Briathrachas Gràmair

4. Prionnsabalan litreachaidh (principles of modern Gaelic
spelling)
Prionnsabalan cudromach:
Bidh sinn a’ leantainn nam prionnsabal a chuireadh an cèill le GOC (Gaelic Orthographic
Conventions, 2006) (we will follow the principles outlined by GOC):
1. Stràcan:
’S e an stràc trom a-mhàin a thathar a’ cleachdadh airson sìneadh ann am fuaim fuaimreig a
shealltainn. Tha an stràc geur air a dhol à bith. Thathar a’ cur stràcan a-nise air ceannlitrichean
(the grave accent is the only one used to denote a lengthened vowel sound. The
acute accent has been eliminated. Accents are now used on capital letters):
FACLAIR NA PÀRLAMAID FÀILTE
2. Leathann ri leathann is caol ri caol:
Thathar a’ cumail fhathast ris a’ phrionnsabal seo. Ann an cuid de shuidheachaidhean, getà,
chan eil e iomchaidh (this principle is still adhered to. But in some situations, it is not
appropriate):
a. Le pàirtearan caithte (with past participles):
dèante togte
b. Le cuid de dh’fhaclan dà-eileamaideach (with some words which contain two
elements):
rudeigin badeigin banrigh mocheirigh
c. Le cuid de dh’fhaclan-iasaid ùra (with some modern loan words):
baidhsagal minibus
3. “comh-” gu “co-”:
Tha an ro-leasachan comh-, a chithear ann am faclair Dwelly, air atharrachadh gu co- andiugh,
co-dhiù far a bheil an cuideam air an darna eileamaid. Far a bheil an cuideam air co-
, tha e sgrìobhte mar aon fhacal gun tàthan (the prefix comh-, which one will see in
Dwelly’s dictionary, is now co-, at least where the stress is on the second element. Where
the stress is on co-, it is written as a single word without a hyphen):
Mar a bha e A-nis
comh-cheangal co-cheangal
comh-chòrdadh co-chòrdadh
comh-èigneachadh co-èigneachadh
comh-thional (coimhthional) coitheanal
comh-lionta (coimhlionta) coileanta
comh-meas coimeas
ACH còmhradh
còmhstri
còmhnard
Copyright R. MacLean