Does this (Grammar) book look good?

[ithinkitsnice]

I know there's a subforum for books, but my rationale is this question is essentially about grammar, not literature.

I'm looking for a good grammar reference book and was recommended "Gràmar na Gàidhlig", but it's currently out of print and the handful of second hand copies available online are over £100, which is silly money.

I found this book "Concise Grammar - Scottish Gaelic", only recently published via kindle which looks ok, but I can't find any reviews nor the author's credentials, so I'm wary. Can anyone take a look (you can read a free preview in your browser by clicking on 'look inside' at the link above) and let me know what you think?

Or, does anyone have a copy "Gràmar na Gàidhlig" they don't want to gouge me for?

[akerbeltz]

Crikey, seems like all the grammar books are out of print? What the...

At over £100 I'd personally say the Byrne book is not a good buy. The Kindle thing looks ok at a quick glance. For a paper "grammar" I'd get the Maolalaigh book, technically not a grammar but it's organised in such a way you can use it as a grammar http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Gaelic ... n+12+weeks

[ithinkitsnice]

Thanks, I'll take a look at 12 Weeks in Partick tomorrow, might get it regardless since you recommend it, but I'm really after a dedicated grammar reference.

I'll put out some feelers for a second hand copy of GnG too.

Do you know anything about this book? http://gaelicbooks.org/index.php?route= ... uct_id=887

[akerbeltz]

Cothrom Ionnsachaidh contains a lot of useful info, though not a grammar per se, but it must be the most convoluted book on Gaelic there is.

Depending on how happy you are with linguistic descriptions, Lamb, W. (2003) Scottish Gaelic (2nd edition), Muenchen: LincomEuropa. is also good.

[Níall Beag]

I'm looking for a good grammar reference book and was recommended "Gràmar na Gàidhlig", but it's currently out of print and the handful of second hand copies available online are over £100, which is silly money.

This tyoe of crazy price are the result of automatic pricing algorithms. They aren't very good at distinguishing between a genuine rarity and something that is just a low order item (the Byrne book is extremely common among Gaelic learners, but we're a very small demographic. Sellers' algorithms are sometimes set to undercut each other, but other times they aim to maximise profit and offer slightly higher than the competition, as they hope to get the second sale. The best approach in such a case is to contact one of the sellers, making them a realistic offer. They can then drop the price and you can buy it.

But I'm not really sure it's a big deal. Byrne's grammar is fairly lightweight anyway, and I don't think there's anything in there that you won't find in 12 Weeks.

[faoileag]

If you don't already have Colin Mark's Gaelic-Eng. dictionary, that is something worth spending money on, as it is not only an extremely thorough dictionary, packed with examples, but it has masses of grammatical info both in the individual word entries, and in the very substantial grammar reference section at the baclk, which is the equivalent of a much larger grammar book than Byrne.

Another excellent practical reference book to invest in is Blas na Gàidhlig, by Michael Bauer, which is also full of language info, covering many grammar points, in the course of dealing accessibly and often fascinatingly with the whys, wherefores and hows of Gaelic pronunciation. http://www.akerbeltz.eu/books.html

If you're going to splash out and are with Gaelic for the long term, get these.

Then there are very good online resources as well, a lot from Michael Bauer again:
http://akerbeltz.org/index.php?title=Pr ... _dhuilleag (Click on the blue section headings under the yellow line)

Have fun!

[akerbeltz]

This tyoe of crazy price are the result of automatic pricing algorithms.

I've run into these before, it's not automatic pricing algs, it's a new type of bookseller actually. They buy books they reckon which will be out of print soon or are not available to a certain market. For example, there one such lot which buys Dwelly from me to re-sell in markets where they reckon they'll sell one for less than an overseas order would cost but still way more than what you'd expect to pay. It's a bit like domain squatting with books.

[ithinkitsnice]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'm aware of pretty much everything there is online including Akerbeltz's excellent site, ideally I'm after something physical.

I think I'm right in saying Byrne is a secondary (school) textbook, which sounds ideal for me to work through at the moment, then I might look at something more substantial. Didn't manage to get up the road to see 12 Weeks today but I'll give it a go tomorrow, and I'll try to have a look at all the rest too.