{"id":136,"date":"2010-02-23T11:44:32","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T15:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=132"},"modified":"2016-09-21T00:35:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T00:35:43","slug":"notai-fuaimnithe-pronunciation-notes-don-bhlag-deireanach-or-not-your-abuela%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cua%e2%80%9d-vowel-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/notai-fuaimnithe-pronunciation-notes-don-bhlag-deireanach-or-not-your-abuela%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cua%e2%80%9d-vowel-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"N\u00f3ta\u00ed Fuaimnithe (Pronunciation Notes) don Bhlag Deireanach, or, Not Your Abuela\u2019s \u201cua\u201d Vowel Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few notes on pronunciation for the last blog, which was called \u201cThuas Seal, Th\u00edos Seal<\/strong>, or Ice-cream and Underlings.\u201d\u00a0 Pronunciation notes always seem to be welcome!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cua<\/strong>\u201d sound, which we saw consistently in that whole \u201cslua<\/strong>\u201d (angl. slew) of related words is basically \u201coo-uh.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s \u201coo\u201d as in (American) English \u201ctool\u201d or \u201cfool,\u201d not as in English \u201cbook\u201d or \u201clook\u201d (now you see why it\u2019s so tricky to describe the sounds of another language in terms of English examples; as Pete Seeger sings, \u201cEnglish is C-R-A-Z-Y).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And the \u201cuh\u201d sound I mean here is the schwa or unstressed vowel sound, as in English \u201ca<\/em>bout\u201d or \u201cu<\/em>mpteen,\u201d not as in German \u201cHuhn<\/em>\u201d (that\u2019s especially for our German foghlaimeoir<\/strong> who has just written in to introduce herself, agus f\u00e1ilte mh\u00f3r di<\/strong>!).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So at least we\u2019ve got our \u201coo-uhs\u201d straight now, i.e. that \u201coo-uh\u201d doesn\u2019t sound like \u201cu (short)-oo\u201d!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Can we actually find this sound in an English word?\u00a0 Not readily, but a few examples will follow.\u00a0 Note that in the Irish \u201cua<\/strong>\u201d and these English examples, both vowels are pronounced.\u00a0 In other words, and perhaps the key point, here, Irish \u201cua<\/strong>\u201d isn\u2019t<\/em> pronounced like the typical American pronunciation of the name \u201cJuan,\u201d which is, more or less, \u201cwahn.\u201d\u00a0 More on the British pronunciation of that later, just to nip any misconceptions in the bud.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The closest word I can think of in English is \u201ctruant.\u201d\u00a0 Also close is \u201cfluent,\u201d though some people pronounce that with more of an \u201cent\u201d or \u201cint\u201d sound at the end.\u00a0 At any rate, if you slice away the bookending consonants surrounding this double-vowel sound, you have your Irish \u201cua<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It actually took me a long time to think up those corresponding words, since the sound isn\u2019t very common in English, at least not within one word.\u00a0 We could have the sound in lots of phrases in English, like \u201cDo a<\/em> bit of work\u201d or \u201cBoo u<\/em>p there,\u201d as a ghost might say to a hen perched on the rafters (well, why not?).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anticipating a possible question, no, I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s like the U.S. Marines\u2019 \u201chua,\u201d which seems to have equal stress on the two vowels, and a distinctive \u201cah\u201d sound at the end (not a schwa sound).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, all this explanation is probably unnecessary, like taking \u201cli\u00fadair go Toraigh<\/strong>,\u201d for anyone actually raised in Ireland.\u00a0 There, minimally, most people will have heard the sound in the word \u201cNuacht<\/strong>\u201d (the news) on TV since 1962 or so (d\u00e1ta n\u00edos beaichte, a \u00c9ireannaigh<\/strong>?).\u00a0 That\u2019s even true for those outside the Gaeltacht or who don\u2019t speak or listen to Irish much in their everyday lives.\u00a0 More recently, people might recognize the sound from \u201cLuas<\/strong>,\u201d the new Light Rail Tram System i mBaile \u00c1tha Cliath<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So now you have the vowel sound for the following words: thuas, suas, anuas, uachtar, uachtar\u00e1n,<\/strong> and uachtarach.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s useful for another whole slew of basic Irish vocabulary words like bua, cuan, crua, duais, fuadar, grua, gruaig, luath, nua, rua<\/strong>, and trua<\/strong>.\u00a0 Fuaim \u00fas\u00e1ideach, d\u00e9arfainn<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As for the \u201c\u00edo<\/strong>\u201d sound of the words that work as opposites to the \u201cua<\/strong>\u201d words, the key point is that when there are two Irish vowels together, and one has a long mark, you pronounce the one with the long mark.\u00a0 The other vowel is only functioning to make the adjoining consonant broad or slender.\u00a0 So the following all have a long \u201cee\u201d sound: th\u00edos<\/strong> (remember, silent \u201ct\u201d), s\u00edos<\/strong> (remember, slender \u201cs,\u201d like English \u201csh\u201d), an\u00edos<\/strong>, \u00edochtar<\/strong>, \u00edochtair\u00edn<\/strong>, \u00edochtar\u00e1n<\/strong>, and \u00edochtarach<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The same rule (fada<\/strong> trumps non-fada<\/strong>) applies with many other words, like bu\u00ed<\/strong> (bwee) or su\u00ed<\/strong> (see, with perhaps a bit of a \u201cwuh\u201d sound after the \u201cs,\u201d but not enough to make it like the American hog call, \u201csoo-eey\u201d).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are relatively few instances in which both vowels of a two-vowel combo have a s\u00edneadh fada<\/strong> (long mark), but when that\u2019s the case, you pronounce both, as in \u201ctr\u00ed\u00fa<\/strong>\u201d [trzh<\/sup>ee-oo], meaning \u201cthird.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s a lot of cyber-ink spilled on four little vowels, but I\u2019ve heard many attempts to pronounce \u201cua<\/strong>\u201d like the Spanish \u201cJuan<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Given that outside of \u00a0Ireland, it still takes a lot of determination to actually hear Irish, it\u2019s not surprising that learners might look to the vowel cluster as they\u2019ve seen it in another language.\u00a0 And I have also heard enough attempts to strongly pronounce the \u201cu\u201d of \u201csu\u00ed<\/strong>,\u201d that I\u2019ve wondered that the \u201cmuca<\/strong>\u201d don\u2019t come running.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Before complete finishing this blog, I\u2019ll note that while Americans pronounce \u201cJuan<\/em>\u201d like \u201cwahn,\u201d the most famous Juan of all, \u201cEl Burlador de Sevilla,\u201d is pronounced like \u201cjoo-un\u201d in the famous Byron poem, \u201cDon Juan,\u201d at least as discussed by the British.\u00a0 The first time I heard this I was a bit startled, being accustomed to \u201cJuan\u201d with the \u201cwah\u201d sound, but since I\u2019ve now heard several experts in the field use that pronunciation, so I\u2019ll just say \u201cso be it.\u201d\u00a0 Byron gives internal rhyming clues that that\u2019s the pronunciation he intends.\u00a0 And, ironically, that\u2019s the same sound as we have in the Irish examples I\u2019ve been belaboring in this blog.\u00a0 So maybe I should have just referred everyone to Byron, but from 1821 to 2010 is a bit of leap for phonetic cultural memory! \u00a0Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta: li\u00fadar<\/strong>, coalfish, presumably in abundance in the waters around Tory Island. \u00a0An bhfuil a fhios ag \u00e9inne an bhfuil s\u00e9 sin f\u00edor?\u00a0 Bheadh suim agam n\u00edos m\u00f3 eolais a fh\u00e1il faoi.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) A few notes on pronunciation for the last blog, which was called \u201cThuas Seal, Th\u00edos Seal, or Ice-cream and Underlings.\u201d\u00a0 Pronunciation notes always seem to be welcome! \u00a0 The \u201cua\u201d sound, which we saw consistently in that whole \u201cslua\u201d (angl. slew) of related words is basically \u201coo-uh.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s \u201coo\u201d as in (American) English…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[460884,460890,4181,4490,460879,460881,460876,5090,460887,460892,460891,376769,460893,460883,460889,5944,460888,460882,6433,11,460886,446433,460880,460877,6846,460885,6961,460878,7120,211676,289816,229794,376771,7218],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-abuela","tag-anios","tag-anuas","tag-bui","tag-burlador","tag-byron","tag-c-r-a-z-y","tag-english-is-crazy","tag-hua","tag-iochtairin","tag-iochtar","tag-iochtarach","tag-iochtaran","tag-juan","tag-liudair","tag-luas","tag-marines","tag-nuacht","tag-pete-seeger","tag-pronunciation","tag-schwa","tag-seal","tag-sevilla","tag-sios","tag-slew","tag-slua","tag-suas","tag-sui","tag-thuas","tag-toraigh","tag-tory-island","tag-uachtar","tag-uachtarach","tag-uachtaran"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8398,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/8398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}