'S ann (fwd)

[Andrew Carnie]

From: Eomot at aol.com


sorry to be so long in replying.

'S ann is mainly for emphasis - to bring forwards some construct (other than
a noun
or a simple adjective) into a position of prominence in the word order (and
of course
on its own as positive answer to questions formed with an ann, which is used
to shift
word order in the same way). In the islands 'S ann is often used to bring a
simple
adjective forwards, where just Is might be used on the mainland.

In the islands it's also used as an positive answer equivalent to 'S eadh:
for example
question  An donn am fear e? gets the answer 'S ann; that usage is getting to
be
very common. A question like "An donn e?" will get the answer "'S ann" in the
outer
isles, and this 's ann for 's eadh is a fair indicator that the speaker is
not a
mainlander (of course an islander asking the question would say "An ann donn
a tha
e?" rather than either of the other two forms, usually).

It's also used to emphasize a whole clause/sentence in normal word order, for

example " 'S ann theid mi leat".

I don't think it's used other than in these contexts.