Irish/Pronunciation
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[edit] General Information
- History
- Alphabet
- Spelling
- Pronunciation
- Grammatical Changes
- Basic Sentence Structure
- The Article
- Nouns
- Verbs
- Commonly Confused Words
- Compound Prepositions
- Prefixes
- Dictionaries
- Other Resources
- Common phrases
- Vocabulary
[edit] Pronunciation
Irish spelling often baffles the beginner. Much of this can be attributed to the complete difference between pronounciations in Irish and English.
- mh at the start of a word is pronouced as a w - e.g. mo mhála (my bag) is pronounced mu wall-ah (/mˠʊ ˈwaːl̪ˠə/).
- mh in the centre of a word is prounced as a v sound - e.g. nimh (poison) is pronouced niv (/nʲɪvʲ/)
- bh is pronouced as a v sound - e.g. sa bhearna (in the gap) is pronounced sa varna (/sˠa ˈvaɾˠn̪ˠə/)
Note: The Pronunciation of mh or bh varies regionally. In Ulster the General rule is that they are pronounced w when broad and v when narrow. In Munster (as in the Western isles of Scotland) the tendency is to pronounce as v at the beginning or the end of a word and w in the middle. I've never been able to figure out exactly how it works in Connacht. e.g. the final syllable of Gaillimh (Galway) is pronounced "ih" in Galway but "iv" in Donegal or Kerry. Within the regional variations there are also local variations I have heard in Munster both Abhainn (river) and amháin (sole, single or only) pronounced with a v sound. surnames and personal names may not always follow the "rules" either. The standard pronunciation of Siobhán (Shivaun approx) does not correspond to any modern regional pattern. The alternative pronunciation "shoe-un" (approx) exists in Munster and Ulster. To the Gaelic ear the sounds are, to a degree, interchangeable.
Examples
bó = a cow beo = alive The broad b is pronounced almost as if it were "bw" (/bˠ/) or something like the b in the English word "but" (as pronounced in Ireland), using both lips, as if you were about to kiss someone!
The slender b is pronounced sometimes as if in the Scandinavian Bjorn (/bʲ/) for example or like the b in English bet. The lips are tenser, almost as if you were tightening them in exasperation.
- TO DO: 'discuss the other consonants
- TO DO: 'indicate the consonants where the distinction between broad and slender is most critical (e.g., s), so the beginner can focus on perfecting those sounds first
- TO DO: (one day!) add sound files to demonstrate pronunciation
[edit] Individual Vowels
| Pronouciation* | IPA | Vowel(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ah, as in the Scottish 'lad' | /a/ | a |
| ai | ||
| ea | ||
| eai | ||
| ahh, as in the Australian 'father' | /aː/ | á |
| ái | ||
| eá | ||
| eái | ||
| eh, as in the American 'bed' | /ɛ/ | e |
| ei | ||
| oi | ||
| ehh, as in the Italian 'bene' | /eː/ | ae(i) |
| é | ||
| éa | ||
| éi | ||
| ih, as in 'fin' | /ɪ/ | i |
| io | ||
| oi | ||
| ui | ||
| ee, as in 'see' | /iː/ | aoí |
| í | ||
| ío | ||
| oí | ||
| oío | ||
| uí | ||
| uío | ||
| aw, as in the Scottish 'law' | /ɔ/ | o |
| aww, as in the British 'caught' | /oː/ | eo |
| eoi | ||
| ó | ||
| ói | ||
| omh(a(i)) | ||
| uh, as in 'put' | /ʊ/ | iu |
| u | ||
| oo, as in 'soon' | /uː/ | iú |
| iúi | ||
| ú | ||
| úi |
*In stressed positions only; in unstressed, vowels are reduced to an uh sound (/ə/).
[edit] Diphthongs
| Pronouciation* | IPA | Vowel |
|---|---|---|
| uh-oo, like a neutral uh-sound followed by a ú | /əu/ | abh(a(i)) |
| amh(a(i)) | ||
| eabh(a(i)) | ||
| eamh(a(i)) | ||
| obh(a(i), odh(a(i)), ogh(a(i)) | ||
| uh-ee, similar to the ay in 'spray' | /əi/ | adh(a(i)) |
| agh(a(i)) | ||
| aidh, aigh | ||
| eadh(a(i)) | ||
| eidh(i/ea), eigh(i/ea) | ||
| oidh(i/ea), oigh(i/ea) | ||
| ee-uh, like the ea in 'Korea' | /iə/ | ia |
| iai | ||
| oo-uh, the opposite of the above 'uh-oo' sound above | /uə/ | ua |
| uai |
*In stressed positions only; in unstressed, vowels are reduced to an uh sound (/ə/).
[edit] Consonants
As explained above, the terms slender and broad refer to two categories of vowels.
- The broad vowels are a, o, and u.
- The slender vowels are i and e.
A consonant that is is flanked by broad vowels | broad, and a consonant that is flanked by slender vowels | slender. Don't let the fact that every consonant has two pronunciations panic you. In most cases, the difference between the broad and slender pronunciation is subtle, and you really don't need to worry about all the subtleties at first. The most dramatic differences are:
| Consonant | Pronunciation | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| broad d | /d/ as in "door" | d |
| slender d | /dj/, like the "dg" in "edge" | d͡ʒ |
| broad s | /s/ as in "say" | s |
| slender s | /sh/ as in "sheep" | ʃ |
| broad t | /t/ as in "talk" | t |
| slender t | /tch/ as in "tchah!" or "hatch" | t͡ʃ |
Aside from that, broad consonants have a slight "w" sound associated with them, and slender consonants have a slight "y" sound. This is usually not noticeable except when you change from slender to broad within a word, or vice versa. To make it clear when this occurs, we'll write the "w" or "y" in a tiny font like this: w, y. But we'll only do that if it helps to clarify the pronunciation, so don't worry about figuring out why we include it in some words and leave it out in others.
[edit] Putting It All Together
Let's work through some examples in detail. We'll start with some words you probably know, but we'll look at them with fresh eyes, and pretend we don't already know how to pronounce them.
bád
We can tell that the "b" and "d" are broad, because they are next to a broad vowel, "a". Broad consonants are generally pronounced pretty much the way they are in English, so this word shouldn't be too difficult. The fada over the "a" tells us it has a long sound, AW (or AA in Ulster) We have: broad b + á + broad d. So bád would be pronounced BAWD.
Bríd
This word has a consonant cluster "br" at the beginning, but you treat it as a unit when deciding whether they're broad or slender. In this case, "br" is slender, as is "d". Remember that slender "d" has a special sound. We have: slender br + í + slender d. So Bríd would be pronounced BREEJ. (If you want to be precise, slender "r" has a sort of "d" quality to it, so you could write the pronunciation as BRdEEJ... but maybe that's too confusing.)
bábóg
The only vowels in this word are broad, so all the consonants are broad too. We have: broad b + á + broad b + ó + broad g. So bábóg would be pronounced BAH-BOHG. (Don't worry about which syllable is accented/emphasised for now. We'll talk about that later.)
feadóg
In this word, we have both broad and slender vowels. The "f" is next to a slender vowel, so it's slender. The "d" and "g" are next to broad vowels, so they are broad. Since we'll be sliding from a slender sound into a broad sound, you'll hear a bit of that "y" sound mentioned above -- but don't overdo it. That "y" shouldn't really be audible, it's more of a hint to get your lips and mouth into the right shape. We have: slender f + ea + broad d + ó + broad g. So feadóg would be pronounced FyAA-DOHG.
Caoimhín
Oh no! There are three vowels in a row; how do we handle this? For the purpose of deciding whether a consonant is broad or slender, you only look at the adjacent vowels. So the "C" is broad, the "mh" is slender, and the "n" is slender. We have: broad c + aoi + slender mh + í + slender n. As indicated in the previous section, aoi is pronounced ee. Now we can tell that Caoimhín is pronounced KwEE-VEEN. (The tiny "w" is there because we're going from an initial broad consonant into a medial slender consonant.)
súil and siúil
We put these two together because they really illustrate the difference one little vowel can make. Here's a tip: When you see a vowel combination where one of the vowels has a fada, the vowel with the fada is how it's pronounced. In other words, the vowel with the fada is the "real" vowel, and its companions are just there to tell you how to pronounce the consonants on either side. So both these words have the same vowel sound, OO. And both have a slender "l" on the end. But one has a broad "s" and the other a slender "s", and that makes all the difference. For súil we have: broad s + ú + slender l, and for siúil we have: slender s + ú + slender l. The only difference in pronunciation is the quality of the initial "s". So súil is pronounced SOOL, and siúil is pronounced SHOOL.
| Exercises |
|---|
|
Here's a list of words to practice with. Say the word out loud, then hover your mouse over the word to check your pronunciation. If you want, you can try writing the pronunciation phonetically -- but don't worry if you didn't write the pronunciation exactly the way we did, as long as you had the right sound in mind. For now, don't worry about which syllable has the emphasis; we'll cover that in another section. sos cas cais cláróg leas léas rois ros géin scar scair fram casla íle scil scál doirt leá sall séid fras fadú siolp sábh seabhac osar féidín séirse sár sáir ósais |
