Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI.
Trigraphs.
113. The following trigraphs are employed in Modern Irish.—viz., eái, eai, iai, uai, eoi, iui, aei, and uío.
EÁI.
114. This trigraph is employed to denote the long sound of the first caol vowel—i.e., the “a” in “Maggie” (§ 12). As the “e” and “i” shew, it is both preceded and followed by a slender consonant.
| sleáin (sleaġain) | caisleáin | oileáin |
| tinteáin | ciseáin | milleáin |
| milseáin (§ 144) | Ṡeáin (Ṡeaġain) |
EAI.
115. This trigraph represents the short sound of the previous one. It differs from ea and ai (both of which also represent this sound) in the fact that it is both preceded and followed by a slender consonant. It occurs in very few words.
geaitire, meaig, teais (gen. of teas, lit. form=teasa); eairc (gen. of earc), seaiċ (gen. of seaċ).
IAI.
116. In this combination the first “i” has its full value of í, whilst the second “i” has its unstressed value. The only function of the a seems to be to denote in writing the separation of the two distinct sounds of “i.”
| sriain | riain | sciain |
| ḃriain | ’liaimín |
(a) In Munster, diaiḋ, and all the phrases got from this word, are usually pronounced dí-eg—e.g., i ndiaiḋ=i ní-eg.
UAI.
'117. The sound of this trigraph is usually “ú-i,” the i getting its unstressed value; but the sound “ú-e” is also heard.
| cuain | fuair | fuaim |
| uair | nuair | suain |
(a) In Ulster and Connaught uai followed by ḋ or ġ is pronounced ú-í (like “ewy” in “dewy”). In Munster the i would not be usually lengthened in such a case, but the ḋ or ġ would be sounded as g.
cruaiḋ, uaiġ, nuaiḋ, buaiḋ, ċuaiḋ.
(b) In the words smuain, smuainte, smuainim, &c., the uai=uí (u being a mere glide). They are now usually written smaoin, smaointe, &c.
EOI.
118. This trigraph in Connaught and Munster has always the sound of ó preceded and followed by a slender consonant. The “e” glide is very marked, except when it is initial or follows s.
In Ulster eoi is pronounced like the “o” in “lord,” “adorn” &c, preceded and followed by a slender consonant.
| beoir | feoil | ceoil |
| feoir | neoin | inneoin |
| deoir | gleoite | fuinneoig |
| driseoig | seoil | breoite |
AOI.
119. This trigraph gets the sound of í, preceded by a broad consonant, in Connaught and Munster. After a labial the sound is like “wee.”
In Ulster, the sound is that of ao in that province (viz., German ö) followed by a slender consonant.
| scaoil | caoil | faoisidin |
| aois | Aoine | Aoife |
| taoide | daoine | caoin |
| caṫaoir | maoir | gaoiṫe |
| saoirse | daoirse | aoirde |
120. In Munster, aoi in the following words = é, preceded by a broad consonant.
| naoi | caoi | faoiseaṁ |
| naoiṁ | faoi (slender f) | saoi |
| daoi |
IUI.
121. This trigraph = ú preceded and followed by a slender consonant (Connaught, Ulster and Munster).
| stiuir | Siuir | giuise |
| giuistís | ciuin | siuinéir |
AEI.
122. This trigraph occurs in only one or two words—e.g., aeir (= é + slender r), the gen. of aer (broad r).
UÍO.
123. This trigraph has been introduced into Irish writing only very recently. The Literary spelling of this trigraph is ġail (aoi being employed later). The sound is í preceded by a broad consonant (§ 71). The final l is broad in Desmond (hence the spelling {{insular|uío), but slender everywhere else, consequently the literary spelling ġail had better be retained.
It may not be out of place to mention here that the termination -ġail is employed to form verbal nouns from many verbs expressing sounds made by the mouth and speech organs; also from verbs expressing sudden actions.
| glamġail | snagġail |
| feadġail | smugġail |
| screadġail | cabġail |
| pusġail | braċġail |
| grágġail | dranntġail |
| gogġail | flaspġail |