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Date: Wed, 10 Jun 92 09:17:52 -0400
From: [e-mail]
Subject: ELEM-IG Lesson #4-C  PronouncéSpell Irish
Sender: GAELIC Language Bulletin Board <[e-mail]>


From:  Dorothy

                       SOME NOTES ON THE
               PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING OF IRISH

   The following notes on pronouncing and spelling Irish are slightly adapted
from O Siadhail's "Learning Irish", p. 4-6 and 226. In these passages, he
discusses:
     (1) broad and slender consonants,
     (2) stress patterns,
     (3) situations where the neutral vowel [@] is dropped,
 and (4) situations where a neutral vowel [@] is inserted into the
          pronunciation of a word.

   Of these topics, the first (broad/slender) is related to the system
of spelling rules. Thus, spelling will be discussed in this section.


1. BROAD AND SLENDER CONSONANTS

   Irish has two (nearly) complete  sets of consonant sounds. Whereas
most European languages have only one sort of b, c, d, etc., Irish
has two . Here are two pairs of examples:

     beo  [b'o:]  "alive"       bó   [bo:]   "cow"
     bí  [b'i:]  "be"          buí  [bi:]   "yellow"

  Ignoring the spelling for a moment, let us look at their
pronunciations.  The first pair both have the vowel sound [o:]
and the second pair the vowel sound [i:]. Nothing distinguishes
these two pairs of words from each other except for the type of
b used.  The sort of b in  beo  and  bí  is traditionally called
SLENDER (caol in Irish), and the sort in  bó  and  buí  is tradition-
ally called BROAD (leathan in Irish).  More technically, the terms
"palatalized" and "non-palatized" are used.

  Slender consonants are generally made by raising the front of the
tongue towards the front part of the roof of the mouth -- the part
just behind the tooth ridge,  or,  for sounds made with the lips,
( p, b, m, f, v, w) by spreading the lips.

  Slender consonants have an "i-quality", that is, you could make a
very weak "i" sound (short i as in fit) after them. Thus we might
represent  beo  as [ b(i)o:]  and  bí  as  [ b(i)i:] (where the i in
brackets represents a tongue position or very fleeting, transient sound).
(Instead of suggesting a transient short i, some authors suggest
thinking of a transient y sound).

  Thus a  t'  sounds a bit like a  ty-  or even English -ch-, though
  if you actually say -ch-  you are overpronouncing it!  Likewise,
  d'  sounds a bit like  dy-  which is close but not as heavy as
  English "j".

  Broad consonants, on the other hand, are in general made with the
back of the tongue raised towards the back part of the roof of
the mouth.  They have a "u-quality" , as if they were pronounced
with a very weak short-u sound after them.  We might represent
bó  as   [b(u)o:]   and   buí   as [b(u)i:].

   A broad consonant before an í  in particular often sounds
   rather like a "w"
     e.g.  faoi  --  [fi:]   sounds like "fwee"
           buí  --  [bi:]   sounds like "bwee"

  The i-quality of a slender consonant is most clearly heard when
the consonant comes directly before the vowel sounds [a:], [o:],
or [u:]. (i.e. a slender consonant before a broad vowel, where
contrast is maximized).  Likewise, the u-quality of a broad
consonant is most clearly heard when the consonant comes directly
before the slender vowel sounds [i]  or [i:].

  In IPA, (the system we are using here to indicate pronunciation),
the slender consonants are indicated by the apostrophe sign '
e.g.  b', c', d' . The lack of an apostrophe indicates that the
consonant is broad, e.g. b, c, d.

How to recognize broad and slender consonants in spelling:

  In normal Irish spelling, to find out whether a consonant or group of
consonants is broad or slender, look at the neighboring vowels.

   IF the neighbouring vowel is  a ,  o,  or  u  the consonant is broad.

   IF the neighbouring vowel is  i   or  e ,  the consonant is slender.

Consider these examples:

    bád    "boat"   [ba:d]     b  and d  both broad
    fear    "man"    [f'ar]     f is slender, r is broad
    glúin  "knee"   [glu:n']   gl is broad,  n is slender
    mín    "smooth  [m'i:n']   m  and  n  both slender

  If you look at "fear"  and at "glúin", in which a change is made
from a broad to a slender consonant, or vice versa,  you will note
that a silent vowel has been added in the spelling to indicate the
broad or slender quality of the neighbouring consonant.  In "fear",
a silent  e  has been added to indicate the slender quality of the
f,   while in "glúin",   the  i has been added to indicate the
slender quality of the  n.

  If a consonant or group of consonants is in the middle of a word,
with vowels on either side of it, the two flanking vowels must be of the
same type : i.e.  either both broad or  both slender.  It is the
presence of this pair of flanking vowels which indicates to the
reader whether the consonant between them is broad or slender.

  But of course, in many words the vowels which are pronounced before
and after a consonant in the middle of a word will NOT be the same
with respect to broad/slender quality.

For example:
             girl      [kal'i:n']     a  l'  i:
             window    [fin'o:g]     i  nn'  o:


Therefore, in order for the consonant to be flanked by vowels
that have the same broad/slender quality that it has, a silent
vowel of the correct quality must be inserted.   This requirement is
called the BROAD WITH BROAD, SLENDER WITH SLENDER spelling rule.

    e.g. " girl"      k  a   l' i: n'      ( i inserted to flank l')
                           ^
                           i       >>  cailín

    e.g. "window"     f   i  nn'  o: g    ( u inserted to flank f )
                        ^       ^         ( e inserted to flank nn' )
                        u       e
                                   >>  fuinneog

Some further examples:

  bacach   [bak@x]  -- middle broad c  has a broad vowel on each side of it
                       (no need to insert silent vowels)

  báisteach        -- slender "st"  has broad vowels on either side
     [ba:s't'@x]       of it, so a silent i is inserted before the "st" and
                       a silent  e is inserted afterwards, to indicate
                       that the -st- is slender.


2.  STRESS

  In most dialects of Irish, the first syllable of simple words is
the one that is stressed.

   e.g. bacach       is pronounced   BACach
        dochtúirí                  DOCHtúirí

  There are some exceptions to this rule.  Mostly, these are compound
words, or words which were once compounds, such as some of the
common adverbs for time and place:

             inniú  (today)   inNIú
             anseo   (here)    anSEO
             anois   (now)     aNOIS

In other instances, the exceptions are loan words:

            tobac  (tobacco)  toBAC

  The Foclóir Póca indicates the stress pattern of a word only if
it deviates from the general rule of stressing the first syllable of
the word.


Stress and the neutral vowel:

   The vowels  a   e   i   o    IF they are short, and IF they occur
in an unstressed syllable,  are generally reduced to a neutral vowel.
In the IPA transcriptions, the neutral vowel is indicated by the
symbol @.  It is roughly the same as the sound of the unstressed a
in English sofa.


3. DROPPING THE NEUTRAL VOWEL

  The neutral vowel, @, (to which short unstressed vowels are
reduced), is dropped from pronunciation  when it occurs before
or after another vowel in an adjacent word.

  For example this is how the following words are pronounced when no
  other vowel is adjacent:

    person    duine  [din'@]
    wall      balla  [bal@]
    tall      ard    [ard]
    another   eile   [el'@]
    here      anseo  [@ns'o]

  But this is how they are pronounced when a vowel is adjacent:

     duine ard    [din'ard]        -- when in a phrase, before a
     balla eile   [bal el'@]          word that begins with a vowel,
                                      the @ is dropped.
   tá sé anseo  [ta: s'e:ns'o]   -- same, only here the @ follows a
                                      vowel.


  This rule is basic to Irish pronunciation. It also helps to
  explain the pronunciation of individual words.

    e.g.  in forming the plural, type B plurals add a final -í

          madra  [madr@]      >>  madraí   [madri:]
          císte [k'i:s't'@]  >>  cístí   [k'i:s't'i:]

    Note:  that the @ is dropped from pronunciation before -í

    Note:  that the "broad with broad, slender with slender"
           spelling rule allows the "e" to be dropped from the
           spelling of  cístí,  but not from the spelling
           of madraí.  The  a must be retained in the spelling
           of madraí  to indicate that the -dr- is broad, even
           though that  a  is no longer pronounced.



4. HELPING VOWEL   (Epenthetic vowel)

   There are other situations where the neutral vowel [@] is
inserted into words but no vowel is shown in the spelling.  This
occurs in the specific consonant clusters which are shown below. The
[@] is inserted into such clusters only if the cluster follows a short vowel
in a stressed syllable. Thus, it almost always occurs at the boundary
between the first and second syllable of a word.

  Note that each cluster begins with either an l, n, or r  which are all
sounds made just behind the tooth ridge, and that the second sound in the
cluster  is always a consonant made elsewhere in the mouth. Also, note
in the examples given below that the vowel in the first syllable is
always a short vowel.


           Sounds made on the lips       Sounds made at back of
                                              palate

           b      v       f     m            ch       g
     ----------------------------------------------------------
     |
  l  |   -lb-   -lbh-   -lf-   -lm-                  -lg-
     |
     |
  n  |   -nb-   -nbh-          -nm-         -nch-
     |
     |
  r  |   -rb-   -rbh-   -rf-   -rm-         -rch-    -rg-
     |


  Examples:

    Albain      seilbh    deilbhfidh   seilmide            bolg
   [al@b@n']  [s'el'@v']  [d'el'@f'@]  [s'el'@m'@d'@]     [bol@g]
      ^             ^           ^            ^                ^

   Banba        bainbh                  ainm   seanchaí
 [ban@b@]     [ban'@v']               [an'@m'] [s'an@xi:]
     ^             ^                      ^         ^

   Bairbre      seirbhís     dearfa    gorm    dorcha      dearg
 [bar'@b'r'@] [s'er'@v'i:s'] [d'ar@f@] [gor@m] [dor@x@]    [d'ar@g]
      ^             ^             ^        ^       ^          ^


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