Tag Archives: lenition
How to Pronounce ‘Leathbheart,’ ‘i mbeart,” and Other Consonant Clusters in Irish Posted by róislín on Aug 31, 2015
(le Róislín) In today’s blog we’ll look at how to pronounce words and phrases like “leathbheart” and “i mbeart.” “Leathbheart” is a classic example of “lenition,” or the “softening” (séimhiú) of the sounds of certain Irish consonants. And the phrase “i mbeart” is a classic example of “eclipsis” (urú), which is covering over the sound…
Irish Bits, Bytes and Lenition (Giotáin, Bearta, agus Séimhiú) Posted by róislín on Aug 28, 2015
(le Róislín) In several recent blogs, we’ve looked at the word “beart” in its many meanings. Remember the four different basic meanings (freagraí thíos) as they apply to phrases such as: a) Oifig na mBeart b) bléinbheart c) i mbearta crua d) beart curtha in áirithe And for a total semantic workout, try: e) i mbeart. This phrase could…
Cóid Phoist – faoi dheireadh ach cén costas don teanga? (The New Irish Postal Codes) Posted by róislín on Jul 22, 2015
(le Róislín) Learners of Irish outside of Ireland often show surprise at the way addresses (seoltaí) are typically taught in Irish language textbooks, especially ones that primarily depict rural life (an saol faoin tuath). Typically, there will be the addressee’s name, a house name (Radharc na Farraige, mar shampla), a townland name (An Cnoc, mar…
Pronouncing “taoschnó” and other “-chn-,” “-chr-,” and “-chl-” combinations in Irish Posted by róislín on Jul 17, 2015
(le Róislín) In the last blog we looked at the recent “scannal lite na dtaoschnónna,” as reported in the media concerning Ariana Grande in the Dunkin’ Donuts shop. And I have to admit that even though I’ve been familiar with the words “taos,” “cnó,” and “taoschnó” for years, I still notice an “eye-boggling” effect, where …
Ag seinm uirlisí ceoil, ó alpchorn go xileafón (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish, pt. 1) Posted by róislín on Mar 19, 2015
(le Róislín) Uirlisí ceoil ón alpchorn go dtí an xileafón. And, just for good, ermm, measure (“líne“) here, we’ll nudge them into the “tuiseal ginideach,” so we can say “playing the alpenhorn” or “playing the xylophone.” And why do we need “an tuiseal ginideach“? And what is it, anyway? We saw a bit of it…
Love (Grá) and the Art of Applying Initial Consonant Mutations in Irish Posted by róislín on Feb 14, 2015
(le Róislín) In recent blogs and a few others from previous years, we’ve looked at ways to say “I love you,” in Irish. Often these phrases include initial consonant mutation, so what better way to practice the mutations than with variations on a theme of “grá“? In this blog, I’ll use some of the phrases…
Chocolate Redux (well, not really re: ducks, but re: eggs and such): Chocolate Terms in Irish Posted by róislín on Jan 18, 2015
(le Róislín) I see that the chocolate blog in this series just popped up again on our Facebook site (https://www.facebook.com/learn.irish; bun-nasc thíos). So I thought it would fun to try some more phrases involving many people’s favorite “bia compoird” — seacláid…