Bibliography

McManus, Damian, “Identification copula clauses linking substantives of different gender in Early and Classical Irish”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 5:2 (Autumn, 2021): 214–241.

  • journal article
Citation details
Contributors
Article
“Identification copula clauses linking substantives of different gender in Early and Classical Irish”
Periodical
North American Journal of Celtic Studies 5:2 (2021)
North American Journal of Celtic Studies 5:1–2 (Spring-Autumn, 2021), Ohio State University Press.
Volume
5
Pages
214–241
Description
Abstract (cited)

This paper investigates identification copula clauses linking substantives of different gender, e.gg., as in OIr. Críst didiu, is sí in chathir ‘Christ, then, is the city’ and CIr. An leabhar, is í an eagna ‘The book is wisdom’; the copula identification clause with pronominal subject, e.gg., MIr. Iss é mo lennán é ‘He is my beloved’ and CIr. Is é an seanadh hé ‘It is the old tradition’; and the Classical Irish type with substantives of different gender and subject pronoun, e.g., Mo theanga, is é m’arm-sa í ‘My tongue is my weapon’. It argues that the pronoun following the copula in such phrases is a mere shoe-horn to the following defined substantive, that the iss é mo lennán é type should not be classified under the rubric ‘repetition of the pronoun’, as is often done, and seeks to explain why the construction Mo theanga, is é m’armsa í, with different gender in the substantives, is more likely to be encountered in Classical verse than the type with just one gender.

Subjects and topics
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2022