Blair Collection > Elements of Gaelic grammar

2 OF PRONUNCIATION [Part I.
whofe powers are to be taught j and of the letters of any
other language, by whofe founds the powers of the former
are to be explained. A diverlity of pronunciation is very
difUnguIfliable alfo in different diftricSls of the Highlands of
Scotland, even in uttering the fame words written in the
iame manner. Though the powers of the letters then
may be explained to a certain degree of accuracy, yet much
will ftill remain to be learned by the information of the ear
alone.
Although the chief ufe of the vowels be to reprefent the
vocal founds of fpeech, and that of the confonants to repre-
fent its articnlaiions Ì yet as in many languages, fo in Gaelic,
the confonants fometimes ferve to modify the found of the
vowels with which they are combined ; while, on the other
hand, the vowels often qualify the found of the confonants
by which they are preceded or followed.
It may not appear obvious at firfl fight, how a vowel
fliould be employed, not to reprefent a vocal found, but to
modify an articulation. Yet examples are to be found in
modern languages. Thus in the Englifh words, * George,
' fergeant,' the e has no other effect than to give g its foft
found ; and in ' gueft, guide/ the ii only ferves to give g its
hard found. So in the Italian wori^s ' giorno, giufto,' and
many others, the i only qualifies the found of the preceding
confonant. The fame ufe of the vowels will be feen to take
place frequently in Gaelic orthography.
Befide the common divillon of the letters into vowels and
confonants, it is found convenient to adopt fome further
fubdivilions.
The vowels are divided into bread and fniall. A, o, n,
are called broad vowels ; e, i, fmall vowels.
The confonants are divided into Mutes and Liquids :
Mutes, b, c, d, f, g, m, p, t. Liquids, 1, n, r, s (^/). They
are
(a) It will Immediately occur to any grammarian that there
is a slight difference between this and the common division into