25
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
