pronounced as /notice/
Although Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic are closely related as Goidelic (a.k.a. Gaelic) Celtic languages, they are different in many ways. While most dialects are not immediately mutually comprehensible (although many individual words and phrases are), speakers of the three languages can rapidly develop mutual intelligibility.
The spoken dialects of Irish and Scottish Gaelic are most similar to one another in Ulster and southwestern Scotland, regions of close geographical proximity to one another. It is thought that the extinct dialect of Galwegian Gaelic, spoken in Galloway in the far south of Scotland, was very similar to Ulster Irish and Manx.
While the dialects of northern Scotland and southern Ireland tend to differ the most from one another in terms of vocabulary, they do share some features which are absent in other dialect areas lying between them. For example, in both Munster Irish and the Gaelic of the north of Scotland, historically short vowels have been diphthongised or lengthened before fortis sonorants. An example of this is the word Sango: clann "children of the family". In Munster Irish and northern Scottish Gaelic it is pronounced pronounced as /[kɫaunˠ]/ whereas in Ulster and County Mayo it is pronounced as /[kɫanˠ]/ and in Connemara pronounced as /[kɫɑːnˠ]/; the Manx form Manx: cloan is pronounced as /[kɫaunˠ]/ in the north and pronounced as /[kɫoːdnˠ]/ in the south.
In addition, slender coronal stops (pronounced as //tʲ// and pronounced as //tʲʰ// in Scottish Gaelic; pronounced as //tʲ// and pronounced as //dʲ// in Irish), are affricated (such as pronounced as /[tʃ]/ and pronounced as /[dʒ]/) in Mayo[1] [2] and Donegal,[3] the southern Highlands and in Manx, but not in Munster or the northern Highlands.[4]
In the verb tá of Standard Irish, northern Scotland and Central-Southern Munster agree in leniting the initial, thus one hears Irish: thá in County Waterford and County Tipperary, and Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: tha in northern Scotland. West Munster also lenites the, but only after the preverb Irish: a "that" e.g. Irish: an fear a thá ina sheasamh ag an doras "the man that's standing at the door" (Standard Irish Irish: an fear atá ina sheasamh ag an doras, Scottish Gaelic Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: am fear a tha na sheasamh aig an doras).
The closest to Scottish Gaelic in modern Irish is the dialect currently spoken in County Donegal, as illustrated by the sentence "How are you?".
gd|Ciamar a tha sibh? (plural/formal) or Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Ciamar a tha thu? (singular/informal), Lewis dialect Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Dè mar a tha sibh? (plural/formal) Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Dè mar a tha thu? (singular/informal) (Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: dè < Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: cad è)
Irish: Cad é mar atá sibh? (plural) Irish: Cad é mar atá tú? (singular), spelt in 'dialect spelling' as Irish: Caidé mar a tá sibh/tú?
Irish: Cén chaoi a bhfuil sibh? (plural), Irish: Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú? (singular), in colloquial speech Irish: Ce chuil sib/tú
Irish: Conas táthaoi (plural), Irish: Conas taoi? (singular), Irish: Conas tánn sibh/tú?, Irish: Conas atá sibh/tú?
Sibh is used in both Irish and Scottish Gaelic for the plural "you", while Scottish Gaelic (except for the far south) also uses Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: sibh as a formal version of "you" (much like French uses French: vous; see "T–V distinction"). Modern Irish does not use this formal/informal distinction when addressing people. The use of Sango: sibh as 'polite' you is a retention from the Classical Irish usage of the plural personal pronouns to refer to the singular in polite communication, thus Sango: sinn "we" for Sango: mé "I, me" and Sango: sibh "you (plural)" for Sango: tú "you/thou". Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Thu is used in Scottish Gaelic when speaking to an individual friend, family member, or a younger person.
The negative particle in Scottish Gaelic, Manx and Northern Ulster Irish is cha/chan (Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: chan eil, Irish: cha bhfuil/chan fhuil = "is not"; chan is from the Old Irish emphatic negative Sango: nichon). In standard Irish the negative particle is Irish: ní (Irish: níl = "is not", a contraction of Irish: ní fhuil); Irish: ní is a retention of the normal Old Irish negative; these are illustrated by the sentence "I have no money":
Scottish Gaelic: Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Chan eil airgead agam.
Ulster Irish: Irish: Chan fhuil/Cha bhfuil airgead agam.
Manx: Manx: Cha nel argid aym.
Standard Irish: Irish: Níl airgead agam.
Scottish Gaelic speakers may also sound as if they were using the Irish phrase, as Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Chan eil can frequently be shortened to Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: n eil.
The Classical Irish digraph pronounced as /[eːʷ]/ is still used in Scottish Gaelic spelling but is now obsolete in Irish, except in southern dialect writing, as a means to distinguish the vowel when followed by a broad consonant from the regular dialect development to in the same environment, thus éan pronounced as /[ian]/ "bird" in comparison to d'éug pronounced as /[dʲeːɡ]/ "died; passed on). is now used instead of in Standard Irish. Both and existed in Classical Irish, to a large extent showing nominal case differences (with varying with in the dative of -words), however in both Scotland and Ireland, spelling reforms and standardisation (which took place in Ireland under the auspices of the government of Ireland during the 20th century, and much earlier in Scotland) independently went for different versions.
At times Scottish writers used the spelling to represent how the combination is pronounced in northern dialects, writing instead of, the southern form. Manx spelling, based mainly on English, shows that is also the underlying form in Manx, the word being spelled .
The most obvious phonological difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is that the phenomenon of eclipsis in Irish is diachronic (i.e. the result of a historical word-final nasal that may or may not be present in modern Irish) but fully synchronic in Scottish Gaelic (i.e. it requires the actual presence of a word-final nasal except for a tiny set of frozen forms). Eclipsis is shown in Irish orthography but not in Scottish Gaelic as it is conditioned by the actual environment.
For example, this means that phrases like Standard Irish Irish: ag an doras, standard Scottish Gaelic Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: aig an doras†, Manx Manx: ec y(n) dorrys is pronounced as follows in different parts of the Gaelic speaking world:
An example of diachronic-type eclipsis are the numbers:
† In conservative speech, Scottish Gaelic feminine nouns also slenderise in the dative (prepositional) case, giving Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: aig an uinneig, and so a different final consonant. This feature is uncommon today except in more formal registers and is ignored here.[6]
There are a number of distinctive orthographical (written) differences. The spellings of both languages have been reformed in recent decades, which has led to further divergence, though conversely more recent spelling reforms in Scottish Gaelic have reduced the divergences to some extent.
One difference is that the accent is written as a grave accent (gd|links=no|stràc throm, "heavy stroke/accent") in Scottish Gaelic, as opposed to the acute accent (Irish: (síneadh) fada, "long (sign)" used in Irish; hence the word for "welcome" is written as Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: fàilte in Scottish Gaelic and in Irish as Irish: fáilte. Irish does not use the grave accent, while until recently Scottish Gaelic used the grave and acute accents to differentiate between open and closed vowel sounds. However, recent spelling reform has meant that only grave accents are now in Scottish Gaelic, leaving phonemic distinctions unmarked.
Another difference in Scottish Gaelic is that the aspirate linker Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: h- is always hyphenated, while in Irish it is attached to the beginning of the word, as illustrated by the languages' respective names for each other:
Scottish Gaelic — Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Gàidhlig (na '''h-'''Alba), Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Gàidhlig na '''h-'''Èireann
Standard Irish — Irish: Gaeilge na '''h'''Alban, Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Gaeilge (na '''h'''Éireann)Additionally, while the linkers Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: n- and Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: t- are usually hyphenated in both languages, in Irish they are attached to the beginning of words whose first letter is capitalised; in Scottish Gaelic they are always hyphenated.
A number of letter combinations are possible in written Irish which are not found in Scottish Gaelic e.g., . Irish uses where Scottish Gaelic uses, although itself was once common in written Irish, as was in Scottish Gaelic – both being used in Classical Gaelic. In the combinations and, Irish now uses and, while Scottish Gaelic uses and both and, despite there being no phonetic difference between the two languages.[7]
Most obvious differences in spelling result from the deletion of silent lenited digraphs (mainly,, and) in Irish in spelling reforms, which was only sometimes done in Scottish Gaelic. Overall, Scottish Gaelic orthography is more conservative than that of Irish.
| English | Irish | Scottish Gaelic | Manx | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| authority | Irish: údarás | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: ùghdarras | Manx: eaghtyrys | Pre 1950s Irish: ughdarás in Irish | |
| black | Irish: dubh | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: dubh | Manx: doo | ||
| bridge | Irish: droichead | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: drochaid | Manx: droghad | ||
| child | Irish: páiste,<br>leanbh | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: pàiste,<br>leanabh | Manx: paitchey,<br>lhiannoo | ||
| church | Irish: eaglais | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: eaglais | Manx: agglish | In Irish, Irish: eaglais is a Roman Catholic house of worship; a Protestant house of worship is called a Irish: teampall (temple). Irish: Séipéal is also used as it can mean chapel as well. | |
| day | Irish: lá | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: latha, là | Manx: laa | ||
| Gael | Irish: Gael | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Gàidheal | Manx: Gael | Pre 1950s Irish: Gaedheal in Irish | |
| God | Irish: Dia | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Dia | Manx: Jee | ||
| government | Irish: rialtas | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: riaghaltas | Manx: reiltys | Pre-1950s Irish: riaghaltas in Irish | |
| hotel | Irish: óstán, teach/tigh ósta | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: taigh-òsda | Manx: thie oast | Pre 1950s Irish: óstán/ósdán, teach/tigh ósta/ósda in Irish | |
| house | Irish: teach
| Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: taigh | Manx: thie | In biblical Gaelic Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: tigh | |
| inside | Irish: isteach | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: a-steach | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: stiagh | ||
| Ireland | Irish: Éire, Éirinn | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Èirinn, Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Èire | Manx: Nerin | ||
| island | Irish: oileán, inis | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: eilean, inis | Manx: ellan, inish | ||
| king | Irish: rí | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: rìgh | Manx: ree | Pre-1950s genitive Irish: ríogh and dative Irish: rígh in Irish | |
| news | Irish: nuacht
| Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: naidheachd | Manx: naight | ||
| night | Irish: oíche | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: oidhche | Manx: oie | Pre 1950s Irish: oidhche in Irish | |
| office | Irish: oifig | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: oifis | Manx: offish | ||
| open | Irish: oscail | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: fosgail | Manx: foshil | Also Irish: foscail in Ulster Irish | |
| parliament | Irish: parlaimint | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: pàrlamaid | Manx: parlamaid | ||
| prayer | Irish: urnaí | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: ùrnaigh | Manx: ! | Also Irish: urnaighe in Irish. | |
| radio | Irish: raidió | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: radio | Manx: radio | Also Irish: réidió and Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: rèidio in spoken Irish and Scottish Gaelic | |
| report | Irish: aithris | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: aithris | Manx: arrish | ||
| river | Irish: abhainn, M: Irish: abha | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: abhainn | Manx: awin | ||
| school | Irish: scoil | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: sgoil | Manx: scoill | Pre 1950s Irish: sgoil/scoil in Irish | |
| Scotland | Irish: Alba, Albain | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Alba | Manx: Albey | ||
| star | Irish: réalt(a) | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: reul | Manx: rolt | Pre 1950s Irish: réalt(a), reult(a) in Irish | |
| town | Irish: baile | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: baile | Manx: balley | ||
| without | Irish: gan | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: gun | Manx: dyn, gyn | ||
| water | Irish: uisce | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: uisge | Manx: ushtey | ||
| whisk(e)y | Irish: uisce beatha | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: uisge-beatha | Manx: ushtey bea | ||
| white | Irish: bán | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: bàn | Manx: bane | ||
| year | Irish: bliain | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: bliadhna | Manx: blein | Pre-1950s Irish: bliadhain in Irish. The form Irish: bliadhna (Irish: bliana today) is used as a special plural form following numerals; the regular plural is Irish: blianta). Some eastern Scottish Gaelic dialects use the form Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: bliadhn.[8] |
| English | Irish | Scottish Gaelic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| America | Irish: Meiriceá, Meirice | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Ameireaga | |
| Bible | Irish: Bíobla | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Bìoball | |
| cold (sickness) | Irish: slaghdán | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: cnatan | Meaning illness |
| England | Irish: Sasana | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Sasainn | |
| Germany | Irish: An Ghearmáin | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghearmailt | |
| in | Irish: i, in | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: (ann) an | In Classical Irish the forms were "i", "a", "in", "an" – "i/in" when the following sound was slender, and "a/an" when the following sound was broad. In both Irish and Scottish, in the spoken language, the four forms of "i", "a", "in", "an" still exist. |
| London | Irish: Londain | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Lunnain | |
| minister | Irish: ministir, ministéir | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: ministear | In Irish, Irish: aire for a government minister |
| road | Irish: bóthar/ród | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: rathad | |
| talking | Irish: ag caint | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: a' bruidhinn | Irish: Bruíon (formerly Irish: bruighean) in Irish means "fighting", "quarrelling." Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Cainnt in Scottish Gaelic is used as a noun only, meaning "speech," except in Arran where it is also a verb[9] |
See also: False friend.
| Irish | English | Scottish Gaelic | English | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irish: An Bhreatain Bheag | Wales | A' Bhreatainn Bheag | Brittany | Irish: Breatain (Britain) is the same in both. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent for Wales is Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: A' Chuimrigh, a Gaelicisation of an Anglicisation of the Welsh Welsh: Cymru. The Irish for Brittany is Irish: An Bhriotáin from Latin "Britannia". | |
| Irish: cuan | harbour | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: cuan | ocean | A number of words are used in both languages for "ocean" and "sea", such as aigéan/aigeun, an fharraige. Irish: Caladh or Irish: cala (also in the compound "calafort" < "cala-phort") are commonly used in Irish for "harbour". | |
| Irish: shiúil sé | He walked | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: shiubhail e | He died | Irish: Siubhail means "walk" or "stroll" in Scottish Gaelic, but is also a euphemism for death |
Article 1 of the UDHR in the languages:
| Language | Text | |
|---|---|---|
| English | All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[10] | |
| Irish | Saolaítear gach duine den chine daonna saor agus comhionann i ndínit agus i gcearta. Tá bua an réasúin agus an choinsiasa acu agus ba cheart dóibh gníomhú i dtreo a chéile i spiorad an bhráithreachais.[11] | |
| Manx | Ta dy chooilley ghooinney ruggit seyr as corrym rish dy chooilley ghooinney elley ayns ooashley as ayns cairys. Ta resoon as cooinsheanse stowit orroo as lhisagh ad dellal rish y cheilley lesh spyrryd braaragh.[12] | |
| Scottish Gaelic | Rugadh na h-uile duine saor agus co-ionnan nan urram 's nan còirichean. Tha iad reusanta is cogaiseach, agus bu chòir dhaibh a ghiùlain ris a chèile ann an spiorad bràthaireil.[13] |