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EspañolIRISH ORTHOGRAPHY
'Irish orthography' has evolved over many centuries, since Old Irish was first written down in the Latin alphabet in about the sixth century AD. Prior to that, Primitive Irish was written in Ogham. Irish spelling is mainly based on etymological considerations, very much like English orthography, although a spelling reform in the mid-20th century simplified the relationship between spelling and pronunciation somewhat.
There are three dialects of spoken Irish: Ulster (now predominantly in County Donegal), Connacht (Counties Mayo and Galway), and Munster (Counties Kerry, Cork, and Waterford). Some spelling conventions are common to all the dialects, while others vary from dialect to dialect. In addition, individual words may have in any given dialect a pronunciation that is not reflected by the spelling (rather like the English word ''colonel'', whose spelling denotes its pronunciation quite poorly).
| Contents |
| The alphabet |
| Consonants |
| Vowels |
| The epenthetic vowel |
| Special pronunciations in verb forms |
| References |
The alphabet
A sample of Gaelic script.
Prior to the 20th century Irish was usually written using the uncial Gaelic script. The uncial alphabet, together with letter name pronunciations and lenited letters is shown below.
Use of the uncial script is today almost entirely restricted to decorative and/or self-consciously traditional contexts. The dot above the lenited letter is usually substituted with a following ''h'' in the standard Roman alphabet. The only other use of ''h'' Irish is for vowel-initial words after certain proclitics (e.g. ''go 'h'Éireann'' "to Ireland) and for words of foreign derivation such as ''hata'' "hat".
The alphabet now used for writing the Irish language consists of the following letters, written in antiqua:
:'a á b c d e é f g h i í l m n o ó p r s t u ú';
Modern loanwords also make use of 'j k q v w x y z'. Of these, 'j' and 'v' are the most common. The letters' names are spelt out thus:
:'á bé cé dé é eif gé héis í eil eim ein ó pé ear eas té ú'
:along with 'jé cá cú vé wae eacs yé zae'.
Tree names were once popularly used to name the letters. Tradition taught that they all derived from the names of the Ogham letters, though it is now known that only some of the earliest Ogham letters were named for trees.
:'ailm' (white fir), 'beith' (birch), 'coll' (hazel), 'dair' (oak), 'edad/eabhadh' (poplar), 'fern/fearn' (alder), 'gath/gort' (ivy), 'uath' (hawthorn), 'idad/íodhadh' (yew), 'luis' (rowan), 'muin' (vine), 'nin/nion' (ash), 'onn' (gorse), 'peith' (dwarf alder), 'ruis' (holander), 'sail' (willow), 'tinne/teithne' (holly), 'úr' (heather)
Although the uncial script remained common until the mid-20th century, efforts to introduce antiqua began much earlier. Theobald Stapleton's 1639 catechism was printed in antiqua, and also introduced simplified spellings such as ''suí'' for ''suidhe'' and ''uafás'' for ''uathbhás'', though these did not become standard for another 300 years.
Uncial alphabet.png
Consonants
The consonant letters generally correspond to the consonant phonemes as shown in this table. See Irish phonology for an explanation of the symbols used and Irish initial mutations for an explanation of eclipsis. In most cases, consonants are "broad" (velarized) when the nearest vowel letter is one of 'a, o, u' and "slender" (palatalized) when the nearest vowel letter is one of 'e, i'.
| Letter(s) | Phoneme(s) | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 'b' | broad | bain "take" (imper.), scuab "broom" | |
| slender | béal "mouth", cnáib "hemp" | ||
| 'bh' | broad | bhain "took", ábhar "material", Bhairbre "Barbara" (genitive), tábhachtach "important", dubhaigh "blacken" (imper.), scríobh "wrote", taobh "side", dubh "black", gabh "get" (imper.) | |
| slender | bhéal "mouth" (lenited), cuibhreann "common table", aibhneacha "rivers", sibh "you" (pl.) | ||
| See vowel chart for 'abh, eabh, obh' | |||
| 'bhf' (eclipsis of 'f-') | broad | bhfuinneog "window" (eclipsed) | |
| slender | bhfíon "wine" (eclipsed) | ||
| 'bp' (eclipsis of 'p-') | broad | bpoll "hole" (eclipsed) | |
| slender | bpríosún "prison" (eclipsed) | ||
| 'c' | broad | cáis "cheese", mac "son" | |
| slender | ceist "question", mic "sons" | ||
| 'ch' | broad (Always broad before 't'.) | cháis "cheese" (lenited), taoiseach "chieftain" (also the term for the Prime Minister of Ireland), boichte "poorer" | |
| slender | between vowels | cheist "question" (lenited), deich "ten" oíche "night" | |
| 'd' | broad | dorn "fist", nead "nest" | |
| slender | dearg "red", cuid "part" | ||
| 'dh' | broad | word-initially Silent after a long vowel | dhorn "fist" (lenited) ádh "luck" |
| slender | dhearg "red" (lenited), fáidh "prophet" | ||
| See vowel chart for 'adh, aidh, eadh, eidh, idh, oidh, odh'. See Special pronunciations in verb forms for '-dh' at the end of verbs. | |||
| 'dt' (eclipsis of 't-') | broad | dtaisce "treasure" (eclipsed) | |
| slender | dtír "country" (eclipsed) | ||
| 'f' | broad | fós "still", graf "graph" | |
| slender | fíon "wine", stuif "stuff" | ||
| See Special pronunciations in verb forms for '-f-' in future and conditional tenses | |||
| 'fh' (lenition of 'f-') | silent | fhuinneog "window" (lenited), fhíon "wine" (lenited) | |
| 'g' | broad | gasúr "boy", bog "soft" | |
| slender | geata "gate", carraig "rock" | ||
| 'gc' (eclipsis of 'c-') | broad | gcáis "cheese" (eclipsed) | |
| slender | gceist "question" (eclipsed) | ||
| 'gh' | broad | (word-initially) silent after a long vowel | ghasúr "boy" (lenited) Eoghan "Owen" |
| slender | gheata "gate" (lenited), dóigh "way, manner" | ||
| See vowel chart for 'agh, aigh, eigh, igh, ogh, oigh'. See Special pronunciations in verb forms for '-(a)igh' at the end of verbs. | |||
| 'h' | hata "hat", na héisc "the fish" (plural) | ||
| 'l, ll' | broad | luí "lying (down)", poll "hole" | |
| slender | leisciúil "lazy", coill "woods" | ||
| 'm' | broad | mór "big", am "time" | |
| slender | milis "sweet", im "butter" | ||
| 'mb' (eclipsis of 'b-') | broad | mbaineann "takes" (eclipsed) | |
| slender | mbéal "mouth" (eclipsed) | ||
| 'mh' | (broad) | mhór "big" (lenited), lámha "hands", léamh "reading" | |
| (slender) | mhilis "sweet" (lenited), uimhir "number", nimh "poison" | ||
| See vowel chart for 'amh, eamh, omh' | |||
| 'n, nn' | broad | naoi "nine", ceann "head" | |
| slender | neart "strength", tinneas "illness" | ||
| 'nc' | broad | ancaire "anchor" | |
| slender | rinc "dance" | ||
| 'nd' (eclipsis of 'd-') | broad | ndorn "fist" (eclipsed) | |
| slender | ndearg "red" (eclipsed) | ||
| 'ng' | broad | word-initially (eclipsis of 'g-') word-internally and finally | ngasúr "boy" (eclipsed) long "ship", teanga "tongue" |
| slender | word-initially (eclipsis of 'g-') word-internally and finally | ngeata "gate" (eclipsed) cuing "yoke", ingear "vertical" | |
| in final unstressed '-ing' | scilling "shilling" | ||
| 'p' | broad | poll "hole", stop "stop" | |
| slender | príosún "prison", truip "trip" | ||
| 'ph' | broad | pholl "hole" (lenited) | |
| slender | phríosún "prison" (lenited) | ||
| 'r' | broad (Always broad word-initially. Always broad in 'rt, rth, rd, rn, rl, rs, sr'.) | rí "king", cuairt "visit", oirthear "east", airde "height", coirnéal "corner", duirling "stony beach", sreang "string" | |
| slender | tirim "dry" | ||
| 'rr' | barr "tip, point", cairr "car" (genitive) | ||
| 's' | broad | (Always broad word-initially before 'm, p, r'.) | Sasana "England", tús "beginning", speal "scythe", sméar "blackberry", sreang "string" |
| slender | sean "old", cáis "cheese" | ||
| 'sh' | broad | Shasana "England" (lenited) | |
| slender | before | shean "old" (lenited) Sheáin "John" (genitive), sheol "sailed", shiúil "walked", shiopa "shop" (lenited) | |
| 't' | broad | taisce "treasure", ceart "correct" | |
| slender | tír "country", beirt "two (people)" | ||
| See Special pronunciations in verb forms for '-t-' in verbal adjectives | |||
| 'th' | broad | thaisce "treasure" (lenited), athair "father" | |
| slender | when lenited from | theanga "tongue" (lenited) theann "tight" (lenited), theocht "heat" (lenited), thiúilip "tulip" (lenited), thiocfadh "would come", thiubh "thick" (lenited) | |
| Silent at the end of a syllable | bláth "blossom", cith "shower", cothrom "equal" | ||
| See Special pronunciations in verb forms for '-th-' in verbal adjectives | |||
| 'ts' (special lenition of 's-' after 'an' 'the') | broad | an tsolais "of the light" | |
| slender | an tSín "China" | ||
| 'v' | broad | vóta "vote" | |
| slender | veidhlín "violin" | ||
Vowels
The following chart indicates how written vowels are ''generally'' pronounced. Each dialect has certain divergences from this general scheme.
| Letter(s) | Phoneme | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 'a' | stressed | fan "stay" (imper.) | |
| before 'rl, rn, rd' before syllable-final 'll, nn, rr' before word-final 'm' | tarlú "happening", carnán "(small) heap", garda "policeman" mall "slow, late", ann "there", barr "tip, point" am "time" | ||
| unstressed | ólann "drink" (present), mála "bag" | ||
| 'á' | bán "white" | ||
| 'abh(a(i))' | stressed | abhainn "river", cabhrach "helpful" | |
| 'adh(a(i))' | stressed | adhairt "pillow", Tadhg (man's name) | |
| 'adh' | unstressed | margadh "market" | |
| See also Special pronunciations in verb forms | |||
| 'ae(i)' | Gaelach "Gaelic", Gaeilge "Irish (language)" | ||
| 'agh(a(i))' | aghaidh "face", saghsanna "sorts, kinds" | ||
| 'ai' | stressed | baile "home" | |
| before 'rl, rn, rd' before syllable-final 'll, nn, rr' | airne "sloe" caillte "lost, ruined", crainn "trees" | ||
| before 'bh' in a handful of words | raibh "was" (dependent), daibhir "poor", saibhir "rich" | ||
| unstressed | eolais "knowledge" (genitive) | ||
| 'ái' | dáil "assembly", gabháil "taking" | ||
| 'aí' | maígh "claim" (imper.), gutaí "vowels" | ||
| 'aidh, aigh' | stressed | aidhm "aim", saighdiúir "soldier" | |
| unstressed | cleachtaidh "practice" (genitive), bacaigh "beggar" (genitive) | ||
| See also Special pronunciations in verb forms | |||
| 'aío' | naíonán "infant", beannaíonn "blesses" | ||
| 'amh(a(i))' | Samhain "November", amhantar "venture", ramhraigh "fattened" | ||
| 'ao' | saol "life, world" | ||
| in the word aon "one" and its derivatives, e.g. aontacht "union", na Stáit Aontaithe "the United States" | |||
| 'aoi' | gaois "shrewdness" | ||
| 'e' | stressed | te "hot" | |
| unstressed | míle "thousand" | ||
| 'é' | sé "he" | ||
| 'ea' | stressed | bean "woman" | |
| before 'rl, rn, rd' before syllable-final 'll, nn, rr' | bearna "gap" feall "treachery", feanntach "severe" | ||
| in the word ''beag'' "small" | |||
| unstressed | seisean "he" (emph.) | ||
| 'éa' | déanamh "doing", buidéal "bottle" | ||
| 'eá' | Seán "John" caisleán "castle" | ||
| 'eabh(a(i))' | leabhair "books" Feabhra "February" | ||
| 'eadh(a(i)' | stressed | meadhg "whey" | |
| '-eadh' | unstressed | briseadh "breaking" | |
| See also Special pronunciations in verb forms | |||
| 'eai' | veain "van" | ||
| 'eái' | meáin "middles", caisleáin "castles" | ||
| 'eamh(a(i))' | sleamhain "smooth", leamhnacht "new milk" | ||
| 'ei' | ceist "question" | ||
| before 'm, mh, n' | creimeadh "corrosion, erosion", geimhreadh "winter", seinm "playing" | ||
| before 'rl, rn, rd' | eirleach "destruction", ceirnín "record album", ceird "trade, craft" | ||
| before syllable-final 'll' | feill- "exceedingly" | ||
| before syllable-final 'nn' and word-final 'm' | greim "grip" | ||
| 'éi' | scéimh "beauty", páipéir "papers" | ||
| 'eidh(i/ea), eigh(i/ea)' | feidhm "function", leigheas "healing" | ||
| 'eo' | ceol "music", baileofar "one will gather" | ||
| in the words ''anseo'' "here", ''deoch'' "a drink", eochair "a key", and ''seo'' "this" | |||
| 'eoi' | dreoilín "wren", baileoimid "we will gather" | ||
| 'i' | stressed | pic "pitch", ifreann "hell" | |
| before syllable-final 'll, nn' before word-final 'm' | cill "church", cinnte "sure" im "butter" | ||
| unstressed | faoistin "confession" | ||
| 'í' | gnímh "act, deed" (gen.), cailín 'girl' | ||
| 'ia' | Diarmaid "Dermot" | ||
| 'iai' | bliain "year" | ||
| 'idh, igh' | unstressed | tuillidh "addition" (gen.), coiligh "rooster" (gen.) | |
| See also Special pronunciations in verb forms | |||
| 'io' | before coronals and 'th' | fios "knowledge", bior "spit, spike", cion "affection", giota "bit, piece", giodam "restlessness", friotháil "attention" | |
| before noncoronals | siopa "shop", liom "with me", tiocfaidh "will come", Siobhán "Joan", briogáid "brigade", tiomáin "drive" (imper.), ionga "(finger)nail" | ||
| before syllable-final 'nn' | fionn "light-haired" | ||
| 'ío' | síol "seed" | ||
| 'iu' | fliuch "wet" | ||
| 'iú' | siúl "walk", bailiú "gathering" | ||
| 'iúi' | ciúin "quiet", inniúil "able, fit" | ||
| 'o' | stressed | post "post" | |
| before 'n, m' | Donncha (man's name), cromóg "hooked nose" | ||
| before 'rl, rn, rd' before syllable-final 'll, rr' | bord "table", orlach "inch" poll "hole", corr "odd" | ||
| before syllable-final 'nn' before word-final 'm, ng' | fonn "desire, inclination" trom "heavy", long "ship" | ||
| unstressed | mo "my", cothrom "equal" | ||
| 'ó' | póg "kiss", armónach "harmonic" | ||
| 'obh(a(i)), odh(a(i)), ogh(a(i))' | lobhar "leper", bodhar "deaf", rogha "choice" | ||
| 'oi' | stressed | scoil "school", troid "fight" (imper.), toitín "cigarette", oibre "work" (gen.), thoir "in the east", cloiche "stone" (gen.) | |
| before 's, cht, rs, rt, rth' | cois "foot" (dat.), cloisfidh "will hear", boicht "poor" (gen. sg. masc.), doirse "doors", goirt "salty", oirthear "east" | ||
| next to 'n, m, mh' | anois "now", gloine "glass", cnoic "hills", roimh "before", coimeád "keep" (imper.), loinge "ship" (gen.) | ||
| before syllable-final 'll' | coill "forest, woods", coillte "forests" | ||
| before syllable-final 'nn' and word-final 'm' | foinn "wish" (gen.), droim "back" | ||
| before 'rl, rn, rd' | coirnéal "corner", oird "sledgehammers" | ||
| unstressed | éadroime 'lightness' | ||
| 'ói' | móin "sod, turf", bádóir "boatman" | ||
| 'oí' | croíleacán "core" | ||
| 'oidh(i/ea), oigh(i/ea)' | oidhre "heir", loighic "logic" | ||
| 'oío' | croíonna "hearts" | ||
| 'omh(a(i))' | tomhail "consume" (imper.), Domhnach "Sunday" | ||
| 'u' | stressed | dubh "black" | |
| in English loanwords, corresponds to | bus , club | ||
| before 'rl, rn, rd' | burla "bundle", murnán "ankle", urlár "floor" | ||
| unstressed | agus "and" | ||
| 'ú' | tús "beginning" | ||
| 'ua' | fuar "cold" | ||
| 'uai' | fuair "got" | ||
| 'ui' | stressed | duine "person" | |
| before 'cht, rs, rt' | tuirseach "tired", cluichte "harassment" (gen.) | ||
| before syllable-final 'll, nn' before word-final 'm' | tuillteanach "deserving", puinn "much" suim "interest" | ||
| before 'rl, rn, rd' | duirling "stony beach", tuirne "spinning wheel" | ||
| unstressed | aguisín "addition" | ||
| 'úi' | súil "eye", cosúil "like, resembling" | ||
| 'uí' | buígh "turn yellow" (imper.) | ||
| 'uío' | buíon "band, troop" | ||
;Observations
★ When 'e', 'é', 'i', or 'í' come after or before a consonant, they make the consonant slender.
★ Between a consonant and a vowel, or vice-versa, 'e' and 'i' are usually silent, and just indicate that the adjacent consonants are slender. However, they may be pronounced in the digraphs 'ei', 'ia', 'io', 'oi', 'ui'.
★ The accented letters 'é' and 'í' are always pronounced.
★ In digraphs and trigraphs containing a vowel with an acute accent (known in Irish as a ''fada'' or ''síneadh fada''), only the accented vowel is normally pronounced.
The epenthetic vowel
In a sequence of short vowel + + labial or velar consonant an unwritten gets pronounced between the and the following consonant:
★ gorm "blue"
★ dearg "red"
★ dorcha "dark"
★ ainm "name"
★ seanchaí "storyteller"
★ leanbh "child"
★ colm "dove"
There is no epenthesis before voiceless stops or after long vowels and diphthongs:
★ corp "body"
★ olc "bad"
★ téarma "term"
★ dualgas "duty"
Special pronunciations in verb forms
In verb forms some letters and letter combinations are pronounced differently from elsewhere.
In the imperfect, conditional, and imperative, ''-dh'' is pronounced before a pronoun beginning with ''s-'':
★ mholadh sé "he used to praise"
★ bheannódh sibh "you (pl.) would bless"
★ osclaíodh sí "let her open"
Otherwise it is pronounced :
★ mholadh an buachaill "the boy used to praise"
★ bheannódh na cailíní "the girls would bless"
★ osclaíodh Siobhán "let Siobhán open"
In the preterite impersonal, ''-dh'' is pronounced :
★ moladh é "he was praised"
★ beannaíodh na cailíní "the girls were blessed"
''-(a)idh'' and ''-(a)igh'' are pronounced before a pronoun, otherwise :
★ molfaidh mé "I will praise"
★ molfaidh Seán "Seán will praise"
★ bheannaigh mé "I blessed"
★ bheannaigh Seán "Seán blessed"
In the future and conditional, ''f'' (broad or slender) has the following effects:
#After vowels and sonorants () it is pronounced :
#
★ molfaidh "will praise"
#
★ dhófadh "would burn"
#
★ déarfaidh "will say"
#It makes a voiced obstruent () or voiceless:
#
★ scuabfadh "would sweep"
#
★ goidfidh "will steal"
#
★ leagfadh "would lay"
#
★ scríobhfaidh "will write"
#
★ shnámhfadh "would swim"
#It is silent after a voicless obstruent ()
#
★ brisfidh "will break"
#
★ ghlacfadh "would accept"
#But in the future and conditional impersonal ''f'' is often
#
★ molfar "one will praise"
#
★ dhófaí "one would burn"
#
★ scuabfar "one will sweep"
#
★ brisfear "one will break"
#In the past participle ''th'' (also ''t'' after ''d'') is silent but makes a voiced obstruent voiceless:
#
★ scuabtha "swept"
#
★ troidte "fought"
#
★ ruaigthe "chased"
References
★ Lárchanúint don Ghaeilge, , Dónall P., Ó Baoill, The Linguistics Institute of Ireland, 1986, ISBN 0-946452-06-7
★ Learning Irish, , Mícheál, Ó Siadhail, Yale University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-300-04224-8
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psst.. try this: add to faves
