Blair Collection > Elements of Gaelic grammar

14S OF SYXTAx. [Part II.
SECTION I.
OF THE AGREEMENT OF THE ARTICLE WITH A NOUN.
Collocation.
The Article is always placed before its Noun, and next
to it, unless when an Adjective intervenes.
Form.
The Article agrees with its Noun in Gender, Number,
and Case. Final n is changed into vi before a plain Labial ;
as *am baile' the town^ 'am fear' the man. It is usually cut
off before an aspirated Palatal, or Labial, exceptingy/6 ; as
*a' chaora' the sheep., 'a' mhuc' the sow, *a' choin" o/the dog.
Li the Dat. Sing, initial a is cut off after a Preposition end-
ing in a Vowel ; as 'do 'n chloich' to the stone (j).
A Noun, when immediately preceded by the Article,
suffers some changes in Initial Form: 1. With regard to
Nouns beginning with a Consonant, the aspirated form is
assumed by a mas. noun in the gen. and dat. singular ; by
a fern, noun in the nom. and dat. singular. If the noun
begins with s followed by a vowel or by a Liquid, instead
of having the s aspirated, t is inserted between tlie Article
and the noun, in the foresaid cases ; and the s becomes en-
tirely quiescent (z). 2. With regard to Nouns beginning
with
(y) To avoid, as far as may be, the too frequent use of a by
itself, perhaps it would be better always to write the article full,
*an' or 'am'j and to apply the above rules, about the elision of
its letters, only to regulate the pronunciation. Irish books, and
our earlier Scottish publications, have the article written almost
always full, in situations where, according to the latest mode of
Orthography, it is mutilated.
(%) The practice of suppressing the sound of an initial con-
sonant in certain situations, and supplying Its place by another
of a softer sound, is carried to a much greater extfjnt in tlie Irish
Dialect. It is termed eclipsis by the Irish grammarians, and
is an evidence of nice attention to euphonia.