Difference between revisions of "Articles"

Revision as of 13:29, 24 June 2009

Article is a common name for what linguists typically call determiners. In English the and a/an are articles. In Gaelic the indefinite article is silent (e.g. leabhar 'a book') -- the exception being the indefinite genitive, where there is no overt article, but the noun is lenited (Lamb 2003: 29). The definite article surfaces variously as an, am, a', nam, nan or na depending upon the case, gender, and number of the noun it modifies and depending upon which consonant the following word begins with.

Throughout the following symbols indicate initial mutations and are not traditionally written out ^L means "triggers lenition", Articles ending in -n or -m often trigger voicing of the following consonant through Eclipsis, although this is not indicated in writing.

The system is complex, so we give four different descriptions. Choose the one that suits you best.

Description 1: By Case

This description is based on that found in Fisher (2004).

Common Case (Nominative/Accusative)

The common case form of the article is used with a noun in subject and object positions.

**Singular Masculine Common Case**
Before	form	Example
vowels	an t-	an t-òran
labials	am	am bòrd
all other sounds	an	an càr

(table based on Fisher (2004)

**Singular Feminine Common Case**
Before	form	Example
labial and velar stops (b, p, g, c) and m	a'^L	a' phòg
f	an^L	an fhaoileag
s followed by vowels, l, n, r	an t- (i.e. an^T)	an t-seachdain
all other sounds	an	an sgian

(table based on Fisher (2004)

**Plurals of both genders in the common case**
Before	form	Example
consonants	na	na gillean
Vowels	an h- (i.e. an^H)	an h-ubhlan

(table based on Fisher (2004)

Genitive Case

The genitive is used to indicate an object that is a possessor.

The masculine singular genitive pattern is identical to the feminine common case pattern, and dative case forms.

**Singular Masculine Genitive**
Before	form	Example
labial and velar stops (b, p, g, c) and m	a'^L	a' bhòrd
f	an^L	an XXX
s followed by vowels, l, n, r	an t- (i.e. an^T)	an XXX
all other sounds	an	an XXX

(table based on Fisher (2004)

The feminine genitive is identical to common case plural

**Feminine Singular Genitive**
Before	form	Example
consonants	na	na XXX
Vowels	an h- (i.e. an^H)	an h-XXX

(table based on Fisher (2004)

**Plural Genitive of both Genders**
Before	form	Example
labial consonants	nam	nam XXX
All other sounds	nan	nan XXX

(table based on Fisher (2004)

Dative Case

The dative case is found after many prepositions. The dative singular of both genders is identical to the feminine singular common case (and the masculine singular genitive).

**Singular of both genders in the Dative**
Before	form	Example
labial and velar stops (b, p, g, c) and m	a'^L	a' bhòrd
f	an^L	an fhios
s followed by vowels, l, n, r	an t- (i.e. an^T)	an t-sùil
all other sounds	an	an taigh

(table based on Fisher (2004)

The plurals are identical to the common case:

**Plurals of both genders in the dative**
Before	form	Example
consonants	na	na gillean
Vowels	an h- (i.e. an^H)	an h-ubhlan

(table based on Fisher (2004)

Description 2: By gender and number

Masculine Singular Article

	before
	f	b, m, p	c, g	sV, sl, sn, sr	d, t, l, n, r, sg, sm, sp, st	before vowels
Nom/Acc (common case)	am		an			an t-
Dat	an^L	a'^L		an t-	an
Gen	an^L	a'^L		an t-	an

Feminine Singular Article

	before
	f	b, m, p	c, g	sV, sl, sn, sr	d, t, l, n, r, sg, sm, sp, st	before vowels
Nom/Acc (common case)	an^L	a'^L		an t-	an
Dat	an^L	a'^L		an t-	an
Gen	na					na h-

Plural Article

	before
	f, b, m, p	all other consonants	before vowels
Nom/Acc (common case)	na		na h-
Dat	na		na h-
Gen	nam	nan

Description 3: By form of the article

Form	location
a'^L	Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before "b, c, g, m, p"
	Feminine Dative Singular before "b, c, g, m, p"
	Masculine Dative Singular before "b, c, g, m, p"
	Masculine Genitive Singular before "b, c, g, m, p"
am	Masculine Nom/Acc Singular before "f, b, m, p"
an	Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before vowels and d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm
	Feminine Dative Singular before vowels and d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm
	Masculine Dative Singular before vowels and d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm
	Masculine Genitive Singular before vowels and d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm
	Masculine Nom/Acc Singular before anything except vowels and "b, f, m, p"
an^L	Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before f
	Feminine Dative Singular before f
	Masculine Dative Singular before f
	Masculine Genitive Singular before f
an t-	Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before sV, sl, sn, sr
	Feminine Dative Singular before sV, sl, sn, sr
	Masculine Dative Singular before sV, sl, sn, sr
	Masculine Genitive Singular before sV, sl, sn, sr
	Masculine Nom/Acc Singular before vowels
na	Nom/Acc plural before consonants
	Dative plural before consonants
	Feminine Genitive singular before consonants
na h-	Nom/Acc plural before vowels
	Dative plural before vowels
	Feminine Genitive singular before vowels
nam	Plural Genitive before b, f, m, p
nan	Plural Genitive before other sounds

Description 4: An Abstract Analysis

The following description is based on the insightful description found at [[1]]. The symbols in the next chart are abstract! You need to translate them using the guides that follow.

	singular		plural
	Masculine	Feminine	plural
Nom/acc (common)	W	X	Y
Dative	X		Y
Genitive	X	Y	Z

Each of these abstract forms is realized the following ways, predictable from the phonology:

Pattern W

Form	Context
an t-	before vowel
am	before b, f, m, p
an	elsewhere

Pattern X

Form	Context
a'^L	before b, c, g, m, p
an^L	before "f"
an t-	before sV, sl, sn, sr
an	elsewhere

Pattern Y

Form	Context
na	before consonants
na h-	before vowels

Z

Form	Context
nam	before b, f, m, p
nan	elsewhere

External Links

References

Lamb, William (2003) Scottish Gaelic. Lincom-Europa.

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 :{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
-|+<b>Singular Masculine</b>
+|+<b>Singular Masculine Common Case</b>
 !Before
 !form
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 :{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
-|+<b>Singular Feminine</b>
+|+<b>Singular Feminine Common Case</b>
 !Before
 !form
@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 :{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
-|+<b>Plurals of both genders</b>
+|+<b>Plurals of both genders in the common case</b>
 !Before
 !form
@@ Line 85: / Line 85: @@
 :{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
-|+<b>Singular Feminine</b>
+|+<b>Singular Masculine Genitive</b>
 !Before
 !form
@@ Line 112: / Line 112: @@
 :{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
-|+<b>Plurals of both genders</b>
+|+<b>Feminine Singular Genitive</b>
 !Before
 !form
@@ Line 127: / Line 127: @@
 :<small>(table based on Fisher (2004)</small>
+:{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
+|+<b>Plural Genitive of both Genders</b>
+!Before
+!form
+!Example
+|-
+|[[Labial (definition)|labial consonants]]
+|nam
+|nam XXX
+|-
+|All other sounds
+|nan
+|nan XXX
+|}
+:<small>(table based on Fisher (2004)</small>
@@ Line 133: / Line 149: @@
 :{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
-|+<b>Singular of both genders</b>
+|+<b>Singular of both genders in the Dative</b>
 !Before
 !form
@@ Line 159: / Line 175: @@
 The plurals are identical to the common case:
 :{| border=1 cellpadding="5", rules="all" style="text-align:center"
-|+<b>Plurals of both genders</b>
+|+<b>Plurals of both genders in the dative</b>
 !Before
 !form

Difference between revisions of "Articles"

Revision as of 13:29, 24 June 2009

Contents

Description 1: By Case

Common Case (Nominative/Accusative)

Genitive Case

Dative Case

Description 2: By gender and number

Masculine Singular Article

Feminine Singular Article

Plural Article

Description 3: By form of the article

Description 4: An Abstract Analysis

Pattern W

Pattern X

Pattern Y

Z

External Links

References

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