This is most clearly heard when these sounds occur as the finals of monosyllables after a short vowel. Compare mo̤L, ‘heap’, kʹïN, ‘head’, bo̤N, ‘sole’, ʃïnʹ, ‘this’, with mo̤l, ‘mill-shaft’, kʹïn, ‘affection’, bo̤n, ‘bottom’, ʃiNʹ, imper. ‘play’ and the difference in length is just as striking as the difference in articulation. l, lʹ, n, nʹ in this position are perhaps over-short[A 1], whilst L, Lʹ, N, Nʹ are very long sounds. Initially the difference between the pairs is naturally not quite so marked but it nevertheless exists, whilst in syllables with secondary stress the long sounds are somewhat reduced, so that confusion easily takes place. Precisely the same is true of R, r, though the dialect has not preserved the sounds in their original relations and Rʹ has been entirely given up. m, mʹ after short stressed vowels are invariably long. Donegal Irish, it would seem, is the only living Irish dialect which preserves in some measure the original difference between the single and double consonants of O.Ir. orthography. For the remaining consonants see § 357. From Henderson one gathers that Scotch Gaelic agrees in a measure with Donegal, cp. ZCP. v 515 (s), 521 (Nʹ), 523 (R).
1. L.
§ 204. This symbol denotes a so-called ambi-dental divided l (fan or spread l), which is formed by pressing the front rim of the tongue very forcibly against the upper teeth or the edge of the lower teeth. Henderson (ZCP. v 92) says of Scotch Gaelic L: “The point of the tongue is spread out like a fan so that the whole of its rim is brought against the teeth while the back of the tongue is at the same time slightly raised”. In Donegal the back of the tongue seems to be raised in producing this sound but the raising is of no consequence, as it also occurs in the case of l, N, n (Pedersen pp. 21, 22). Before t, k and s L is partly voiceless. L and N are very thick, heavy sounds and modify a following i, § 125.
§ 205. L occurs initially representing O.Ir. l before a, o, u when the preceding word is not capable of causing aspiration. Examples—Lα꞉, ‘day’, O.Ir. láthe; Lα̃꞉uw, ‘hand’, O.Ir. lám; Lo꞉rtʹ, ‘to speak’, M.Ir. labrad; Luə, ‘early’, M.Ir. luath; Luw, ‘less’, O.Ir. lugu; Lũ꞉hər, ‘nimble’, M.Ir. lúthmar; Ly꞉, ‘to lie’, O.Ir. lige (influenced by the causative laigim, Thurneysen, IF. Anz. vi 46); Lo̤g, ‘weak’, M.Ir. lac.
- ↑ These sounds are perhaps to be compared with Danish final consonants, cp. Jespersen, Fonetik p. 511.
