86
AN GAODHAL.
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 ph, or ph.
b bh, or bh,
m mh, or mh
f fh, or fh,
F,
V, or W.
V, or W.
H.
Palatals
c ch, or ch,
g gh, or gh
Gut'ral
KH or X
GH or Y
Dentals
d dh, or dh
t th or th,
DH, Y.
H.
Sibilant
s sh, or sh,
H.
A fuller explanation of the aspira¬
ted Consonants.
ph aspirated equal ph or f.
bh before and after e or i equals v; be¬
fore and after a, o, u, it equals w.
mh before and after e or i equals v; be¬
fore or after a, o, u, it equals w; mh
is slightly nasal, as in cumha sorrow,
pronounced as if written cuínga.
fh is silent: it has the sound of 'h' in
some words; as fhéin, self ; do m' fhéin,
to myself, pronounced, dhom hein.
ch equal ch in och, och; 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 och! [och], ochón! [ochon]; or of
the German ch.
There is no sound in English like
that of ch; for when it is said that ch 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 och, [och!]
gh 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 ghean, 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 : righ, a king, pronounced
as if written rí [ree], righeacht, a king¬
dom, righ-amhuil, kingly; sogh, happiness,
prosperity, pronounced só, sogh-amhail,
pleasant, prosperous; sogh-amhlacht, plea¬
santness.
dh has a thick, guttural sound very like
that of gh. In the beginning of a word,
dh before e or i has exactly the sound
of y, as, mo Dhia [mo Yia], my God. In
the middle or end of words dh aspirated
is the same in all respects as gh aspira¬
ted — ie., it only lengthens the sound
of the preceding vowel or diphthong.
OBS. — There is another sound pecu¬
liar to gh and dh when following the
vowels a or o, in the first or second
syllable of a word, which deserves par¬
ticular attention. The two letters agh,
or adh, sound like i in ire, ey in eye,
eyre; as, adhain (ey-en), aspen; adhairt
[ey-airth], bolster; adharc [ey-ark] a
horn ; adhlacadh [ey-luck-oo], burial;
adhraim, I adore; adhstar, a halter; ae¬
ladhan, a science; gadhair, beagle; radh¬
arc, sight; Tadhg, Thaig; laghad, few¬
ness; aghaidh, face, against; ladhar, the
space between the fingers, toe, prong,
fork; sleághan, a turf spade and Seágh¬
an, John, are exceptions. These excep¬
tions are generally marked with the
grave accent, as ádhbhar, a cause; ádh¬
mud, timber; ádh, luck.
th equal h; sh 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.
