Articles

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 nasalizaiton, although this is not indicated in writing.

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

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	anL	a'L		an t-	an
Gen

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	anL	<center>a'L		<center>an t-	<center>an
Dat
Gen	<center>na					na h- </TABLE>"" Plural Article "" before f, b, m, p all other consonants before vowels Nom/Acc na <center>na h- Dat Gen <center>nam <center>nan </TABLE>"" Description 2: By form of the article "" Form location a'L <center>Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before b, c, g, m, p <center>Feminine Dative Singular before <i>b, c, g, m, p <center>Masculine Dative Singular before <i>b, c, g, m, p <center>Mascuine Genitive Singular before <i>b, c, g, m, p <center>am <center>Masculine Nom/Acc Singular before <i> f,b,m,p <center>an <center>Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before vowels and <i>d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm <center>Feminine Dative Singular before vowels and <i>d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm <center>Masculine Dative Singular before vowels and <i>d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm <center>Mascuine Genitive Singular before vowels and <i>d, n, t, l, r, sg, sp, st, sm <center>Mascuine Nom/Acc Singular before anything <i> except vowels and b, f, m, p <center>anL <center>Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before <i>f <center>Feminine Dative Singular before <i>f <center>Masculine Dative Singular before <i>f <center>Mascuine Genitive Singular before <i>f <center>an t- <center>Feminine Nom/Acc Singular before <i>sV, sl, sn, sr <center>Feminine Dative Singular before <i>sV, sl, sn, sr <center>Masculine Dative Singular before <i>sV, sl, sn, sr <center>Mascuine Genitive Singular before <i>sV, sl, sn, sr <center>Mascuine Nom/Acc Singular before vowels <center>na <center>Nom/Acc plural before consonants <center>Dative plural before consonants <center>Feminine Genitive singular before consonants <center>na h- <center>Nom/Acc plural before vowels <center>Dative plural before vowels <center>Feminine Genitive singular before vowels <center>nam <center>Plural Genitive before <i>b, f, m, p <center>nan <center>Plural Genitive before other sounds </TABLE>"" Description 3: 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 Nom/acc W</sup> <center>X <center>Y Dative <center>X Genitive <center>X <center>Y <center>Z </TABLE>"" Each of these abstract forms is realized the following ways, predictable from the phonology: W "" Form Context an t- <center>before vowel <center>am <center>before b, f, m, p <center>an <center>elsewhere </TABLE>"" X "" Form Context a'L <center>before , b, c, g, m, p <center>anL <center>before <i>f <center>an t- <center>before <i>sV, sl, sn, sr <center>an <center>elsewhere </TABLE>"" Y "" Form Context na <center>before consonants <center>na h- <center>before vowels </TABLE>"" Z Form Context nam before "b, f, m, p" nan elsewhere External Links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_(grammar) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determiner_(class) References Lamb, William (2003) Scottish Gaelic. Lincom-Europa.