Emily in discussion with local informant
Donald MacFadyen
The Gaelic language has been spoken on Islay for longer than in almost any other part of Scotland. For this reason, some aspects of Islay
Gaelic have closer affinities with Irish Gaelic than most other Scottish Gaelic dialects, which makes it particularly unique. Furthermore, with
Islay being only approximately 18 miles from the north coast of Antrim, some Islay Gaelic words and pronunciations are not surprisingly closer to
Irish Gaelic than the Gaelic of the Northern Hebrides. For example, with the word ‘ceart’, where in Islay the intrusive ‘sh’
sound is not pronounced as it is in the Gaelic of the Northern Hebrides. With this in mind, however, the pronunciation, grammar and structure of Islay
Gaelic is undoubtedly a dialect of the Scottish Gaelic language, where it is essential that this valuable dialect is preserved and maintained for years
to come.
Word List
The PDF below can be downloaded and printed out. It contains a small selection of words, collected
for Seanchas Ìle, that are more commonly heard in Islay Gaelic than in other Gaelic dialects. Some are unique to Islay Gaelic.
Downloads
| Word list |
| Islay Gaelic word list (32Kb) |
How to view the word list:
The word list is in PDF format. To view the pages you need to click on the link. The page will open in a new window and you can then choose to print a copy.
