Modern Irish: Grammatical Structure and Dialectal Variation

Description

Micheal O Siadhail considers modern Irish dialects against the background of their common grammar, providing a comprehensive overview for Celticists and general linguists with an interest in dialectical comparison. His Modern Irish contains a wealth of empirical data which is analysed in a fresh and accessible manner, keeping technical terminology to a minimum. It includes background information on the Irish language and gives explanations of basic concepts in order to compare the phonology, morphology and syntax of the dialects. Students of linguistics amd the Irish language will welcome this clear and sensible cross-dialectal survey by Micheal O Siadhail, who is well-known as an Irish scholar and as a poet.

"This carefully crafted book, the product of tremendous labour, should earn O Siadhail the thanks of the linguistics community. It has always struck me as odd that, given the extensive historical and descriptive studies of Irish, the language plays such a small part in theoretical linguistic discussions. The part it does play is principally in the arena of syntax, although that is certainly the area with the shortest tradition: the phonology and the morphology of the language are relatively ignored. This book certainly has the potential to reverse that situation by offering linguists of all stripes an excellent guide to the intricacies of Modern Irish." Language "...O Siadhail has done a splendid job." C.M. Adderley, Language Quarterly