Here is my phonetic version based off of Kenneth Jackson's transcription used in Scéalta na mBlascaod. Because Jackson's spelling was used to convey the exact speech of Peig Sayers as it was recorded, it is difficult to implement it into a context in which the aim is to document the general speech of the dialect, rather than one single person's speech as was spoken at a given time. I have tried my best to use the most common form of a word given the existence of multiple different forms. I have used Ó Sé's Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne heavily to help implament this, as well as consulting the corpas which I have collected so far, comparing the frequency of certain forms to others. The spelling system is designed to be as intuitive as possible, and when it has lost that element I will point out the correct pronunciation and why I have chosen to spell it that way. In any situation in which the a certain word has its stress on a syllable not expected in accordence to the most basic patterns illustrated by Ó Sé in his book I have mentioned, I will use the symbol ` for short vowels and ̌ for long vowels. I have decided to use -(e)àch(-) for stressed
-(e)ach(-) (when not in the first syllable), simply for the purpose of clarification/abiding to the simplest/most consistent spelling possible. I have kept words with long vowels based on a root containing broad/slender
-mh- in which the vowel has become vocalised for the purpose of showing that the vowel may/may not be nasalised. I don't mean to discourage anyone else from posting transcriptions/notes, especially David who's transcription is just as valuable if not more.
Daoine mar chách a b’ea m’athair agus mo mháthair, ach ó’n ngeár-thuairisc seo, agus ó’n méid atá agùm lé cur leis am’ thaobh féin, is folas, dar lium, nár chosúil a gclann a n-ao’ chor lé daoin’ eile, ach go reibh is gach duine ’cu sprid fhiain chuin fánaíocht a bhíon lé fáil, b’fhéidir, uaireanta ’ nduin’ aonair, ach gur anamh a ghaibhean sé a’ chlann uile go fiú na mná. Bhí cuaird tuca eigem’ dhritháir Liam eir an Eóraip, an Asia agus an Afraic sara reibh sé a de’ fihead do bhlianaibh. Tá Maitiú tréis bheith a Meirice fé dhó, sa hÍndiaithe Thiar trus, gan trácht eir umad trus go Sasana agus a chuaird agus a thréimhse príosúin sa’ bhFrainnc, agus sun uile déunta eigè sara reibh sé a seacht fihead do bhlianaibh. Eir aois a ceathair déug tá trus tuca heana eig’ Artúr eir Shasana, dhá thrus eir a’ bPoirtingéil agus dhá thrus thar muar-mhuir a’ dol go Meirice ’gus a’ file. Tá mo dhrifiúr Máire tréis dol tharais a’ muar-mhuir chéuna agus tá súil agùm go ndéunfaig go luath aruíst é dol thar n-ais abhàile dhi. Ní thráchtaim ansò eir mo bhean-chéile ná eir ár mbeirt bhuachailí ’gus a’ cailín níne, ná reibh an té ba shine ’cu ach hocht bliana agus an té a b’óige dhá bhliain d’aois nuair a sheólamair go Meirice. Agus, do réir mar cíotar dom, níl ao’ deimhne àn go bhfuil deire eir fad lé n-ár n-eachtaraithe go fóil.
Tráchtfad anìs oram féin. Mise, mar dúrt, sínsear chluine mo thuismitheóirí, agus ba mhuar a’ bháig a bhí dhom. Cuireach me a n-aois a hocht nú a nao eir scoil sár-mha’ Béurla bhí eige Sisson Darling, duine go rabhas fé chomaoin mhuar eigè trí mhéid a chineáltas agus a dhúrthacht dom. Ghaibh sé cúram thar cách dom. Tá irim agùm fós dò. Bhín ana-dhíomhaoin agus ní bhíoch ao’ rod ach corp náire ghríosaíoch chuin saothair me. Mar sin féin nuair a bhíoch na scrúdúcháin phoiblí a’ drideam lin—bhídís eir siúl gach ráithe ’gus bhíoch ár muíntir agus ár gcáirde uile do láthair—dhinin saothar seal agus d’eidhríoch lium do ghnáth óir tá sé nú seacht do dhuaiseana agùm a ghnóthaíos a mbrainnsí éugsúla eir ao’ scrúdúchán amháin, as ocht matamaitice, uimhireacht, léitheóireacht, agus cleachta na meall-chruine, ⁊rl. Theipeach síoraí oram a dhá n-abhar léin, scríobh, agus Teagasc Críostaí. Ní dh’fhéudfain choíhe thúirt oram féin stuidéar a dhéunamh eir a’ gceann deirig acù sun.
Tréis tuairim trí bliana chaitheamh fara Mr. Darling, agus gbháilt trí chúrsa eir fora-mhuar foghlama ’ Bhéurla, mhol sé go láidir dom’ athair me chur eir scoil Laidine agus me dh’ulamhú a gcómhair na hOl-Scoile. Chuir sé a n-úil dò gur bhuachail breá me, go raibh éirimí nea-choitìanta anùm, a gcómhair mhatamaitice go ró-speisìalta, agus go mbo mhíle trua mo thairife a chaitheamh gan mhathas a ngairim gnótha nuair bo dheimhnitheach é, dá dtugtaí ideàchas fial dom, go dtugfach lium bheith am’ Fellow a gCláiste na Tríonóide, ní ba mhuar mar chéim nea-spleáchais, gan trácht eir a’ nglór a leanfach é.
Notes:
I was reluctant to decide how the issue of apostrophes should be handled when representing the ellision of a phoneme (e.g.
dob' ea vs
do b'ea vs
do b' ea), but in the end it does not really affect the pronunciation. It is important to note that, though in modern CDh Irish it often does, the apostrophe mark does not necessarily mean that a consonant who's following vowel has been ellided must take on the quality of the following vowel (e.g. thus both
d'ith with a broad
d'- and a slender
d'- are possible, albeit with the latter being more common). If a particle is completely ellided I do not use an apostrophe to represent its absence (e.g.
é dol =
é ag dul)
geár: double consonants as are found in the standard spelling system are avoided other than to represent a dyphthongised vowel (thus
-mm(-) is also possible where it is avoided in the standard)
am': =
im'. It takes on the quality of the following consonant (i.e. /ə/ before a broad vowel vs /ɪ/ before a slender vowel. Note that in two letter unstressed words the vowel used at the beginning of the word is
a- (e.g.
an), versus
-o at the end (e.g.
do, mo, etc.). When the vowel is not week the symbol ` is used (e.g.
àn /an/ vs
an /ən/,
do /də/ vs
dò /do/)
féin: I kept this instead of changing it to
héin in order to express that it can be pronounced in both ways.
is: pronounced with a broad
-s.
reibh: initial
r- is always pronounced broad unless otherwise noted
as: =
a before
gach. Also exists the form
ans.
chuin: also
chun, though less common
b'fhéidir: also
b'é',
mb'é' exist.
ghaibhean: pronounced /ɣain/. In the middle of some words the consonant
-bh-/-mh- has not been vocalised as would be expected for the dialect (e.g.
uimhir: /iv´ir´/ instead of /i:r´/). When this occurs in a context relating to what would be expected to be a lengthened vowel (e.g.
uimhir), I will keep the
-bh- (and replace
-mh- with
-bh- to avoid ambiguity) to show that the consonant is still pronounced (though if the consonant has indeed become vocalised to a lengthened vowel, then that corresponding vowel will replace the consonant, e.g.
duibhe -->
duí), e.g.
uimhir -->
ibhir. However, because the lenited
-bh-/-mh- may often be necessary to represent dyphthongisation as opposed to lengthening, those consonants are kept (
-bh- representing a plain vocalised dyphthong, and
-mh- representing a nasal one), and if ever arises a context in which that same consonant might not be alided, it will be represented by the letter
-v- to avoid ambiguity (though this very seldome occurs). For example, if the word
ghaibhean were not to be pronounced as /ɣain/, but instead /ɣav´ən/, the spelling
ghaivean would be used.
I have kept most of the proper names partaining to people/countries as they were in Ó Siochfhradhas original version, as nowadays in the dialect there are many different forms to be expected.
sara: also
sulafihead: I have changed intervocalic
-ch- to
-h- when pronounced as /-h-/ (as it almost always is in the dialect), as has Jackson, and maintain
-ch- when it may be pronounced either as /-x´-/ or /-h-/ (as in
íche =
oíche)
sun: I have chosen to spell this as
sun instead of
san to show that, though it often is unstressed, it is pronounced /sun/ when stressed as opposed to /san/.
déunta: I have chosen
éu to represent the sound /ia/ vs
éa representing long /e:/ when proceding a broad consonant
muar: also
múrdol: also
duldhrifiúr: Ó Sé would have
driofúr as the nominitive though I have found
drifiúr to be more common.
ndéunfaig: Jackson often replaces unstressed
-ai- with
-ui-, though somewhat inconsistently (e.g. mostly for conjugated forms of the verb). I have decided not to do this. Since
-a(i-) is already regularly pronounced /ə/ outside of stressed syllables there is not need to change it.
aruíst: also
aruísan té: I have most often heard the
-n- pronounced, therefor I have chosen to keep it in the spelling. Under all other circumstances of the article before a consonant it is usually ellided, therefor I have chosen otherwise the spelling
a'.
do réir: also
déir,
dréiràn: also
annanìs: the
-n- may be either broad or slender in quality.
rod: also
ruddrideam: also
druideam,
druidim,
dridim,
didimbhídís: also
bhídístdo láthair: also
a láthairdhinin: also
dhéininmeall-chruine: not sure what this means
scríobh:
scríobhadh in the original
fara: also
faraegbháilt: pronounced either /gva:lt´/ or /gwa:l´t´/. There is also
gbháilI understand how this spelling system could be very confusing. Please let me know if there is anything I should clarify/if there is any inconsistencies.
Gréasaghas wrote:
Tá an leabhar go léir, gach aon leathanach de, curtha suas ar archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/beatha-wolfe-tone. Tá mo chuid oibre goidithe agat, a Chló Ros Nua, a bhithiúnaigh!
Ach is maith é sin. Tá leabhair eile le scanáil agus le cur amach agam mar r-leabhair agus tá súil agam go mbeidh ionam an bheart so do chur i bhfeidhm. Ní deirim ná gur spreagadh me leis.
Séamus O'Neill wrote:
I am also working on transliterating this text in a phonological spelling derived highly off of that used by Kenneth Jackson in his Scéalta ón mBlascaod. If anyone is interested in seeing that please let me know.
Ba mhaith liom an leagan san do léamh, a chara.
A Ghréasaghais, an mbeadh suim agat nó ag éinne eile i dtaifeadadh don leabhar?