Irish Lesson 18

PRONUNCIATION

In going from the broad vowel "á" in a word to a slender consonant, such as slender "d", "r", "s", or "t", the movement of the tongue to get into position for the slender consonant will result in an extra sound between vowel and consonant.

The extra sound is called a "glide". It is usually shown in writing by the letter "i", and this indicates that the following consonant gets its slender sound. The overall effect can be somewhat like (oy) in English "boy", but you should not try to pronounce an (oy) for these cases.

To see what this means, first review the pronunciation of slender and broad "t" in Lesson 2, and then slowly pronounce:át (aw*t),áit (AW*-it). Notice that in "áit" you make a slight (i) sound as your tongue tip goes to the hard ridge behind your upper teeth. In some parts of Ireland, the word "áit" may even sound like (oych).

Here are some examples for practice. Review the pronunciation of slender and broad consonants if necessary, before starting:

bád *baw*d); báid (BAW*-id)

pád (paw*d); Páid (PAW*-id)

lár (law*r); láir (LAW*-ir)

pás (paw*s); páis (PAW*-ish); páista (PAW*-ish-te)

trád (traw*d); tráid (TRAW*-id)

srád (sraw*d); sráid (SRAW*-id)

i lár na sráide (i LAW*R nuh SRAW*-id-e)

It is a shortcoming of our simplified pronunciation guide that we can not show this transition or glide as well as it should be, so it will be your task to watch for it and make sure that your pronunciation includes it. We will usually show a word like 'báid" to be pronounced (baw*d), and you must note the "id" at the word end and give the "d" its slender sound, with the tongue tip against the hard ridge behind your upper front teeth.

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