Ní Mhaoláin, Marion
(2016)
Scéalta Dharach Uí Dhireáin: A linguistic and anthropological analysis.
PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Abstract
This thesis presents an edited and annotated edition of a collection of folklore from the largest of
the Aran Islands, Co. Galway, and offers an interdisciplinary analysis of the material from both a
linguistic and anthropological perspective. The material was collected in 1933 by renowned scholar
Robin Flower from local Aran Island storyteller Darach Ó Direáin. The collection contains 56
components — the majority of which are stories — and is preserved in Robin Flower’s Nachlass in
the National Folklore Collection, Dublin.
Volume one of this thesis contains the edited version of the manuscript material and presents a
detailed examination of the various amendments applied during the editing process. The linguistic
analysis comprises a comprehensive examination of the speech of Darach Ó Direáin with a
particular emphasis on phonology, morphology, semantics and syntax.
The anthropological analysis of volume two applies a processual and discourse-centered
approach to the Flower/Ó Direáin material. An examination of the construction process of this
collection reveals the multiple voices and socio-historical discourses that constitute a folklore text
from the West of Ireland. Each of the key contributors to the collection are analysed in terms of
their positioned roles and access to textual authority, amongst other factors. In this respect, the
Flower/Ó Direáin folklore collection is presented as a collaborative endeavour between narrator,
collector, audience and researcher along with their respective discursive histories.
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