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 the language of con&shy;versation, jotting down anything of interest. The other was to take down a large number of stories and poems from dictation. The latter course I attempted during my first visit, but abandoned it, as what I took down was frequent&shy;ly very far removed from the col&shy;loquial language, and further I was often sus&shy;picious of Connaught influence. The texts printed at the end of this volume, however, have all been very carefully revised, and represent J. H.’s speech as far as lay in my power. Hence the bulk of my material has had to be collected whilst herding cows, or chatting at night by the side of a peat fire.

The mode of transcription I have adopted is that of the Associ&shy;ation Phoné&shy;tique, and the only new symbols are o̤, ö̤, ⅄, which represent vowels peculiar to Gaelic. I regret that I have not always been con&shy;sistent in writing U, and w before con&shy;sonants. Finck’s Araner Mundart has been freely utilised in the present sketch, and I am only sorry that Meyer’s Contribu&shy;tions to Irish Lexicog&shy;raphy are not further advanced.

Before perusing the texts it is exceedingly important that the para&shy;graphs on Sandhi should be read.

It should perhaps be observed that in the case of the con&shy;sonants the term palatal&shy;isation is here used to denote palatal temper or quality and that it therefore does not imply that the sounds in question are palatal&shy;ised as opposed to palatal.