(, "The Official Standard"), often shortened to , is the variety of the
Irish language
Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
that is used as the standard or state norm for the
spelling
Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element.
Spelli ...
and the
grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...
of the language and is used in official publications and taught in most schools in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
. The standard is based on the three
Gaeltacht
A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home.
The districts were first officially recognised ...
dialects:
Connacht Irish,
Munster Irish and
Ulster Irish. In
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
and
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
, the
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
dialect (''Gaedhilg Uladh'') is used extensively alongside the standard form as the spoken language in primary and secondary schools.
It was first published in 1958 by combining spelling reforms, which were promulgated in 1945 to 1947, with grammar standards, which were published in 1953.
Revised editions were published in 2012
and 2017. Since 2013, the
Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, through the translation department, has been responsible for periodic updates to the standard, with reviews at least once every seven years.
History
From the creation of the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
in December 1922, successive governments were committed to promoting the
Irish language
Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
, with separate teaching materials in each of the three living vernacular dialects. Official publications were often issued with Irish translations, including the texts of all
acts of the
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...
(parliament). The Oireachtas established the (Translation Branch) for this work, which developed ad hoc conventions to reconcile the different dialect forms and to avoid favouring a single dialect in its output. When
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
instigated a
new constitution, which was adopted in 1937, he established a committee to propose spelling reforms for the "popular edition" of the Irish-language text.
The committee was unable to agree, but one member,
T. F. O'Rahilly, sent his notes to de Valera, who forwarded them to , which developed a system circulated within the
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
in 1945 and revised in 1947.
The first edition was reprinted regularly between 1960 and 2004;
there were minor revisions in 1960 and 1979. A revised edition was published in 2012 both online and in hardcopy.
Among the changes to be found in the revised version are, for example, various attempts to bring the recommendations of the closer to the spoken dialect of Gaeltacht speakers, including allowing further use of the nominative case in which the genitive would historically have been found.
The context influencing the differences between dialects has changed over time. On one hand, the shrinking of the Irish-speaking areas over the past two centuries means that although there was once a continuum of dialects from one end of the country to the other, the dialects are now each geographically isolated. On the other hand, national TV and radio stations have increased certain types of mixing between the dialects in recent decades, reducing the differences.
Characteristics
Its development had three purposes. One was to create a standard written form that would be mutually intelligible by speakers with different dialects.
Another was to simplify Irish spelling by removing many
silent letters that had existed in
Classical Irish. The last was to create a uniform and less complicated grammar, which should provide less of a hindrance to learners and thus combat the decline of the language.
The building blocks of the Caighdeán come from the three main dialects, namely
Ulster Irish,
Munster Irish, and
Connacht Irish. The standard is described by
MÃcheál Ó Siadhail as being "to an extent based on a 'common core' of all Irish dialects, or the most frequent forms, and partly on random choice".
A side effect of simplifying the spelling was that the language's similarity to
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
was reduced. For example, while pre-Caighdeán Irish had separate spellings for the three words "bay" (), "sympathy" (), and "drowning" (), the Caighdeán replaced all three by . The older forms resembled the Scottish Gaelic words , , and .
Pronunciation and silent letters
The Caighdeán does not recommend any pronunciation but is affected by pronunciation because it aims to represent all current pronunciations. For example, if is silent in Ulster and Connacht but pronounced in Munster, the is kept. That is why so many silent letters remain although the Caighdeán has the goal of eliminating silent letters. Letters have been removed when they are no longer pronounced in any dialect and so and replaced and . Examples also exist in which preserving multiple pronunciations would have been difficult and a winner and a loser had to be picked, such as the word for "again", which most native speakers pronounce as , but although a minority of them pronounce it as , the Caighdeán uses the former.
Notes
Sources
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References
Sources
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External links
An Caighdeán Oifigiúil (2017 version)Translations Department webpage about the Caighdeán
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caighdean Oifigiuil
Standard languages
Irish dialects
Irish grammar
Spelling reform