Re: Irish Gaelic Pronunciation

On Friday 07 February 2003 7:02 pm, Aidan Grey wrote:
> heya Steg!
>
>     Well, here's my tips for Donegal Irish.
>
>     slender - flanked by i and/or e
>     broad - flanke4d by a, o, or u
>
>          sl.          br.
>    p    /pj/         /p(w)/
>    t     /tj, tS/    /t/
>    c    /kj/         /k(w)/
>    ch  /C/         /x/
>    b    /bj/        /b(w)/
>    bh   /v/         /w/
>    d    /dj, dZ/   /d/
>    dh   /j/          /G/
>    f      /fj/         /f/
>    bhf  /v/          /w/
>    g    /gj/         /g(w)/
>    gh   /j/         /G/
>    l      /lj/         /l/
>    r      /ry, C/   /r/
>    m    /mj/       /m(w)/
>    mh  /v/         /w/
>    n     /nj/        /n/
>    s     /S/        /s/
>    th    always /h/
>    ph   always /f/
>    sh   always /h/
>
>    In other dialects, the lenited consonants (ch, bh, dh, gh) always have
> slender values:
>
>    mo bhaile 'my home'  - Don. /m@ walj@/  Kerry /m@ valj@/
I thought that 'my home' was 'mo chonaí' /m@ xoni:/.  My pronounciation
probably isn't perfect.  I'm not sure how to pronounce (V)í.

>    Mutations
>
>          asp.          ecl.
>    p    ph /f/        bp /b/
>    t     th /h/        dt /d/
>    c    ch /x,C/    gc /g/
>    b    bh /v,w/    mb /m/
>    d    dh /j,G/     nd /n/
>    g    gh /j,G/     ng /N/
>    f     fh (silent)   bhf /v,w)
>    m   mh /v,w/
>    s    sh /h/
>
>
>    Some of the "teach Yourself Irish" books have good explanations of the
> complicated vowel sequences (like eói, etc.) but basically think of them
> like this:
>
>    short vowel + i : like short vowel, often with w before back vowels (ai
> as in baile often like /wa/. for example)
>    long vowel + i : diphthong (táin (the famous story) like /tAjn/)
>       note the different pronunciation of a/ (aka á or a fada) sort of like
> au in British Paul
>    e/i often ignored before a short vowel (except that it usually
> introduces a /j/ after the consonant - i.e. no effect on vowel pron.)
>
>    Hopefully this helps. There are others here who can help too. Feel free
> to ask for clarification or if there's something you don't get. This info
> comes from my experiences studying Irish from native speakers.
>
>     Aidan
>
> >So anyway, i'm now taking a course in Irish Gaelic, and i'd really
> >appreciate it if someone could tell me all the rules for broad/slender
> >vowels and consonants, and aspiration and eclipsis, and all the other
> >stuff. My teacher isn't a native speaker, and she admits to mixing
> >dialects a lot, and my dictionary isn't nearly as much help with
> >pronounciation as i thought it would be.
> >
> >So would anyone be able to help me?

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