Differences between Scottish Gaelic and Irish
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Scottish Gaelic is closely related to Irish, although most dialects are not mutually comprehensible.
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[edit] Phonetic and grammatical differences
Islay and Argyll Gaelic are fairly similar to Irish Gaelic. The extinct dialects of north east Ulster, particularly Rathlin Island, were also close to Scottish Gaelic. In Scotland, dialects also existed in southern Kintyre and Galloway which were probably similar to Irish, sliabh being fairly common as an element in Galloway placenames, but quite rare in the Highlands. The dialects of all these regions are also, in turn, the most similar to 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 long sonants. An example of this is the word clann meaning children. In both Munster and northern Scottish Gaelic it is pronounced /klaun/ whereas in Ulster and Mayo it is /klan/ and in Connemara /klɑ:n/. Similarly, im meaning butter is pronounced /i:m'/ in both Munster and northern Scotland but /im'/ in Ulster. In the substantive verb tá of Standard Irish, northern Scotland and west Munster agree in leniting the initial t, thus one hears thá in West Kerry and Waterford in East Munster and tha in northern Scotland.
The closest to Scottish Gaelic in Irish is the dialect currently spoken in Donegal, as illustrated by the sentence "How are you?".
- Scottish Gaelic — Ciamar a tha sibh? (formal) or Ciamar a tha thu? (informal)
- Ulster Irish — Caidé mar a tá tú?, also spelt Cad é mar atá tú?
- Munster Irish — Conas taoi?, Conas tánn tú?, Conas tá tú?
- Connacht Irish — Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú?
Sibh is used in both Scottish and Irish Gaelic for the plural "you", while Scottish Gaelic also uses sibh as a formal version of "you" (much like like French uses vous) (see T-V distinction). Modern-day Irish Gaelic no longer makes this formal/informal distinction when addressing people.
In Lewis dialect however, Dè mar a tha thu? is commonly used. All these forms share the structure of the Doric dialect of Scots, Fit like? or literally, What like are you?, a commonly heard expression amongst many in older generations when translating directly from Gaelic.
Also, the negative participle in Scottish Gaelic is cha (chan eil = "is not") whereas in standard Irish it is ní (níl = "is not", a contraction of ní fhuil), as illustrated by the sentence "I have no money" (cha and chan fhuil are still legitimate Irish forms in Ulster, though):
- Scottish Gaelic — Chan eil airgead agam.
- Ulster Gaelic — Chan fhuil airgead agam.
- Standard Irish — Níl aon airgead agam.
It should be noted that Scottish Gaelic speakers may also use the Irish phrase, or at least sound as if they were, as Chan eil can frequently be shortened to 'n eil or simply nil. The digraph eu is still used in Scottish Gaelic spelling but is now obsolete in Irish. Éa is now used instead of eu in Irish. For instance the word for the English language Béarla in Irish and Beurla in Scottish Gaelic. This is due to a spelling reform and standardisation which took place in Ireland under the auspices of the Irish government during the 20th century.
The most obvious grammatical difference between Scottish Gaelic and Irish is that in the former only remnants remain of eclipsis, meaning that Irish has two major mutations to Scottish Gaelic's one. In general, one could say that the grammar of Scottish Gaelic is slightly simpler than that of Irish, while its phonology is more complex, something that also has an impact on spelling.
[edit] Orthographic differences
There are a number of distinctive written differences. Both languages have been reformed in recent decades, which has led to further divergence.
The most obvious orthographical difference is that the accent, or síneadh fada, is written as a grave accent in Scottish Gaelic, as opposed to the acute accent of Irish; hence the word for "welcome" is written as fàilte in Scottish Gaelic and in Irish as fáilte. Irish has no grave accent, only acute accents, while until recently Scottish Gaelic had both grave and acute accents. The recent spelling reform has meant that there are now only grave accents in Scottish Gaelic, the opposite of Irish.
Another couple of features, also changed recently, were that "d" and "u" were common in Scottish Gaelic, where "t" and "a" would be in Irish e.g. Comunn-cumann (now Comann in Scottish Gaelic).
The suffix -sa added to the end of a prepositional pronoun for emphasis, is hyphenated in Scottish Gaelic, whereas in Irish it is added to the word, as illustrated by the sentence "I've got money":
- Scottish Gaelic — Tha airgead agam-sa.
- Standard Irish — Tá airgead agamsa.
A number of letter combinations are possible in written Irish which are not found in Scottish Gaelic e.g. "ae", "bhf". Irish uses "cht" where Scottish Gaelic uses "chd", although "chd" itself was once common in written Irish. In Irish one uses "sc" wherever Scottish Gaelic uses "sg". "Sg", too, was once commonly written in Irish.
Most obvious differences in spelling result from the deletion of silent lenited digraphs (mainly dh, gh, and th) in Irish in spelling reforms to make the language easier to learn, which was not done in Scottish Gaelic. Overall, Scottish Gaelic orthography is more conservative than that of Irish.
| English | Irish | Scottish Gaelic | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gael | Gael | Gaidheal | Pre 1950s Gaedheal in Irish | |
| day | lá | latha | ||
| night | oíche | oidhche | Pre 1950s oidhche in Irish | |
| inside | isteach | a-steach | ||
| school | scoil | sgoil | Pre 1950s sgoil in Irish | |
| child | páiste/leanbh | pàiste/leanabh | ||
| without | gan | gun | ||
| authority | údarás | ùghdarras | Pre 1950s ughdarás in Irish | |
| office | oifig | oifis | Also oifig in Scottish Gaelic | |
| star | réalt(a) | reul | ||
| hotel | (teach/tigh) óstá(i)n | (taigh) òsda | Also tigh/teach ósta in Irish. sd is commonly found instead of st in pre-20th century Irish texts | |
| house | teach/tigh | taigh | ||
| open | oscailte | fosgailte | Also foscailte in Irish | |
| year | bliain | bliadhna | Pre-1950s bliadhain in Irish. The form bliadhna (bliana today) being used as a special plural form following numerals | |
| radio | raidió | radio | Also réidió and rèidio in spoken Irish and Scottish Gaelic | |
| government | rialtas | riaghaltas | Pre-1950s riaghaltas in Irish | |
| parliament | parlaimint | pàrlamaid | ||
| island | oileán | eilean |
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[edit] Differences in vocabulary
| English | Irish | Scottish Gaelic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | i | ann | |
| minister | ministir | ministear | In Irish, aire for a government minister |
| Germany | An Ghearmáin | A' Ghearmailt | |
| America | Meiriceá | Ameireaga | |
| London | Londain | Lunnain | |
| road | bóthar/ród | rathad | Also ród in Irish Gaelic |
| cold | slaghdán | cnatan | Meaning illness |
| talking | caint | bruidhinn | Also, cainnt in Scottish Gaelic. Bruíon (formerly bruighean) in Irish means fighting, quarrelling in Irish |
| Irish Gaelic | English | Scottish Gaelic | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cuan | harbour | cuan | ocean | A number of words are used in Irish for ocean, aigéan is commonly used in geographical nomenclature while simply an fharraige or an fharraige mhór are probably the most common forms in everyday speech. Caladh or calafort are commonly used in Irish for harbour. Calafort means a piered port |
| An Bhreatain Bheag | Wales | A' Bhreatain Bheag | Brittany | 'Big' Breatain (Great Britain) is the same on both, but 'little' Breatain is different in each: Brittany in Scottish and Wales in Irish. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent for Wales is A' Chuimrigh, similar to Cymru in Welsh. The Irish for Brittany is An Bhriotáin. |
