Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1841 to 1870 > Double grammar, of English and Gaelic, in which the principles of both languages are clearly explained

22 ORTHOGRAPHY.
LITIREACHADH.
The mutes are such as emit
no sound without the help of a
vowel; as, 6, d,p, k, q, and cand
g hard.
The semivowels, are such as
emit an imperfect sound of them¬
selves; as,/, I, m, n, r, s, v, x, z.
The consonants have received
other names from the organs
chiefly employed in uttering
them, thus : d, t, s, z, are named
Dentals, or letters of the teeth;
b, f, m, p, Labials, or letters
of the lips; 1, n, r, Linguals,
or letters of the tongue ; and
c, g, Palatials, or letters of the
palate.
Is iad na tosdaich iadsan
nach leig a mach fuaim air bith
gun chomhnadh fuaimraig; mar,
b, d, p, k, q, agus c’usg cruaidh.
Is iad na leth-fhuaimragan
iadsan a leigeas amach fuaimfann
leo fein; mar,/, l,m, n, r, s, v,x,z.
Thugadh ainmean eile do na
connragan gu sonruichte bho na
buill-labhairt a ghnathaichear
’gan seinn. Mar so theirear
fiaclaich nolitrichean nam fiaclan
ri d, t, s, z ; lipich no litrichean
nam bilean ri b, f, m, p ; teang-
aich no litrichean na teanga ri
1, n, r; agus caranaich, no li¬
trichean nan caireanan ri c, g.
Obs As the letters of a language ought to correspond in num¬
ber with its elementary sounds, the English Alphabet is both re¬
dundant and defective.
It is redundant, because i and y represent the same sound, and
q is equivalent in sound to k, w to u, x to gs or ks, and every
sound of c may be represented by k or s.
Defective, because it wants proper letters to represent the initial
sounds of words beginning withch, sh, th, and the final sounds of
words ending in ng, and each of the five letters a, e, i, o, u,
is employed to express a variety of sounds.
The sounds of the vowels in
both English and Gaelic are de¬
termined in the following keys,
by the terms,
long, fad; short, grad; broad,
Tha fuaimean nam fuaimragan
araon’sa Bheurlaagus’sa Ghaelig
suidhichte anns na h-iuchraich-
ean a leanas leis na h-ainmean,
lan ; open, n'idh ; shut, fann.
ENGLISH SOUNDS.
1. Key.
1 a long, as in fate.
2 a long, as in far.
3 a broad, as in fall.
4 a short, as in fat.
1 e long, as in me.
2 e short, as in met.
1 i long, as in pine.
2 i short, as in pin.
3 i like u before r, as in fir. |
FUAIMEAN BEURLA.
1. luchair.
1 o long open, as in
note.
2 o long shut, as in
move.
3 o broad, as in or, for.
4 o short, as in not, pot.
1 u long, as in tube, cube.
2 u short, as in cup, sup.
3 u broad, as in, bull, full.