Ulster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Ulster. The only county in Ulster to include Gaeltacht regions today is Donegal, so that the term Donegal Irish is often used synonymously. Nevertheless records of the language as it was spoken in other counties do exist, and help provide a broader view of Ulster Irish. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... Irish (Gaeilge), a Goidelic language spoken in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, is constitutionally recognized as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. ... Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland. ... Gaeltacht Gaeltacht is an Irish word for an Irish-speaking region. ... County Donegal (Irish: Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county in the northwest of Ireland. ...

Lexicon

The Ulster dialect contains many words not used in other dialects, or used otherwise only in County Mayo. Some of these words include: County Mayo (Irish: Contae Mhaigh Eo, the plain of the yews) is a county on the west coast of Ireland. ...

• cluinim "I hear" (southern cloisim)
• eallach "cattle" (southern beithígh)
• gamhain "calf" (southern lao)
• tinn "sick" (southern breoite)
• eiteogaí "wings" (southern sciatháin)
• sópa "soap" (standard gallúnach)
• cál "cabbage" (southern gabáiste)
• fá "under" (standard faoi)
• Gaeilig "Irish" (standard Gaeilge)
• tchífidh "will see" (standard feicfidh)
• cad é atá? "what is?" (Connacht céard tá; Munster cad a thá)
• tábla "table" (southern bord)
• cá huair "when?" (Connacht cén uair; Munster cathain)
• faoileog "seagull" (standard faoileán)
• i ndiaidh "after" (standard tar éis)

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Ulster Irish (based on the accent of Gweedore) is as shown in the following chart (based on Ní Chasaide 1999; see International Phonetic Alphabet for an explanation of the symbols). Symbols appearing in the upper half of each row are velarized (traditionally called "broad" consonants) while those in the bottom half are palatalized ("slender"). The consonants /h, n, l/ are neither broad or slender. Gweedore (Irish: Gaoth Dobhair) is a Gaelic-speaking town located at the Atlantic shore of County Donegal, Ireland. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ... Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant. ... Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ...

The vowels of Ulster Irish are as shown on the following chart. These positions are only approximate, as vowels are strongly influenced by the palatalization and velarization of surrounding consonants. Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... Coronal consonants are articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. ... Dorsal consonants are articulated with the back of the tongue against either the hard palate, or the flexible velum just behind it, or even against the uvula. ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... A labiovelar consonant is a consonant made with two blockages, one at the lips (labial) and the other at the soft palate (velar). ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... In phonetics, alveolo-palatal are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge and the palate, but closer to the palate than for postalveolar consonants. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another. ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...

The long vowels have short allophones in unstressed syllables and before /h/. In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ... In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis given to certain syllables in a word. ...

In addition, Ulster has the diphthongs /ia, ua, au/. In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds) is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ...

Some characteristics of the phonology of Ulster Irish that distinguish it from the other dialects are: Phonology (Greek phone = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics closely associated with phonetics. ...

• The only broad labial continuant is the approximant [w]. In other dialects, fricative [vˠ] is found instead of or in addition to [w]. No dialect makes a phonemic contrast between the approximant and the fricative, however.
• There is a three-way distinction among coronal nasals and laterals: /n̪ˠ ~ n ~ ṉʲ/, /l̪ˠ ~ l ~ ḻʲ/, and there is no lengthening or diphthongization of short vowels before these sounds and /m/. Thus, while ceann "head" is /cɑːn/ in Connacht and /caun/ in Munster, in Ulster it is /can̪ˠ/
• /ɔː/ corresponds to the /oː/ of other dialects. The Ulster /oː/ corresponds to the /au/ of other dialects.
• Long vowels are shortened when in unstressed syllables.
• /n/ is realized as [r] (or is replaced by /r/) after consonants other than [s]. This happens in Connacht as well.
• Orthographic -adh in unstressed syllables is always [u] (this includes verb forms).
• Unstressed orthographic -ach is pronounced [ax], [ah], or [a].

Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... A continuant is a sound produced with an incomplete closure of the vocal tract. ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... In human language, a phoneme is a set of phones (speech sounds or sign elements) that are cognitively equivalent. ...

Morphology

Initial mutations

Ulster Irish has the same two initial mutations, lenition and eclipsis, as the other two dialects and the standard language, and mostly uses them the same way. There is, however, one exception: in Ulster, a dative singular noun after the definite article is lenited (e.g. ar an chrann "on the tree"), whereas in Connacht and Munster, it is eclipsed (ar an gcrann). Both possibilities are allowed for in the standard language. Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. ... The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. ... A noun, or noun substantive, is a part of speech (a word or phrase) which can co-occur with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. ... Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzards 1996 performance released on video and CD. The video/DVD and CD performances were both recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England. ...

Verbs

Irish verbs are characterized by having a mixture of analytic forms (where information about person is provided by a pronoun) and synthetic forms (where information about number is provided in an ending on the verb) in their conjugation. In Ulster and North Connacht the analytic forms are used in a variety of forms where the standard language has synthetic forms, e.g. molann muid "we praise" (standard molaimid) or mholfadh siad "they would praise" (standard mholfaidís). Irish verb forms are constructed either synthetically or analytically. ... Third person redirects here, but can also mean: Third Person, a New York City improvising trio A perspective (storytelling) Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to the participant role of a referent, such as the speaker, the addressee, and others. ... In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase with or without a determiner, such as you and they in English. ...

The 2nd conjugation future stem suffix in Ulster is -óch- (pronounced [ah] rather than -ó-, e.g. beannóchaidh mé [bʲan̪ˠahə mʲə] "I will bless" (standard beannóidh mé [bʲanoːj mʲeː]).

Some irregular verbs have different forms in Ulster from those in the standard language. For example:

• ním "I do, make" (standard déanaim) and rinn mé "I did, made" (standard rinne mé)
• tchím [t̠ʲɕiːm] "I see" (standard feicim)
• bheirim "I give" (standard tugaim), ní thabhraim or ní thugaim "I do not give" (standard only ní thugaim), and bhéarfaidh mé "I will give" (standard tabharfaidh mé)

Particles

In Ulster the negative particle cha (before a vowel chan, in past tenses char) is sometimes used where the standard language uses ní and níor. Cha triggers a "mixed mutation": /t/ and /d/ are eclipsed, while other consonants are lenited: Negative has meaning in several contexts: Look up negative in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Negative and non-negative numbers Negative (photography) In optics, diverging lenses are also called negative lenses. ... In linguistics, the term particle is often employed as a useful catch-all lacking a strict definition. ...

References

• Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999). "Irish". In Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, 111–16, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63751-1.

See also

• Ulster Scots language
• Mid Ulster English