E 2.1: The Irish of West Muskerry, Co. Cork: a phonetic study

by Brian Ó Cuív

1944 (repr. 1988). xi + 159 pp.

€20

ISBN 0 901282 52 9

Preface

THE accurate and systematic recording of all the features of the different Irish dialects - phonology, accidence, syntax, etc. - has long been recognized as being of the utmost importance in any attempt to preserve or restore our national language. With the advancing tide of English the small "islands" in which Irish is still the native language are gradually being submerged, and the familiarity with the language which, according to statistics, is shown by hundreds of thousands of school-children and adults alike in the English-speaking areas of the country, is a poor substitute for that mastery of his native tongue which the Irish speaker in any Gaéultacht in Ireland showed a generation ago. Any such contribution to our knowledge of the dialects should, then, be welcome not only to those interested from the point of view of general linguistics, but also to those who seeking the restoration of our language, look to the speech of the Gaéultacht as our source and aim.

The present work is an attempt to make available an accurate description of the phonology of the Irish of the barony of West Muskerry in Co. Cork. This barony extends roughly from the Kerry border and the Pass of Keimaneigh in the west to Macroom in the east, and from the barony of Duhallow in the north to the barony of East Carbery in the south. At present Irish as the native language is confined mainly to parts of the parishes of Ballyvourney, Inchigeelagh, Clondrohid, and Kilnamartery. The district of Coolea in the parish of Ballyvourney, which has been chosen as a centre for this study, is within a few miles of the Kerry border, but speakers from other districts, particularly the Ballingeary district, have also been examined. Most of what is said here of the Irish of Coolea applies to the dialect of West Muskerry in general, and indeed much of it applies to the Irish of Munster as a whole. The language is substantially the same as that of our greatest modern prose-writer, An t-Athair Peadar Ó Laoghaire, who was born at Liscarrigane about eight miles to the north-east of Coolea in the year 1839, and to whose influence it is undoubtedly due that this dialect became so prominent about the beginning of this century. From the point of view of phonetic investigation our dialect has also received much attention, and the publications of An Cuman um Letiriú Shímplí have provided a body of transcriptions in simplified spelling which far exceeds in size the total of phonetic texts published for all other dialects.

This study has been divided into two parts. In the first the sounds of the living speech and their usage have been described. In the second an attempt has been made to show how the sounds of Early Modern Irish have developed in the dialect. In this part there may be exceptional words and developments which have been overlooked, but it must be remembered that the primary aim here has been to deal with the broader lines of development. The Irish spelling employed is, as a rule, based on that of classical or Early Modern Irish. An endeavour has been made to distinguish late words or word-forms, not admitted into classical Irish, by prefixing an asterisk to them, but it will be understood that this is at best only approximative. The asterisk, it should be added, is not employed in phrases, nor in the transliteration of the phonetic texts.

In accordance with the phonetic system employed, as summarised in § 38, the phonetic description in Part I is based on the speech of one speaker who is typical of the dialect. For this purpose I have chosen Amhlaoibh Ó Loingsigh (A. Ó L.) of Coolea. He is 71 years of age, was born in Coolea, and has lived there practically all his life. He is a very careful speaker, is a well-known seanchuí, and has won many prizes at feiseana and at An t-Oireachtas.

I have also consulted Domhnall Bán Ó Céilleachair (D. B.), a coeval of Amhlaoibh Ó Loingsigh, who was one of the subjects of a phonetic investigation carried out by Alf Sommerfelt twenty years ago, Donnchadh Ó Suibhne, Bean Thaidhg Í Mhulláin, and Bean Í Ríoghbhardáin, all of Coolea ; Conchubhar Ó Muimhneacháin of Ballingeary; Séamus Ó Muimhneacháin of Keimaneigh, as well as his son Aindrias now living in Dublin; Conchubhar Ó hÉaluighthe of Scrahanmore; and Pádraig Ó Murchadha of Gortnaloughra. I have had an opportunity of listening to many other speakers, too numerous to mention, both in Ballyvoumey and Iveleary.

The first part of this work was begun under the guidance of Miss Eileen E. Evans, of University College, London. Since then circumstances have deprived us of that guidance, so that I alone am responsible for the phonetic descriptions in this book.

In the second part of the work a special interest has been taken by Dr. T. F. O'Rahilly, whose advice and expert knowledge have been available from the start. Apart from this, his own work on Irish dialects has provided a foundation from which it has been comparatively easy to deal with the historical developments in the dialect of West Muskerry. I am indebted to him for the keen interest which he has taken in the whole work and for the great help which he has so generously given.

My thanks are also due to Professor Daniel Jones of University College, London, for permission to utilise and summarise certain chapters of his 'Outline of English Phonetics' in the preparation of the introductory chapter in Part I, and also for his kindness in reading the manuscript of that chapter and suggesting some alterations; to the Minister for Education and to the Royal Irish Academy for permission to examine the Doegen gramaphone records and to publish a transcript of one of them in Chapter XIV.

Le muíntir Mhúsgruí agus go h-áirithe lem cháirde ar Cúil Ao agus i mBéal Átha'n Ghaorthaidh gabhaim baochas ó chruí. Mara mbeadh an cúnamh a thugadar dhom go fial agus go fonnamhar nuair a loirigíos eólas ortha, ní bheadh an obair seo á thúirt chun críche agam a n-aochor.

BRIAN Ó CUÍV