An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Elementary course of Gaelic

A JUNIOR GAELIC GRAMMAR
1. LETTERS.
To assist the learner of Gaelic, the sound values of the
Gaelic Alphabet are given through similar sounds in English,
or some other known language, but in many cases this can
be only an approximation to the Gaelic sounds, so that the
learner should be drilled in them by a native Gaelic speaker.
The nasal and guttural quality of Gaelic must be acquired.
The most “Shibboleth ” Gaelic letters are, d, t, l, n, b, c,
and g, there being no similar sounds in English for all their
various sound values in Gaelic.
There are eighteen letters in the Gaelic Alphabet,
namely :—
Five Vowels, a, o, u, e, i.
Thirteen Consonants, b, p, f, m ; c, g ; 1, n, r, t, d, s ; h.
The vowels are divided into two classes :
♦Broad, a, o, u ; *Smald, e, i.
They have a long and a short sound. The long-sound
vowels have a duration mark over them ; the short-sound
vowels have no such mark, thus :—•
Short-sound Vowels, a, o, u, e, i.
Eong-sound Vowels, a, 6, 6, li, e, e, 1, ao, as in French coeur.
Two and three vowels coming together, with the sound
of the one passing into the other, are called Diphthongs
and Triphthongs ; as, uan, uaigh.
Some have but one simple sound ; as, gaol, ceum.
H is called the aspirate letter, and when used after the
consonants, b, p, f, m, c, g, d, t, s, it forms the aspirates,
bh, ph, fh, mh, ch, gh, dh, th, sh.
When used at the beginning of a word it is written thus,
h-; as, a h-uan ; and has a strong breathing sound.
The letters, sg, sm, sp, st, have no aspirated form.
♦When the consonants are in contact (before or after) with broad
vowels, they are called broad. When in contact with small vowel*,
they are called small (or slender).
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