Ar Dé Céadaoin 29 Márta, thug an Dr Radvan Markus caint faoina chuid taighde ar an úrscéal Gaelach is cáiliúla, Cré na Cille, a scríobh Máirtín Ó Cadhain in 1949. Is léachtóir sinsearach sa Ghaeilge é an Dr Markus in Ollscoil Shéarlas i bPrág. Saineolaí i litríocht nua-aoiseach na Gaeilge is ea é agus d’aistrigh sé Cré na Cille ó Gaeilge go Seicis.
Clúdach an leagain Sheicise de Cré na Cille. Dearadh: Jan Augusta
Ag tús an léachta, mhínigh an Dr Markus gur dá phobal féin a bhí an Cadhnach ag scríobh ach gur aistríodh Cré na Cille go trí theanga dhéag. Dar le Markus go bhfaightear téamaí uilíocha sa scéal agus gur sin an fáth go bhfuil an scéal so-aistrithe go teangacha eile agus go cultúir eile. Níor foilsíodh leagan Béarla de Chré na Cille le linn bheatha an Chadhnaigh de bharr na ndeacrachtaí a bhí ag an bhfoilsitheoir teacht ar aistritheoir, ach rinneadh dhá aistriúchán Béarla air i ndiaidh a bháis: The Dirty Dust (2015) le hAlan Titley agus The Graveyard Clay (2016) le Liam Mac Con Iomaire agus Tim Robinson. Dúirt Markus go mbunaítear cuid de na haistriúcháin go teangacha eile ar leaganacha Titley agus Mhic Con Iomaire agus Robinson agus n’fheadar cé chomh cruinn is atá na nathanna cainte sna leaganacha sin.
De réir an Dr Markus is scéal ciclipéideach anordúil é Cré na Cille a léiríonn scéal Chonamara, scéal na hÉireann agus scéal na nÉireannach. Ach is scéal sothuighte do léitheoirí ar fud na hEorpa é freisin. Cuireann an scéal dearcadh na dtuathánach in iúl go soiléir don léitheoir: an chúlchaint, an tsíorsáraíocht, agus an t-éad. D’áitigh sé gur carachtar uilíoch í an príomhcharachtar Caitríona Pháidín ar féidir a macasamhla a aimsiú i gcultúir dhomhanda éagsúla, cuir i gcás cultúr na Seice.
Inis dom faoi d’aistear leis an Ghaeilge go dtí seo, conas a d’fhoghlaim tú í den chéad uair agus cén fáth gur phioc tú an Ghaeilge mar ábhar ollscoile?
Katie McNamee, personal archive
D’fhreastail mé ar mo bhunscoil áitiúil, mar sin thosaigh mé ag foghlaim na Gaeilge nuair a bhí mé ceithre bliana d’aois. Is dócha go bhfuil sé níos fusa teanga a fhoghlaim ar an bhealach sin, nuair a bhíonn tú óg bíonn tú in ann teanga a phiocadh suas go gasta agus ní bhíonn ort dua a chaitheamh lena foghlaim. D’fhreastail mé ar shruth na Gaeilge i gColáiste Chaitríona, Ard Mhacha ina dhiaidh sin, bhí mé in ann staidéar a dhéanamh ar ábhair trí mheán na Gaeilge agus chuidigh sin go mór liom mo chuid scileanna scríbhneoireachta a fhorbairt. Bhí mé iontach paiseanta faoin teanga agus d’éirigh go maith liom sa Ghaeilge ar scoil ach nuair a chríochnaigh mé ar an scoil ní raibh mé cinnte cén sórt post a ba mhaith liom.
Tell me about your journey with the Irish language so far. How you first learned the language and why you chose Irish as a university subject?
I attended my local Irish-medium primary school, which meant that I started learning Irish when I was four years old. I was the first in my family to learn Irish and it was seen as a bit of a risk sending me there as the school had just been established a year earlier, in 2003. But my mother is a teacher and she was very aware of the benefits of bilingualism and the effectiveness of immersive education. I think it was a lot easier for us to learn Irish as children as we were able to pick it up very quickly simply by interacting with our teachers.
I then attended an Irish-medium stream in my secondary school and I was able to do most of my subjects in Irish. I think that writing essays in subjects like history in Irish really helped develop my writing skills. I have always loved the Irish language and it was definitely my favourite subject in school, especially when we started to study poetry. When I finished secondary school, I didn’t know what sort of job I wanted but I knew I wanted to do something with Irish.
Cén t-ábhar dochtúireachta atá idir lámha agat agus cén fáth ar roghnaigh tú an t-ábhar sin?
Tá mé ag caitheamh súil ar an dóigh a dtéann scríbhneoirí na Gaeilge i ngleic le ceisteanna a bhfuil stiogma agus náire ag baint leo. Bím ag plé leis na teicnící éagsúla a bhíonn in úsáid ag scríbhneoirí chun dul i ngleic le ceisteanna cigilteacha ar nós na gnéasachta agus an mheabhairghalar, mar shampla. Díríonn mo chuid taighde ar na straitéisí cosanta éagsúla a mbaintear úsáid astu chun dul i ngleic le hábhair a bheadh róchigilteach aghaidh a thabhairt go díreach orthu.
Bhí suim agam i gcónaí san fhilíocht agus scríobh mé mo thráchtas bunchéime ar fhilíocht Greagóir Uí Dhúill agus thaitin an taighde go mór liom. Nuair a scríobh mé mo thráchtas máistreachta ar shaothar Dhairena Ní Chinnéide, d’éirigh mé níos muiníní mar thaighdeoir agus bhí a fhios agam go raibh mé ag iarraidh dochtúireacht a dhéanamh. Le linn na máistreachta, chuir mé suim sa smaoineamh go mbíonn feidhm theiripeach i gceist leis an fhilíocht in amanna, agus bhí mé ag iarraidh an cheist sin a chíoradh.
What PhD topic are you working on and why did you choose this topic?
My research looks at how Irish-language writers approach sensitive issues in their work that involve stigma and shame. I focus on the various strategies these writers employ in their work to deal with issues such as mental illness or sexuality, for example. This involves analysing works that use distancing strategies to tackle issues that would be too sensitive to discuss head on.
I was always interested in poetry and I decided to write my undergraduate dissertation on the poetry of Gréagóir Ó Dúill. I really enjoyed the research and when I wrote my Masters dissertation on the poetry of Dairena Ní Chinnéide, I gained a lot of confidence as a researcher and I knew that I wanted to do a PhD. During that masters, I became interested in the therapeutic aspect of poetry and I wanted to do further research on that topic.
“Hidden Gems: Phraseology and Culture in Irish” cé a dhiúltódh níos mó a fhoghlaim faoin teideal mealltach seo? Ní mise cibé ar bith!
Katie Ní Loingsigh ó Choláiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh a nocht na seoda ar 31 lá Eanáir agus í ag plé na nasc idir cúrsaí cultúir agus nathanna na Gaeilge ó thaobh na frásaíochta agus réimse na teangeolaíochta. Ar Chearnóg chlúiteach ilteangach Ollscoil na Banríona i mBéal Feirste a chruinnigh idir mhic léinn a dhéanann staidéar ar an mhodúl, An Béal Beo (CEL3001), agus roinnt léachtóirí Spáinnise, Gaeilge, Portaingéilise agus Fraincise. Ócáid iltíreach!
Katie Ní Loingsigh, personal archive
Cé nach bhfuil mórstaidéar cuimsitheach déanta go fóill ar an dlúthcheangal idir cúrsaí cultúir agus nathanna, glactar leis go forleathan go bhfuil tábhacht ar leith ag baint leis an chultúr san anailís a dhéantar ar nathanna. Ábhar dochtúireachta aon duine?
On Friday 20 May 2022, Queen’s University Belfast hosted the annual Modern Languages CDRG Research Showcase. The event emphasised the wealth of research recently undertaken by the Core Disciplinary Research Group at Queen’s. The Celebration of Recent Publications in Modern Languages panel session in particular highlighted some recently published work from three Queen’s lecturers, Dr Dominique Jeannerod (French), Dr Síobhra Aiken (Irish) and Professor Maeve McCusker (French). The panel was chaired by Laura Kennedy, a current PhD student in French.
Image: cover of Dominique Jeannerod’s monograph
Dr Dominique Jeannerod, interviewed by Mark O’Rawe, a PhD student in French, provided an overview of his monograph entitled La Passion de San-Antonio: Frédéric Dard et ses lecteurs (Presses universitaires Savoie Mont Blanc, 2021). La Passion de San-Antonio considers the readers of San-Antonio book series by French crime writer, Frédéric Dard. Dr Jeannerod explained how he, like millions of others, grew up in France reading the San-Antonio books. However, these novels were perceived as anti-literature due to a variety of socio-cultural factors, ranging from their aggressive market orientation to Dard’s grotesque humour and idiosyncratic use of French slang. As a result, the San-Antonio books were to be read outside of the classroom. Despite or indeed because of this lack of institutional recognition, the collection of novels has enjoyed a very diverse readership. Dr Jeannerod’s research work on this topic focuses on the relationship between the reader and the author, asking questions about who the readers of San-Antonio are, how they read, and what their assumptions or prejudices might be. In the interview, Dr Jeannerod discussed the varying trends in the San-Antonio readership across generations, which saw the novel’s popularity decrease around the 1990s. The conversation with Dr Jeannerod concluded by looking forward to the return of San-Antonio in multimedia form, with the anticipated release of a TV series, based on the book series.
On the 25th of June, six candidates from the current PhD cohort at Queen’s University Belfast shared a session entitled ‘PhD Flashtalks’ during the Modern Languages CDRG Research Showcase 2021. Dr Ricki O’Rawe participated as the chair.
Image credit: Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Margaret Cunningham, who is a second year PhD candidate in French, began the session with a synopsis of her thesis project, which carries the working title ‘Narratives of Disaster in the French Caribbean’. Margaret believes that in the Caribbean context, the French departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique have been largely overlooked in studies of catastrophe. Thus, Margaret has made this silence the focus of her thesis, examining disaster narratives against the backdrop of a colonial and specifically slave past.
Next, Annie Jowett, a first-year Ph.D. student in Irish, discussed her thesis on ‘The Irish Dialect of South Leinster: The Onomastic Evidence’. Through her research, Annie aspires to address and contribute to the gap in linguistic knowledge about the Irish language and discover where the Irish spoken in South Leinster fits into the dialect continuum of the Irish language in Ireland. The Irish language has been obsolete in South Leinster since the turn of the twentieth century. In addition, the linguistic history of the region is complex in terms of language contact; Annie gave the example of the survival of an Old English dialect named Yola which survived in the South-East of the province until the late nineteenth century. Annie is employing placenames in the region as her primary source of dialect evidence, intending to focus on the distribution of stress patterning in local pronunciations.
