BBS in a Box 2/BBS in a box - Trilogy II.iso/Files/Education/H/Irish/lessons/6a

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A chairde,

     This lesson introduces some of the simple prepositions, and
shows how they are used with the article and the noun.  Since these
prepositions cause eclipsis when used with the article, this pattern
of sound changes is introduced at this time, too.


          Please feel free to send your answers, comments,
          queries and corrections to me at:

                   "[e-mail]"

          Sonas oraibh,
                          Dorothy
................................................................

            LESSON #5    PREPOSITIONS  & ECLIPSIS


I. A. ECLIPSIS      (URú)

      The second major pattern of sound changes (mutations) in Irish
      is called "eclipsis", a process which many linguists prefer to
      call "nasalization."  This pattern of sound change resulted from the
      presence of nasal consonants in word endings which have now
      long since disappeared, leaving only their influence in the
      changes they bring about in the first consonants of following
      words.

      Eclipsis occurs only at the beginning of a word (unlike
      lenition, which sometimes occurs in the middle of a word.)

      When a consonant is eclipsed, its pronunciation is changed to
      that of a more nasal or voiced consonant. When a vowel is eclipsed,
      an "n"  is prefixed to it, and is spelled  "n-".

      To indicate the eclipsis of consonants in spelling, the new sound is
      written to the left of the original sound, which results in these
      strange looking letter combinations:  bp,  mb,  bhf,  dt,  nd,  gc,  ng  .

      Only seven consonants can be eclipsed:  p, b, f, t, d, c, g.
      All of the vowels can be eclipsed.

          p  >  b       páirc   >>  bpáirc    [ba:rk]
          b  >  m       báisín >>  mbáisín  [ma:s'i:n']

          t  >  d       túlán  >>  dtúlán   [du:la:n]
          d  >  n       doras    >>  ndoras     [nor@s]

          c  >  g       claí    >>  gclaí     [gli:]
          g  >  ng      geata    >>  ngeata     [NG'at@]

          a  >  n-a     áit     >>  n-áit     [na:t']
          e  >  n-e     éan     >>  n-éan     [n'e:n']
         (i, o, u similarly)


    Pronunciation note:

          In eclipsis, a "g" changes to "ng",  which is the "ng"
    one hears in English "sing" . Though spelled with two letters, it is
    actually a single nasal sound which is made at the same spot in the mouth
    as the consonant "g" . In English, this sound occurs only in the middle and
    at the end of words .. so it takes a little practice to learn to say it at
    the beginning of words, as eclipsis requires in Irish!  Lacking the proper
    IPA symbol for "ng" on this keyboard, I will use NG for it in the phonetic
    transcriptions in these lessons.



   B. PREPOSITIONS

    This lesson introduces some of the commonest "simple" preposi-
    tions. First we will see how they are used without the article,
    and then how they are used with the article with single and plural
    nouns.

     1. When used without the article, this group causes no change to the
        noun which follows:

        at            ag    [eg']   e.g.  ag baile      at home
        out of        as    [as]          as baile      away from home
        to, until     go    [g@]          go Meireceá  to America
         (place,time)                     go maidin     until morning
        with          le    [l'@]         le peann      with a pen
        over          thar  [har]         thar claí    over a fence

     2. When used with the article, this group causes lenition in the
        noun which follows:

        on            ar    [er']    e.g. ar chapall    on a horse
        under         faoi  [fwi:]        faoi chrann   under a tree
        through       trí  [t'r'i:]      trí Ghaeilge through Irish
        from,since    ó    [o:]          ó bhaile     from town


     3. A special note about "go" and "le" : prefixing "h"

        When used without the article,  "go" and "le" prefix an "h"
        to a noun which begins with a vowel.  Thus:

               e.g.  le huisce          with water
                        ^
                     ó áit go háit   from place to place
                                ^

        You have now seen three words which prefix "h" to vowels.
        They are:
               the(pl)    na    [n@]    na húlla   [n@ hu:l@]
               to         go    [g@]    go háit    [g@ ha:t']
               with       le    [l'@]   le huisce   [l'@ his'k'@]

        What these three words have in common is that they end in an
        unstressed [@].  In Irish, there is a pronunciation rule that
        causes an unstressed @  to be dropped before another vowel.
        Therefore, these little words prefix an "h"  to a noun that begins
        with a vowel in order to KEEP the vowel of the preposition from
        disappearing entirely in pronunciation.


     3. When these two groups of prepositions are used with the
        article "AN" and a SINGLE noun, "AN" causes eclipsis,
        which results in the following patterns:

        ag    + an  >  ag an       ag an bpoll         at the hole
        ar    + an  >  ar an       ar an bhféar       on the grass
        as    + as  >  as an       as an ngort         out of the garden
        faoi  + an  >  faoin       faoin gcrann        under the tree
        le    + an  >  leis an     leis an mbuachaill  with the boy
        ó    + an  >  ón         ón  gcathair       from the city
        thar  + an  >  thar an     thar an ngeata      over the gate
        trí  + an  >  tríd an    tríd an bhfuinneog through the window


        (a) Masculine and feminine nouns are both eclipsed in the same
            way.

        (b) Note that the  t-  that "an" prefixes to masculine nouns
            in the Nom/Acc case is dropped when "an" is used with a preposition:

              e.g.  Tá  an t-urlár  (m)...   c.f.  ar an urlár
                    Tá  an t-oileán (m)...         as an oileán
                    Tá  an eochair  (f) ...         leis an eochair



        (c) Though  d is normally eclipsed to n, and  t is eclipsed to d,
            and a vowel usually has n- prefixed to it,  these changes
            do NOT occur after the article "AN".

            e.g.  ag an  doras      ón  teach      leis an  uan
                        ^               ^                   ^
        (d) Nouns that begin with s-  are treated the same way as
            they were in the Nom/Acc:

            Tá an siúcra (m) ...   leis an siúcra  (masc.)
            Tá an tsráid (f) ...   ar an tsráid    (fem.)


      NOTE:  The changes shown in #1 - #3 above are those found in
             "Standard Irish". However, the pattern of mutations that
             occur after these prepositions with the article, "an" varies
             considerable among the dialects. It is best to learn one
             consistent pattern first (such as the standard pattern)
             and then adjust to one of the dialects, as necessary,
             later on.)



     4. When these two groups of prepositions are used with the
        article "NA" and a PLURAL noun,  a much simpler pattern
        emerges.  Simply use the usual rules for "na" and the usual
        plurals of the nouns:

         e.g.  ag na cailíní       ag na héin
               ar na capaill         ar na huain
               as na boscaí         as na hoileán
               faoi na crainn        faoi na heochair
               leis na buachaillí   leis na húlla
               thar na claíocha        etc.
               trí na fuinneoga
               ó  na cathracha



   C. WORD ORDER

      This lesson introduces a few verbs in the past tense ...
      e.g. jumped, put, fell, ran, threw, made,came.

      Remember to put the verb first in the sentence...
      e.g.   The man fell.   Thit an fear.

      Notice that the initial consonant of these verbs is
      lenited  (tháinig, thit, chuir, chaith).
                 ^         ^     ^      ^
      As we will see later on, lenition in a verb is a sign of the
      past tense.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------


II. VOCABULARY

                                      Plural type

basin        báis/in     [ba:s'i:n']         A
brush        scuab  (f)   [sku@b]             B
child        páiste      [pa:s't'@]          A
cup          cupán       [kopa:n]            E
fence        claí        [kli:]            claíocha
fire         tine (f)     [t'in'@]          tinte
frying pan   friochtán   [f'r'ixta:n]        E
gate         geata        [g'at@]             A
hole         poll         [pol]               E
home         baile        [bal'@]           bailte
house        teach        [t'ax]            tithe
kettle       túlán      [tu:la:n]           E
ladder       dréimire    [d'r'e:m'@r'@]      A
mat          mata         [mat@]              A
stove        sorn         [so:rn]             E
water        uisce        [is'k'@]            A

Shiela       Síle        [s'i:l@]
Dad, Pa      Daidí       [dad'i:]

came         thainig      [ha:n'@g']
fell         thit         [hit']
made         rinne        [rin'@]
jumped       léim        [l'e:m']
put          chuir        [xur']
ran          rith         [rih]
threw        chaith       [xah]

at           ag           [eg']
from         ó           [o:]
in           i            [i]
on           ar           [er']
out of       as           [as]
over         thar         [har]
through      trí         [t'r'i:]
under        faoi         [fwi:]
with         le, leis     [l'@]  [l'es']

        ------------------------------------------


III.  EXERCISES

A. Translate into English:

   1. Thit na spúnóga ar an urlár.
   2. Bhí an buachaill agus an cailín ag an bhfleá.
   3. Rith na capaill as an ngort.
   4. Chuir an bhean an friochtán ar an sorn.
   5. Ní raibh na leabhair ar na deasca.
   6. Rinne siad cístí le him agus le húlla.

B. Translate into Irish:

   1. On the floor          10. On the desk
   2. Out of the cup        11. Under the mat
   3. Under the table       12. On the street
   4. Over the wall.        13. Out of a hole
   5. At the window         14. From the city
   6. At the stove          15. With milk
   7. To a place            16. With butter
   8. Through a gate        17. At the fire
   9. Until night           18. Since morning

C. 1. With the flowers       4. At the places
   2. Under the trees        5. On the horses.
   3. Through the holes      6. Over the gates

D.
   1. I put the basin on the floor.
   2. The mat is under the basin.
   3. The dog jumped out the box.
   4. The cat is at the window.
   5. John will be at the house.
   6. Peg put the kettle on the chair.
   7. The child threw the eggs over the fence.
   8. The birds came from the islands.
   9. The bread and the butter are on the table.
  10. The branch fell under the tree.


   ........................................................






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Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 16:38:30 GMT
From: Marion GUNN <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: ELEM-IG Lesson #6-A
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 15 Jun 92 16:04:08 -0400 from <[e-mail]>
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X-To:         Dorothy Milne <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
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On Mon, 15 Jun 92 16:04:08 -0400 <[e-mail]> said:
>...
>      To indicate the eclipsis of consonants in spelling, the new sound is
>      written to the left of the original sound, which results in these
>      strange looking letter combinations:  bp,  mb,  bhf,  dt,  nd,  gc,  ng
>      Only seven consonants can be eclipsed:  p, b, f, t, d, c, g.
>...
> Dorothy

Make that eight, counting "t-" before "s-".  Feminine words beginning with "s"
take a "t-" after the definite article in the Nominative and Dative; masculine
words take "t" before "s" after the definite article in the Genitive.
That completes the list of initial (consonantal) mutations.
Marion Gunn


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From: [e-mail]
Subject: ELEM-IG Lesson #6-A  Typo corrected
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Many thanks to Donall O Baoill for pointing out to me an important
error in lesson #6.

In section B, "Prepositions" , is subdivided into Parts 1, 2, and
3.

Part 1  begins "when used without the article..."

Part 2  beings "when used with the article..."

 This is in error.  It should have read "when used without the
                    article, this group causes lenition..."


I also note, reading further on, that I have two section "3"'s.

    Slán oraibh,

      Dorothy