Sudrish
A Brief Introduction
Sudrish
- native language of the island of Sodor
- spoken by around 12 500 people (20%)
- approximately 3500 native speakers
- 10 000 second language learners
- official on Sodor since 2011
- not recognised in wider United Kingdom
Names
- “Gîlg” (/gje:ljəkj/) is cognate with English
“Gaelic”
- often used with definite article “a Ghîlg”
(/ə ʝe:ljəkj/)
- often called “Gîlg Hudraygh” (/gje:ljəkj
hod̪ɾaəʝ/, Gaelic of Sodor) to distinguish it
from the three other Gaelic languages
- often called “Sudric” in English, a
shortening of “Sudric Gaelic”
- frequently spelt “Sudrisk” in historical
sources, originating from Old Norse
“Sudreysk”
History
• Earliest attested language on the island is a Brythonic
(P-Celtic) language, with Cumbric attested there until
the 12th century
• Sudrish is a Goidelic (Q-Celtic) language, descended
from Primitive Irish, attesting in Ogham inscriptions
from the 4th century throughout Ireland and the west
coast of Great Britain
• By the 10th century, Middle Irish was spoken
throughout Ireland, Scotland, Mann and Sodor
• Sodor was colonised by the Norse and there is evidence
in loanwords, place names, and preaspieration, but
Norse had little impact on Sudrish compared to Cumbric
History
• Sodor fell under the influence of England during
the later Middle Ages and English became more
important in language development
• Declining contact between Sudro-Manx-speakers
and other Gaelic-speakers in Scotland and Ireland
caused the language to diverge from its neighborus
• Manx and Sudrish began diverging from the 17th
century, influenced by an English-based
orthography for Manx
Decline
• J. G. Cumming (1848) on the islands of
Mann and Sodor:
“There are [...] few persons (perhaps none of the
young) who speak no English.”
• Estimated 30 years later that 40%
habitually spoke Sudrish
• This was 20% by 1901 and 10% by 1921
• Decreasing speaker numbers compounded
low prestige, resulting in parents not
passing it on in favour of “more useful”
English
• Unlike Manx, Sudrish has maintained a
number of native speakers through to the
present day, mostly in remote mountain
areas
Classification and Dialects
• One of four descendants of Old Irish (via
Middle Irish & Early Modern Gaelic)
• Often classified together with Manx as a
single language
• notable differences exist
• very distinct spelling convention
• Three dialects; Northern is the strongest,
Western is largely extinct
• As with Scottish usage, the term
dualchaynt, often translated “dialect”,
refers simply to the local way of speaking
• Pronunciaton and occasionally vocabulary
may differ between “dialects”, but there
is little to no grammatical variation
Education
• An Cuman Gîlgach (The Sudrish
Language Society) was founded in
1898
• no speakers under age 18 reported by
middle of 20th century, but some
individuals were teaching it in schools
• first primary Sudrish Language Unit
(SLU) opened in 1984
• first bilingual Sudrish-English primary
school opened in 1988
Education
• all primary schools must offer Sudrish-
medium education (SME) where
requested by parents
• three secondary schools (Suddery,
Peel Goddard, and Knapford) have a
SMU
• all other secondary schools must offer
Sudrish as a second language
• Knapdorf Secondary’s SMU includes
Manx-speaking pupils commuting
form the Isle of Man
Education
• a year-long beginners’ Sudrish
course is offered at Sodor
Polytechnic
• no tertiary courses are offered
through Sudrish
• Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (on Skye) offers a
summer intensive for Sudrish- and
Manx-speaking students planning to
study through the medium of Gaelic
• Bangor Univeristy of Gwynedd offers
a six-month Welsh bridging course
for Sudrish-speaking students
Signage
• signage in Sudrish became common in the
mountainous regions in the late 20th century
• bilingual road, street, village, and town boundary
signs are increasingly common throughout the
island
• all signs are bilingual in the central mountainous
region, but elsewhere are mostly English-only
• business signage in Sudrish is being introduced,
but not yet mandated by law
Media
• a daily programme in Sudrish broadcasts at midday,
Monday to Saturday, on Radio Sodor
• the news in Sudrish is available online from Radio
Sodor
• a newspaper, Sudragh, is published monthly
• other newspapers offer Sudrish-only or bilingual
columns
• several short films have been made since the 1980s
Media
• 1987 - BBC Sodor began broadcasting Sudrish-
language content, one hour on weekdays and two
hours on Saturdays
• 1995 – increased to two hours on weekdays and
three on Saturdays
• 2008 – digital telivision adopted on the island and
dedicated Sudrish-only channel, BBC Sudragh, was
created
• it broadcasts locally-made Sudrish-language
content as well as bought Irish- and Gaelic-
language content
Mutations
• all modern Celtic language have initial
consonant mutations
• Sudrish has two, lenition (“the soft
mutation”) and eclipsis (“the hard mutation”)
• both mutations are found on nouns and verbs
• only lenition is found on adjectives
• Manx has largely lost its mutations since the
20th century, but it remains an integral part
of Sudrish
Nouns
• masculine or feminine
• singular, dual and plural
• the dual is formed by lenition (masc) or lenition and slenderisation (fem)
• the plural is most commonly formed by the addition of suffix –an /ən̪/
• some nouns have radically irregular plurals
• three (3) cases
• dative
• Genitive
• vocative
• some nouns with regular genitives have irregular historical genitives
which may be encountered in compounds
Adjectives
• have singular and plural forms
• plural is formed by adding –e
• have comparative form
• comparatives:
• present: nys +form (< na ys)
• past: nab +form (<na ba)
• superlatives:
• present: ays +form (<a ys)
• past: ab +form (<a ba)
Pronouns
• regular, emphatic, and possessive personal pronouns
• emphatic pronouns may be used enemphatically in situations where regular ones may be
phonetically ambiguous
• Possessive pronouns are used only for inalienable possession
Conjugated prepositions
• Ta lyuar agham. I have a book.
• Ta sŵylan goram aghat. You have blue eyes.
• Ta Gîlg agha. He speaks Sudrish.
• Ta agal oram ruympy. I’m scared of her.
• Ŷnsŷ m(ê) sgêal dwat. I’ll tell you a story.
• (Ys ê) trêna mai a ta anat, a Hâvys.
You’re a good train, Thomas.
• Ys ân lyat-sa a t’ ê. It belongs to you.
• Ta ŷasg vuam. I need a fish.
• Ta mwid brôdal asat. We’re proud of you.
• Cwrŷ m(ê) lŷtar hwygy. I’ll send her a letter.
• Chay am bât fua. The boat sank.
• Cwr umat do chôta. Put your coat on.
• Ta mê agh lûart ryŵ. I’m talking to youse.
Verbs
• most verbs are inflected through periphrases using “to be”
• only future, conditional, preterite, and imperative are formed
through inflection
• except for the imperative and conditional, verbs inflect for positivity
and interrogativity, but not for person
• there are approximately ten
irregular verbs
• positivity and interrogativity
are shown using particles
The verb “to be”
• Ta mê agh dênw an wybar.
I’m doing the work.
• Chan yil mê agh twygsyn.
I don’t understand.
• Nach yil an dyoch ar a vôrd?
Isn’t the drink on the table?
• An wil an trêna agh tŷtan?
Is the train coming?
Adverbs
• adverbs are formed by dy +adjective
• may (“good”) > dy may (“well)
• dy may be omitted when preceded
by rô (“too”) or fŷr (“very”)
• both of these trigger lenition
• sdf
A few other things
• VSO word order
• vocabulary is predominantly Goidelic origin
• loan-words come from Norse and English, with some Norman French
• Norse loan words:
• garra (“garden”) from garðr (“enclosure”)
• skêra (“sea rock”) from skjaer
• Other borrowings:
• mŵyntyar (“people”) from Latin monasterium
• aglys (“church) from Greek ekklésia
• the last two generations have seen a reaction against English
loanwords, and technical vocabulary is now coined or calqued
Tang ar êstyagh!
An wil cêyst aghat?
