You mention a "rule" against concatenation of genitives. I expect you got that from the modern editions of the Christian Brothers' Grammar. It is worth pointing out that they are insisting on a rule that was not always found in Gaeltacht Irish. Peadar Ua Laoghaire frequently concatenated genitives. That book also has "rules" on lenition that are of questionable relevance to Gaeltacht Irish.

De thoradh tionnscadail éagsamhla ollscoile - this has tionnscadail éagsamhla standing in Absolute Construction (standing in the nominative, despite being in genitive relation). The phrase is effectively bracketed off, and so this can also be called the Bracketed Construction.

Are any of the examples I gave permissible in general usage?

Hi all,

I'm having some trouble with a genitive construction when I want to use an adjective on an initial noun. It'd be great if anyone could clarify the correct way to deal with this kind of situation.

For example, if I want to translate:

resulting from various University projects

Would the usual rule hold whereby only the second noun takes the genitive form, and the first is lenited:

de thoradh thionscadail éagsúla ollscoile

Or, does the use of an adjective negate the general multiple-genitive-rule, meaning that both nouns take the genitive form:

de thoradh tionscadal éagsúil Ollscoile

Or, is there some other, less obvious solution? Perhaps the first noun is lenited, but the adjective still takes the genitive form following it:

de thoradh thionscadail éagsúil Ollscoile

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Adrian.

I've heard of Bracketed/Absolute Construction before, but I've never seen any advice regarding where it should/should not be used. At least, I've never heard of it being used in a situation like this, where there's an adjective in the mix, and examples seem hard to find.

Mura mbéadh a n-uaisleacht agus a naomthacht agus a n-ionracas, agus naomhthacht a n-easbog agus a n-anam- charad, agus naomhthacht pobuil Chorcaighe móire Mumhan, agus mura mbéadh ionracas gutha agus bréithre agus oinigh agus anama an rígh uasail seo go dtáinís d'á theasargain ; agus go deimhin mura mbéadh t'uaisleacht féin agus t'ionracas agus glaine do chroídhe agus méid t'eagna agus géire t'intleachta, is isteach at' bhrághaid féin do rachainn-se nuair a chuiris amach a' brághaid Chathail mé, agus ní sgarfainn leat go dtí go gcomáin- fí mór-thímpal na h-Éirean tú ag gabháil de chlochaibh agus de mhaidíbh agus de shlataibh agus d'fhuipeanaibh ort, agus gur b'é bás a gheabhfá sa deire 'ná bás do'n ghorta.

Castlelyons, Co. Cork,
November 22nd, 1915.

Dear Mr Editor— I have seen from an article entitled “Programme Irish and Real Irish” in the Leader of the 20th November that the matriculation examination in Irish for the National University has formed the subject of many letters to the newspapers recently, and, further, that “the matter has now passed beyond the stage of newspaper discussion, is being investigated by the Coiste Gnótha of the Gaelic League”.

While I do not desire to reopen any newspaper discussion, or to intrude upon any investigation of the subject, I should like to be allowed to put on record a few observations upon Irish as a subject to be taken at matriculation by every student entering the National University, or upon what has been called “compulsory Irish”.

Some six years ago the country was torn up by the difference of opinion as to whether Irish should or should not be an obligatory subject for this matriculation examination, and the Senate of the National University in 1910 (five years ago) decided in favour of “compulsory Irish”.

I fought hard for that decision. The result has been the opposite of what I expected. I could not have anticipated the confusion and disorder that have come to be imported into the administration of the educational systems of the country. We are now told that “Irish as a subject for matriculation in the National University is merely nominal”, and that “that sort of essential Irish is of no direct use to the Irish language”. And the remedy for this state of things is now being considered by the Gaelic League in the form of a proposal

“that the standard for Irish should be raised to the standard for Latin; or that the standard for Latin should be lowered to the present Irish standard”.

As soon as we see Latin coming out of any University in the world to match the Irish inscribed on a cup given as a prize two years ago at the National University Sports, then we can equalise “compulsory” Latin and “compulsory” Irish. The Irish inscription on that cup was so remarkable that it was published in a Dublin paper. It ran:—

CUIRM NA mBAN.
CLUICHE IOLSGOIL NA hÉIREANN.

The English of that inscription is:

THE WOMEN’S BEER.
THE UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND IS A GAME.

By a system of working co-ordination the “game” of the University is carried into the Intermediate system, and there “compulsory Irish” has full scope and full play, because teachers and students have to take what they get, and programme Irish is manufactured and imposed on them. No. The “game” could not be played with Latin.

First of all, the standard of Irish in the University, and in the Intermediate courses is not a true standard. In the next place the experience of the last five years shows that the equipment for teaching Irish is inadequate and varies greatly in different parts of the country. In fixing courses of study this inadequacy and inequality should be borne in mind, and the first step towards reform, in my opinion, should be the removal of compulsion as regards Irish as a subject for matriculation. Make Irish an optional subject. Find a true standard. Irish being optional, that true standard can also be a high one without injustice to students or hardship to teachers.

PETER O’LEARY, P.P.

tionscadal ollscoile = a university project
tionscadail ollscoile = university projects
So:
de thoradh tionscadail ollscoile = as a result of university projects

tionscadail ollscoile is "bracketed" (because of gen. "ollscoile") and so doesn't change for case marking:
de thoradh [tionscadail ollscoile]

Now with adjectives.
Adjectives doesn't change anything. They just share the case form of their noun

So tionscadail éagsúla ollscoile = various university projects
and de thoradh tionscadail éagsúla ollscoile = as a result of various university projects

Tionscadail éagsúla ollscoile is again "bracketed" and so doesn't change for case marking:
de thoradh [tionscadail éagsúla ollscoile]

...

Grammar books use the term "aonad brí", i.e. noun + noun (gen.) comprising a new fact
The second noun is in genitive, the first noun remains nominative in form.

One more question occurs to me now, having seen both of your responses avoid lenition of the first noun (regardless of the adjective's inclusion). Is this simply not necessary, or is it unlikely to occur in this construction? For example, you suggest de thoradh tionscadail ollscoile and de thoradh tionscadail éagsúla ollscoile. Would de thoradh thionscadail ollscoile and de thoradh thionscadail éagsúla ollscoile (as I have above) be equally valid?