I read the news today. To be precise, I’ve been looking at the BBC website’s news in Gaelic?and I’ve spotted a grammatical theme among a large proportion?of the headlines and standfirsts:
- Fiosrachadh ga shireadh mu ghoid charbad phoilis?“information sought about the theft of a police car”
- Ceathrar gan toirt far Beinn Nibheis?“Four people taken from the top of Ben Nevis”
- Teaghlach de cheathrar gan toirt far Beinn Nibheis […]?(standfirst for the foregoing) “Family of four taken from the top of Ben Nevis”
- Duine ga lorg air a’ Chliseam?“Person found on Clisham [mountain on Harris]”
- Leasachadh Beinn Uais ga dhi?ltadh?“Ben Wyvis development turned down”
Here the aspect marker?ag?preceding a verbal noun has merged with the possessive pronoun that is the direct object of the direct noun in question (sireadh,?toirt,?lorg and?diultadh), leniting it if it’s?ga?masculine. Put a form of?bi at the front and you have a full sentence, but it need not be passive in that case. They could be, maybe absurdly:
- Information seeks him about the theft of a police car
- Four people take them from the top of Ben Nevis
- Family of four take them from the top of Ben Nevis
- Person finds him on Clisham?or Person finds it on Clisham
- Ben Wyvis development turns him down
These have a look of machine translation about them, don’t they?