Page:Quiggin Dialect of Donegal 0053.png

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53

In tα꞉ ʃɛ ə jαL erʹαm ə wiNʹtʹ əs, ‘he wants to waste time’, Nʹi꞉lʹ mʹə ə jαL erʹ, ‘I do not like it’, Nʹi꞉lʹ mʹɛ ə jαL erʹ ə ꬶɔLʹ ʃerʹ, ‘I do not want to go over’ we seem to have Dinneen’s ní’l aon gheall aige air, ‘he has no regard for it’ (s. geall) construed personal­ly.

§ 137. The frequent occurrence of this ə before verbs and substan­tives, the origin of which is often forgotten, has led to its extension in cases where it has no histor­ical founda­tion. As an instance of this we may regard the relative pronoun ə, cp. Finck ii p. 269. Similarly ə χy꞉çə, ‘ever’, M.Ir. caidche, coidche; erʹ ə hαχt ə welʹə dŨw̥, ‘after coming home’, = iar dteacht; erʹ ə ꬶɔLʹ ʃi꞉s dɔ꞉, ‘after he had gone down’, = iar ndul; aχə·di꞉widə, ‘about, concern­ing’, < fá gach taoibh de, where however the αχə may stand for gach aon. The d is transport­ed from the shorter phrase fα di꞉widə, for which see §§ 314, 395. It is also possible to regard aχə·di꞉widə as standing for gach fá dtaoibh de with a super­fluous gach prefixed as seems to be the case in the curious phrase αχ·dαχərNə lα꞉, ‘every other day’. By the side of this peculiar conglom­eration (g)αχ·dαrə Lα꞉ is also used. The chief diffi­culty lies in the position of the stress, else the phrase might be resolved into gach gach darna lá.

§ 138. A number of non-palatal consonant-groups have developed a svara­bhakti vowel ə. Between palatal conso­nants i takes the place of ə, cp. § 114. The chief cases are the following꞉—

(a) l + cons.
lb, e.g. αləbənαχ, ‘Scotchman, Presbyterian’, O.Ir. albanach; dαləbə, ‘bold, forward’, Di. dalba. Between l and p there is no ə, as in αlpαn, ‘lump, bit’, Meyer alp, but kɔləpαχ, ‘stirk’, Meyer colpthach.
lg, e.g. bɔləg, ‘belly’, M.Ir. bolg; bɔləgəm, ‘a sup’, Meyer bolgam; dʹαləg, ‘thorn’, M.Ir. delg; kɔləg, ‘awn’, Meyer colgg; kʹαləguw, ‘lull to sleep, lullaby’, M.Ir. celg; po̤rəgɔdʹ, ‘purgative’, Di. purgóid; smo̤ləgədαn, ‘shoulder-bone’, Di. smulgadán; ʃαləgə, gen. sing. of ʃelʹigʹ, ‘chase’. Between l and k the svara­bhakti vowel only occurs when k = gth, e.g. stɔlkəs, ‘matter, water and blood emitted by a sick beast’, stɔlkirʹə, ‘man hunting with dog and gun’, Di. stalcaire; but kʹαləkə mʹə, ‘I shall lull to sleep’, fut. of kʹαləguw.
lm, e.g. kαləmə, ‘brave’, M.Ir. calma.