Blair Collection > Elements of Gaelic grammar

14 OF PRONUNCIATION [Part L
in ' marbh' (k) dead, ' garbh' rcugh, * dabhach' a vat,
M.
I. Plain. Like in in Englifh j as * mac' afoii, * cam'
croohd.
1. Afpirated. Somewhat like v in Englifli, but more
feeble and nafal 5 as ' mhathair' O mothery * lamh' the band.
The found mh has the fame relation to that of bh, as the
found of ;;; has to that of b. Sometimes, like bh it becomes
a vocal found like a nafal u ; as iri ' damh' an ox, ' famhradh'
fummer ; and fometimes the articulation becomes so feeble
as not to be perceived j as * comhradh' ^^^^>6, * domhainn'
deep.
F.
r. Plain. Like y in Englifh; as ' faigh' to get ^ * fold" a
2. Afpirated. Qulefcent ; as ' fheara' men. In
* fhuair' found, the afpiration is retained, and the vp-ord is
pronounced as if written huair. It is probable that it was
originally written and pronounced ' fuair' (I) : that ' huair'
is but a provincial pronunciation (771) ; and that to adapt
the fpelling, in fome iliape, to this pronunciation, the word
came to be written ' fhuair.'
]?alaTals and lixguals.
In treating of the Diphthongs (ai, ea, ei, &c.) notice has
been often taken of the powers of certain vowels in modi-
fying
(k) Agreeably to the like pronunciation, the Welch write this
word marw, the Manks tnarroo.
(I) It is still pronounced ' fuair' in the northern Highlands,
and it is so written in Irish. See Irish Bible, Gen. xxxv. IS, 19.
Johnii. 14. vlii. 62, 53.
(m) So * fathast' j'f/, ' fein' se/f, are in some places pronoun-
ced as if they began with an h instead of znf. The latter word
is, by the Manks, written ' hene.'