djwebb2021 wrote:
Bhí an crann árd agus bhí sé láidir, agus do shrois a aoirde suas go dtí an spéir, agus bhí radharc air go h-imeallaibh an domhain ar fad. Bhí a dhuilleabhar fíor áluinn, agus bhí a thoradh go fíor iomarcach, agus ba bhia do'n uile nídh é.
djwebb2021 wrote:
TYI 1961 says:
But mór “big”, beag “small”, fada “long”, gearr “short”, trom “heavy”, etc. and the names of colours, are better construed with the copula: is mór an tigh é, is tigh mór é, tigh mór is ea é, is trom an chloch í, is cloch throm í, cloch throm is ea í, and so on. The form tá an chloch trom, tá an tigh mór, tá an páipéar bán would be exceptional. (Is) páipéar bán é seo “this is white paper” is the normal form.
Note: this does not say that it is impossible to say tá an tigh mór.
djwebb2021 wrote:
TYI 1961 says:
Another example from TYI:
Tá an bord san mór leathan ach tá an ceann íseal níos saoire ná é.
djwebb2021 wrote:
Labhrás didn't reply, but all I meant was to show that there are usages or sentences that contradict the theory - I think the difference between is and tá is slowly breaking down and so more uses with tá can be found with each passing year. I didn't mean to imply Labhrás was wrong in any of his statements as to the theory of this.
Labhrás wrote:
It is probably no matter of grammar anymore but rather a matter of style –
because of hesitations due to felt discrepancies according to rules which became less important and less central (like tá denoting a temporary state and mór being a permanent quality)
What if usage is evolving away from the distinction 'Temporary' versus 'Permanent' to something that can be better described as 'Current' versus 'Explicitly Permanent'? Here 'Current' encompasses both temporary situations and permanent situations. 'The mountain is high' describes a permanent condition. But maybe it now becoming acceptable to say 'Tá an sliabh ard' (instead of 'Is sliabh ard é') simply because it is currently true that the mountain is high, even if it is clear from the meaning of the words that this is a permanent situation.
And so maybe the usage is evolving to a situation where the copula is only used with adjectives in order to explicitly indicate that a situation is permanent, where this wouldn't necessarily be obvious if the substantive verb was used. For example you would be required to say 'Is teach te é' to indicate that this is a permanent condition since 'Tá an teach te' would normally have a different (and temporary) interpretation.
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