The second most important trait of Clonduff Irish - feil

Leid # 2, feil and fuil

The second most important distingushing feature of the Irish of Clonduff, and the wider Oirialla area is the use of 'feil' as opposed to 'fuil'

Most people who have studied Irish will remember the words, níl, and an bhfuil.

'Níl' is made up of the elements 'ní fhuil'. We have already seen that cha takes the place of ní in Down, but there is a little more to it.

In Down and Oirialla these forms are Chan fheil (often shortened to ' 'n'eil ' and 'a' bhfeil'

Therefore, 'is not' was chan fheil in Down as it was in Antrim, Omeath and South Armagh, and Scotland and Man as can be seen of the map.

'Chan fheil' is pronunced /han nʲel/ or /han nʲil/ approximately. The important thing is to remember that the n is pronounced slender as in 'Newry'.

'Bhfeil' differs from 'bhfuil' in that the 'bh' is slender, it is a 'v' sound, not a 'w' sound as in Donegal Irish. 'Bhfeil' is there pronounced /vʲel/ or /vʲil/ or even /vʲol/ approximately.

Note, the Irish of Meath and Tyrone / Derry employ 'fuil'.

It is also worth noting, that outwith the occasional usage in song, 'fuil' is not used in Ireland today apart from perhaps a tiny percentage of learners. Its usage however is not as frowned upon as the use of 'cha'.