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timbre can be at once distinguished. The former is produced with rounded, soft, protruded lips (as when one with lips held in position for ū makes the consonant contact for p), the latter with lips drawn tight, close to the teeth and inturned (as in the ü position)”. As to the protrusion of the lips the position is between the neutral and advanced. In forming the non-palatal labials which are extremely heavy and dull sounds the lips are very loose indeed and even initially these sounds give the impression of more than ordinary duration, though they are actually no longer than the corresponding palatal labials. In addition to lip-protrusion the tongue is raised towards the u-position which causes a w-sound to be heard on releasing the lip contact. This w is always more or less present but is most clearly heard before the front vowels and ⅄ in which cases it is written in this book. It is also very noticeable when the labial is final and the next word begins with a palatal vowel, e.g. αmwi꞉Ntαχ = am éiginteach. In English as spoken locally both sets of labials occur and it would almost seem as if the power to discard the non-palatal sounds were a mark of respectability.
§ 290. At the end of monosyllables containing a short vowel both m and mʹ are long and thus correspond to L, N, Lʹ, Nʹ, R[A 1]. Hence in O.Ir. when they occur alone after short accented vowels they are written double, cp. Pedersen pp. 101 ff. In other positions the length is reduced but a short m does not occur in Donegal. Initially m corresponds to O.Ir. m before a, o, u, e.g. mαhærʹ, ‘mother’, O.Ir. máthir; mαiç, ‘good’, O.Ir. maith; mαihi꞉m, ‘I forgive’, M.Ir. mathim; mαrəwə, ‘to kill’, M.Ir. marbad; mα꞉sə, ‘thigh’, M.Ir. máss; mɔluw, ‘to praise’, O.Ir. molad; mo̤l, ‘mill-shaft’, M.Ir. mol; mwædʹə, ‘stick’, M.Ir. maite; mwædʹïnʹ, ‘morning’, O.Ir. matin (acc.); mwærigʹ, ‘woe’, O.Ir. moircc; mwærʹəm, ‘I remain’, M.Ir. maraim; mwiLʹ, ‘delay’, Keat. maill; mwilʹəN, ‘mill’, O.Ir. mulenn; mwirʹ, ‘sea’, O.Ir. muir; mw⅄̃꞉, ‘pliable’, O.Ir. móith; mw⅄꞉l, ‘bald’, O.Ir. máel; mwəidʹən, ‘Virgin’, M.Ir. maighden.
After particles which eclipse a following word we get m for b, e.g. erʹ mwelʹə, ‘our townland’; mər mα꞉d, ‘your boat’; ə mɔ꞉, ‘their cow’; gə mwin̥ʹit(ʹ) ʃə, ‘that he would reap’.
§ 291. Medially and finally m represents O.Ir. mm (mb) before an original a, o, u, whether preserved or lost, e.g. αm,
- ↑ It is interesting to note that the native prosody classes ll, nn, rr, m and ng together.
