Orthographic Differences
There are a number of distinctive written differences. Both languages have been reformed in recent decades, which has led to further divergence, though conversely more recent spelling reforms in Scottish Gaelic have redressed the divergences to some extent.
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.
The suffix -sa added to the end of a prepositional pronoun for emphasis, is normally hyphenated in Scottish Gaelic, whereas in Standard Irish it is added to the word (though this is frequently not adhered to), 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, as was "cht" in Scottish Gaelic - both being possible in Classical Gaelic. In the combinations "sc"/"sg" and "st"/"sd", Irish now uses "sc" and "st", while Scottish Gaelic uses "sg" and "sd".
Most obvious differences in spelling result from the deletion of silent lenited digraphs (mainly dh, gh, and th) in Irish in spelling reforms, which was only sometimes done in Scottish Gaelic. Overall, Scottish Gaelic orthography is more conservative than that of Irish.
| English | Irish | Scottish Gaelic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gael | Gael | Gàidheal | Pre 1950s Gaeidheal in Irish |
| day | lá | latha, là | |
| night | oíche | oidhche | Pre 1950s oidhche in Irish |
| inside | isteach | a-steach | |
| school | scoil | sgoil | Pre 1950s sgoil/scoil in Irish |
| child | páiste/leanbh | pàiste/leanabh | |
| without | gan | gun | |
| authority | údarás | ùghdarras | Pre 1950s ughdarás in Irish |
| office | oifig | oifis | |
| star | réalt(a) | reul | Pre 1950s réalt(a), reult(a) in Irish |
| hotel | óstán, teach/tigh ósta | taigh-òsta | Pre 1950s óstán/ósdán, teach/tigh ósta/ósda in Irish |
| house | teach (nom-acc), tigh (dat); Munster tigh | taigh | In biblical Gaelic tigh |
| news | nuacht, Ulster nuaidheacht | naidheachd | |
| open | oscail | fosgail | Also foscail in Ulster Irish |
| year | bliain | bliadhna | Pre-1950s bliadhain in Irish. The form bliadhna (bliana today) is used as a special plural form following numerals; the regular plural is blianta) |
| radio | raidió | radio | Also réidió and rèidio in spoken Irish and Scottish Gaelic |
| report | aithris | aithris | |
| government | rialtas | riaghaltas | Pre-1950s riaghaltas in Irish |
| parliament | parlaimint | pàrlamaid | |
| island | oileán | eilean |
Read more about this topic: Differences Between Scottish Gaelic And Irish
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