The dialects of Irish : study of a changing landscape / Raymond Hickey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hickey, Raymond, 1954-

Series:

Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs ; 230.

Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs, 1861-4302 ; 230

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irish language--Dialects.

Irish language.

Irish language--Provincialisms.

Irish language--Discourse analysis.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (iv, 508 pages) : maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter Mouton, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The book offers a comprehensive overview of forms of modern Irish within a general linguistic framework. Starting with information on the sociolinguistics of modern Irish and on the overall sound system of the language, it then proceeds with a tripartite division of the present-day language into northern, western and southern Irish. It gives specific information on the features of each dialect and considers many sub-divisions, using maps and tables to illustrate clearly what is the subject of discussion. There are several innovations in the book, such as a system of lexical sets which facilitate the description and analysis of variation and change in modern Irish. The data for the book stems from recordings of more than 200 speakers and all the statements made about the structure of Irish are based on native speakers' speech samples. These are supplied online with a software interface which allows users to quickly orient themselves among the varieties of Irish via clickable maps. A number of further issues are focused on in the book, such as the possibility of dialect reconstruction and the use of place-name evidence for determining the earlier distribution of Irish. Additional historical and background information is provided so that scholars and students without any previous knowledge of the language can readily grasp the themes and issues discussed.

Contents:

Front matter

Preface

Contents

I Introduction

1. The Irish language today

2. Who speaks Irish?

II The sound system of Irish

1. Introduction

2. Phonology

3. Phonological studies

III The dialects of Irish

1. Background

2. Collecting data on Irish dialects

3. Features of dialects

4. The prosody of Irish

5. Dialect reconstruction

6. Further variation

7. Conclusions

IV Appendixes

1. History of Irish

2. The orthography of Irish

3. The transcription of Irish

4. Samples of Spoken Irish

Glossary

References

Subject index

Language index

Sound files referred to in book

List of maps

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613399526

9783110238303

3110238306

9781283399524

1283399520

9783110238044

3110238047

OCLC:

751963468