The Irish standard., 1890-03-15

speech of the counTy. Outside OF a
comparat, yely few number OF brave,
patriotic and scholarly men, who prize
their country's language and antiqul-
ties, there seems from all accounts, that
there is no widespread desire on the
part of the people themselves to revive
their native speech. or even to take
steps 10 have its extensive and precious
| literary remains, translated into
English and published in the interest
OF general science and literature. If
this were done, no surer vindication, in
nv mind, could possibly be made OF
Ireland's claims to ancient glory and
renown when she was justly celebrated
| for arts, laws, learning and civilization.
The Irish people have been falsely stig
matized as wild and unciyilized; their
laws and civil customs pronounced
! lewd aud unreasonable and contrary TO
Gods law and mans. They have been
traduced and vilified in a thousand
forms, but now under the influence OF
better and more enlightened ideas, and
through the study of the ancient
language and literature Of Ireland, the
falsity of these views are rapidly dlsap'
bearing, and are soon destined to dis
appear altogether, Barbarians do not,
| as rule, write and treasure up books.
nor extend the sciences. Theirs is yet
much to be done on the part Of Irish
men towards enlighteniDg the civilized
| world regarding the true history Of their
country, which to a very considerable
extent is still locked up in the ancient
speech of the island. This is duty
resting on them to perform, and they
should attend to it at once. However,
at the present time, the people Of Ire
land are endeavoring 10 obtain self
government, and can scarcely give their
attention to anything else. When
home rule becomes an accomplished
fact, it may be expected that greater
exertlon will be witnessed in matters
pertaining to the preservation of the
national speech and the elucidation Of
Irish antiquities. just at the present
time, nevertheless, it does not speak
we'll for the patriotism Of the people OF
Ireland that the only paper in Ireland
published exclusively in the interest OF
the native language. receives but bare
support, although it is only issued quar-
terlv. I refer to the Gaelic Journal Of
Dublin, edited by Mr.. John Fleming, an
accomplished Gaelic scholar and critic.
The journal was first started in 1882 as
the organ OF the g. cetY for thepreserva
ton of the Irish language. For some
time 1t was issued monthly, but subse-
quently, for want OF proper encourage
ment, its projectors were compelled to
bring 1t out quarterly. It Is really an
ably conducted publication, replete
with scholarly and highly interesting
articles, both in the native language
and English. the numbers of this
journal will always take a respectable
rIace In the literature aud scientific
Investigation of the Irish language.
Irish is nos as difficult to learn as
generally is supposed. The Irish alpha
bet consists Of eighteen letters.
| Thirteen are cons0nants and five
are novels. Nine of the con5onants
are mutable, or aspirable, as under GER
tain grammatical conditions they are
| capable of suffering change Of sound.
| Aspiration in the written language is
denoted either by placing dot over
tine consonant, as c, or by placing b
after it, as CHI. Irish writers use both
the dot and the h, though chiefly the
dot, while the Schotch Gaelic scribes
employ employ only the h. Aspiration
and EcIipsls are the FIRST difficulties that
the student will meet in learning
Ilish. But they are subjects too extern
sive for much exp anation in an article
of this scope Irish has only one arti-
cle, '.an,'' which corresponds in mean
ing with the de6nine article the in
English. In Irish, adjectives are de
clined, their natural order is after the
noun. but there are exception. For the
degrees OF comparison there is no
change of termination. as in English.
The comparison is made BY placing the
particle '.nois.''- meaning more, before
| the adjective, and another, lis" for
super]ative as for example. ansa, dear,
.'nols ans a. is ans a"-more beloved,
most beloved; ''nois airde. is airde''-
more exalted. most exalted, and so On,
There are frequent cases where c0mpar-
ison is expressed without either ''nois'
or ISL being used, the position of tire
verb in such instances innue ncing the
constr,ictlon. Nouns in Irish have five
declensions; some grammarians make
six. It has two methods of conjugation
known as the Synthehic and Analytic.
LIN the first the subject is INCORPORATED
with the verb; in the other it is sepa-
rated as for example, SINGULAR form: