Resooney:Yernish: Difference between revisions

 

::It can and has been said, as per the tag above by Eog2016, that the Irish, Scots and Manx Gaelic languages are the one and same language that differ from each other due to political considerations. Indeed, the Scots Gaelic language of Aran <u>is</u> closer to the Gaelic of Antrim than to the Gaelic of the Hebrides. However, while Scots Gaelic and Irish may be said to be very close together grammatically and orthographically, the language of the Isle of Man has altered so radically as to render it quite different from the other two (compare Swedish to Norwegian and Danish - the same could and has been said about these three languages, calling them Scandinavian. Danish and Norwegian orthography remains quite close to this day, while Swedish has altered significantly. However, the majority refer to them by their geopolitically correct names). The Manx language has lost most of the verbal constructions found in Irish and Scots Gaelic (in Manx there is a past tense, albeit a vanishing one - in Manx there is a tendency to use the past tense of the verb "to do", ''ren'', followed by the infinitive of the verb in question, there is only one present tense in Manx of the verb "to be", ''ta'', while the future tense is for the most part constructed by the future tense of the verb "to be", ''nee'' followed by the infinitive of the verb in question). In Manx there is a difference, just like in the other Gaelic languages between the masculine and feminine of nouns, but this is dying out with a tendency to treat all nouns as masculine. This is apparent in the system of initial consonontal mutation. Where Manx differs from the other two is in respect to the genitive case. This case is in the process of dying out in Manx, even if some including myself have a preference for trying to maintain it as best we can. Currently, according to many in the movement there is no longer a genitive case. We can see this if we look at the construction in English of "Bundesrepublik Deutschland". In English this is rendered as the Federal Republic of Germany. In Irish this is rendered as ''Poblacht Chonastach na Gearmáine'', in Scots Gaelic it is rendered as ''Poblachd Chaidreachail na Gearmailt'', but in Manx it is rendered as ''Pobblaght Chonastagh y Ghermaan'' according to CnyG, which would be spelt as ''Poblacht Chonastach a' Ghearmáin'' if an Irish Gaelic orthography was applied. This shows how there is no longer a differentiation between masculine and feminine. The spelling of Manx, while imposed by a foreigner, enjoys large popularity amongst speakers of Manx so is hardly likely to change. Even the vocabulary of the language can be quite different to the other Gaelic languages, with large amounts of borrowings from Norse, French and English not seen in the other Gaelic languages. Compare ''vondeish'' meaning profit, benefit etc. from ''advantage'' in French, ''waiteil'' from ''wait'' in English meaning attendance, and ''vaal'' from ''vǫll'' in Norse meaning area, field, ground etc. (compare Tinvaal). In short, Manx has a differing vocabulary (whether it is different words, alternative meanings, or just simply different pronunciations), a different grammatical structure, a different verbal structure, a radically different orthography, as well as a different history and culture to the other Gaelic languages. While there is much to share, there is also a lot of differences, more so than exists between Danish and Norwegian. In fact probably more so than exists between Russian and Ukrainian! --[[Ymmydeyr:MacTire02|MacTire02]] 00:33, 8 Mee Houney 2009 (UTC)