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This research entails an interdisciplininary analysis of a collection of folklore from the Aran Islands. The material was collected in the early nineteen thirties by the scholar Robin Flower and is now preserved in the Department of Irish Folklore in University College Dublin. The collection comprises fifty or so components – the majority of which are stories – and is recorded in Robin Flower’s handwriting. The storyteller is Darach Ó Direáin from the village of Eoghanacht in Árainn - the largest of the Aran Islands.
The aim of the research is threefold; (1) transcribing and editing the collection (2) a linguistic analysis of the material and (3) a textual analysis of the stories.
In editing the material, I aim to provide a version of the stories that retain the linguistic features particular to the dialect of the storyteller. The linguistic analysis consists of a comprehensive examination of various phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic features of the collection. The anthropological analysis of the material examines the ‘secret life of texts’, exploring such issues as textuality and contextuality. The performative role of the narrator is also pertinent to such a study.
In keeping with an interdisciplininary analysis, I adopt a dual approach to the study of this material, i.e. focusing on the collection of folklore as a ‘process’ from both a linguistic and a theoretical point of view.

Is é aidhm an tráchtais dochtúireachta seo eagarthóireacht agus mionscagadh a dhéanamh ar an ábhar béaloidis a bhailigh Robin Flower (1881-1946) in Árainn (.i. an t-oileán is mó de thrí Oileán Árann) i dtríochaidí an chéid seo caite. Mionscagadh idirdhisciplíneach, ó thaobh na teangeolaíochta agus ó thaobh na hantraipeolaíochta de, atá i gceist leis an taighde seo.
Tá an t-ábhar féin ar coimeád i Roinn Bhéaloideas Éireann, Coláiste na hOllscoile Bhaile Átha Cliath i measc Nachlass Robin Flower. Is éard atá in ábhar Árann trí scór mír .i. thart ar 300 leathanach, scéalta den chuid is mó ach go bhfuil roinnt bheag paidreacha i gceist chomh maith. Is é an scéalaí iomráiteach Darach Ó Direáin, arbh as Eoghanacht in Árainn dó, a d’aithris na scéalta sa mbailiúchán seo.
Baineann trí phríomhaicme leis an taighde; (1) tras-scríobh an ábhair (2) eagarthóireacht agus scagadh teangeolaíochta agus (3) scagadh ó thaobh na hantraipeolaíochta de.
I gcás eagarthóireacht an ábhair, tá sé tabhachtach go gcuirfear leagan soléite ar fáil a choinneos slán tréithe na canúna. Díríonn scagadh teangeolaíochta an ábhair ar chúrsaí fóineolaíochta, deilbhíochta, comhréire agus séimeantaice. San anailís antraipeolaíochta, déanfar scagadh ar ‘shaol’ an téacs fhéin ag díriú, ach go háirithe, ar an ealaín urlabhraíoch agus ar na teoiricí a bhaineann le cur i láthair na scéalaíochta.
Mar chuid den anailís idirdhisciplíneach, mar sin, táthar ag díriú ar an ‘bpróiséas’ a bhaineann leis an mbailiúchán béaloidis seo, ó thaobh na teangeolaíochta agus ó thaobh na hantraipeolaíochta de.

This research is funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences.