Tomhas na Teanga
Sept/Oct 2006
The last thing Frank emailed me was that he liked this interlinear style, and so I’m going to keep it going. I’d like to hear your feedback. Email me at JamusN@aol.com.
An teanga dheacair í an Ghaeilge? Is the Irish language a difficult language? Ceaptar sin. People think that. Agus ní dóigh liom go bhfuil sí éasca a fhoghlaim. And I suppose it isn’t easy to learn. Ach bhíodh sé i bhfad ní ba dheacra roimh an gCaighdeán Oifigiúil. But it used to be a lot more difficult before the Official Standard. Go háirithe litriú na Gaeilge. Especially the Irish spelling.
Bhí a haibítir féin ag an nGaeilge, freisin. Irish had its own alphabet, too. De ghnáth, anois, úsáidtear gnáth-aibítir an Bhéarla, mar bhí sé éasca í a chlóscríobh. Usually, now, the regular English alphabet is used, as it was easy to type. Níl a fhios agam an ndéanfaí an rud céanna dá mbeadh ríomhairí ann, ach sin mar atá. I don’t know if the same thing would have been done had there been computers, but that’s how it is. Cuirtear ‘h’ i ndiaidh litreach aon uair a bhíodh ponc (buailte) os a cionn. An ‘h’ is put after a letter any time there used to be a dot (struck) over it.
In 1947/8, rinne rialtas na hÉireann staidéar agus mhol siad
simpliú ar litriú na Gaeilge. In
1947/8, the government of
De ghnáth, d’fhág siad litreacha ar lár nach gcloistear. In general, they left out letters which aren’t heard. Ní dhearnadh sin i gcónaí, ámh, mar ní thuigfí gach rud dá ndéanfaí. That wasn’t always done, however, because everything wouldn’t be understood if they had. Mar shampla, baineadh an ‘gh’ den fhocal ‘brí(gh),’ ach ní bhaineadh de ‘éirigh,’ ionas go mbeadh difear idir ‘éirigh’ agus ‘éirí.’ For example, the ‘gh’ was taken away from the end of ‘sense,’ but not from ‘get up!’ so that there would be a difference between ‘get up!’ and ‘to get up.’ Bhíodh ‘éirghe’ ar ‘éirí.’ ‘Éirí’ used to be (spelled)… Uaireanta, athraíodh na litreacha mar gheall ar an bhfuaimniú, mar sa chás sin. Sometimes, the letters were changed on account of the pronunciation, as in that case. Bhí siad ag iarraidh ‘idir-chanúint,’ nó gnáth-fhuaimniú, a chothú, freisin. They were attempting to encourage a common dialect or common pronunciation, too. Is ait an rud é nach fuaimnítear an ‘éi’ san fhocal seo mar a scríobhtar é fós! It’s a strange thing that the ‘éi’ in this word still isn’t pronounced as it is written! (the English word ‘eye’ is pretty close to it – but it depends on the dialect). Is féidir locht a fháil ar an nua-litriú go minic. It is often possible to find fault with the new spelling. Níl aon rud foirfe ann sa saol seo. Nothing is perfect in this world.
Tugann eagrán 1961 de Teach Yourself Irish samplaí maithe dúinn de na hathruithe seo. The 1961 edition of TYI gives good examples to us of these changes. Seo cúpla díobh. Here are a few of them.
éadtrom => éadrom. ‘Éad,’ sin réamhfhocal diúltach, agus ‘trom.’ ‘Éad,’ which is a negative prefix, and ‘heavy.’ (light, not heavy). Níl an bhrí sin chomh léir agus a bhíodh, sa litriú nua. That meaning isn’t as clear as it used to be, in the new spelling. Is minic a bhíonn an fhadhb sin ann, faraor. That’s often the problem, unfortunately. Samplaí eile mar sin (other examples like that): éagcóir => éagóir (not proper, wrong, unjust); aoinfheacht => éineacht – aon (one) + feacht (current, flow) – at once, together. Comhgar => cóngar – comh (as, close) + gar (near) – nearby, vicinity. Leanbhaí => leanaí – leanbh (child) + aí (diminutive) – little child. Lobhtha => lofa – lobh (rot, decay) + tha (verbal adjective ending) – rotten, spoiled. Naomhtha => naofa – naomh (saint) + tha (adjectival ending) – holy, saintly.
Ach ní bhíonn siad go léir chomh deacair sin. But they aren’t all so difficult. Samplaí eile (other examples): Gaedhilge => Gaeilge (Irish language); Nodlaig => Nollaig (Christmas, December); ríoghdha => ríoga (regal, royal).
Tá cinn ann atá ina gcomhfhocail bunaithe ar fhocail nach n-úsáidtear níos mó, mar síothcháin => síocháin. There are some that are compound words based on words that are no longer used… Agus tá cinn ann a bhíodh an-chasta ar fad: tosnughadh => tosnú, tosú; bliadhain => bliain. And there are some that are really quite complex…(to begin, year).
Creid nó ná creid, tá rialacha ann. Believe it or not, there are rules. Ach an rud is tábhachtaí, sin go dtuigeann aon duine an tsean-litriú agus an nua-litriú má léitear os ard iad. But the thing that is most important, that is that anyone understands the old spelling and the new spelling if they are read out loud. Mura bhfuil cleachtadh agat le nós amháin díobh, léigh os ard na focail, agus tuigfidh tú é, má tá Gaeilge go leor agat. If you don’t have experience with one of these ways of spelling, read the words out loud, and you will understand it, if you have enough Irish.
Ní raibh litriú
caighdeánach ar an mBéarla go dtí Noah Webster. There wasn’t a standard spelling of English
until NW. Foilsíodh a
fhoclóir in 1843. His dictionary was
published in 1843. Bíonn difríochtaí sa
litriú in gach aon teanga, agus athríonn an litriú sin
de réir a chéile. There are always
differences in spelling in all languages, and spelling changes gradually. Go minic, bíonn leabhar nó duine amháin ann a
dhéanann caighdeán de nós, agus sin mar a tharla in Éirinn. Often, there is a book or a single person
which makes a way the standard, and that’s what happened in Ireland. Mar sa Ghearmáin, níl sé mícheart canúintí nó
litriú neamh-chaighdeánach a úsáid – nó fiú Fraktur, an tsean-aibítir Ghearmánach. As in