The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-01-12
THE IRISH BR0GUR.
The ..Anglo-Saxons Do Net Know How
to Use II.

Should what Is known as Irish, or,
more properly, Anglo-Irish, dialect, be
considered beneath the notice of the
writer who aims at reproducing in the
English language pictures of Irish life
or phases of Irish thought or idiosyn-
cracies? This question is often asked,
and asked by Irish readers whose feel
ings are outraged by the dialect served
up to them by would-be Irish authors.
The answer depends on circumstances.
If dialect is faithfully rendered and
|judiciously employed it has it's appoint
ed place in literature. If it is incor-
rectly rendered and injudiciously en-
ployed it is always vulgar and general
ly offensive. fla philosopher writing
for philosophers on philosophical
subject writes, his language should be
adapted to his theme-it should be
scholarly, measured and exact, says a
writer in the Southern Gross.
If. however, a writer undertakes. /,
depict conversation between two
men whose educational attain'at hts
are rudinentary, and if he represents
them as expressing their thoughts in
scholarly language, he is also doing
his work badly, because untruthfully.
People who speak dialect in real life
should be represented as speaking dia-
lect when they are made to appear in
literature and as literature, being the
reflection of life, has to deal with men
and women of the humber as well as
Of the most exalted spheres of exist
ence, dialect has its place and value.
1t most be said, however, that what
is called Irish dialect is grossly alb
used. There are unfortunately a great
many writer's who imagine that by
misspelling every word they employ
they are writing dialect, when in re-
ality they are only producing a hide
Gus gibberish. This school of writer's
are liberal in the use Of ''Begorra,"
and "Bejabers" and "Be Hivens."
Their conventions are as outlandish as
their audacity. With them an Irish
man pronounces I as "Oi," never by
any chance as "eyc." Here is a
choice specimen written by such an
author, who evolved it all from the
vacuum in which nature forgot to
place his mind: "Be hivins if yer duz-
zent tip me whesky. Oill take the
loife iv yez."
Who ever heard an Irishman apply
"yez' when addressing single per-
son? "Yous," "yees' and "yez" are
very frequently used in certain parts
of Ireland instead of We and 700, sec
ond person plural. But in no part Of
Ireland will one hear an Irishman say
''yous" or "yees" or "yez" when speak
ing in the second person singular.
The "yez'' and "yous'' are unknown i'll
Munster, at least to my knowledge. 1
never heard them in Connaught. They
are unheard of all along the Sieve
Blooms. One hears them most in
Westmeath, the lower end Of Kings
county, and in parts of Meath. To
represent Tipperary man as saying
"yez" even in the second person plural
is about as correct as to make Con
naught man suppress his ''r' when
pronouncing the word "under."
The word life is pronounced ''loife''
in some localities, but far more COM
monty is the 'i' pronounced as low
"y". Whisky is never pronounced
"whesky" unless by the writer Of con-
ventional dialect. No Irishman ever
sage "tip me" for "give me-" The en-
ployment Of .'year" instead Of "you''
betrays the Imaginative Cockney. No
one ever heard an Irishman say "If
you doesn't" for "If you DON'T" In
parts of Galway. Sligo, Roscommon,
Leitrim and other counties one may
hear heavens pronounced "hivins," but
it 10 not the rule anywhere.
The great success in the United