Page:Irish Made Easy - Shán Ó Cuív.pdf/24



The following table gives the new alphabet for Irish, with examples of its application indicating the sound values of the letters. The examples are taken from Desmond Irish, the dialect with which the authors of the alphabet are most familiar, but it would be quite as easy to give examples in Decies, Ulster, or Connacht Irish. The alphabet is capable of representing the sounds of all four dialects. A Mid-Connacht folk song published on page 69 illustrates the practical application of the alphabet to Connacht Irish. We hope that when our writers of Irish will have mastered the alphabet and acquired that nice discrimination of sound which is essential for exact spelling there will be no lack of material in all the dialects. “Irish Made Easy” is expected to appeal particularly to three classes of people:—(1), Irish speakers who cannot read Irish; (2), English speakers who have not yet tried to learn Irish; (3), English speakers who have attempted to learn Irish and failed. There is a fourth class—those who can speak and read Irish—whom we expect to have among our readers also, but, inasmuch as they are already saved for B