43: The Irish dialects of Rathlin Island
Written and published by Linden Alexander Pentecost on the 2nd of September 2024. This article contains the following sub-sections: Introduction; Numbered list of some 6 Rathlin Irish features, with discussions; Notes on orthography used in this article, and on future research:; References and links to other recent Ulster Irish articles by the author:. This article contains 2044 words and is only published as an online article on this website (as are the others). This is the first article in which I have incorporated my own adapted spelling for Rathlin Irish.
Introduction:
(Note 1: I have discussed a little on Rathlin Irish in some of my other publications, although the article on this page you are currently on is completely separate from those other articles)
(Note 2: all spellings in Rathlin Irish (in bold) with (1) given after them are my own spellings but based upon phonetic information given for these words in source (1).
(Note 3: Yesterday (on the 1st of september 2024, today (the day of writing this) is the 2nd of september 2024), I wrote and published another article on this website, titled: 42: On discovering Cusco Quechua (not about cognates/etymology), the link to which is here: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-30-45/42-on-discovering-cusco-quechua-not-about-cognates-etymology . This week I also hope to have a completely separate article to the aforementioned published in Silly Linguistics, titled: An ancient temple, languages in the Bock sa-ga, and some similarities between Finnish and Quechua (with temple photo): part one of: “The mystical nature of Finnish & of language in Finland” . I do not know exactly when the article for Silly Linguistics will be published in that magazine, but perhaps today or tomorrow.
Rathlin Island, also known simply as Rathlin, is a smallish island located off the coast of the glens of Antrim on the northeastern coast of the island of Ireland. Rathlin Island has a curious geology, with a mixture of for example, chalk and basalt (although parts of the Antrim Coast also present a similar geology). The island also has a very interesting and ancient history, and, as the title of this article suggests, has its own dialects of Irish.
The island is known as Oileán Reachlainn in Irish as a whole, but Oileán Reachraidh is the name given to the island by the native speakers of Rathlin Irish. There have been some implications in publications that Rathlin Irish was closer to Scottish Gaelic, and in a sense the implication that Rathlin Irish dialects are between Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Personally I do not quite see Rathlin Irish this way, and the Rathlin Irish name for the island helps to demonstrate way, as I will (eventually) go on to explain below (i.e. in the paragraph below the one below this).
Personally I tend to think of Rathlin Irish not as being “more” Scottish Gaelic, but rather as having traits shared with Goidelic languages outside of Ireland, which are today Scottish Gaelic and Manx. I think that the relationship between Rathlin Irish and Scottish Gaelic can be thought of as no less close than the relationship between Manx, as a whole, and Rathlin Irish. (Which is not to say that Manx is not distinctly different from all the others too). The relationships between these languages are simply not simple enough for Rathlin Irish to be described as being halfway between Scottish Gaelic and Irish, in my opinion. For example, on one hand, the dialects of Gaelic in southwest Scotland do share some similarity to those in Ireland. For example on the Isle of Islay in Scotland, “thank you” is gu robh math agad, which is similar to the Irish go raibh maith agat, but not so much to the forms tapadh leat and taing used in Scotland. But, this same root structure found on Islay and in Ireland, is found on the Isle of Man too, hence the form in Manx is gura mie ayd.
Going back to the name Reachraidh, compared with the more standard Irish name Reachlainn; this demonstrates how Rathlin Irish can sometimes have an “r” for what in Irish more generally is an “l”. Sometimes the “n” sounds in Rathlin Irish become “r”, too. Neither of these changes are something found to any high degree in the parts of Scotland closest to Rathlin, nor are they found in Ulster Irish as a whole. Rather, these changes between “l” and “r” sounds seem to be a part of a particular maritime group of language features, found in parts of Scotland and Ireland, but only in certain areas.In the Gaelic dialects of St Kilda, changes between “l” and “r” sounds are extremely common. This generally applies to “slender” l and r. Some of my work on St Kilda Gaelic can be found in the following articles if you are curious:
On this website, article titled: 5: Introduction to St Kilda Gaelic, the link to which is: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-1-9/5-introduction-to-st-kilda-gaelic
On Omniglot, article titled: The Gaelic dialects of St Kilda, with comments on Gaelic and language in the Outer Hebrides
North mainland dialects of Scottish Gaelic also exhibit some changes in liquid sounds, and also frequently change an “n” into an “r” in positions not found in other parts of Scotland. For example in the county of Sutherland in Northern Scotland, the traditional Gaelic dialects would frequently have airm for ainm – “name”. The same form exists on Rathlin Island, where “name” is airm.
What I think is the most unusual aspect to Rathlin Irish phonology is the replacement of some broad “l” sounds with ng. For example, the Caighdeán spelling for the Irish language is Gaeilge, but I would be inclined to spell the Rathlin form as Gaelca (1) or Gaengca (1) according to what I understand from the forms given in source (1), which is: The Irish Language in Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, by Nils M. Holmer, published in 1942. It seems to be informant 3 in source (1) who gives these forms with “ng”.
When I initially studied and learned a little about Rathlin Irish, it was from reading the book Dhá Scéal Reachlainn agus Eile by Ciarán Dunbar. Having now come across source 1 however, I have been able to understand a little more on this dialect, and will continue to do so.
Numbered list of some 6 Rathlin Irish features, with discussions
1). The preference for bhá for Caighdéan Irish (and other dialects of Irish, to my knowledge): bhí, meaning (there) was/were. For example Caighdeán Irish. I have mentioned this in previous publications too. The form bhá is close to the Scottish Gaelic form bha and Manx va. The Arran dialect of Scottish Gaelic, the closest well-attested dialect in Scotland, had the form bhwá however, where á is pronounced [ɛ:], but this is not the case of Rathlin where the sound is closer to [a], also demonstrating how the similarities between dialects of either side of the North Channel are not necessarily always that close.
2). the attachment of a [g] at the ends of certain words ending in vowels, e.g. Rathlin Irish eileag for Caighdeán Irish eile. The form eileag is also found in the Gaelic of Arran, indicating perhaps that this mysterious insertion of [g] or [k] may be an ancient feature of language shared between Rathlin and Arran specifically. It is not particularly common however and seems to occur according to patterns I have not yet had time to study.
3). Final broad orthographic Caighdeán -dh is g on Rathlin. E.g. samhrag – summer, Caighdeán Irish samhradh, Standard Scottish Gaelic samhradh, Arran Gaelic samhrag. Another example is Rathlin Irish madag (1) – “dog”, standard spelling madadh (as given in source (1)) (this word is not the standard form in Irish as a whole, which is madra). This feature is also shared with the Gaelic of Arran to a high degree.
4). Formation of plurals with -an/-ean. This is another feature shared to a large degree with Manx and Scottish Gaelic, although plural formations are not always consistent across the dialects of any of these larger languages. Examples of -an/-ean include bátan – “boats”, from báta – boat, Caighdeán Irish bád, Standard Scottish Gaelic: bàta, Arran Gaelic bwáta, East Perthshire Gaelic: bàcht, Barra Gaelic: bàhto̊, Manx Gaelic baatey.
5). Concentration of Scottish Gaelic-like features in certain parts of the island: This is indeed curious, because Rathlin Irish does seem to show instances of where a language closer to Scottish Gaelic has been spoken in certain parts of the island. Could it be remotely possible that this pertains, at least in part, to to some communities on Rathlin could have shared contact with people in Scotland, more than others on the island, and could this be an ancient thing? Take for example that the 1st person singular pronoun is me for some speakers of Rathlin Irish, which other speakers had the form mi, which is much closer to Scottish Gaelic mi and Manx mee.
6). Pronouncing the broad velarised L in certain positions as “ng” like the “ng” in the word “wing”. For example Gaengca (1), Caighdeán Irish Gaeilge – the Irish language, tangamh (1) – earth or ground, Caighdeán Irish talamh, ynga (1) – floor, Caighdeán Irish urlár, ngámh (1) – “hand”, Caighdeán Irish lámh, ngá (1) or ngátha (1) for Caighdeán Irish lá – day, Standard Scottish Gaelic latha, là, Manx laa. Other examples include ngycht (1) – cargo, Caighdéan Irish lucht.
7). As already mentioned, “n” can become “r”, e.g. airm – name, Caighdeán Irish ainm Reachraidh – Reachlainn, Rathlin Island.
Notes on orthography used in this article, and on future research:
According to my understanding of source one, an [ø]-like or [œ]-like sound exists in Rathlin Irish, which I write here, in keeping with my spelling of Arran Gaelic, as ȯ. An example is gȯangainn (1) – shoulder, for Caighdeán Irish gualainn. There is also an [y]-like sound in Rathlin Irish, according to what I understand of source (1), which in keeping with my spelling of Arran and Scottish Gaelic again, I write here as y, as in ngycht (1). Note that I also write this ng sound for the way I am now spelling Rathlin Irish, e.g. ngámh (1) and ngycht (1) for Caighdeán Irish lámh and lucht, etc.
In the future, I hope to research the ancient history of this island more. I am also interested in how to perhaps more clearly identify ancient features within the Irish dialects of Rathlin, but, for example, I will be looking more into the archaeology and folklore of the island. I also found it incredibly interesting that according to source (1), sluagh can mean specifically a king of the fairy realm, from what I understand. I also noticed a curious animal call words in source (1), which I would like to look into in the future.
References and links to other recent Ulster Irish articles by the author:
My understanding of Rathlin Irish has slowly developed over several years, originally I learned much of it in the book Dhá Scéal Reachlainn agus Eile by Ciarán Dunbar, but have not included any examples from that source in this article. The words in this article given without (1) behind them are from my general knowledge of Rathlin Irish as I have explored it over the years, words in bold with (1) after them, were not sourced directly from source (1) but are my own spellings spellings based upon the phonetic spellings given in source (1) for these words. Source (1) is given in the text of this article but I will give it again below:
(1): The Irish Language in Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, by Nils M. Holmer, published in 1942
I have also recently published two other articles on other dialects of Ulster Irish (completely separate to the article in front of you). These other two articles are available on this website. Their links are are given below this paragraph. The first article is titled: 33: Language in Leinster and Louth Irish dialects, the second is titled: 38: Ancient language & Irish dialects in County Cavan. The links are given below:
1). https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-30-45/33-language-in-leinster-and-louth-irish-dialects
2). https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-30-45/38-ancient-language-irish-dialects-in-county-cavan
I have also written a lot on Arran Gaelic, an article that can be easily found online on Simon Agar’s website, Omniglot, is titled: Gaelic dialects of Arran and Arran's prehistory, which was published in July 2022.