Where ao and also in some cases where a is heard in such syllables in other districts, open o is substituted in many instances in the west of Ross-shire. This is the case especially in the suffixed syllables ach and achd. Mabach is here ‘maboch,’ ciallach ‘cialloch,’ teallach ‘tealloch,’ seileach ‘seileoch’ (‘se’l’och’), raineach ‘raineoch,’ beannachd ‘beannochd,’ cruithneachd ‘cruithneochd,’ and so ablach, cearbach, dìonach, fàrdach, feumach, Frangach, maorach, riòghachd, imeachd, etc. Aiteachan, places, is ‘àiteochan,’ gobhlachan, ear-wig, ‘gobhlochan,’ ceatharnach ‘ceatharnoch,’ dì-chuimhneach ‘diùchonoch,’ and spaidsearachd ‘spaidsearochd.’ Beannachadh is ‘beannochdainn,’ and so with other words of the same formation, as deasachadh, dìtheachadh, fiosrachadh.
Instances of o in other unaccented syllables are sgeadas ‘sgeados,’ saoghal ‘saoghol,’ innear ‘inneor,’ cianail ‘cianoil,’ dìomhain ‘dìomhoin,’ di-chuimhne ‘diùchoin,’ Sàbaid ‘Sàboid.’
Instances occur in Lewis also as tràbhach, a kind of grass, ‘tràbhoch,’ banachdach, pox, ‘banachdoch,’ dà-ghamhnach, cow that goes two years without having a calf, ‘dughanoch,’ trì-ghamhnach, one that goes three years without having a calf, ‘traghanoch,’ Sàbaid, here ‘Sàboinn.’
When Gaelic place-names are adopted into English the vowel of a final or other unaccented syllable is often changed to o, as in Avoch, Dornoch, Rannoch, Ranochan, Cawdor, Glasgow, Greenock, Lomond, etc.
final vowels
Words like fada, dalta, calma, fearna, àite, maide, fàilte, muime, duine, tròcaire, clachaire, are often heard without the final vowel, as fad, dalt, àit, tròcair. Old Irish has such a vowel in many cases in which modern Gaelic has not, as O.Ir. fírinne for fìrinn, snechta for sneachd, snáthe for snàth. In the southern dialect of Scottish Gaelic there seems to be a tendency to retain such vowels in many cases before
