Irish dialects

This article is about dialects of the Irish language. For dialects of English used in Ireland, see Hiberno-English and Ulster-Scots.
There are three major dialects of Modern Irish: Munster, spoken in Counties Cork, Kerry, and Clare; Connacht, spoken in Counties Galway and Mayo; and Ulster, spoken in County Donegal. In addition, a committee at the Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann has devised a standardized pronunciation known as the Lárchanúint ('Central Dialect'), which is based closely on the standard spelling of Irish. Although the Lárchanúint is an artificial dialect, every aspect of it corresponds to some spoken dialect. So nothing in the Lárchanúint is completely made up.

Lexical variation

Here are some examples of lexical items that vary across the dialects of Irish. U = Ulster, C = Connacht, M = Munster, N = Ulster and northern Connacht, S = Munster and southern Connacht. Forms marked with * are not recognized in the standard language.

Phonological variation

The phonemic inventories and surface realizations of the spoken dialects differ from the general pattern discussed on the page Irish phonology in the following ways:

Munster

The fricative [v] is found in syllable-onset position.

Some, but not all, varieties have a phoneme /h´/ distinct from /h/.

There are the additional diphthongs /əi/, /ou/, and /ia/.

Word-internal clusters of obstruent + sonorant, [m] + [n/r], and stop + fricative are broken up by an epenthetic [ə], except that stop + liquid remains in the onset of a stressed syllable.

Orthographic short a is diphthongized (rather than lengthened) before word-final m and the Old Irish tense sonorants /N L N´ L´ m m´/ (e.g. ceann [k´aun] 'head').

Word-final /j/ is realized as [g´].

Stress is attracted to noninitial heavy syllables: [kər^|ka:n] 'pot', [m´alə^|vo:g] 'satchel'. Stress is also attracted to [ax] in the second syllable: [kə^|l´ax] 'rooster', [b´ə^|naxt] 'blessing', [bə^|kaxə] 'lame' (pl.).

Unstressed /a/ surfaces as [a], rather than [ə], when the following syllable is stressed and contains a high vowel: [ka^|l´i:n´] 'girl'; [k´ar^|tu:] 'correct' (v.n.).

In some varieties, long /a:/ is rounded.

Connacht

There is vowel lengthening before word-internal clusters of voiced stop + liquid.

Some varieties have maintained some or all of the Old Irish tense sonorants /N L N´ L´/ (but not /R R´/), often without lengthening of orthographic short vowels before them.

In the variety spoken in Cois Fhairrge, underlying short /a/ is realized as a long front [a:] while underlying long /a:/ is realized as a back [ɑ:].

/n/ is realized as [r] (or is replaced by /r/) after consonants other than [s]. This happens in Ulster as well.

Ulster

The glide [w] is found for /v/ in all positions.

Some or all of Old Irish /N L N´ L´/ (but not /R R´/) have been retained.

Orthographic short vowels remain short before ll, m, nn.

There is an additional long vowel, the mid-open back rounded /ɔ:/ (cf. the vowel of British English thought). This corresponds to the /o:/ of other dialects. The Ulster /o:/ corresponds to the /au/ of other dialects.

The short mid vowel phoneme has three [+back] allophones: [o] adjacent to labials, [ɞ] (a mid central rounded lax vowel) before a voiced stop, a nasal or /L/, and [ɔ] elsewhere.

The short high vowel phoneme has two [+back] allophones: [u] before word-final /w/ and /h/; [ɞ] elsewhere.

Long vowels are shortened when in unstressed syllables.

/n/ is realized as [r] (or is replaced by /r/) after consonants other than [s]. This happens in Connacht as well.

Long /a:/ surfaces as a low front [æ:].

Orthographic -adh in unstressed syllables is always [u] (this includes verb forms).

Unstressed orthographic -ach is pronounced [ax], [ah], or [a].

Morphological variation

Initial mutations

In Donegal there is lenition instead of eclipsis of a singular noun after preposition + article:

Nominal system

Many nouns have dialectal plurals different from those of the standard language: