Simply a Dot

Abstract

Historically Gaelic, the vernacular language of a significant proportion of the population of Ireland, used a variation of the roman alphabet which consisted of just eighteen basic letters — the vowels and some consonants carried diacritical marks of accent and aspiration which extended the range of sounds they represented. With the introduction of cast metal moveable type the particular requirements of printing Irish language texts were met either through the production of specially prepared fonts of irish character types based on distinctive Irish manuscript models or alternatively through the use of existing or adjusted roman fonts. This account seeks to examine some of the significant attempts made at accommodating roman fonts to the perceived requirements of the Irish language in the context of various social and political considerations which were inevitably imposed on this process.