The Gaelic Dialect of Colonsay
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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. THE GAELIC DIALECT OF COLONSAY Alastair MacNeill Scouller MA (Glasgow), BD (Edinburgh), MSc (Edinburgh), FCIL Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2017 0 ABSTRACT This thesis provides a description of the Scottish Gaelic dialect spoken on the Inner Hebridean island of Colonsay. This dialect has not previously been the subject of any serious academic research. Gaelic was the dominant language on Colonsay until the 1970s, but the local dialect is now in terminal decline, with only a handful of fluent speakers still living on the island. The study focusses mainly on the phonology of the dialect, but other aspects such as morphology, syntax and lexis are also covered. Following a brief introduction, Chapter 1 seeks to situate the dialect in its wider geographical, historical and sociolinguistic context, highlighting the major changes that have taken place in the past forty years, and have led to its present endangered situation. Chapter 2, which comprises approximately half the thesis, examines the phonological structure of the dialect in detail, based on the results of the Survey of the Gaelic Dialects of Scotland (SGDS). Issues of phonetic and phonemic transcription are discussed. The phonemes identified are then listed, with their respective allophones and non-allophonic variants. Chapter 3 deals with prosodic and other non-segmental features which are of significance for the phonology of the dialect. Chapter 4 highlights those aspects of morphology and syntax where Colonsay usage differs from other varieties of Gaelic. Chapter 5 discusses lexical features which are particular to this dialect, or shared with neighbouring dialects in Argyll. An annotated Glossary lists words which are of particular interest in the study of this dialect, some of which are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5. 1 This thesis will provide future students of Gaelic dialectology with an account of the Colonsay dialect, to complement the numerous monographs that have been written about other varieties of Gaelic. Because of the precarious position of this dialect, the timing of this study is critical: it represents the last opportunity to ‘preserve by record’ a distinctive variety of Gaelic which, sadly, is on the verge of extinction. 2 DECLARATION I hereby declare: (a) that the thesis has been composed by me, and (b) that the work is my own, and (c) that the work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed, 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 1 DECLARATION 3 ******** ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10 List of informants 12 List of abbreviations 13 INTRODUCTION 14 Genesis of the project 14 Structure of the thesis 15 The Linguistic Survey of Scotland 17 1. THE BACKGROUND: AN ISLAND AND ITS LANGUAGE 21 The island 21 Written sources 22 History 28 Recent economic/demographic developments 31 Shift in employment and population patterns 31 Language shift 37 2. THE PHONEMIC ANALYSIS OF COLONSAY GAELIC 42 Transcription practice 44 4 VOWEL PHONEMES 45 Modified forms 48 Cardinal vowels 50 Non-cardinal vowels 52 Rounded front vowels: y ʏ ø 52 Unrounded back vowels: ɯ ɤ ʌ 53 Lax forms: ɪ ʊ 56 Central vowel: ə 59 Diphthongs 60 CONSONANT PHONEMES 61 Stops 61 Palatalised stops 67 Fricative [ç] 70 Sonorants 72 Laterals and nasals 72 Comparison of the phonemic status of laterals and nasals 73 Rounded and velarised laterals and nasals 75 Comparison with Islay forms 77 Bilabial nasal phoneme /m/ 78 Vibrants – a re-assessment 79 Results of fresh fieldwork on Colonsay 84 Semi-vowels 90 REVIEW OF INDIVIDUAL PHONEMES 93 VOWEL PHONEMES 94 Front vowels – unrounded 94 Front vowel – rounded 107 Back vowels 112 Central vowel 122 Schematic tables 127 5 STOP PHONEMES 130 Lenis stops 130 Fortis stops 138 Palatalised stops: lenis 146 Palatalised stops: fortis 151 FRICATIVES 157 Unvoiced fricatives 157 Voiced fricatives 170 SONORANTS 175 Laterals 175 Nasals 185 Vibrant 197 SEMI-VOWELS 201 Summary table 204 DIPHTHONGS 205 Commonly occurring diphthongs 207 Less commonly occurring diphthongs 213 Summary table 227 3. NON-SEGMENTAL (PROSODIC) FEATURES 228 Stress 231 Duration 235 Long and short vowels 235 Lengthening of consonants 238 Tone 239 Representation of tone 244 6 Glottalisation 255 Glottalisation of sonorants 259 Glottalisation of lenis stops 260 Glottalisation of voiced fricatives 260 Glottalisation in sandhi 261 Epenthesis 262 Previous studies of epenthesis in Scottish Gaelic dialects 264 The ‘Argyll’ model 269 Epenthesis in Colonsay Gaelic 271 Sonorant + lenis stop 272 Sonorant + fortis stop 272 Sonorant + sonorant 273 Sonorant + fricative 273 Fricative + sonorant 274 Phonological assessment of epenthesis 275 Preaspiration 277 Nasalisation 281 Nasalisation of vowels 281 Voicing of consonants 284 The nasal mutation 284 Word-internal voicing 287 Devoicing 289 Lenis stops 289 Final devoicing 290 Preaspiration of sonorants 290 Some insights from syllable theory 291 Complementarity of prosodic features 295 7 4. MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX 297 Findings of the Linguistic Survey of Scotland 301 MORPHOLOGY 303 Verbs 303 Regular verbs 303 Irregular verbs 305 Definite article 316 Nouns 318 Genitive and dative case marking 318 Masculine singular nouns 320 Feminine singular nouns 321 Dual number 322 Plural nouns 323 Vocative case 324 Adjectives 325 Plural marking 325 Case marking 326 Comparative and superlative 326 Pronouns 328 Prepositional pronouns 328 SYNTAX 337 Perfect and pluperfect tenses formed with an dèidh 337 Relative clauses involving prepositions 338 Directional v. locational adverbs of place 339 Clefts: ’s ann and ’s e 341 Formal and informal forms of second person pronouns 342 Summary of findings 343 8 5. LEXICAL FEATURES 345 Parallels with Irish 346 Preferential choices 349 Substitutionary choices 353 Expressions of time 356 Numerals 357 Intensifiers 358 The influence of English 359 Discourse markers 364 Personal names 365 Lexical comparisons with other Argyll island dialects 368 CONCLUSION 374 Sunset over Colonsay 377 GLOSSARY 378 BIBLIOGRAPHY 388 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis could not have been produced without the willing co-operation of many people. In the first instance I should like to thank my academic supervisors, Professor William Gillies, Professor Wilson McLeod, and Dr William Lamb, for their sustained interest in the progress of my project, and for constructive criticism and useful suggestions at all stages of the work. I also wish to thank Professor Elmar Ternes, of Hamburg University, for his helpful observations. Professor Emeritus John Sheets, of the University of Central Missouri, an expert on the social history of Colonsay in the 19th century, was able to supply a wealth of background information, and has encouraged me at every stage. Dr George Jones, of Aberystwyth, helpfully supplied me with electronic copies of his own PhD thesis on the Gaelic of Jura, and provided additional information on the Jura dialect. Dr Cathlin Macaulay, of the School of Scottish Studies Archives, kindly allowed me access to the Scottish Studies Library during the period of its relocation. Her colleague Caroline Milligan has been of enormous help over the years in supplying me with recording equipment, and locating and copying archive recordings. 10 Most of all I would like to express sincere thanks to those speakers of Colonsay Gaelic who allowed me to record them, and in some cases had to put up with some fairly rigorous questioning. Their names are listed below. The fact that so many of them are being thanked posthumously merely serves to underline the precarious nature of this dialect. In particular I would like to pay tribute to Flora Macneill, Mary Ann MacAllister and Jessie McNeill, all sadly gone from us in the space of just two years, who took a close interest in my project, and were always on hand to answer questions. My cousin Niall Brown was kind enough to read through drafts of some chapters, and make helpful observations. I would especially like to thank him and Netta Titterton for several hours spent patiently answering my questions, particularly about expressions they remembered being used by a previous generation of Colonsay Gaelic speakers. Dion Alexander was also able to share with me his ‘remembrance of things past’, including a number of typically Colonsay expressions that I had forgotten about. At the same time, I should like to thank the many other Colonsay people who, although not Gaelic speakers themselves, have encouraged me in my research into this vital aspect of the island’s heritage. Kevin Byrne in particular has provided a wealth of stimulating suggestions and theories, which have occasionally enabled me to see things from a different angle. The late Angela Skrimshire also provided useful and, at times, challenging insights from an ‘incomer’s’ perspective. Of the many other personal friends who have supported me throughout the course of this project I would mention in particular Sheila Knowles and Shiona Mackay. Finally, I wish to express sincere thanks to Mr Zahid Mahmood, Cardiac Surgeon, whose professional skills ensured that I was able to complete this thesis with only the briefest of interruptions, despite having to undergo major heart surgery during its latter stages.