Blair Collection > Argyleshire pronouncing Gaelic dictionary

RUDIMENTS OF GAELIC GRAMMAR.
a candle ; sometimes the long sound of ai
IS improperly used for this; as maothais
for maghais, mao.ash, procrastination or
loitering in the fields ; from magh, a plain.
Ua sounds both letters ; as fuar, fùàr,
cold; before gh, th, dh, the a sometimes
sounds ao ; as sluagh, slùaogh, a multitude.
Ao,— see ao in the Key.
Eu sounds both its letters properly,
though said to be but one sound, like a in
fame, — see Key ; — many words are spelt
with eu in place of ia ; thus ceud, a hun-
dred, should be ciad, kèàd, being the u-
niversal pronunciation :— also ceudna for
ciadhna; also eu is mispronounced in many
places ca : as eun, can, in place of è'n, a
bird ; seum, shèm, a petition, shèàm ; it
has three sounds as at present retained in
use, — thus, Ist, feum, fa-m or fa-um,
need, use. 2rf, beul, breug, feur, be'll,
brè'gg, fè'r, mouth, a lie; in these three
words and others, e sounds like the Greek
u, and u as in ugly, but pronounced quick.
Triphthoxos are five; aoi, eoi, iai,
uai, iui. They are pronounced often dif-
ferently from the diphthongs from which
they are derived;— thus, caoidh, kùèy', <o
lament ; naoidh, nùèy', 7iine, and not kaòèy,
naòey'; they are all long, — occurring al-
ways in monosyllables and the first of poly-
syllables.
Consonants are twelve in number ; b,
c, d, f, g, m, n, p, r, s, t, and h which is
rather an aspiration ; they have been clas-
sified thus.
Labials, b, f, m, p.
Palatals, c, g.
Dentals, d, t, s.
Linguals, 1, n, r.
Of these b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s, t, arc mu-
table or liable to be aspirated, in which
state their simple or primary sound is ei-
ther changed or lost ; thus, staid, dh' fhan,
pronoimced stajj, ghan ; bha, vvhà, was,
thuit, hCejt, fell, &c.
Labials. B has a simple sound some-
what harder than b or p in English; as
buain, shear ; boin, touch ; bh sounds like
V ; bhuain, bhoin, did shear, did touch, —
at the end of words, it is very wickedly
murdered, in some places u ; as searbh,
sheru, in place of shervv, as properly pro.
nounced in the Islands. In the middle of
words it is often silent ; as soirbheas, soèr-as,
wind, success, easiness; doirbheas, doer -as,
difficulty of accomplishment.
F sounds as f in English ; f h is silent ex-
cept in fhuair, fhèin, hùàèr, hàèn, J'ound,
self.
M the same as in English, — mh sounds
V, never u, bh and mh initial, have a dou-
ble sound ; thus, a' bho, uv.vhò, his cow ;
a bhalaich, uv.vhal-èch, ye fellow, ye boor;
mh serves very often only to give a nasal
sound to a or o; not so in i-amh, tamh, rav,
tàv, an oar, rest; it is silent always in the
prefix comh, but giving the nasal sound ;
also in dhomh, ghò, &c.
P sounds as in English, but f when as-
pirated— phaidh, fàèy', did pay.
Palatals. C sounds like English K
when initial; as ceann, kyaun, a head;
Jinal sounds chg often ; as, mac, machg, a
son ; tac, tachg, choke ; ch sounds like ^
Greek, or gh Irish, or ch in the surname
Strac/fan, as the Scotch pronounce it.
G sounds as in English— for gh, see the
Key.
DEifTALS. D is more dental than the d
in English; it is more a-kin to the Italian
and French d ; d preceded or followed by
i sounds j or ch as in child ; as, bhòid, vhòj,
or vhòcA, of Bute ; — sounds g in the syllable
achd, achg, dh initial sounds often like y,
and sometimes like gh. See Key.
T sounds like the French or Italian t or
'it initial ; as, tamh, ttàv or utiàv almost ;
followed by i or e, it sounds like ch in child
or ti in Chritianity ; as, teinn, tyàènn or
chàènn', a strait, predicament; it is silent
before A— thus, thoir, thalla, hòèr, hà'1-à,
give, come along;— \.\\ final sounds general-
ly h; as, slth, sheA peace, fairy. like.
S preceded or followed by i or e sounds
sh ; sean, shen, old; sion, she'n, the blast ;
except is, uss, am, and ; followed by d, t,
I or n, it sounds nearly sh, or rather shj ;
as, stìùir, sjuir or ushtyuèr, steer, direct
sniomh, shnev, spin, snamh, usnav, swim
sh intial sounds h; seòl, sail, sheol hyoil,
did saU.
LiNGt'ALs. L has often a double sound,
quite unlike any thing in English. The
first I has this sound particularly; thus,
lamh, a hand, sounds somewhat like llav
or ullàv. This sound is very evident in the
masculine genitive; thus, a litir, his letter,
pronounced, uU-lè-tyèr — again, a litir, her
letter, pronounced, a6-lyèt-tyèr. It has the
double sound followed by itself or a, o, u ;
as,/a//an, healthy; lan,full;~ll either be-
fore or after e or i sounds as 1 in the Eng-
lish adjective ^/ia/, fè-lyal, or the Italian
gl, or the French 11 after ai, or gl in se-
ragho. LI following a, o, or u, has a
sound somewhat like ull, in ultimate, if
you make the pronunciation dental instead
of palatal.
2rf, N sounds like the first n in opinion,
o-pcny2nyun, or òii-ènySun, when pre-
ceded or followed by i or e; as, nigh,
nyèh, wash ; linn, Uyènny', a generation ;
bi7in, bbènny', melodious. The e preced-
ing a, ever gives this sound to the n ; thus,