé salachar Béarla nuair a bhí sé tuairim ocht
mbliana déag d'aois, ach chaith sé uaidh a chuid Béarla cúpla bliain ina dhiaidh sin, mar is
fuath leis an Béarla.

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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

Alright, so this is based mainly on people aged 20-60. This group have basically the same type
of Irish, although there might be small differences. All sentences were gotten from native speakers
and checked with others. So as not to make these laborious to read, I'll have a simple short point in
each. First grammar, then words and phrases.

I'll start with the cases.

Genitive:
The genitive is basically only used when the noun that is supposed to be put in the genitive
has no adjective or relative clause after it.
Basic noun:
Hata an fhir The man's hat.
So, you have fear clearly in the genitive fir.
Noun with adjective:
Hata an fhear d(h)ubh The black haired man's hat.
Many native speakers only lenite the noun, even though traditionally both were lenited.
Noun with relative clause:
Hata an fhear a bhí sa tsiopa inné. The hat of the man who was in the shop yesterday.
Again we see fear is not in the genitive.


What about feminine words? An example with a relative clause:
Tigh an bhean atá sa tseomra san The house of the woman who is in that room.
So again we see that bean is not in the genitive (mná) and the genitive article na
is not used, also bean is lenited just as if it were in the nominative.


I asked a few speakers about variations of this sentence and essentially everybody gave the
same responses:
Tigh na mná The woman's house
Tigh an bhean san That woman's house
Tigh an bhean mhacánta The mild-mannered woman's house.
So you see here that unless the noun stands completely on its own, it's basically
in the nominative.

Could any of the Connamara or Dún na nGall speakers tell me if this is similar to what is said in
those two dialects?

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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

Ah, not at all! The conversation made me realise how many dialect specific words there are, even bees!
Beach is apparently said everywhere except Kerry! Also my quiet nature had you poor guys driving
all over the place!

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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

I say "meach".

I think of "beach" as caighdeánach.

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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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I'd say Meach as well (Tithe Meach for example), but a native speaker from Cork said beach, as
did one from Mayo.
I'd say Péileacán for butterfly, what would you say? (I'm asking because I was
speaking with a few Connamara speakers and I noticed a lot of words that begin with
a p in Munster begin with an f in Connamara.)

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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

Yes we do say it with an F - Féileacán.

Another surprise for Saoirse

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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.
___________________________________________________________

We say féileacán with an f. The whole thing is actually really interesting. I love hearing about the differences except when it starts getting really technical and then all I hear is ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

I used to think the differences were considerably greater and more confusing than they actually are. In fact accent has a lot to do with the supposed differences and that exists in English in Ireland too. It's all very cool!

Of course, more regular meet-ups between ILF people might help to bridge the gaps too........

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