Hi,

I was wondering if anybody with more knowledge of Irish than me could tell me the status of the cases
in Irish today. This came to my mind recently when I was staying in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in Corca Dhuibhne, I was
staying in a B&B waiting for somebody, when the fear an tí saw me standing around and told me to
"Suigh síos ar ceann desna cathaoireachaibh", which I believe was a dative plural. I was wondering how commonly
used things like the dative singular, genitive plural are these days. Particularly cases on the adjective, I find that
most adjectives only get declined for the plural. It's only really in Munster that I've seen adjectives also being put
in the genitive, although I haven't been in Ulster much.

Thanks.

Among older speakers, cases are still very much alive. In Munster, the dative plural is often used, while in Ulster, the dative singular can still be heard outside of set expressions sometimes (ar an fhuinneoig, for example).

Among many younger speakers, at least in the north, all cases seem to be levelling quite randomly and chaotically. Constructions like hata an fear mór instead of hata an fhir mhóir are becoming increasingly common. I’m not sure if that’s just ‘teen speak’, as it were, that people eventually grow out of, or whether it’s an actual change in the language happening.

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

according to An Teanga Bheo : Gaeilge Uladh and the study about Tory Island's Irish, if I remember well, people rather say "hata an fhear mhór", ie. the genitive case is expressed in the lenitions (you get the same lenitions as in the "dative" ie. after prepositions, eg. leis an fhear mhór). I can't say how much this has developed in Donegal, though. We'd need to listen to many people and make statistics.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Yes, I’ve heard that too.

I’m not sure if my spur-of-the-moment mental statistics are entirely trustworthy here, but I think the majority of cases where I’ve heard the genitive = nominative construction (hata an fear mór) have been in south Donegal, i.e., Glencolmcille and Teelin, whereas most of the genitive = dative constructions (hata an fhear mhór) have been in Gweedore.

_________________
Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Ok. Anyway these evolutions are not surprising: they have happened in Manx, and also in the Brythonic languages long ago (these have lost their declensions about 1500 years ago).

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne