An chuid is mó den ábhar léitheoireachta atá againn i nGaeilge dhúchasach na Gaeltachta is éard atá ann ná béaloideas – na scéalta a bhí á n-insint chois tine ag na seanchaithe. Ar ndóigh, ní féidir a rá nach mbeadh flúirse nua-litríochta ar fáil as Gaeilge inniu, fiú don té arbh fhearr leis gan ach leabhair le cainteoirí dúchais a léamh. Mar sin féin, an t-ábhar scribhneora a dteastaíonn múnlaí na cainte dúchasaí uaidh le stíl cheart Gaeltachta a fhoghlaim, is dócha go bhfaighidh sé riachtanach sa deireadh dul ar lorg na ndíolamaí béaloidis.
Chuala an saol, nó muintir na hÉireann ar a laghad, iomrá ar dhírbheathaisnéisí na Gaeltachta, ós iomaí duine acu a léigh cuid de Pheig ar scoil – dírbheathaisnéis Pheig Sayers ó Chiarraí. Is iad na dírbheathaisnéisí ón mBlascaod Mór, áit a raibh cónaí ar Pheig féin, na leabhair is mó le rá den chineál seo, agus tharraing siad a lán litríochta tanaistí ina ndiaidh.
Mar shampla, má bhreac an seaniascaire Tomás Ó Criomhthain síos imeachtaí a shaoil sa leabhar “An tOileánach”, ba spreagadh é sin dá mhac Seán ceann eile - “Lá dár Saol” - a scríobh faoin dóigh ar haistríodh muintir an Bhlascaoid go dtí an mhórthír, nuair a fuair lucht an údaráis nach raibh an t-áitreabh san oileán inmharthana.
Mar sin, cé go bhfuil muintir an Bhlascaoid imithe ón oileán le fada an lá, is féidir linn i gcónaí a lán a fhoghlaim faoin saol a bhí acu fadó agus faoin gcineál Gaeilge a labhraídís. Ó bhaintí an oiread sin úsáide as scríbhinní an Bhlascaoid Mhóir i dteagasc na Gaeilge, is féidir lorg theanga Pheig a aithint ar an gcineál Gaeilge a chleachtann na cainteoirí neamhdhúchais, iad siúd san áireamh nach bhfuil d’aonghnó ag iarraidh aithris a dhéanamh ar chanúint Chiarraí de ghrá na húdarachta.
Is iomaí Gaeilgeoir a chuireann de strus air féin canúint an cheantair nó an chúige a fhoghlaim ina bhfuil cónaí air féin, a fhad agus is féidir. Ar ndóigh, d’imigh an teanga as cuid mhór den tír sula raibh de sheal ag lucht na teangeolaíochta taighde ceart a dhéanamh ar chaint na ndaoine san áit. Bíonn a lán ábhair ar fáil i gcuid mhaith canúintí, áfach, a d’imigh de bhéal na ndaoine idir tús athbheochana na teanga sna 1890idí agus an lá atá inniu ann.
Bhí cultúr tuaithe na hÉireann Gaelaí saibhir i seanchas agus i mbéal-litríocht, díreach cosúil le cultúr tuaithe na hAfraice inniu. Mar sin, nuair a chuaigh lucht athbheochana na teanga go dtí na Gaeltachtaí ar lorg ábhar teanga, fuair siad rompu cultúr an bhéil bheo agus na scéalaíochta béil, agus chuir siad ar pár a raibh fágtha de sheanscéalta na gCeilteach i mbéal na ndaoine.
Ar ndóigh, bhí miotaseolaíocht na nGael ar fáil sna lámhscríbhinní a bhí scríofa i Sean-Ghaeilge nó i Nua-Ghaeilge Mhoch – tá traidisiún liteartha na Gaeilge chomh sean agus go dtugtar Nua-Ghaeilge Mhoch ar an gcineál teanga a bhí á saothrú ón 12ú haois anuas! Na seanchaithe agus na scéalaithe, áfach, d’insídís na scéalta seo i nGaeilge chomhaimseartha, i dteanga ghnáthchaidrimh na ndaoine, agus blas nádúrtha uirthi.
Cultúr béal-litríochta é cultúr na tuaithe san Afraic féin. Is féidir a rá gurb ionann iad ó thaobh na céille de ‘griot’ agus seanchaí. Is iomaí teanga Afracánach a mhair trí bhlianta an choilíneachais i dtuilleamaí an chineál béal-litríochta a bhí á shaothrú ag muintir na Gaeltachta in Éirinn, nuair a bhí na péindlíthe i bhfeidhm agus an teanga Gaeilge fágtha gan scríbhneoirí gan litríocht ealaíonta. Inniu, bheadh sé in am againn an bhéal-litríocht a bhreacadh síos ó sheanchaithe na hAfraice freisin.
Nuair a thug Paul Theroux, an scríbhneoir cáiliúil taistil, cuairt ar Uganda, agus é ag tabhairt léachtanna faoi cheird an scríbhneora in ollscoil ansin, is minic a fuair sé an cheist ó na mic léinn ná conas is féidir leabhar mór-ratha a scríobh. Is é an freagra a thug sé ná gur chóir don duine a chuir an cheist dearmad a dhéanamh den leabhar mór-ratha agus stair sheanchais na mblianta corracha in Uganda - idir dheachtóireacht Idi Amin agus na himeachtaí ina diaidh - a bhreacadh síos ó na seanchaithe, ó na seandaoine a mbeadh bua inste scéalta acu. Nó ba é sin an rud féin a theastódh uainn san Eoraip le haithne cheart a fháil ar mhuintir tuaithe na hAfraice agus ar an dóigh a ndeachaigh stair an chéid seo caite i bhfeidhm orthu.
Na modhanna oibre a bhí in úsáid ag díograiseoirí teanga agus bailitheoirí béaloidis na hÉireann céad bliain ó shin, bheadh siad de dhíth anois le stair tíortha cosúil le hUganda a chur ar taifead, díreach mar a mhair sí i gcuimhne na ndaoine.
Tá Panu Höglund scríbhneoir Fionlannach ar líne agus aistritheoir
Most of the reading matter now available in genuine native Irish is folklore – stories that the tradition-keepers or ‘shanachies’ used to tell by their firesides. Of course there is a lot of new literature available in the language today, even for those purists who prefer to read only native authors. But the aspiring writer who needs the stylistic models of native spoken language will sooner or later go for the folklore publications.
Everybody, or at least every Irishman and woman, has heard about the autobiographies of native speakers from the western seaboard, because most of them read at least a part of Peig – the autobiography of Peig Sayers from Kerry – when they were at school. The most widely known of these autobiographies are from the Great Blasket Island, where Peig herself lived, and they were followed by a lot of derivative literature.
For instance, where the old fisherman Tomás Ó Criomhthain gave us the story of his life in the book An tOileánach (The Islandman), his son Seán was inspired to write a book about the move of the population of the island to the mainland when the authorities had decided that life on the Great Blasket wasn’t sustainable.
In this way, although the Blasket people left their island long ago, we can still learn a lot about how they lived and what kind of Irish they spoke. The literature of the Blaskets has been utilised so much in the instruction of the Irish language that it has left its mark on the Irish spoken and written by non-native speakers, even those who aren’t consciously trying to emulate the dialect spoken in Kerry.
Many enthusiastic learners of Irish take the trouble of trying to acquire the dialect of their own region or province for the sake of authenticity, as far as possible. Of course the language was lost in many parts of the country before the linguists came to record the dialects. There is a lot of stuff available, though, in many dialects that went out of use between the beginning of the revival efforts in the 1890s and today.
The rural Irish-speaking culture of Ireland was rich in storytelling and oral literature, very much like the rural culture of Africa today. Thus, when language revivalists went to the Irish-speaking districts wanting to collect linguistic material, they found there the culture of living speech and story, and came to record what was left of the mythology of Celts among common people.
Gaelic mythology was available in manuscripts in Old Irish or in Early Modern Irish – the literary tradition of the language is so old that Irish from the 12th century is already called Early Modern! The rural storytellers and tradition-keepers, however, told these stories in contemporary Irish, in the natural language of everyday communication.
African rural culture is also one of oral literature and storytelling. The word ‘griot’ has an Irish equivalent – seanchaí or, as it is often written in English, shanachie. Many languages in Africa survived through colonialism relying on the kind of oral literature that was also found among native speakers of Irish in Ireland when the Penal Laws were in place and the language had no writers or artistic literature. Today it would be about time to record the oral literature of Africa, too.
When the travel writer Paul Theroux visited Uganda and spoke about his writing at a local university, he was often asked by the students how they could write a bestseller. His answer was that they should forget about their bestsellers and focus instead on writing an oral history of the turbulent years of their country, both the Idi Amin dictatorship and what came after that, based on the memories of the storytellers, of old people who know how to tell a story. For that is also what we in Europe would need to know in order to get really acquainted with the rural people of Africa and their experience of the history of the 20th century.
The methods that were used by language enthusiasts and folklore collectors in Ireland would now be much called for in order to record the history of countries such as Uganda, the way people remember it.
Panu Höglund is a Finnish online writer and translator
