Irish Lesson 71

PRONUNCIATION REVIEW

In Irish, any "r" beginning a word gets the broad sound. Roll this "r" by placing the tongue tip near the hard ridge behind the upper front teeth as you pronounce "r. The tongue should vibrate during the sound. Practice on: ré(ray*), rá(raw*), rí, rás, rón, rún (roon), rud (ruhd), reatha (RA-huh), raca (RAHK-uh), reic (rek).

If an "r" is inside or at the end of a word, and if the nearest vowel is "a", "o", or "u", the "r" sound may be closer to the English sound. Examples: ordóg (ohr-DOHG), daor (day*r), port (pohrt), sráid (SRAW*-id). In other cases, the "r" is rolled to varying degree. Examples: orm (OH-ruhm), crua (KROO-uh), doras (DUH-ruhs).

Pronounce "rr" near an "a", "o", or "u" with the rolled sound, as in carr (kahr), carraig (KAHR-rig), tarraing (TAHR-ring).

When an "r" is inside or at a word end and the nearest vowel is "e" or "i", pronounce the "r" with its slender sound. Although this is a difficult sound to describe, you have heard it from Irish persons and, on radio and television, from performers seeking to imitate Irish accents. You should be able to recognize it when you have it correctly.

One way of forming the sound is to make a shallow pocket in the tongue tip, curling the tongue and placing the tongue tip near the top rear of your upper front teeth. Pronounce "r", and you should feel air blow down against your lower lip as your tongue drops. Do not let the tongue tip go forward as it drops, or you will make a sound like English "th".

Practice first on English "where", "Mary", and "we're here", pronouncing these with the Irish slender "r". Then try: fir (fir), féir (fay*r), féirín (fay*r-EEN), préachán (pray*-K*AW*N), péire (PAY*R-e).

If a slender "r" follows a consonant, a sound like (i) may come between the consonants. For example, "breá" may sound like (bir-RAW*), and "preab" may sound like (pir-RAB).

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