Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish/Chapter 12

by the Christian Brothers

CHAPTER XII.

Combination of the Consonants.

The Helping Vowel.

124. There are certain combinations of consonants which do not coalesce, so that a short vowel (broad or slender, according as the consonants are broad or slender) must be pronounced between them.

The following are the combinations which do not coalesce:—

cn	nċ	nḃ	lḃ
lg	lm	lṁ	rb
rḃ	rg	rn	rm
rṁ	rċ	nm	ṫn
ṫr	gn

gorm (=gorom)	colm (=colom)	dearg (dearog)
guirm (=guirim)	cuilm (=cuilim)	deirg (=deirig)
orm	arm	Cormac
ainm	carn	corn
dorn	Alba	borb
searḃ	seirḃ	fearg
feirge	cnoc	cneas
gnó	balḃ	Donnċaḋ
dorċa	marḃ	aiṫne
aṫruġaḋ[1] (=aṫarú)	airgead	margaḋ

125. There is always a helping vowel between r and n when the n is final—e.g., corn, carn, dorn, &c.; but when the n is not final the helping vowel does not usually occur. In this case the r is protected, and the preceding vowel is lengthened—e.g., dearna, bearna, carnaḋ, &c. See § 73.

126. A very short helping vowel is heard between all the consonants and slender r: cré, bréaġ, bris, crios, trí, preab, grian, greas, driseog.

127. In Munster the termination (ṫa or ṫe) of the verbal adjective (past participle) is often joined to the stem in verbs of the first conjugation ending in c, g, t, and p, by means of a helping vowel. The helping vowel in these cases is invariably slender.

The reason for this peculiarity is that the verbal adjective in these cases is formed on analogy with verbs belonging to the second conjugation.

atṫa (=atuiṫe)	ceapṫa (=ceapuiṫe)
meascṫa (=measguiṫe)	tagṫa (=taguiṫe)
neascṫa	fáiscṫe
taċtṫa	bacṫa
glacṫa	leagṫa

The “u,” which we have written with the helping vowel “i,” is a mere glide.

(a) There is usually no helping vowel in tugta and tógṫa, but there is in ceadṫa (usually spelled ceaduiġṫe).

128. In the following combinations one of the consonants is absorbed by the other, and a single consonantal sound results. This must not be confounded with eclipsis, which happens only to the initial consonant of a word.

dn=nn: céadna, Séadna, maidne.

dl=ll: codlaḋ, codlaim, Fódla, Nodlaig.

ln=ll: olna, colna, áilne, áilneaċt.

ngn=n: congnaṁ, iongna.

lng=l or n: Cuailnge (in Co. Meath), pr. cuaile or cuaine.

129. When a word ends in d, the d is silent before an inflection beginning with t—e.g., creidte, creidtear, céadta, druidtear, goidte, dearṁadta, séidtear, sméidte, troidtear.

130. In Ulster, ḃ or ṁ final following a liquid (or vowel) in monosyllables is silent, but it lengthens the helping vowel to ú: tarḃ (tarú), leanḃ (leanú), garḃ (garú), marḃ (marú), searḃ (searú), láṁ (lá-ú), cnáṁ (crá-ú), sliaḃ (slí-ú).

Assimilation of L and N.

131. In Munster when l and n are followed by r, they are usually assimilated and become silent, but, nevertheless, a diphthong is developed in the preceding vowel.

scannraṁ (=scaḃraṁ or scaḃn-raḋ).

deallraṁ (=deaḃraṁ or deá-raṁ).

bainríoġain (=baḃríon).

deallraṁaċ (=deaḃrúć).

banlaṁ (=baḃlaṁ).

branraḋ (=braḃra).

NG.

132. As already explained the combination ng in such words long, ling, seang, &c, is a simple consonantal sound, and should therefore be represented by a single character. In the following words, however, ng does not get its ordinary sound:—ṫángas (=ṫánas in Munster, ṫánagas in Connaught); iongna (M. = úna, C.=íona); iongantas (M.=úntas, C.= íontas); iongantaċ (M.=úntaċ) C.=íontaċ); fairsing (Des.=farseag or fairsing); congnaṁ (=cúnaṁ); congantaċ (=cúntaċ); tarraing (Des.=tarrag, tarrac); áṫċuingim (=aṫċuiním); túirling (Des.=túirlig).

133. In Ulster when a word ends in “n” and the following word begins with d, the d is pronounced n.

aon duine	is pronounced	aon nuine
sean-duine	„„	sean-nuine
aon deor	„„	aon neor

sc, sp, and st.

134. C, p, and t are always voiced (i.e., are pronounced g, b, d) after s, except when they are final. The student may convince himself of this by placing the forefinger on the pharynx while pronouncing such words as:—scéal, stól, sparán, &c, or the words school (sgúl), speak (sbíc), &c. The vocal chords will be felt to vibrate for the consonant after s.

As, however, sc, sp, st is the usual^[2] spelling, as no mistake can possibly arise by using them, (for the consonant after s can be kept unvoiced only by a strong effort), and as they have been adopted as the standard spelling in “The Irish Text Society’s Dictionary,” it is better to let them stand, than to alter them to sg, sb, sd).

Mn and Cn.

135. In Connaught and Ulster the combinations mn and cn are always pronounced mr and cr.

mná	is pronounced in	Connaught and Ulster	mrá
cnoc	„	„	croc
cnó	„	„	cró
cnáṁ	„	„	cráṁ

Effects of the sound of h.

136. The various aspirated consonants, which get tee sound of h—viz., ṫ, ṡ, f in terminations of verbs, and slender ċ, unvoice^[3] the consonant beside them—i.e., they change the sound of b into that of p, v (ḃ, ṁ) into f, g into c, and d into t; they also unvoice the liquids—e.g., naoṁ is pronounced naov, but if -ṫa be added, the ṫ (= h) unvoices the ṁ, and naoṁṫa is pronounced naofa.

gaoṫṁar (=gaofar).	leabṫa (=leapa).
líoṁṫa (=líofa).	deirḃṡiúr (=dre-fúr).

sáṁṫaċ (=sáfaċ).	fágfad[4] (=fácad).
creidfead (= creitead).	scríoḃfad (= scríofad).
scríoḃṫa (=scríofa).

137. In such words as trí, troiġ, sleas, &c. the liquids are voiced; but they are not voiced in a trí, a ṫroiġ, a ṡleas, aiṫriġe, &c.

138. A peculiar feature of Desmond Irish is that the letters which get the sound of h suppress the slender vowels beside them, provided the slender vowel is part of a digraph or trigraph—e.g., maiṫ pronounced maṫ, and consequently the plural form maiṫe is pronounced maṫa, caiṫ = caṫ, flaiṫ = flaṫ, flaiṫeas = flaṫas, droiċead = droṫad, doiċeall = doṫall, díċeall = dítol,^[5] dá ḟiċead^[6] = daṫad.

Aṫair is pronounced aiṫir.

These words ought not to be spelled as they are pronounced in Desmond, because the Desmond pronunciation of these words is very different from that of the rest of the country.

Eclipsis.

139. Eclipsis is the term used in Irish Grammar to denote the suppression of the sound of certain Irish consonants (when initial) by prefixing others; both, consonants are written, but only the first—i.e., the eclipsing one, is pronounced—e.g., gcapall is pronounced gapall.

p	is eclipsed by	b
t	„	d
c	„	g
f	„	ḃ
b	„	m
d	„	n
g	„	ng (only n is written.)

140. In the Table of Consonants given in Chapter V. the letters p, t, and c occur in the first column, under the heading “Voiceless Stops,” whilst b, d, and g are found in the second column—the “Voiced Stops.” F occurs in the third column under the heading “Voiceless Spirants,” while ḃ is in the fourth column—“Voiced Spirants.”

The eclipsing letters for b, d, and g (viz., m, n, ng) all occur in the fifth column—the “Nasal Liquids.”

141. Eclipsis may, therefore, be more scientifically defined as “The voicing of the initial consonant of an Irish word, if it be voiceless, or the nasalising of it, if it be already voiced.”

142. It has been already pointed out in the Irish Grammar that the letter “s” cannot be eclipsed—a fact that is still questioned by some writers. A glance at the Table of Consonants will show that there is a gap in column 4, where the sound of “z,”—i.e., the voiced sound of “s,” should occur. The voiced sound of “s” does not occur in Irish, therefore the letter “s” cannot be eclipsed.^[7] We likewise stated in the Grammar that “g” is eclipsed by “ng,” although “n” is the letter used in writing (both letters then getting the sound of “ng). A glance at the Table drawn up on phonetic principles shews that g is eclipsed by ng, not by n.

Syncope.

143. One of the characteristics of spoken Irish is the shortness of the words, Words of more than four or five syllables are seldom met with. The two methods employed in Irish for keeping the words short are Syncope and Metathesis.

Syncope may be described as the telescoping of a word, whenever a grammatical inflection or a suffix commencing with a vowel is added. A short vowel or digraph in the last syllable of a word of more than one syllable is usually elided and the consonants brought together whenever the word is lengthened. The bringing together of the consonants frequently results in one of them becoming silent (§ 128), or else a short helping vowel may develop.

maidin	gen sing.	=	maidne (pr. mainne)
caṫair	„	=	caṫraċ (pr. caṫaraċ)
olann	„	=	olna (pr. olla)
obair	„	=	oibre (pr. oibire)
colann	„	=	colna (pr. colla)

solais	nom. pl.	=	soilse (pr. soílse, M.)
doras	„	=	doirse (pr. dóirse, M.)
innis	pres. tense	=	innsim (pr. ínnsim, M.)
codail	„	=	codlaim (pr. collaim, M.)
laḃair	„	=	laḃraim
oscail	„	=	osclaim
fearaṁail	abs. noun	=	fearaṁlaċt
aoiḃinn	„	=	aoiḃneas

Metathesis.

144. Metathesis is the transposition of letters or syllables in a word. Such transposition is common in Munster Irish, either to facilitate pronunciation, or else to prevent the development of a “helping vowel,” and thus the words are kept short.

tuigsint (pr. tuisgint).	tuigsionnaċ (pr.
feicsint (pr. fisgint).	tuisgionnaċ).
tairigsint (pr. tairisgint).	milseaċt (mílseaċt),
eaglaise (eagailse).	milseán (mísleán).
deirḃṡiúr (dre-fúr).	dearḃráṫair (dre-ṫeár).
codalta (=codlata=	aiṫriġe (airṫí or aiṫirí).
collata).	urċur (ruċar).
tráṫnóna (tránṫóna).[8]	aiṫniġim (ainṫím).
tiormuiġ (triomuiġ).	spiorad (sprid).
ċonnaċ (ċnoc).	apsolóid (aspolóid).
biorán (breán).

1. Aṫruġaḋ before the words indé, and amáraċ is always pronounced arú, this spelling might be adopted with advantage.
2. Except in the case of sg, which for some time has been the accepted spelling. As, however, sd and sb have never bean usual it is illogical to insist on retaining sg, while rejecting sb and sd.
3. When we say that a letter is unvoiced, we mean that the vocal chords do not vibrate for its production, and consequently the corresponding voiceless letter is the result. See § 16.
4. It is only when the f is sounded as h that it unvoices the preceding consonant.
5. The sound of h is independent of the law Caol le caol. See § 49.
6. The literary spelling is dá ḟiċid—i.e., slender d; but the d is broad in both Munster and Ulster.
7. The sound of s is sometimes suppressed and t is prefixed but t cannot be the eclipsing letter of s, and moreover, this replacing of the sound of s does not follow the rules for Eclipsis (Irish Grammer § 26).
8. Tráċnóna, in Dēsi; tráṫnóna in Kerry.