Differences Between Scottish Gaelic and Irish - Phonetic and Grammatical Differences

Phonetic and Grammatical Differences

Islay and Argyll Gaelic are fairly similar to Irish. 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 "mountain" 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 of the family". In Munster Irish and northern Scottish Gaelic it is pronounced whereas in Ulster and Mayo it is and in Connemara ; the Manx form cloan has a mixed pronunciation, in the north and in the south. Similarly, im meaning "butter" is pronounced in Munster, Southern Connacht and northern Scotland (and Manx), but in Ulster and Southern Scottish.

In the verb tá of Standard Irish, northern Scotland and Central-Southern Munster agree in leniting the initial t, thus one hears thá in Waterford and Tipperary, and tha in northern Scotland. West Munster also lenits the t, but only after the preverb a "that" (an fear a thá ina sheasamh ag an ndoras "the man that's standing at the door", standard Irish an fear atá ina sheasamh ag an doras).

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? (plural/formal) or Ciamar a tha thu? (singular/informal), Lewis dialect Dè mar a tha sibh? (plural/formal) Dè mar a tha thu? (singular/informal) (dè < cad è)

Ulster Irish — Cad é mar atá sibh? (plural) Cad é mar atá tú? (singular), spelt in 'dialect spelling' as Caidé mar a tá sibh/tú?

Connacht Irish — Cén chaoi a bhfuil sib? (plural), Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú? (singular), in colloquial speech Ce chuil sib/tú

Munster Irish — Conas táthaoi (plural), Conas taoi? (singular), Conas tánn sibh/tú?, Conas atá sibh/tú?

Sibh is used in both Scottish Gaelic and Irish for the plural "you", while Scottish Gaelic also uses sibh as a formal version of "you" (much like French uses vous) (see T-V distinction). Modern-day Irish Gaelic does not use this formal/informal distinction when addressing people. The use of sibh as 'polite' you is a retention from the Classical Irish usage of the plural personal pronouns to refer to the singular in polite communcation, thus sinn "we" for mé "I, me" and sibh "you (plural)" for tú "you/thou". In speaking to friends and family, thu is used in Scottish Gaelic when speaking to one person, thus, in Lewis dialect however, Dè mar a tha thu? is commonly used rather than the polite Dè mar a tha sibh?. 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.

The negative particle in Scottish Gaelic, Manx and Northern Ulster Ulster Irish is cha/chan (chan eil, cha bhfuil/chan fhuil = "is not"; chan is from the Old Irish emphatic negative nichon). In standard Irish the negative particle is ní (níl = "is not", a contraction of ní fhuil); ní is a retention of the normal Old Irish negative; these are illustrated by the sentence "I have no money":

Scottish Gaelic — Chan eil airgead agam.

Ulster Gaelic — Chan fhuil/Cha bhfuil airgead agam.

Manx - Cha nel argid aym.

Standard Irish — Níl airgead agam.

It should be noted that Scottish Gaelic speakers may also sound as if they were using the Irish phrase, as Chan eil can frequently be shortened to 'n eil.

The Classical Irish digraph éu is still used in Scottish Gaelic spelling but is now obsolete in Irish, except in southern dialect writing, as a means to distinguish the vowel é when followed by a broad consonant from the regular dialect development é to i in the same environment, thus éan "bird" in comparison to d'éug "died; passed on"). Éa is now used instead of eu in Standard Irish. Éan is written eun in literary Scottish Gaelic. Both éa and éu existed in Classical Irish, to a large extent showing nominal case differences (with éu varying with éo in the dative of "éa"-words), however in both Scotland and Ireland, spelling reforms and standardisation (which took place in Ireland under the auspices of the Irish government during the 20th century, and much earlier in Scotland) independently went for different versions.

It must be said, however, that at times Scottish writers also adapt the spelling eu to how the combination is pronounced in Northern Gaelic, thus ia, writing ian instead of eun. Manx spelling, based mainly on English, shows that ia is also the underlying form in Manx, the word being spellt eean.