Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV.
The Irish Vowels.
Section I.—The Leaṫan or Broad Vowels.
11. (a) Á (long). This vowel is called the first or low leaṫan vowel. In producing this vowel sound the mouth is opened wide (but the opening between the lips is not so round, the lips being more drawn to the sides for the production of á than for the “a” in the English word “fall”). The back of the tongue is slightly arched towards the soft palate, and slopes down in front towards the teeth, whilst the point of the tongue is just below the lower teeth (Fig. I.) Plate II.
(b) A (short). This vowel has the short sound of á, the mouth and tongue assuming the same positions for both. It is only when under the tonic accent that a (short) gets this sound.
In Ulster á is pronounced like the “a” in the English words “tar,” “far” &c, and a is pronounced like the “a” in “fat” “ram” &c. (Craig.)
(c) All the short vowels In Irish when stressed (i.e., under the tonic accent) get the short sound of the
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corresponding long vowel.[1] If we remove the quantity mark— the síneaḋ (′)[2]— from any long vowel we immediately denote the short sound of that vowel, if there are no disturbing influences present.
(d) Ó (long). This vowel is called the second or mid leaṫan vowel. The jaws are not so far asunder in the production of this vowel as they are for á, the lips are rounded, but not protruded; the back of the tongue is arched more towards the soft palate, and consequently the point of the tongue is drawn a little farther back than for á, but is kept close to the bottom of the mouth (Fig. II.).
(e) O (short). When stressed this vowel has the short sound of the previous vowel—the tongue and lips assuming the same positions for both; so that this short sound does not correspond with the sound of “u” in the word “but.”
In Ulster ó is generally pronounced like the “o” in “lord” or “adorn”; but when followed by n, it is pronounced like ó in Connaught and Munster as described in (c). Short “o” is like the “o” in “for,” but when the “o” is followed by ṁ or ġ it has the sound of ó in the other dialects (Craig).
In Dēsi (Waterford) ó beside n is usually pronounced ú—e.g., nó, Nóra, stróinse, móna, spónóg, pónaire, &c, also in the words mór, mó (Henebry).
In Desmond (Cork and Kerry) nó and mór are usually pronounced nú and muar.
(f) Ú (long). This is the third or high leaṫan vowel. The back of the tongue is arched up very much towards the soft palate, but at the same time the passage between the tongue and palate must be wide enough to prevent audible friction. The point of the tongue is drawn back as far as possible, but is nevertheless close to the bottom of the mouth. The lips are brought much closer together than for ó, and are protruded as far as possible (Fig. III.).
(g) U (short). When accented this vowel gets the short sound of ú. This sound corresponds fairly with the “u” in the English words “bull;” “pull,” “full.”
(h) When unstressed the three leaṫan vowels have the same sound. This sound resembles the irrational sound of “o” in the words “conceive” “commence” “continue” or the second “o” in “doctor.”
(i) As the three leaṫan vowels when unstressed have the same sound we frequently meet with variant spellings, such as—doras, dorus; solas, solus; &c.
Section II.—The Caol or Slender Vowels.
12. (a) ā (long). There is not in the Irish alphabet a distinct character to represent the first or low caol vowel sound. The sound of this vowel is heard in the “a” of the words “Maggie,” “father,” “rather,” “farther” (i.e., in the low flat sound given to these words by country people in the south of Ireland). In the production of this sound the point of the tongue is pressed firmly against the lower teeth, the centre of the tongue is slightly arched towards the front portion of the hard palate, whilst the sides of the tongue touch the back teeth in the upper jaw, thus forming a hollow in the front portion of the tongue (Fig. IV.).
This sound is represented by the trigraph eái or by ea when followed by a “protected r” (§ 59).
(b) ă, (short). This sound is the short sound of the vowel described in the preceding paragraph. It is represented by ea (not followed by “protected r”) or by ai, when these digraphs are stressed and there are no disturbing influences due to the consonants.[3]
(c) É (long). This is the second or mid caol vowel. The tongue assumes a position similar to that required for the production of “a,” but the centre of the tongue is more arched up in front, thus leaving a narrower passage between the centre of the tongue and the front of the hard palate for the escape of the air. The mouth is not quite so open as for “a” (Fig. V.).
(d) E (short). This vowel when stressed has the short sound of é, the tongue being in the same position for both. Hence e (short) does not correspond to “e” in the words “bed,” “let” “bet” For the production of the English “e” the tongue is quite relaxed, and is not arched in front.
(e) E unstressed has a more relaxed sound than the preceding vowel, and resembles the second “e” in the word “meshes.”
(f) Í (long). This is the third or high caol vowel. The tongue is arched higher for this vowel than for é, and leaves only a very small passage for the air, but the passage must be wide enough to prevent audible friction. The mouth is not quite so open as for é (Fig. VI.).
There is a marked difference between the sound of í in Irish and that of “i” in the word “machine” or the “e” in “deep.” Professor Sweet says that for the production of “i” the front of the tongue is raised as high and as close to the palate as possible, without causing audible friction or buzz, so that the main body of the tongue slopes down from the front of the mouth backwards. For the production of “í” the centre of the tongue is arched as high as possible towards the front of the hard palate, whilst the tip of the tongue rests against the lower teeth: the tongue therefore slopes down both towards the back and the front of the mouth.
(g) I (short). This vowel has the short sound of í. Even in unaccented positions the sound of the i is distinctly heard—e.g., Tuairim, brisim.
Section III.—Nasal Vowels.
This section may be omitted until the first nine chapters have been read.
13. In the formation of nasal vowels voiced breath flows through the nose as well as through the mouth. Nasal vowels are common in Irish, as well as in other European languages (especially French). These sounds are very rich and sonorous; and those who neglect them will never acquire the correct Irish blas.
(a) Practice. Pronounce ó, sustaining the sound for several seconds. It will be noticed that the sound is not affected if we close the nostrils by pressing the sides of the nose with the fingers—provided the hand does not come in front of the mouth. This proves that air is not passing through the nose. Pronounce the ó again, and, whilst maintaining the sound, try to force the breath through the nose. When we succeed in producing a nasal 6, the sound is almost destroyed by closing the nostrils with the fingers. If we tap the side of the nostril with the finger whilst pronouncing a nasal vowel we get an intermittent sound similar to that produced by bringing the hand up to and away from the mouth whilst sounding an ordinary vowel.
14. Any vowel followed by ṁ becomes a nasal vowel. Listen carefully to an Irish speaker whilst he pronounces the words: scláḃuiḋe and snáṁuiḋe, lá and láṁa.
The nasality is very slight in some districts, for we find such variant spellings as aṁrán and aḃrán.
Dēsi (Waterford) Irish is the richest in nasal vowels, for besides those developed by ṁ, the diphthongs developed from a, ea, and io, by a “protected liquid” (except r) (§ 59), are always strongly nasal.
Nasal Vowel and Twang.
15. When the passage at the back of the mouth which leads to the nasal cavity is kept only slightly open, we hear the nasal twang so common in American speech (the Irish word for it is “caoċṡrónaiġe”). This twang affects all the vowels, but is, of course, more audible in the broad than in the slender vowels. In the pure nasal vowels, the passage to the nose is much more open than in the production of twang.
- ↑ For the “Disturbing Influences of the Consonants” refer to Chapter X.
- ↑ This mark ought not to be called an “accent mark.” The word accent should be used only to express tonic accent, or stress of the voice. Whenever we shall use the word accent (or accented), we shall always mean the stress of the voice.
- ↑ See Chapter X.