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§ 384. d followed by fh, th or ch gives t, e.g. dʹɛətiNʹ, ‘I might’, = d’fheudfainn; statə mʹə, ‘I shall stop’; kətiə, ‘why’, < cad chuige.
§ 385. In the present and imperfect passive the tendency is to substitute t for th in the ending in order to distinguish these tenses from the future and conditional in such cases as kʹαptər, çαpti꞉, bʹrʹαktər, ꬶlαkti꞉, iərtər. From dʹerʹəm, ‘I say’, the usual form is dʹɛrtər, though dʹɛr̥ər may be heard. For dʹɛrtər cp. Chr. Bros. Aids to Pron. of Irish p. 18 ꞉ “In Munster the t in the termination of the autonomous present is usually broad – e.g. innstear is pronounced ínnstar”. In the second conjugation the termination of the imperfect passive is ‑i꞉sti, never ‑i꞉ʃtʹi꞉, e.g. dʹiNʹʃi꞉sti꞉, ‘used to be related’. For the ending cp. the new past participle termination ‑i꞉ʃtʹə.
§ 386. A parasitic t is frequently added after χ, L, N, s, t, e.g. i꞉Nʹtʹαχt, ‘a certain’, Di. éiginteach s. éigin (cp. G. J. June ’03 p. 337); tαməLt, ‘a while’, Di. tamall; tα̃uw̥əNt, ‘barking’, M.Ir. toffund; fo̤rəst, ‘easy’, M.Ir. urussa; grα꞉st (also grα꞉stə), ‘grace’, Di. grás; bʹrʹïst huw, ‘a plague on you’ = bʹirʹ əs huw. Also fɔstαχt, fɔstαt, ‘besides’, < fɔstə, fɔ꞉st, Di. fós influenced by fʹαstə, ‘yet’.
6. tʹ.
§ 387. In producing this sound the front rim of the tongue is pressed against the top teeth or the edge of the lower teeth whilst the front of the tongue is brought against the front part of the hard palate. A similar sound is frequent in English in words like ‘ritual’ when not pronounced with tʃ. I have not noticed any tendency in Donegal for tʹ to pass into tʃ as in parts of Connaught, Manx and Scotch Gaelic. The contact for tʹ is however broken very gradually and a glide resembling ʃ is heard. For tʹ as a lenis see § 438.
§ 388. tʹ corresponds to O.Ir. initial t before e, i or preceding r followed by those vowels, e.g. tαχ ‘house’, O.Ir. tech; tʹαN, ‘tight’, O.Ir. tend; tʹαŋy꞉, ‘tongue’, O.Ir. tenge; tʹe`, ‘hot’, M.Ir. teith beside tee, té; tʹiəχɔg, ‘chest for meal’, M.Ir. tíach; tʹinʹi, ‘fireʹ, O.Ir. tene; tʹiNʹəs, ‘sickness’, M.Ir. tinnes; tʹïNtα, ‘to turn’, cp. O.Ir. tintúuth; tʹrʹɛən, ‘strong’, M.Ir. trén; tʹrʹiən, ‘third’, M.Ir. trian; tʹrʹeigʹəm, ‘I abandon’, M.Ir. trécim. tʹ precedes lʹ in tʹlʹigʹən but this is due to a late metathesis (§ 440).
