p. 1
- Spelling: Use original spelling if possible: there is no need to standardise or correct the text.
- Capitalisation: Modernize for readability
- Punctuation: Add modern full stops/periods, but do not add punctuation like commas and apostrophes.
- Line Breaks: Hit
return
once after each line ends. Two returns indicate a new paragraph, which is usually indentation following the preceding sentence in the original. The times at the end of each entry should get their own paragraph, since the software does not support indentation in the transcriptions. - Illegible text: Indicate illegible readings in single square brackets:
[Dr?]
- Questionable transcription: Follow with a question mark, so:
Smith?
- Unreadable letters: between square brackets, put as many dots as you think there
are letters, inserting actual letters only where legible, so:
[B..w..n]
- Editorial comments: Place in curly brackets, with any text preserved in quotes,
after a colon , so:
{in a second hand above the line: "recently"}
for carats, write:
{carat: "insertion"}
- Strikethrough: <s>text</s> or <strike>text</strike>
- Bold: <strong>text</strong> or <b>text</b>
- Underline: <u>text</u>
- Italic: <i>text</i>
- Hyperlink: <a href="URL">{link text}</a>
Transcribing Gaelic Script
There are a couple of issues listed below that often cause problems for those unaccustomed to the gaelic script:
- Be careful not to mix up ‘r’ and ‘s’.
‘Cuireann siad ar a gcosa é’
- Be mindful of the lenition mark that can sometimes be unclear. Write ċ, ḋ, ḟ as ch, dh, fh etc.
- ‘ד’ should be written as ‘agus’. ‘דl’ should be written as ‘srl’.
These guidelines will be expanded upon as we get feedback from the Meitheal. Below you will find the Irish-language alphabet, in both gaelic and roman script, along with some sample transcribed texts.
‘Tá bataí ag fás ar an talamh. Agus sé an t-ainm atá ortha na bataí buidhe. Agus tá léigheas piantaí cnámh ionta. Cuireann daoine síos cupa ar an teinidh. Agus cuireann siad uisge ann fosta, agus bíonn an t-uisge ag guil nuair a chuireann siad síos na bataí buidhe ann. Agus baineann siad guil asta. Agus cuireann siad ar a gcosa é nó cé bith áit a mbíonn an phian ortha.’
‘Bhí tailliúr ann fadó darb ainm Micilín Ruadh. Lá amháin agus é ‘in a shuidhe ar an mbord ag
fuagháil tháinigh éan isteach agus céard a rinne an táilliúr acht an tsáthadh a chaitheamh
air agus é a mharbhughadh.
‘Sin urchar maith’ ar seisean leis féin ‘déanfaidh mé
saighdiúir maith ins an gcogad. D’imthigh leis agus chuaidh isteach i dteach. Chonnaic sé
cuilleóga i bpota suibh. Shíl sé gur capall a bhí ann agus céard a rinne sé acht na
cuilleóga go léir a mharbhú’.
There is more information on the gaelic script at these links:
"Autolink" will suggest subjects certain words could be linked to or you can use double braces to link subjects. [[Jane Doe]]
will link the text "Jane Doe" to the subject Jane Doe, while [[Jane Doe|Jane]]
will link the text "Jane" to the subject Jane Doe. We recommend that linking be left to an editor after the initial transcription is made.