that he was now harrished every night by the ghosts of all the min he killed in juels.
So s before long u is sounded sh: Dan Kiely, a well-to-do young farmer, told the people of our neighbourhood that he was now looking out for a wife that would shoot him. This pronunciation is however still sometimes heard in words of correct English, as in sure.
There are some consonants of the Irish language which when they come together do not coalesce in sound, as they would in an English word, so that when they are uttered a very short obscure vowel sound is heard between them: and a native Irish speaker cannot avoid this. By a sort of hereditary custom this peculiarity finds its way into our pronunciation of English. Thus firm is sounded in Ireland ferrum—two distinct syllables: 'that bird is looking for a wurrum.' Form (a seat) we call a furrum.
- 'His sire he'd seek no more nor descend to Mammon's shore,
- Nor venture on the tyrant's dire alaa-rums,
- But daily place his care on that emblematic fair,
- Till he'd barter coronations for her chaa-rums.'
- (Old Folk Song.)[1]
Herb is sounded errub: and we make two syllables of the name Charles [Char-less]. At the time of the Bulgarian massacres, I knew a Dublin doctor, a Tipperary man, who felt very strongly on the subject and was constantly talking about the poor Bullugarians.
In the County Monaghan and indeed elsewhere
- ↑ See my 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 202.
