86
AN GAOḊAL.
the aspirate sounds are known by the
learner.)
*** The notation for the aspirate sound sign is a
dot (') or h.
Plain or Prim¬
itive Form.
Aspirated or Se¬
condary Form,
As Spelled.
Pronunciation or
Secondary Form,
As Articulated.
Labials
p ṗ, or ph.
b ḃ, or bh,
m ṁ, or mh
f ḟ, or fh,
F,
V, or W.
V, or W.
H.
Palatals
c ċ, or ch,
g ġ, or gh
Gut'ral
KH or X
GH or Y
Dentals
d ḋ, or dh
t ṫ or th,
DH, Y.
H.
Sibilant
s ṡ, or sh,
H.
A fuller explanation of the aspira¬
ted Consonants.
ṗ aspirated equal ph or f.
ḃ before and after e or i equals v; be¬
fore and after a, o, u, it equals w.
ṁ before and after e or i equals v; be¬
fore or after a, o, u, it equals w; ṁ
is slightly nasal, as in cuṁa sorrow,
pronounced as if written cuínga.
ḟ is silent: it has the sound of 'h' in
some words; as ḟéin, self ; do m' ḟéin,
to myself, pronounced, dhom hein.
ċ equal ch in och, oċ; or the Greek x
[chee]. It is invariably sounded like
the Greek x [chee] when it goes before
e or i; but before a, o, or u, it has a
thicker sound, as heard in the exclam¬
ation oċ! [och], oċón! [ochon]; or of
the German ch.
There is no sound in English like
that of ċ; for when it is said that ċ as¬
pirated sounds like gh in 'lough', very
few take up that sound, for few in these
countries except Irish-speaking people
alone, pronounce that digraph with a
guttural tone. To pronounce it correct¬
ly add to the sound of k [or Irish c] a
little rough breathing from the throat;
as oċ, [och!]
ġ equals gh, guttural, in the beginning
of a word, if before the vowels a, o, u:
before e or i, it has the less guttural
sound of y; as, mo ġean, my affection.
But in the end and middle of a word,
it has no other power than that of
lengthening the sound of the preceding
vowel, and fixing the spelling, just as
gh in the English words — high, neigh¬
bour, highness, nigh, thought, thought¬
ful, thoughtfulness, tends to lengthen
the vowel i, or the diphthongs ei, ou,
and to aid in forming a correct ortho¬
graphy
Example : riġ, a king, pronounced
as if written rí [ree], riġeaċt, a king¬
dom, riġ-aṁuil, kingly; soġ, happiness,
prosperity, pronounced só, soġ-aṁail,
pleasant, prosperous; soġ-aṁlaċt, plea¬
santness.
ḋ has a thick, guttural sound very like
that of ġ. In the beginning of a word,
ḋ before e or i has exactly the sound
of y, as, mo Ḋia [mo Yia], my God. In
the middle or end of words ḋ aspirated
is the same in all respects as ġ aspira¬
ted — ie., it only lengthens the sound
of the preceding vowel or diphthong.
OBS. — There is another sound pecu¬
liar to ġ and ḋ when following the
vowels a or o, in the first or second
syllable of a word, which deserves par¬
ticular attention. The two letters aġ,
or aḋ, sound like i in ire, ey in eye,
eyre; as, aḋain (ey-en), aspen; aḋairt
[ey-airth], bolster; aḋarc [ey-ark] a
horn ; aḋlacaḋ [ey-luck-oo], burial;
aḋraim, I adore; aḋstar, a halter; ae¬
laḋan, a science; gaḋair, beagle; raḋ¬
arc, sight; Taḋg, Thaig; laġad, few¬
ness; aġaiḋ, face, against; laḋar, the
space between the fingers, toe, prong,
fork; sleáġan, a turf spade and Seáġ¬
an, John, are exceptions. These excep¬
tions are generally marked with the
grave accent, as áḋḃar, a cause; áḋ¬
mud, timber; áḋ, luck.
ṫ equal h; ṡ equal h. Aspiration so af¬
fects these letters that their power as
consonants has been lost, while the as¬
pirate alone is heard. s final is never
aspirated.
Hence, an accented vowel should never be em¬
ployed before these aspirated letters — the aspira¬
tion being a sufficient indication of the lengthened
sound. Also, accenting the a in the pronoun ar,
our, should be avoided. That word is invariably
pronounced short to distinguish it from ar, slaugh¬
ter — pronouncing it awr savors of the cockney pro¬
nunciation of Catholic, Cawtholic. A persist¬
ence in this indiscriminate mode of accentuation
bewilders the printer and puts him to the cost of
buying extra accented letters.
