Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish/Chapter 5

by the Christian Brothers

CHAPTER V.

16. Table of Irish Consonants.

NAME			Stops		Spirants		Liquids
			Voice-less	Voiced	Voice-less	Voiced	Nasal
Labials	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	broad -	P	B	F Ṕ	Ṁ Ḃ	M	—	—
		slender	p	b	f ṗ	ṁ ḃ	m	—	—
Dentals	-	broad -	T	D	S	(No z in Irish)	N	L	—
Alveolar[1]	-	slender	t	d	s	—	n	l	R, r
Palatals	-	slender	c	g	ċ	ḋ ġ	ng	—	—
Gutturals	-	broad -	C	G	Ċ	Ḋ Ġ	NG	—	—
Vocal chords		broad -	The various letters having the sound of
			h; Ṫ, Ṡ, ṫ, ṡ.

17. Every consonant in Irish has, at least, two distinct natural^[2] sounds—the one broad, the other slender. An Irish consonant gets its broad sound whenever it immediately precedes or follows a leaṫan (broad) vowel in the same word. An Irish consonant is slender whenever it is immediately preceded or followed by e or i in the same word.

In the above table the large letters denote the broad, and the small the slender, consonants.

18. All the Irish consonants, except the aspirated ones, require a much stronger contact than the English consonants. Likewise all the Irish long vowels are about half as long again as the normal long vowels in English.

Voiceless stops, such as p, t, c have no sound whatever in themselves, and are rendered audible only by the puff of breath or explosion which accompanies them.

The Irish mutes (i.e., the voiceless stops) are pronounced with much greater force than the corresponding consonants in English; hence such spellings as “bhoy” by Englishmen, who wish to mimic our Anglo-Irish pronunciation.

P, B, and M.

19. In pronouncing p, b, or m (broad) the lips are protruded as far as possible, and are rounded as in the production of a long ú (the lips then making contact in order to produce a stop). The only difference between P and B) (broad and slender) is that B is voiced, P is voiceless. As already explained (§ 9) the difference between B and M is the passing of the voiced air through of the nose for M, but not for B.

When pronouncing P, B, or M (slender) the lips are drawn tight, and consequently become broader than usual; they are resting against the teeth and are slightly inturned.

In pronouncing the English labials the lips are in their normal position—i.e., between the two positions of the lips for the broad and the slender labials in Irish.

(a) P seldom occurs as the final letter of an Irish word and never occurs as the initial letter except (1) in loan words from other languages; (2) in slang words, and those of onomatopœic origin; (3) in metamorphosed words which formerly had some other initial.

(b) B is sometimes silent after m in the body of a word—e.g., díombáḋ, domblas, &c. These are really cases of eclipsis (§ 139).

F, Ṗ, Ṁ, Ḃ.

20. For the production of the sound of an Irish F the inside (not the edge) of the lower lip is pressed against the edges of the upper teeth (thus necessitating a slight pursing out of the lips), and then air is forced between the lip and the teeth. If the f is to be broad the lower lip is removed from the teeth with a slight forward motion; for a slender f the lip is drawn slightly backward (i.e., into its natural position).

Ṗ, broad, has the same sound as f broad, and ṗ slender has that of f slender.

There is no separate character in Irish to denote the voiced sound of f (i.e., the sound corresponding to the English “v”).

Ṁ and ḃ when slender get the voiced sound of f slender (i.e., “v”), whenever they are initial or final. When broad they sometimes get the voiced sound of f broad (i.e., “v”), and sometimes they get a sound corresponding to English “w.”

The sounds are treated more fully in Chapter VI.

(a) In the terminations of the future and the conditional of verbs (except the 2nd pers. sing, of the conditional) the f is pronounced as an h, except the stem of the verb ends in a vowel or silent consonant (ḋ, ġ, ṫ), in which case it retains its own sound.

For the effect of this h sound on the final consonant of the stem refer to § 136.

(b) F in the termination of the 2nd pers. sing, of the conditional, also in the autonomous forms of the future and the conditional (except in Ulster) retains its own sound.

(c) In Munster, f in the terminations of the future and conditional, when pronounced as f, is usually broad in sound. This is not the case elsewhere.

(d) F is sometimes pronounced as h besides in the termination of the future and conditional of verbs—e.g., ní féidir is sometimes pronounced ní h-éidir; mé féin=mé héin (sometimes). Cf. haith instead of faith.

(e) In the following words f is prosthetic—(i.e., it did not formerly belong to the words, and its presence is due to false reconstruction, on the analogy of words in which initial f becomes silent in aspirable positions).—fan, faill, fiolar, faṫaċ, fiafruiġ, foscail, féidir, fosaim (or fosuiġim).

(f) The second f in fiafruiġ is usually silent; anfa is pronounced anaiṫe

D, T, S.

21. For the production of the broad sounds of D and T the tongue is pressed against the upper teeth (the tongue does not touch the gums). The only difference between d and t is that d is voiced (§ 3), t voiceless.

Throughout the most of Ireland the English sounds of “th” are never heard. The vast majority of Irishmen employ the broad sounds of t and d. In English “th” is not a “stop,” it is a spirant, the tongue being placed between the teeth in such a way that the breath is not completely stopped.

(a) Broad s in Irish has not quite so hissing a sound as the English “s.” The tongue is placed on the “hard rim” for the production of the English “s,” whilst it is placed between the slightly opened teeth for the Irish broad S, and a softer sound is the result.

(b) The sounds of slender d and t are perhaps the most difficult sounds for a learner to acquire. Pronounce several times the English words “no” “now” “new” and “Newry” For the “n” in the first two words (i.e., hard “n”) the point of the tongue is pressed straight against the “hard rim” whilst for the “n” in “new” and “Newry” it is the front of the tongue that is pressed against the “hard rim” the point of the tongue touching the inside of the upper teeth.

To produce the slender sound of d and t the tongue is put into position for the “N” of “Newry,” and then a t or a d is pronounced. The contact between the front of the tongue and the “hard rim” is broken gradually, and consequently an incipient spirant is heard with the slender d and t. This gradual breaking of the contact is necessary for the production of the true slender sounds. The incipient spirant which is heard, we sometimes refer to as, “a suggestive y sound.” Learners should pay particular attention to these two consonants, because there is a great tendency at present, even with Irish speakers, to drop the true Irish sounds altogether. In Connaught the English sound of “ch” is being substituted for that of slender t; and the sound of “j” for slender d; whilst in many places in Munster an opposite tendency prevails—viz., the substitution of the hard English “t” and “d” for the true Irish slender sounds. This arises from two causes: (1) the direct influence of the English language being spoken so generally throughout the country; (2) from slovenly pronunciation; just as we hear the words “tune” “dew” &c, pronounced by mutterers chune, jew, &c.

(c) Slender s in Irish corresponds fairly well with the sound of “sh” in English: shun, shine.

Whenever s is followed immediately by p, m, r or tr, in the same word, it does not get its slender sound,^[3] but has a sound similar to the English hard “s”: (“some” “same” “saw” &c.)., e.g.—speal, spéar, srian, smig, stríoc, streanncán.

In Clare s is pronounced slender in all these and similar words.

(d) There is a great tendency in the spoken language to add a “t” to verbal nouns ending in “n”—e.g., leanaṁain(t), cailleaṁain(t), féaċain(t) &c. In Munster it is often added to other words ending in “n,” e.g., éigint (or éicint).

(e) T is often inserted to separate and thus keep distinct two identical, or two like sounds. This usually occurs between “n” and “s,”^[4] and, sometimes between l, r, and s—e.g., Ceann tSáile, buiḋean tsluaġ, milis tséin, caol tsruṫ.

(f) The d of “do,” thy, becomes “t” or “ṫ” before vowels or ḟ, except in Ulster and N. Connaught: t’aṫair, t’ainm, t’aġaiḋ.

(g) In Munster the “t” in the termination of the autonomous present is usually broad—e.g., innstear, is pronounced ínnstar.

(h) In parts of Munster “t” after “l” is pronounced ṫ—e.g., fáilte (=fáilṫe), dálta (=dálṫa), &c.

(i) The combinations sr and rs slender have never the normal slender values of the letters except in Munster. They often become quite broad. The two consonants are often pronounced almost simultaneously, so that it is difficult to know which consonant is pronounced the first.

The Liquids.

L, M, N, R, NG.

22. The liquids are called semi-vowels, because they have each a distinct sonant component part. To observe this, place the tongue against the upper teeth in position for broad “l.” Drive out a current of voiced air and a loud humming noise is produced. The breath can be felt escaping between the sides of the tongue and the cheeks. By tapping the cheek with the forefinger an intermittent hum is produced. This hum is the sonant part of the l, and it is always heard before the consonantal portion of the “l sound.” Listen carefully to a person while he pronounces the word “lá.” A short “u” is heard before the “l.” Test in a similar manner the sound of “n.” Whilst the tongue is pressed against the upper teeth send a current of voiced air through the nose (because “n” is a nasal consonant). A distinct hum is again produced. Notice the effect of tapping the side of the nose with the finger. No effect is produced if we tap the cheek, because all the air is passing out through the nostrils.

The sonant portion of “n” (also of “m” and “ng”) is a short nasal neutral “u”—i.e., a “u” formed by keeping the tongue flat in the mouth.

L and LL.

23. Initial l broad, and ll broad have a strong sound not heard in English. To produce this sound the tongue is pressed firmly against the inside of the upper teeth, whilst for the English “l” the tongue is pressed against the “hard rim.”

Initial l slender, and ll slender have a sound resembling the “l” in the words “valiant,” “William,” “million”: the point of the tongue presses against the lower teeth, and the front of the tongue touches the upper teeth and the “hard rim.”

Single l when between vowels, or at the end of words, has the sound of the English “l” in “well,” “will,” “wall” &c. The point of the tongue is pressed against the “hard rim.”

Single l following d or t has its full broad or slender sound according to the adjoining vowels—e.g., dlúṫ, tlás, dlaoi, dliġe, tlúġ.

N and NN.

24. Initial n broad and nn broad are formed by pressing the tongue against the inside of the upper teeth and sending a current of voiced air through the nose.

In Munster nn broad when final has not quite such a broad sound as that indicated in the previous paragraph. The n sound is produced by placing the point of the tongue on the “hard rim” nearer to the teeth than for the English “n” in “no,” yet without touching them.

(a) Initial n slender and nn slender have the sound of the “n” in “Newry,” “new,” “news”—the front of the tongue presses against the “hard rim.”

The incipient spirant is very marked after slender n when initial.

In Munster, generally, nn slender when medial is pronounced as slender ng, but when final it often gets the sound of slender nn elsewhere.

Single n between vowels, or at the end of words, is usually pronounced like the English “n.”

After ai, oi, ui, single n is usually pronounced like the “n” in “Newry”—e.g., báin, aráin, móin, bróin, buin, doṁain.

The n in muna is pronounced (and now usually written) r.

NG.

25. NG is a simple consonantal sound, and all writers on phonetics assert that it should be represented by a single character. NG may be regarded as a nasalized “g,” just as “n” is a nasalized d, and m a nasalized b. In the production of ng the tongue is not pressed so firmly against the palate as for g, just as the lips are not pressed together so tightly for m as for b.

(a) NG slender corresponds to “ng” in “sing” “wing” &c, and ng broad to “ng” in “song” “long,” &c. The slender ng is formed with the centre of the tongue, the broad ng with the back of it.

(b) The only difficulty about this sound in Irish is that it sometimes occurs at the beginning of words, but this difficulty is more apparent than real, because in actual speech the phrase, not the word, is the unit—i.e., we pronounce a whole phrase with one breath, just as if it were one long word. For example, a ngort is pronounced as one word with the tonic accent on the second syllable. The only difficulty, then, consists in placing the tonic accent, or stress of the voice, on the syllable after the ng, which never happens in English. However, constant practice with such phrases as “sing-on” “bring-in” “hang-up” “hung-up” accenting the second word in each phrase, will be of great assistance.

The student ought not to rest satisfied until he can pronounce such a word as “ngé” with facility. The following method will assist in acquiring this facility. Pronounce several times in succession “ingé,” putting the tonic accent on the “é.” Then, without altering the position of the tongue, omit the “i sound,” and pronounce “ngé” by itself.

(c) N.B.—When practising this sound be careful not to pronounce a “g” after the “ng.” For example, the English words “longer,” “finger,” &c, are pronounced as if written “long-ger,” “fing-ger,” &c.

(d) In Munster a “g” is heard after final ng broad—e.g., long, seang, &c. are pronounced lúng-g, seang-g, &c. This occurs only when the ng is final. A “g” is heard after final ng slender in some parts of Munster.

(e) In Aran ng is pronounced ng-g, except when it is initial.

(f) In the past tense of the verb “tigim, I come”—viz., ṫángas, ṫángais, &c., the ng is not sounded like the above. In Munster the g is silent, hence the sound is broad n. In Connaught a vowel is pronounced between the n and the g, thus—ṫánagas, ṫánagais, &c.

R.

26. The sound of the Irish r is a great stumbling block to those who have been accustomed to speak only English. In his book on Phonetics, Professor Sweet, speaking of the English “r” says:—“This consonant is practically a vowel, there being no buzz in it even when emphasized or lengthened. Trilling—‘rolling one’s r’s’—is a defect of pronunciation.” R is always a pure consonant in Irish, and is always trilled.

R is the most variable and adaptable of all the Irish consonants, and has consequently several pronunciations, or variations of timbre, which can be learned by carefully listening to native speakers pronouncing them.

(a) Initial r broad and rr broad are produced by placing the edge of the tongue very close to the “hard rim” and causing the tongue to vibrate rapidly in a stream of voiced air. The sound resembles initial “r” in English (e.g., row, road, &c), but is more trilled (i.e., is stronger), and is more prolonged.

(b) Initial slender r is usually pronounced broad, except in aspirable positions, when it gets its slender sound.

(c) The slender sound of r is produced by spread in the tongue and forming a small hollow in the front portion of it. The point of the tongue is brought close to the gum just above the upper teeth (i.e., below the “hard rim”). The stream of voiced breath is directed into the hollow in the front of the tongue, and can be felt striking the lower lip.

(d) Initial broad r in aspirable positions is pronounced slender—e.g., do rug sé = do riug sé; Eiḃlín a rún = a riún.

(e) In N Connaught and Clare a “y sound” (§ 21(b)) ia heard after slender r between vowels—e.g., Máire is pronounced like mawirye.

(f) In Kilkenny slender r becomes “zh” or “sh”; hence we hear bóiṫrín pronounced like bōsheen, and Máire like mau-zhe, &c.

Analysis of the Sounds of r.

(g) The difference in sound between single r and double r is not at all so marked in Munster as in Connaught, hence the following sounds of r had best be learned by hearing a native of Connaught pronounce them.

1. Broad strong—

(a) Initial broad r unaspirated—e.g., rós.

(b) Medial double r broad—e.g., carraig.

2. Slender strong—

(a) Initial slender r unaspirated—e.g., rí.

(b) Medial double r slender—e.g., fairrge.

These sounds hardly differ from the broad strong sounds (1) and often pass into the broad sounds both in modern and ancient Irish; hence such spelling as raob = réab, raṁar = reaṁar.

3. Broad weak—e.g., caraid.

4. Slender weak—e.g., fir.

In Munster, aspirations of initial broad r often produces (4). This is false reconstruction owing to the similarity or identity of (1) and (2).

5. Prolonged r broad—

(a) Before d—e.g., ceard.

(b) Before l or n—e.g., urlár, cárnán.

(c) In rr final—e.g., barr (a = á).

(d) Before s sometimes in Munster—e.g., ársaiḋ.

6. Prolonged r slender. The same positions as for 5—(a), ceird; (b), uirlis; áirneán; (c), bairr (a = á).

27. The sound of m has been described in § 19.

C, G.

28. The Irish sounds of c and g (slender) are formed a little farther back in the mouth, and with slightly greater tension in the tongue than the slender palatals in English—e.g., the “c,” “k,” and “g” in the words “cave,” “king,” “give,” &c. The English palatals are formed by bringing the centre of the tongue into contact with the palate just in front of the boundary between the hard and the soft palate. For the Irish palatals the point of the tongue is pressed pretty firmly against the inside of the lower teeth, the sides of the tongue are pressed against the upper back teeth, thus forming a hollow in the front portion of the tongue. The sounds of c and g (broad) are formed in the same position as the English gutturals “c” and “g” in “coal,” “cool,” “call,” “go,” “cog,” &c. The Irish sounds are more forcible than the English ones (§ 18). e.g.—gual, gad, gort, cad, cor, gá, gó, cá, cú

The Aspirate.

29. The consonant h (ṫ and ṡ) is the only one formed by the vocal chords themselves. If, when air is being driven from the lungs over the relaxed vocal chords, the latter are suddenly drawn into position for vibration, the sudden transition from a silent to a voiced current of air gives the sound of h. Similarly, if the vocal chords are vibrating and we suddenly relax them, we send off the voiced portion of the breath with a jerk, and thus get the sound of h after a vowel.

(a) It is quite easy to sound an h on to a vowel—e.g., “ate,” “hate”; “is,” “his”; “at,” “hat,” &c; but in English we never sound an h off a vowel, although the h is written—e.g., “Oh,” “Ah” These words simply get the sounds of the two vowels “o” and “a.” In Irish we must pronounce an h off a vowel—e.g., roṫ, riṫ, aṫ; and also between vowels—e.g., saoṫar, tuaṫal. No difficulty will be experienced with the sound of h between vowels, if the student thinks of such names as “Sheehy,” “Tuohy,” “Fahy,” &c. In English, h does not occur between vowels except in borrowed words—e.g., “tomahawk.”

(b) The sound of h is a most important one in Irish on account of the influence it exerts over the other consonants, and also over slender glides. This point is treated in § 136.

Relation of Consonants to Vowels.

30. We have already pointed out in explaining the formation of the liquids (§ 22) the indistinct vowel which, forms an inherent component of them. There is besides a very close relation between the voiced spirants and the vowels. Pronounce ġ (§ 35 (a)), broad, maintaining the sound for several seconds. Now slowly move the tongue forward so as to widen the distance between the back of the tongue and the soft palate; the result will be a pure vowel sound. Try a like experiment with the English “z,” in this case lowering the front of the tongue, the result will likewise be a pure vowel sound : Thus we see that the only difference between a voiced spirant and a vowel is the fact that for the former the air passage is narrow, and audible friction is the result, whilst for the latter the passage is wide, and audible friction is not produced.

Drill Exercises, I.-VII.

31. Having carefully studied the directions given in the previous chapters for the positions of the organs required for the production of the various vowel and consonant sounds, the student should frequently be exercised on the following lists. The first step is to join a vowel and a consonant together, making sure that the broad consonants are used with the broad vowels, and the slender consonants with the slender vowels. A mere passable pronunciation is not sufficient. It is quite possible for any student, with care and practice, to pronounce these combinations with the accuracy and blas of a native speaker.

As soon as the chapter on Aspiration has been mastered, the student should come back to these drill-exercises, and pronounce each of the words aspirating the initial letter where possible.

32. I.	Á, Ó, Ú, É, Í.
b, c, d, f, g, l, m, n, p, r, s, t.

Pronounce each of the consonants in succession before the á, thus bá, cá, dá, ⁊c. Then pronounce the vowel before the consonants, thus áb, ác, ád, ⁊c. Repeat this exercise with each of the five vowels given in the first line.

II.	A, O, U, E, I.
b, c, d, f, g, l, m, n, p, r, s, t.

This exercise is similar to I., except that we have the short sounds of the vowels. Pay great attention to the vowel u (§ 7 (f)).

33. The following are lists of simple words:—

(1) Á		(2) A
cráġ	dá	ba	bac
cár	lá	dar	rac
dán	má	fras	mac
gág	bán	gad	fad
fág	lán	at	cat
tá	fán	gal	fan
fás	árd	Art	cas
lán	ná	gas	glac
rán	sál	cad	lag
sár	sás	las	glas
nár	bád	mab	mart

(1) Á		(2) A
ár	scárd	gan	bas
prás	tlás	mar	mam
smál	slán	sal	sar
		scar	tar
		tart	snag
		slat	stad

(3) Ó		(4) O
crón	clós	cor	cros
fód	fós	ort	crot
gó	lón	clog	gort
mó	nór	dos	clos
mór	óg	port	gol
ól	pór	fos	gob
ró	ród	cos	bog
póg	rós	mol	olc
tóg	smól	poc	tor
stól	srón	soc	sop
spórt	dó	son	los
ór	sórt

(5) Ú and U		(6) Í and I
cúb	clú	sí	ní
clúd	crúb	bí	bím
fút	dún	bír	bíd
dúr	lúb	sí	tír
múr	plúr	sín	mín
púnt	úd	tríd	síl
rúm	rún	mí	sin

(5) Ú and U		(6) Í and I
úr	rúd	min	mil
cú	cúl	dil	fir
tú	glún	mic	clis
dul	muc	glic	slis
pluc	pus
sult	bun
rug	tug

(7) É and E.

The vowels é and e never occur in modern Irish, except at the end of a word. éi and ei are employed in every other position instead of é and e, respectively.

sé	mé	éin	scéil
Dé	cé	Néill	béim
gé	te	léim	réim
le	me	céim	méir
		céill	féin
éi=é.		féir	léir
péin	éist	géim	géill

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1. The consonants formed by placing the tongue on or close to the hard rim (§ 2) are called “Alveolars.”
2. They have also aspirated sounds—Chap. VI.
3. The working of this law is quite evident in the difficulty experienced by Irish speakers (and country people generally) in pronouncing the “sh” in the English words—shrill, shrink, shriek, shrimp, shrine, &c.
4. Similarly:—an tsúil, tiġ an tsagairt, aon tsuim, &c but these are cases of aspiration.