The orthography generally follows current conventions while retaining as much dialectal information as considered appropriate. Spelling is ‘dialectal’ especially where no phonetic transcription is given. For example, the length-mark is not always written in the frequently shortened variants of the third singular pronouns,
se (and sometimes si) to represent Se (Si) unless the phonetic transcription is sup- plied. Likewise, a length-mark may be added where the standard spelling is otherwise unaltered, e.g. síóg = SiÉoÉg for standard sióg, dínnéar = d !iÉÐ !eÉr for standard dinnéar, acú = akuÉ for standard acu (< 3pl ag). For the sake of internal consistency, dialectal spellings are retained in certain instances even when phonetic transcriptions are supplied. In particular, th represents h of the future verb for conventional f (with th + th written as th, e.g. caithidh or caithe for
caithfidh, geárrtha(idh) for gearrfaidh), but in the impersonal future orthographic
f is retained when fÒ !Ô is pronounced, as is regular in West Iorras Aithneach; similarly gheothá = johAÉ (jehAÉþþ, etc.) ~ gheofá = jofAÉ (2sg cond faigh); also
héin for heÉn !, conventionally féin. (The f is retained in the historical orthography of Chapter 1; citations from secondary sources are retained as in source: future h,
th, f.) Given that the synchronic nominative and genitive of nouns in unstressed
-adh and -amh are the same, e.g. geimhreadh (nom) and geimhridh (gen) > g !iÉvr !Eþþ, gaineamh (nom) and gainimh (gen) > gan !Eþþ, the historical nominative form is spelt in both historical cases, e.g. koS d !er !E cois deireadh, heÉS skahE
thar éis scaitheamh. Otherwise, spellings without accompanying phonetics, such as historical cois deiridh and glais ghainimh, might be misinterpreted. The his- torical spelling is of course retained in the ‘Historical Phonology’ as well as in place-names, e.g. Roisín an Chalaidh, Inse Ghainimh.
Secondary sources have dialectal spellings to varying degrees which are of course retained in citations, although this does add considerably to the complexity of the orthography in the work as a whole, e.g. math (maÒhÔ maith), bourd (baurd
bord), sheouc (x !auk sheabhac), doghairní (daurÐ !iÉ doirní), Phuighill (faiû !
Phoill), saghaillse (sailSE soilse), cuíoraí (kiÉriÉ caora(í)), maoídhm (miÉm !
maidhm), fúna’ (fuÉnE fónamh), ei(y)ri (air !E éirigh (nucleus y indicates ai)),
cûirle (ku)Érû !E comhairle (the circumflex indicates nasalised vowels, usually long, and corresponds to the tilde of phonetic transcription, e.g. û = u)É)), cûlódar (ku)ÉloÉdEr comhluadar), bolag (bolEg bolg), croc ~ cruc (kruk cnoc), Fóvair (foÉvEr ! (or perhaps foÉwEr !) fómhair), dhianhach (jiÉnhEx dhéanfadh), féata (f !eÉtE féadthaidh (standard féadfaidh)), pósa (poÉsE pósthaidh and pósadh), in
ann and i ndán (E naòn, spelt i ndan by me), bhaili (wal !E bhailigh), baca (bakE
bacaigh); consistent transcribers who, for example, spell baca for bakEþþ, can therefore use bacaigh to indicate bakiÉþþ.
Loss of schwa as well as other segments is sometimes indicated in secondary sources, e.g. sa mbail’ anocht i dtosach ar aon oích’ eile 852SbTS145 (for sa mbaile anocht [mal !E noxt] ... aon oíche eile [æÉh el !E]); oí’ (for oíche iÉ). Verbal sandhi -dh s- > -d¢ S-, -t¢ S-, is often represented in secondary sources by -t s-, e.g.
bheit sé (for standard bheadh sé); I often (but not always) transcribe in my own notes -d s-, e.g. bhead sé, bheid sé, bheit sé (for standard bheadh sé), bhíod sé,
bhít sé (for standard bhíodh sé); similarly bhead’s, go mbeitheat’s (i.e. bheadh
fhios, go mbeadh fhios); go bhfanthad sé (i.e. go bhfanfadh sé). In contrast, lack of sandhi is transcribed as -ch s-, e.g. go bhfanthach sé. Similarly, maraíoch in a
secondary source for mariÉx maraíodh (past subjunctive of maraigh).
I do, however, generally standardise use of hyphens from secondary sources, e.g.
liom-saLL > liomsa, i n-áit RBÉ > in áit, and word boundaries, e.g. mara bfhuilir RBÉ > marab fhuilir, bu dheadh > bu dh-eadh (for bE jÏò badh ea), ’sí ’snáú > ’s
í ’ snáú (= siÉ snAÉw, standard is [agus] í ag snámh) with the apostrophe written separately when indicating an absent word, i.e. ’ = ag here. A word boundary is used to distinguish ’s í (= agus í) from ’sí = SiÉ sí (copula is + í). Similarly, eó is silently changed to eo in most lexemes, e.g. Seóirse > Seoirse. For the sake of consistency, less than fully accurate transcriptions are retained in citations from secondary sources. For example, chonnaic for dialectal choinic, past nár typically represents dialectal naÒÉÔr nar, and the spelling á’m is often found for dialectal aÉm, aòm a’m (= agam).
The following is a list of certain dialect spellings used which may appear opaque or ambiguous:
Dialect spelling represents for standard (FGB)
achaon E"xeÉn gach aon
achuile E"xil !Eþþ, E"xul !E gach uile
acú, orthú, etc., akuÉþþ, orhuÉ acu, orthu, etc. (3pl prp prons)
acub, orthub, etc., akEb, orhEb acu, orthu, etc. (3pl prp prons)
a’d ad agat (2sg ag)
a’inn aÐ ! againn (1pl ag)
a’m am agam (1sg ag)
anis, annis E"n !iS, E"Ð !iS anois
chaon xeÉn gach aon
chuile xil !Eþþ, xul !E gach uile
corach, curach korEx, kurEx curach
dhe ~ go, dho ~ go gE de, do (prepositions)
díon d !iÉn déan ‘do’ (also díon ‘roof’)
cp. faigh, faighe,
cp. faigheann, faighte fAÉþþ, fAÉþþ, fAÉn, fAÉt !E
faigh, faighe,
faigheann, faighte
fiathraigh f !iErhE fiafraigh
(bh)fuighe wiÉ (rare wai) (bh)faighe
gá gAÉ dá, á (dhá)
go (with article gon) gEÒnÔ go but also de (dhe), do (dho)
goil (secondary sources also gu(i)l)
gol ! dul
-inn, e.g. scillinn -EÐ !, e.g. Sk !iû !EÐ ! -ing (unstressed), e.g. scilling
Innis iÐ !ES Inis
iúntaigh uÉntE iontaigh
loigh (VN loighe) lai luigh (VN luí)
léabh û !eÉw léamh
leihí (also leithí, le hí) l !ehiÉ le haghaidh léis, thléis l !eÉS, hl !eÉS tar éis
nar raibh (pst bí) naÒÉÔ ro ná raibh (= nach raibh)
(secondary sources also ná ra(i)bh)
cp. nach raibh naÒÉÔx ro nach raibh
cp. nár raibh (sbj bí) nAÉ ro ná raibh
Preface 42
Dialect spelling represents for standard (FGB)
pínn p !iÉÐ ! pingin
rabhadar (3pl pst bí) raudEr raibheadar (3pl pst bí)
raibh (pst bí; ro (rE ru) raibh
secondary sources also rabh, ra, ro’, ru)
raibheadar rodEr raibheadar (3pl pst bí)
(secondary sources also rabhdar, rudar, rabhadar)
réis, thréis reÉS, hreÉS tar éis
ro-, e.g. ro-ghearr rEþþ, e.g. rE"jAÉr ró(-), e.g. róghearr
sib, sibse, lib etc., Sib !, SibSE, l !ib ! sibh, sibhse, libh, etc., (2pl prons)
tairníonn, etc., tarÐ !iÉn tarraingíonn (< tarraing)
tastaigh tÏòstE teastaigh
teigheann, teighre t !ain, t !air !Eþþ, etc., téann (< téigh)
tigeann, etc., t !ig !En tuigeann
(homophonous with tigeann, by-form of teara)
thrí (secondary hriÉ trí (in contrast, the numeral trí, sources also thraí) when lenited as thrí, is hr !iÉ and
is so indicated)
tiúrthaidh, tiúrtha t !uÉrhE tabharfaidh (< tabhair)
tiúrtha (rare) t !uÉrhE tugtha (< tabhair)
uise
(cp. muis, muise) uþSE (cp. muS, muSE)
muise
Full stops and commas are sometimes used to indicate sentence or phrase end of transcribed material (rather than of my commentary), e.g. báite. 866ESemr150, which signifies that báite occurs preceding a full stop in the manuscript. Only rarely are mutated initials silently restored to the base form, e.g. muÉruÉx 46.1056
murdhúcha changed from n9 v2uÉruÉx of the source. In citations the orthographic version follows the phonetic notation except in the two chapters: ‘Historical Phonology’ (1) (excepting the section on nasalisation (1.269–1.352) and most of section on prosody (1.376–1.383, 1.386–1.390)) and ‘Borrowings’ (11) where the order is reversed. Occasionally, only part of a citation is transcribed phonetically, in which case the phonetics may be placed within the citation immediately following the relevant orthographic section. Lists of examples from various speakers are often presented in order of seniority of speakers; in this way variants can be compared in the dimension of apparent time (thus indicating possible instances of change in real time).
When by-forms are listed it is important to notice the source speaker. The by-form which is not separated from a speaker abbreviation by a comma is attrib- uted to the speaker, e.g. x, y 11C indicates that x is found and that y was noted from 11C; similarly, x, y 11C, 12S indicates that x is found and that y was noted from 11C and 12S; x y 11C (without comma) indicates that both forms were noted from 11C; x ~ y 11C indicates that x varies with y in the speech of 11C.