Does it matter that, in our age, so much that is good is being lost?
What is being lost, you ask?
There's a lot could be said, but I think that here I an obliged to insert a translation of Welsh poet Waldo Williams' well-known poem:
Remembrance (Cofio)
One fleeting moment as the sun is setting,
One gentle moment as the night falls fast,
To bring to mind the things that are forgotten,
Now scattered in the dust of ages past.
One gentle moment as the night falls fast,
To bring to mind the things that are forgotten,
Now scattered in the dust of ages past.
Like white-foamed waves that break on lonely beaches
Like the wind’s song where no one hears the wind,
They beckon us, I know, but to no purpose –
The old forgotten things of humankind.
The artistry and skills of early peoples,
Small dwelling-places and enormous halls,
Old well-told tales that have been lost for ages,
The gods that now no mortal could recall.
And little words of languages long-vanished,
Lithe words once lively on the lips of men,
And pretty in the prattle of small children,
No tongue will ever utter them again.
Oh, earth’s innumerable generations,
Their sacred dreams and fragile sanctity,
Is the heart silent that was once acquainted
With sadness and with gladness and with glee ?
Often at close of day, when I am lonely,
I long to know you all, bring all to mind;
is there a heart or memory still to cherish
The old forgotten things of humankind?
Translated by Alan Lwyd
But French and German: everyone knows French and German etc... Or do they? Anyway, they're important! But what we think of as French and German are a triumph of soulless banality: constipated dead standards that used only to be spoken by bureaucrats and school teachers.
The same has happened to an even greater extent in France, so that today, it's probably only in small parts of the Morvan and a few parts of the Vendee that these beautiful languages or whatever can still be heard.
Walloon is stronger in Belgium, at least in the Liege province where there was a strongly-self-conscious local society until recently. In the isolated village of Evolene in Switzerland, Franco-Provencal is still spoken. Occitan in the southern third of France is a distinct language, though that is dying fast too. It is strongest (but no younger than middle-aged people) in central and north Perigord/Limousin, small bits of Correze, highland Bearn, the old Camisard area in the south of Lozere, the Occitan valleys in Italy, and Nice (maybe). It has now almost vanished everywhere else. There is a revival movement, but, like in Brittany, it is mostly scattered middle-class urbanites.)
Here is a story in Franco-Provencal (Arpitan), until recently the language of Savoy province (France), 'French"-speaking Switzerland and many mountain valleys in Piedmont province, Italy, including Val d'Aosta.
Bavarian/Bayerisch (A fake commercial based on an original about immigrant workers who can't speak German and get in difficulties because of that. Here the problem derives from not knowing Bavarian, which is actually not generally written.)
Walloon
But all of that is neither here nor there, or at least not here, because though the Celtic languages are in bad shape as well, even fewer people know the fact. In innocence and ignorance, they are thus spared the agonies of those who care.
If you, however, lie awake at night wishing you knew something about Sutherlandshire Gaelic or Tipperary Irish, relief is at hand.
Here is a story in Franco-Provencal (Arpitan), until recently the language of Savoy province (France), 'French"-speaking Switzerland and many mountain valleys in Piedmont province, Italy, including Val d'Aosta.
Bavarian/Bayerisch (A fake commercial based on an original about immigrant workers who can't speak German and get in difficulties because of that. Here the problem derives from not knowing Bavarian, which is actually not generally written.)
Walloon
But all of that is neither here nor there, or at least not here, because though the Celtic languages are in bad shape as well, even fewer people know the fact. In innocence and ignorance, they are thus spared the agonies of those who care.
If you, however, lie awake at night wishing you knew something about Sutherlandshire Gaelic or Tipperary Irish, relief is at hand.
Even if you don't, there are bits here that might be interesting.
First, Irish: (videos below)
Below is a link to the list of podcasts of the Rileanna agus Teipeanna RTE radio program. These are radio programs from the 1950s and 1960s mostly, recorded in the field, and feature native Irish speakers from many parts of the country. You'll see, for example, that some of the first programs feature County Clare.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_rileanna.xml
"Comhra" is a weekly interview show from TG4, and a lot of individual programs are on YouTube. Most of the people interviewed are native speakers, and there are English subtitles.
TG4, the Irish language TV channel, is often not a good source, aside from newscasters etc. There are a lot of people in Ireland who speak Irish like it was English, and whose knowledge of the language is weak. A fair number of them show up on TG4 programs.
So what does Irish sound like? People have spoken of the terse lyricism of west Munster, and of east Munster as more sonorous, round and slow. County Cork sounds like south Welsh--singing and fast--to the extent that there is a project to compare the mechanics of the two dialects. As one traveled from north Kerry to Clare to Galway, a musical steadiness develops that continues into east Mayo and south Roscommon. West Connacht has its own pattern that is hard to describe, but very distinctive. Conamara is an example of this, as is the video from Kilgalligan below. Southeast Conamara also has some Munster influence in aspects of phonology, so, though very well-known, is not a good representative of Connacht dialects.
I mentioned north Roscommon etc. The dialects of North Leitrim, west Cavan and Fermanagh south of Loch Erne formed a sort of transition toward Ulster, though still sounding 'Connacht' to Ulster speakers. Some of the last speakers from there described Ulster speech as 'hard-sounding', and it's easy to hear what they meant. Donegal in the west is more lyrical than most of Ulster, though the word 'metallic' has been used to describe even it. Northeast Ulster (Antrim) moves toward Scots Gaelic, while southeast Ulster/Louth, north Meath is short, offhand and nasal.
Examples: Dingle peninsula, West Kerry, Munster
Below, West Cork (Baile Mhuirne)
http://doegen.ie/LA_1209d2 A link to the Doegen Records Project and a Tyrone storyteller.
And Welsh.
The man interviewed below is from Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire, and the dialect is just about halfway betweren north and south, perhaps a little more south. I always remember the first sight of Llanbrynmair in a valley among the moors and mountains....
Girls from near Caernarfon town (I suspect) (North) discussing a poem.
A woman from the southwest. (Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshre, but near Cardigan town, and transition toward Cardiganshire dialect.)
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_rileanna.xml
"Comhra" is a weekly interview show from TG4, and a lot of individual programs are on YouTube. Most of the people interviewed are native speakers, and there are English subtitles.
TG4, the Irish language TV channel, is often not a good source, aside from newscasters etc. There are a lot of people in Ireland who speak Irish like it was English, and whose knowledge of the language is weak. A fair number of them show up on TG4 programs.
So what does Irish sound like? People have spoken of the terse lyricism of west Munster, and of east Munster as more sonorous, round and slow. County Cork sounds like south Welsh--singing and fast--to the extent that there is a project to compare the mechanics of the two dialects. As one traveled from north Kerry to Clare to Galway, a musical steadiness develops that continues into east Mayo and south Roscommon. West Connacht has its own pattern that is hard to describe, but very distinctive. Conamara is an example of this, as is the video from Kilgalligan below. Southeast Conamara also has some Munster influence in aspects of phonology, so, though very well-known, is not a good representative of Connacht dialects.
I mentioned north Roscommon etc. The dialects of North Leitrim, west Cavan and Fermanagh south of Loch Erne formed a sort of transition toward Ulster, though still sounding 'Connacht' to Ulster speakers. Some of the last speakers from there described Ulster speech as 'hard-sounding', and it's easy to hear what they meant. Donegal in the west is more lyrical than most of Ulster, though the word 'metallic' has been used to describe even it. Northeast Ulster (Antrim) moves toward Scots Gaelic, while southeast Ulster/Louth, north Meath is short, offhand and nasal.
Examples: Dingle peninsula, West Kerry, Munster
Below, Gaoth Dobhair, Northwest Donegal
Below, West Cork (Baile Mhuirne)
Below, a storyteller from Kilgalligan, Du(mha) Chaochain, Erris, west Mayo.
http://doegen.ie/LA_1209d2 A link to the Doegen Records Project and a Tyrone storyteller.
And Welsh.
The man interviewed below is from Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire, and the dialect is just about halfway betweren north and south, perhaps a little more south. I always remember the first sight of Llanbrynmair in a valley among the moors and mountains....
Girls from near Caernarfon town (I suspect) (North) discussing a poem.
A woman from the southwest. (Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshre, but near Cardigan town, and transition toward Cardiganshire dialect.)
A little story heard in Pembrokeshire: Times were hard, and this man had to start begging in order to live. He begged his way through North Pembrokeshire first, going with a bit of an old dry cow pat to houses, and asking for a pinch of salt to put on it so he could eat it more easily. "Oh, God help us and save us!" people would tell him. "To think a man would be reduced to eating such a thing! Come in and share an actual meal with us." He was living well until he reached the Cardiganshire border. First house he came to, he gave them the usual story. The man of the house looked at him. "I can't spare any salt. but you don't have to eat that old thing when there are fresh cowpats up in the bothy that I've no use for." (Cardis are supposed to be mean.)
This is no reflection on the people of Eglwyswrw. They are, after all, on the Pembrokeshire side of the border.
A woman from South Uist discussing her duties in the Ceolas music program. South Uist Gaelic is related to that of Lochaber (see below) on the mainland.
Above, a minister from Lewis. A little different, eh? The Vikings are often credited with major influence in Lewis, though the minister doesn't sound like any Norwegian I've heard. The cadence, in fact, is what I think of as northwest Donegal. Sutherland Gaelic, on the other hand, has 'Norse vowels', and it is a more likely that Norse influenced that dialect more than Lewis.
Below is Central Glamorgan (Llangynwyd). After the song, the man does his best to speak Standard Welsh, but does not always succeed.
North Pembrokeshire is twinned with Cork, though neither know it.
Scottish Gaelic:
A woman from South Uist discussing her duties in the Ceolas music program. South Uist Gaelic is related to that of Lochaber (see below) on the mainland.
And below, a compilaton of funny bits from Gaelic television, featuring people from various parts of the mainly Outer Hebrides. (Includes English sub-titles.)
A storyteller from the borders of Tregor province and Kerne province (Cornaouilles).
Below, a man from Arzano near Lorient speaking Vannetais (southeast) dialect.
Resources
In 1928, the Irish government invited professor Doegen, who had pioneered the sound recording of language, to come to Ireland. Doegen had previously recorded English dialects from prisoners of war during the First World War. http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Berliner-Lautarchiv-British-and-Commonwealth-recordings/021M-C1315X0001XX-0399V0
(Wiltshire) These recordings are available on the British Library site and document some equally vanished English local speech. The records he made sat in Dublin (the set he took back to Germany disappeared after WWII, as far as I know) gathering dust, pretty much forgotten, until a few years ago when the Royal Irish Academy made them available on-line at the Doegen Records Project site.
http://www.doegen.ie/
Many of you will know of this site. Doegen or the government mainly seem to have been interested in people who had folktales or songs, and then they also missed some areas where there were still Irish speakers at that time, like south and mid Clare, west Limerick, southeast Limerick, north Kerry, south Galway (Gort etc.), many parts of Mayo, south Cavan (Lough Ramor area), Monaghan county, south Kilkenny and possibly, if they looked hard, north Meath. Still, there are otherwise no recordings of the Irish of many areas that they did get. Unfortunately, in some places they recorded only songs, so there's no record of actual speech.
The one thing not available on the site is a listing of speakers by parish and area below that of the county. It's therefore difficult to find speakers for an area smaller than a county. Here are listings I have made. Place is on left, name of speaker on right.
The recordings on the site have texts and translation too.
Co. Waterford
Island (west of Stradbally on the coast) De Breit http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1060d1
Ballynamult O Cadhla
Bohadoon (Slieve gCua) O Corcrain
An Rinn Turraoin; O Droma; O Cionnfhaolaidh, M
They missed the Lismore area, plus !
Tipperary, south (Ardfinnan) O Liathain
Cork
Imokilly barony, by Waterford Breathnach, Seamas
Muskerry West; Clondrohid O Luinneachain
Cuil Ao O Ceilleachair, O loinsigh, O Cruaidhlaoich
Ballingeary Mac Coitir
Beare peninsula, Glengarrif O Scolai
Adrigole O Suilleabhain, Pr. and O hArachtain
west Beare O Laoire, Mich
Carbery, Cape Clear O Siothchain
(They missed Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Glandore, etc. etc.)
Kerry
East, Mt. Eagle, near Co Cork Breathnach, T (born 1839)
Milltown (Fybagh) O Cathalain
Killarney O Conchuir, Seamas
Ivreagh peninsula:
Ballinskellig O Ceallaigh and O Conaill
Waterville Mac Coluim
Caherdonal O Seaghdha, T
Inland from Sneem O Gealbhain, Aindreas
Dingle peninsula
Cloghan O Ruairc
Lispole O hAinefein
Dunquin (ie far west) O Dalaigh and Mac Gearailt
South Donegal
Southwest: Glencolumcille Campbell
Teelin Mac Seain; O Caiside
Ardara McConnell; O Gallchobhair, T
near Donegal town: Tawnawully O Creag http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1263d1
Gweebarra/Ballyfinn Ni Dhomhnaill and O Baoill
Clare, north
Luach, Doolin Carun and O Dileain
Doolin itself Shannon and O hEilire
Aughanish, near Galway MagFhloinn
Donegal, Inishowen Mac Giolla Chearra I and II
East Galway
Northeast: Camderry O Lochain http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1178d1
Lisheennahelite (Glenamaddy) O Maoilchiarain
Ballygar/Newbridge Mulrooney
Abbeyknockmoy (Grandma's parish!) O Murchadha, M
Ballyclare Mulryan; O Coincheannain, M; O Neill
east shore Loch Corrib O Collain, S; O Lonnain
Galway town Nolan
Tawin Island O Fathaigh
Sligo
southwest: Curry McEvey
other southwest O Cearbhaill and O hAra
border with Mayo Mac an Deisigh
north of Sligo town; Grange O Coisdealbha
Roscommon, west Sarsfield and Ganley
Mayo
South: between Cong and Neale O Gioballain, S
west of Ballinrobe O Murchadha, E
Tourmakeady O Meadhra, P
East: Kilmovee O Ceallachain
Tamhach, between Charlestown and Knock O Dubhthaigh
Southwest: Mulraney Ni Mhaille, B and O Ceallaigh, T
Acaill Mac Giolla Bhain
Inishbiggle O hEinirigh
Erris: Ballycroy MacMeanmain, Padr. and McGinty
Doohooma Mag Uidhir, p
Inis Ge Breathnach, Padr.
Carrowteigue O Dubhagain
Mweennabo O Neachtain
Binghamstown O Monachain
Donegal, north
Leitir Catha, Dungloe O Baoill, Padr
Lochanure O Baoill, P.
Rannafast Ni Mhuireadhaigh and Mac Grianna and O Donaill
Gweedore,Crolly Ni Chumaill
Gweedore, Tor O Connachain
Gort a Choirce:
Machaire Rabhartaigh O Congalaigh
Blogger is doing very strange things with formatting, so I'll list the rest as best I can....
Other Gort a Choirce are O Cuirreain and O Dubhthaigh, A
Tory is Mac an Bhaird, S
Downings are O Gallchobhair, D and O Siadhail
east Fanad are Mac Congalaigh, P and Nic Chongalaigh
Inishowen listed above
(They missed Na Cruacha, Aranmore, Fintown etc.)
West Galway
Cornamona
Breathnach (born 1867), Brun and O Suilleabhain, Padr
Maam is Breathnach, M
Oughterard is O hAllmhurain
Killary is Ruddy and O Caodhain
west of Clifden is Mac Con Fhaola, Sean
Northwest of Carna peninsula is O Niadh, T
Carna itseld is Mac Con Iomaire, T (born 1874)
Roscmuc is O Mainnin and O Niadh, P
Camas is Mac Con Iomaire, T (born 1916)
Casla is O Gabhain
Lettermullan is O Direain
Spiddle is O Tuairisc
Inishmore is O Direain
Inis Meain is O Conceannain, P.
Louth, Omeath peninsula is Ni Ghuibhirin and Ni Chaslaigh and Mac Cuarta
Tyrone, Sperrin mountains is O Ciannain and Nic Ruaidhri
Tyrone, west (Castlederg) is O Gallchobhair
Cavan is all Glengevlin, the far west, which was originally a part of Leitrim. They missed Lough Ramor)
Derry is all one area, Draperstown etc., east of the Sperrin mountains (Tyrone)
Leitrim is all one area, and they only recorded songs (!!!).
Antrim is all the Glens
Armagh is all the Fews in the far south, and mostly songs (!!!).
Particularly interesting (to me) are recordings from Cill Mo Bhi (Kilmovee), far northeast Mayo, and the two speakers from northwest Roscommon. http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1136g1 These are records of an interesting dialect area that took in north Roscommon, south Leitrim and Longford, also influencing northeast Galway. The accentuation was generally of the "Munster" type, while vocabulary started to hint at what we think of as "Donegal."
Scotland
There is a great Scottish Gaelic resource as well, the Tobar a Dualchais site, for songs, foltales and lore. This derives mostly from recordings made in the 1950s through the present, but older generations throughout the whole Highlands from Perthshire to Sutherland still knew Gaelic then, so there is a huge geographical range of recordings.
Perhaps the most characteristic Gaelic is/was that of the 'Lochaber' or Na Garbhchriochan ('Rough Countries') area; Fort William west to the sea, north to say, Fort Augustus and maybe Kintail (but more likely Knoydart), and south to Appin. Neither of the names I propose for the area are strictly accurate, but it is the area of the old MacDonal Lord of the Isles kingdom, minus Islay and Kintail. This is generally the sort of Gaelic heard in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, too, since many of the settlers there were fleeing clearances and hard times in 'Lochaber''.
Finding stuff on the site in terms of places can be challenging, like on the Doegen Records site. Here are names to look for in connection with certain places in "Lochaber":
The old Cameron country west of Fort William--Rebecca Stewart and Lexy Campbell.
Spean Bridge etc. (MacDonald country): Charles Cameron, John MacDonald
Moideart: Johanna MacDonald, Fergie MacDonald
Appin: Allan S. Gray, Ewan Carmicheal
Benderloch: Mrs. MacLucas, Hughie Mackenzie (not 'Lochaber', but it's very pretty....)
Ardgour: Archie Cameron
Glencoe: see below
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/40325;jsessionid=9D2B5C361F102250823F0F53D9775320
On to Argyll. Here is a link to a story from Colonsay. The Gaelic of that island, neighboring Islay and Jura is beautiful.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/5826;jsessionid=50CE8A33A1A7AFEE88564A155B065C50
Now Dugald Smith from Islay. Islay Gaelic only really survives now in the Rhinns, ("Peninsulas") (southwest) today.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/play/5321
A story from Assynt, west Sutherlandshire, the dialect of which is between Sutherland and West Ross Gaelic.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/67980;jsessionid=9D2B5C361F102250823F0F53D9775320
A great travelling storyteller from the east side of Sutherland.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/34140;jsessionid=50CE8A33A1A7AFEE88564A155B065C50
Each recording on the site has a brief summary.
Brittany
Here is a link to a resource, Banque Sonore des Dialects Bretones. It's all in French, but provides recordings of various Breton dialects, with a particular focus on a few areas (Sein, Gwened, SE Kerne...) that reflects the contributors' interests. The focus is grammatical, but fascinating. The main contributor has recently pulled all his contributions, so Sein is gone, etc.)
(OK, these links turn out not to take you directly to the tape. If you want to find the "Appalachian" one, for example, scroll down until you reach "6 Decembre 2015" then choose a tape and hit the arrow. Sorry!)
http://banque.sonore.breton.free.fr/nouveautes.html
There is some Manx stuff available on-line--well, one item--and you can find it on the Celtic Languages page on this blog.
Blind tests have shown that contemporary revived Cornish as spoken cannot be distinguished from English, by people who speak neither. (Cornish speakers are all native English speakers.) It is the only one of the Celtic languages which has no living tradition to draw on. So no resources listed here. Linguist Ken George knows Breton well and since it and Cornish are very similar, he uses Breton as a model for what Cornish sounded like.
There is information on Gaulish, Lepontic (northwestern Italy) and Spanish Celtic on the internet, but these languages died during the period of the late Roman empire and are very poorly recorded--only inscriptions, very short texts and names.
Below is a Swiss folk metal band that claims to sing in Gaulish. I don't know how accurate that claim is, and posting this video does not constitute an endorsement of the band, of folk, of metal, of hawks, cages, hurdy-gurdies, or Switzerland.
Brittany
A storyteller from the borders of Tregor province and Kerne province (Cornaouilles).
Below, a storyteller from east Leon in the northwest.
Below, an old farmer from central Brittany.
Below, memories from some older women from Tregor province (Plouared village) about going to school as mostly monolingual Breton speakers, and punished for speaking Breton there. Inland Tregor was the last large area in which Breton remained the normal language, so that most people over about forty/forty-five today were raised in it and French. Be aware that a chicken is killed at minute 12.
To finish, "Going Along Singing", a subtitled in English long film about Yann-Fanch Kemener, a great and a well-known singer from St Trephine in the east center of Brittany who recently died fairly young. The dialect is a very interesting mix of Vannetais (from the south), central Breton, and also the old dialect of northeast Brittany that survived into the present only in this area and in a strip one or two villages wide, northeast to Plouha. East is now all French for a few hundred years.
OK, now for the seriously boring stuff.
Resources
In 1928, the Irish government invited professor Doegen, who had pioneered the sound recording of language, to come to Ireland. Doegen had previously recorded English dialects from prisoners of war during the First World War. http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Berliner-Lautarchiv-British-and-Commonwealth-recordings/021M-C1315X0001XX-0399V0
(Wiltshire) These recordings are available on the British Library site and document some equally vanished English local speech. The records he made sat in Dublin (the set he took back to Germany disappeared after WWII, as far as I know) gathering dust, pretty much forgotten, until a few years ago when the Royal Irish Academy made them available on-line at the Doegen Records Project site.
http://www.doegen.ie/
Many of you will know of this site. Doegen or the government mainly seem to have been interested in people who had folktales or songs, and then they also missed some areas where there were still Irish speakers at that time, like south and mid Clare, west Limerick, southeast Limerick, north Kerry, south Galway (Gort etc.), many parts of Mayo, south Cavan (Lough Ramor area), Monaghan county, south Kilkenny and possibly, if they looked hard, north Meath. Still, there are otherwise no recordings of the Irish of many areas that they did get. Unfortunately, in some places they recorded only songs, so there's no record of actual speech.
The one thing not available on the site is a listing of speakers by parish and area below that of the county. It's therefore difficult to find speakers for an area smaller than a county. Here are listings I have made. Place is on left, name of speaker on right.
The recordings on the site have texts and translation too.
Co. Waterford
Island (west of Stradbally on the coast) De Breit http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1060d1
Ballynamult O Cadhla
Bohadoon (Slieve gCua) O Corcrain
An Rinn Turraoin; O Droma; O Cionnfhaolaidh, M
They missed the Lismore area, plus !
Tipperary, south (Ardfinnan) O Liathain
Cork
Imokilly barony, by Waterford Breathnach, Seamas
Muskerry West; Clondrohid O Luinneachain
Cuil Ao O Ceilleachair, O loinsigh, O Cruaidhlaoich
Ballingeary Mac Coitir
Beare peninsula, Glengarrif O Scolai
Adrigole O Suilleabhain, Pr. and O hArachtain
west Beare O Laoire, Mich
Carbery, Cape Clear O Siothchain
(They missed Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Glandore, etc. etc.)
Kerry
East, Mt. Eagle, near Co Cork Breathnach, T (born 1839)
Milltown (Fybagh) O Cathalain
Killarney O Conchuir, Seamas
Ivreagh peninsula:
Ballinskellig O Ceallaigh and O Conaill
Waterville Mac Coluim
Caherdonal O Seaghdha, T
Inland from Sneem O Gealbhain, Aindreas
Dingle peninsula
Cloghan O Ruairc
Lispole O hAinefein
Dunquin (ie far west) O Dalaigh and Mac Gearailt
South Donegal
Southwest: Glencolumcille Campbell
Teelin Mac Seain; O Caiside
Ardara McConnell; O Gallchobhair, T
near Donegal town: Tawnawully O Creag http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1263d1
Gweebarra/Ballyfinn Ni Dhomhnaill and O Baoill
Clare, north
Luach, Doolin Carun and O Dileain
Doolin itself Shannon and O hEilire
Aughanish, near Galway MagFhloinn
Donegal, Inishowen Mac Giolla Chearra I and II
East Galway
Northeast: Camderry O Lochain http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1178d1
Lisheennahelite (Glenamaddy) O Maoilchiarain
Ballygar/Newbridge Mulrooney
Abbeyknockmoy (Grandma's parish!) O Murchadha, M
Ballyclare Mulryan; O Coincheannain, M; O Neill
east shore Loch Corrib O Collain, S; O Lonnain
Galway town Nolan
Tawin Island O Fathaigh
Sligo
southwest: Curry McEvey
other southwest O Cearbhaill and O hAra
border with Mayo Mac an Deisigh
north of Sligo town; Grange O Coisdealbha
Roscommon, west Sarsfield and Ganley
Mayo
South: between Cong and Neale O Gioballain, S
west of Ballinrobe O Murchadha, E
Tourmakeady O Meadhra, P
East: Kilmovee O Ceallachain
Tamhach, between Charlestown and Knock O Dubhthaigh
Southwest: Mulraney Ni Mhaille, B and O Ceallaigh, T
Acaill Mac Giolla Bhain
Inishbiggle O hEinirigh
Erris: Ballycroy MacMeanmain, Padr. and McGinty
Doohooma Mag Uidhir, p
Inis Ge Breathnach, Padr.
Carrowteigue O Dubhagain
Mweennabo O Neachtain
Binghamstown O Monachain
Donegal, north
Leitir Catha, Dungloe O Baoill, Padr
Lochanure O Baoill, P.
Rannafast Ni Mhuireadhaigh and Mac Grianna and O Donaill
Gweedore,Crolly Ni Chumaill
Gweedore, Tor O Connachain
Gort a Choirce:
Machaire Rabhartaigh O Congalaigh
Blogger is doing very strange things with formatting, so I'll list the rest as best I can....
Other Gort a Choirce are O Cuirreain and O Dubhthaigh, A
Tory is Mac an Bhaird, S
Downings are O Gallchobhair, D and O Siadhail
east Fanad are Mac Congalaigh, P and Nic Chongalaigh
Inishowen listed above
(They missed Na Cruacha, Aranmore, Fintown etc.)
West Galway
Cornamona
Breathnach (born 1867), Brun and O Suilleabhain, Padr
Maam is Breathnach, M
Oughterard is O hAllmhurain
Killary is Ruddy and O Caodhain
west of Clifden is Mac Con Fhaola, Sean
Northwest of Carna peninsula is O Niadh, T
Carna itseld is Mac Con Iomaire, T (born 1874)
Roscmuc is O Mainnin and O Niadh, P
Camas is Mac Con Iomaire, T (born 1916)
Casla is O Gabhain
Lettermullan is O Direain
Spiddle is O Tuairisc
Inishmore is O Direain
Inis Meain is O Conceannain, P.
Louth, Omeath peninsula is Ni Ghuibhirin and Ni Chaslaigh and Mac Cuarta
Tyrone, Sperrin mountains is O Ciannain and Nic Ruaidhri
Tyrone, west (Castlederg) is O Gallchobhair
Cavan is all Glengevlin, the far west, which was originally a part of Leitrim. They missed Lough Ramor)
Derry is all one area, Draperstown etc., east of the Sperrin mountains (Tyrone)
Leitrim is all one area, and they only recorded songs (!!!).
Antrim is all the Glens
Armagh is all the Fews in the far south, and mostly songs (!!!).
Particularly interesting (to me) are recordings from Cill Mo Bhi (Kilmovee), far northeast Mayo, and the two speakers from northwest Roscommon. http://www.doegen.ie/LA_1136g1 These are records of an interesting dialect area that took in north Roscommon, south Leitrim and Longford, also influencing northeast Galway. The accentuation was generally of the "Munster" type, while vocabulary started to hint at what we think of as "Donegal."
Scotland
There is a great Scottish Gaelic resource as well, the Tobar a Dualchais site, for songs, foltales and lore. This derives mostly from recordings made in the 1950s through the present, but older generations throughout the whole Highlands from Perthshire to Sutherland still knew Gaelic then, so there is a huge geographical range of recordings.
Perhaps the most characteristic Gaelic is/was that of the 'Lochaber' or Na Garbhchriochan ('Rough Countries') area; Fort William west to the sea, north to say, Fort Augustus and maybe Kintail (but more likely Knoydart), and south to Appin. Neither of the names I propose for the area are strictly accurate, but it is the area of the old MacDonal Lord of the Isles kingdom, minus Islay and Kintail. This is generally the sort of Gaelic heard in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, too, since many of the settlers there were fleeing clearances and hard times in 'Lochaber''.
Finding stuff on the site in terms of places can be challenging, like on the Doegen Records site. Here are names to look for in connection with certain places in "Lochaber":
The old Cameron country west of Fort William--Rebecca Stewart and Lexy Campbell.
Spean Bridge etc. (MacDonald country): Charles Cameron, John MacDonald
Moideart: Johanna MacDonald, Fergie MacDonald
Appin: Allan S. Gray, Ewan Carmicheal
Benderloch: Mrs. MacLucas, Hughie Mackenzie (not 'Lochaber', but it's very pretty....)
Ardgour: Archie Cameron
Glencoe: see below
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/40325;jsessionid=9D2B5C361F102250823F0F53D9775320
On to Argyll. Here is a link to a story from Colonsay. The Gaelic of that island, neighboring Islay and Jura is beautiful.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/5826;jsessionid=50CE8A33A1A7AFEE88564A155B065C50
Now Dugald Smith from Islay. Islay Gaelic only really survives now in the Rhinns, ("Peninsulas") (southwest) today.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/play/5321
A story from Assynt, west Sutherlandshire, the dialect of which is between Sutherland and West Ross Gaelic.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/67980;jsessionid=9D2B5C361F102250823F0F53D9775320
A great travelling storyteller from the east side of Sutherland.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/34140;jsessionid=50CE8A33A1A7AFEE88564A155B065C50
Each recording on the site has a brief summary.
Brittany
Here is a link to a resource, Banque Sonore des Dialects Bretones. It's all in French, but provides recordings of various Breton dialects, with a particular focus on a few areas (Sein, Gwened, SE Kerne...) that reflects the contributors' interests. The focus is grammatical, but fascinating. The main contributor has recently pulled all his contributions, so Sein is gone, etc.)
(OK, these links turn out not to take you directly to the tape. If you want to find the "Appalachian" one, for example, scroll down until you reach "6 Decembre 2015" then choose a tape and hit the arrow. Sorry!)
http://banque.sonore.breton.free.fr/nouveautes.html
Below is a link to a story from the area just southeast of Kemper. It too is beautiful. The Breton of that area makes me think of Appalachian mountaineers of the U.S. The link only takes you to the text. You need to hit the arrow to play the recording.
http://banque.sonore.breton.free.fr/shownews.php5
A link below to a bit from the northwest, Leon province. Beautiful!
http://banque.sonore.breton.free.fr/shownews.php5
Brezhoneg Digor has many many sound recordings) and transcripts of stories etc in the dialect of the Carhaix area (mostly north and east of the town.) It has a developing Dictionary of Central Breton . There's a YouTube channel too. This is all the most accessible of the Breton sites mentioned here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7u3j0HpgBQ
Below is a link to one recording (from Ar Trehou, borders of Leon and Kerne) of the hundreds done for the recent Breton Linguistic Atlas. Some of the tapes are posted on the Corpus de la Parole site. If you go there, you need to find the list of languages, then choose Breton, then choose from a long list of tapes. This is a great resource, though the quality of the tapes sometimes varies. Sometimes the batteries were running low....
http://corpusdelaparole.huma-num.fr/spip.php?article30&ldf_id=oai:crdo.vjf.cnrs.fr:crdo-BRE_JLD_021_1_A_SOUND
Oddly enough, the Celtic language of Wales which has been until the last five or ten years, the most vigorous of the Celtic languages, has very little available on-line. The Welsh folk museum posted short bits that originally accompanied a book on Welsh dialects. Here it is below.
http://banque.sonore.breton.free.fr/shownews.php5
A link below to a bit from the northwest, Leon province. Beautiful!
http://banque.sonore.breton.free.fr/shownews.php5
Brezhoneg Digor has many many sound recordings) and transcripts of stories etc in the dialect of the Carhaix area (mostly north and east of the town.) It has a developing Dictionary of Central Breton . There's a YouTube channel too. This is all the most accessible of the Breton sites mentioned here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7u3j0HpgBQ
Below is a link to one recording (from Ar Trehou, borders of Leon and Kerne) of the hundreds done for the recent Breton Linguistic Atlas. Some of the tapes are posted on the Corpus de la Parole site. If you go there, you need to find the list of languages, then choose Breton, then choose from a long list of tapes. This is a great resource, though the quality of the tapes sometimes varies. Sometimes the batteries were running low....
http://corpusdelaparole.huma-num.fr/spip.php?article30&ldf_id=oai:crdo.vjf.cnrs.fr:crdo-BRE_JLD_021_1_A_SOUND
Oddly enough, the Celtic language of Wales which has been until the last five or ten years, the most vigorous of the Celtic languages, has very little available on-line. The Welsh folk museum posted short bits that originally accompanied a book on Welsh dialects. Here it is below.
There is some Manx stuff available on-line--well, one item--and you can find it on the Celtic Languages page on this blog.
Blind tests have shown that contemporary revived Cornish as spoken cannot be distinguished from English, by people who speak neither. (Cornish speakers are all native English speakers.) It is the only one of the Celtic languages which has no living tradition to draw on. So no resources listed here. Linguist Ken George knows Breton well and since it and Cornish are very similar, he uses Breton as a model for what Cornish sounded like.
There is information on Gaulish, Lepontic (northwestern Italy) and Spanish Celtic on the internet, but these languages died during the period of the late Roman empire and are very poorly recorded--only inscriptions, very short texts and names.
Below is a Swiss folk metal band that claims to sing in Gaulish. I don't know how accurate that claim is, and posting this video does not constitute an endorsement of the band, of folk, of metal, of hawks, cages, hurdy-gurdies, or Switzerland.
On to other things.
(After this post, I'll be switching to Irish. Threatened to do that last time, but I'm serious about it now. English is no proper home.)
(After this post, I'll be switching to Irish. Threatened to do that last time, but I'm serious about it now. English is no proper home.)
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