99
rrch gives r̥ in tɔ꞉r̥i꞉s, ‘number at birth, parturition’, M.Ir. torrchius.
This is one of the few internal changes which does not hold good in sandhi, e.g. ky꞉rʹ hinʹuw ɔrt = caoir theineadh ort.
§ 281. r̥ is the aspirated form of initial tr, e.g. r̥α꞉χt mʹə, ‘I discoursed’; r̥idʹ ʃə, ‘he fought’; r̥ïʃLʹi꞉ ʃə, ‘he stumbled’, Di. tuislighim, O.Ir. tuisled; r̥ɔsk mʹə, ‘I fasted’. In the case of initial tʹrʹ the palatalisation seems to me to have been given up but r̥ in this case is a sound midway between r̥ and r̥ʹ, e.g. r̥eigʹ mʹə, ‘I abandoned’; r̥ïmwi꞉ ʃə, ‘it dried’, = thriomuigh < thiormuigh; α r̥iən, ‘his third’; r̥o꞉ mʹə, ‘I ploughed’, M.Ir. trebaim; r̥o꞉r̥ə mʹə, ‘I led’; α r̥u꞉r, ‘his three’, may sometimes have r̥ʹ. At any rate the r̥ in these cases is very different from the r̥ʹ in § 288.
11. rʹ.
§ 282. The Donegal palatal r is a very elusive sound and is perhaps more easy to acquire than to describe. The tip of the tongue hangs down slightly behind the upper teeth though not in such exaggerated fashion as in the case of s and ʃ. The front of the tongue a little over half an inch from the tip rests against the arch-rim leaving a narrow horizontal slit through which the breath rushes. The Aran rʹ as I have heard it from a friend who has spent some time on the islands has not the same acoustic effect as the Donegal sound and according to Finck’s description the two must be quite distinct from one another. As far as I am able to observe the hollowing out of the front of the tongue essential for the production of s, ʃ is entirely absent. Perhaps the Desmond sound described in the Chr. Bros. Aids to the Pron. of Irish (p. 23) is different. There it is stated that “the slender sound of r is produced by spreading 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.” When I first heard the Donegal rʹ, I was reminded of a j-sound formed against the arch-rim instead of against the hard palate. Cp. Henderson’s remark “in Tiree air ‘on’ sounds like eigh (eij) ‘ice’” (ZCP. iv 523). On the other hand rʹ has a distinct affinity with đ and an Englishman may easily acquire the sound by slightly retracting the tongue from the edge of the upper teeth and substituting the contact with the arch-rim. Hence it is very natural to find đ appearing for rʹ in Scotch dialects (Henderson, ZCP. iv 516). At
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