>
> From: D Tse <exponent@...>
>
> > << Irish is dreadful orthagraphically. It's got all sorts of letters
> > that make no sound in some places, make a bunch of different sounds,
> > change the sounds of other characters... >>
> >
> > Tell me about it! It's also got a very unusual phonology: I believe
> > it makes distinctions for velarised, palatalised, makes a
> > dental/alveolo-palatal distinction, and has a crazy orthography:
> >
> > taoide /t_d_Gid_-_j@/ (it looks better in IPA, though)
>
> More like /_ti_dj@/, but that's not exactly perfect. X-SAMPA's not my thing.
>
> > _G = velarised, _d = dental, _- = retracted, according to x-sampa...
> >
> > Eamhain /auwin_-_j/
>
> Ok, I've never pronounced it quite *that* way. /auwin/, yes but /auwin_-_j/, um, no!
>
> > I can't even make some of the sounds in its phonology...
>
> Right, the only ones I've ever seen anybody having difficulty with are `ch' and
> (especially) `gh' and the fact that `t' and `d' are actually dental rather
> than alveolar. The rest of it is easy and it's all rather predicable.
>
> Then again, I am biased.
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
> Keith Gaughan, In the land of the
> kmgaughan@eircom.net blind, the one-eyed
>
http://homepage.eircom.net/~kmgaughan/ man is a heretic.
>