A chara, - As speakers of Irish as a first or second language, we followed with great interest the latest debate in the Dáil on the state of the language, and we agree with Brian O'Shea TD (Labour spokesperson on the Irish language) that Irish is a "cultural gem" that can "bring joy and can enrich us".
Yet, as linguists and speech researchers, we must point out that his suggestion that the grammar of Irish be simplified ("Ba cheart gramadach na Gaeilge a shimpliú") to make the language more accessible would be impossible to implement.
Mr O'Shea specifically argues that the irregular verbs of Irish and the tuiseal ginideach (genitive case) should be eliminated. Yet these and other such changes simply cannot be imposed on a language. To convince themselves of this, we invite readers, including our teachtaí dála, to try the following experiment.
Take a single irregular verb in English (of which there are many more than the 11 of Irish) and try to "simplify" it in your speech for the rest of the day.
For example, for the verb "to be", instead of "I am", "you are", "she is", etc, say "I is", "you is", "she is", "we is". . .and don't forget to "simplify" all the tenses ("you was", "I willn't". . .) Then tomorrow, try the same "simplification" with not just one, but all the irregular verbs of English ("I has", "you has beginned", "he bringed". . .).
Then, the next day, also remove possessive markers from your English. Indicating possession is, of course, one of the main functions of the tuiseal ginideach in Irish. So, instead of "Daniel's car," say "Daniel car", and instead of "our niece", say "us niece".
Ask a friend to point out all your "mistakes". If you send us a euro for every time you fail to use the "simplified grammar" of English, we can retire rich tomorrow.
Our point is that the TD's suggestion, while well-meaning, is doomed to failure. Competent speakers of Irish, including teachers of the language, use the tuiseal ginideach and irregular verbs because these forms are part of the natural patterns of the language.
To be sure, languages change, and Irish is changing. Some irregular verbs are likely to become more regular. For example, while the past tense of the verb beir (rug) is irregular in most dialects, it is regular in Gaoth Dobhair (bheir). And one day, Irish may well lose the tuiseal ginideach. This happened to the English language: over time, the case system (including the tuiseal ginideach) of Old English was almost completely lost and replaced by the current system, in which word order plays a crucial role in signalling relationships between words. But these changes are organic; they cannot be imposed artificially.
We agree that more spraoi needs to be injected into the teaching of Irish and that as educators, parents, and public servants, we need to think creatively.
But the Government also must solicit and then take seriously the advice of linguists about what works (immersion education, for example) and what will not (artificially "simplifying" the grammar). - Is muidne,
HARALD BERTHELSEN, NADIA GENSEROVSKAYA, AILBHE NÍ CHASAIDE, BRIAN Ó RAGHALLAIGH, PAULINE WELBY, Phonetics and Speech Laboratory Centre for Language and Communication Studies, Trinity College, Dublin 2.