363
AN GAODHAL.
the word, (th)ough; and t the sound
of th in (th)ought; it has the sound of
the ll in Wi(ll)iam; nn has a sound
like that produced in sounding 'ing', if
you could conceive yourself to stop in
the middle of the sound of g, or n in
the word 'new'; s before and after a
slender vowel sounds like sh.
Sounds of the Aspirates. —
Bh and mh sound like w when followed
or preceded by a, o, u, as, a bhárd, his
bard, pronounced a wardh; a mhart,
his beef or ox, pronounced a warth;
and like v when preceded by e, i, as,
a bhean, his wife, pronounced, a van, a
mhian, his desire, pronounced, a vee-un
Dh and gh sound like y at the beginning
of a word; they are almost silent in
the middle, and perfectly so at the end
of words. Ch sounds like ch; ph, like f;
sh and th like h ; and fh is silent.
The sound of ch broad is found in the
'gh' of the Irish word lough, a lake; ch
slender cannot be represented by any
combination of English sounds, — it is
found in the German personal pronoun
ich, I.
Sound of the Vowels — long. —
á sounds like
a in war, as
bárr, top.
é " "
e " ere, "
céir, wax,
í " "
ee " eel, “
mín' fine.
ó " "
o “ old, "
ór, gold.
ú " "
u " rule, "
úr, fresh.
Short. —
a “ "
a in what,
as, gar, near.
e " "
e " bet,
" bebh, died,
i " "
i " ill,
" mil, honey
o " "
o " got,
" lot, wound.
u " "
u " put,
" rud, thing.
Sounds of the Long Diphthongs. —
ae sounds like
ay in may.
ao " "
ay " "
eo " "
eo " yeoman.
eu " "
ai “ fair.
ia " "
ea " fear.
ua " "
ua “ truant
Sounds of the Variable Diphthongs, —
Long —
ái sounds like
awi in sawing.
eá " "
a “ mar.
éa " "
ea " bear.
éi " "
ei “ reign
ío " "
ea “ fear.
iú " "
ew " few.
ói " "
oi “ going.
úi " "
ui “ ruin.
Short. —
ai sounds like
i in mit.
ea " "
ea “ heart.
ei " "
e " berry.
io " "
u “ plum.
iu " "
u “ pur.
oi " "
ui “ quill.
ui " "
ui “ guilt.
Sounds of the Triphthongs. —
aoi sounds like
ee in feed
eoi " "
o “ mole
iai " "
ee " eel.
iui " "
u “ June.
uai " "
ooi " cooing.
It will be observed that the sounds
of the long Ditphthongs and the Triph¬
thongs are alike, only that the added
slender vowel which make the Triph¬
thong imparts to the consonant imme¬
diately following it a liquid sound. We
could not find the sound of eoi in En¬
glish — oi does not cover it; add a short
i sound to the o in ’mole' and it will
be the exact sound.
In the following examples let the
reader note that we give the eh or ah
the sound of ah in shillellah.
The infinitive ending ughadh, sounds
simply 'oo; as, meud, much, meudughadh,
increasing, pronounced, mayudhoo; the
uighthe or ighthe of the perfect participle
has the sound of iheh ; meuduighthe, in¬
creased, pronounced, mayudhiheh; the
root verbs whose last vowel is slender
form the progressive and perfect part¬
iciples by annexing iughadh, and ighthe, res¬
pectively; as, cruinn, a round or gath¬
ered mass, cruinniughadh gathering, a ga¬
thering pronounced, cornnoo (the noo
having exactly the sound of new);
