The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-01-17
deed any, of the virtues which the ".
ing legends called history have
ascribed to her. ..
THE IRISH LANGUAGE.
The Sound Of 1t and the Effect
It Produces.


1t Produces.
Mr.. William Bulfin, editor of "The
Southern Cross" Buenos Ayres, recent
ly visited Ireland and attended a Feis
Cecil given in the City of Galway.
This is what he says of Irish oratory
in the native tongue:
II can only judge Of UNFORTUNATELY,
from two standpoints: the sound Of
it, and the effect it has upon an audi
ence. 1 heard several Irish addresses
at the Feis. All were in the same
style. The accent of all the speakers
was more or less the same. learned
too that each speaker dealt in plain,
concise, practical ideas, and expressed
them in terse and vigorous modern
Irish. So far so good. Here then
is plain statement of how all this
sounded to plain man.
"At first the sound of Irish oratory
is a little harsh to the unframed and
unaccustomed ear. But this is only
for a moment. There is a deep note
Of passionate earnestness in the rug
ged majesty of the words, and there
is sledge-hammer power in the SON.
orous roll of the sentences. In the
Irish there are sounds as sibilant as
the Italian, as mouth-filling as the
Spanish, as nasal as the French, as
gutteral as the German, as deep as the
English. But the language resembles
none of these. 1t appears to belong to
another sphere altogether. 1t seems
like language which would disda,o
many of the assOnances and cadenues
and rhythms that are tuneful only to
the ear. 1t seems to have been coined
'aboriously by men who had grand ana
great and glowing things to say to
each other. 1t bursts impetuously in
huge masses of sound through tue
sense Of hearing and knocks thunder
ously ut the heart and soul of man.
And meantime it is not unmusical. il
is not by any means fiat or sharp. But
there is no fluting about it. There is
no whine in it. It's dapason is essen
tally masculine. 1t is the big organ
nmOng the languages, with many reg
listers, able to run up and down the
samut of human feeling and touch
every responsible fibre Of being, and
sound the depths of joy and sorrow,
md rouse to lofty passion and to the
"oblest endeavor. This 1 say, from
rttentivcly listening to the sound of
the language and observing it's effects
upon the audiences who understood it
'1n singing, the Irish language is
Singularly sweet 1t is not the italian
sweetness, nor the German sweetness
flor the German, in song, is one of the
most musical languages) The sweet
ness in Irish song is unique. and you
cnmnot describe it. 1t has a wondrous
appeal in it, At the Feis the test song
in one of the competitions was "Cuilf-
'1ionn" (Coulim. When Caitilin Nj
Bhraonain Miss Kathleen l'rennam
sang it in the traditional style it pulled
you all to pieces.
GIN the grand concert at the Town
Hall the choir from the Claddng'
school sang the Shan Van Nocht. I
never heard the silvcry voices of chill
drcn blended so mclNliously. Their
singing was something extraordinary.
How such music could he evolved out
of human speech was mystery. and
Mt the same time n revelation. But
then SO was the Fcis itself 1t was
grand. Only for it my visit to Galway
would have given me more bitterness
Of soul than could have shaken off
in a month. AS it was. left Galway
with hope-for Galway and for Ire
land"