{"id":2296,"date":"2012-05-21T06:59:23","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T06:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=2296"},"modified":"2015-02-12T20:22:34","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T20:22:34","slug":"notai-fuaimnithe-don-da-bhlag-faoi-liudair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/notai-fuaimnithe-don-da-bhlag-faoi-liudair\/","title":{"rendered":"N\u00f3ta\u00ed Fuaimnithe don D\u00e1 Bhlag faoi Li\u00fadair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This blog will simply be a pronunciation guide to the last two blogs and some general pronunciation notes.\u00a0 Pronunciation seems to be the eternal issue in Irish language learning, so, \u00f3 am go ham<\/strong>, I think it deserves a blog of its own.\u00a0 So here’s a round-up for some of the longer and more complex words from the recent discussions, and, for phonic relief, a few short, sweet, and simple words as well, as a reminder that not every Irish word has multiple silent consonants and three vowels in a row.\u00a0 Irish words can range from single letters (a, \u00e1, \u00e9, i, \u00ed, \u00f3<\/strong> — all meaningful Irish words) to “frith-dh\u00edbhuna\u00edochas<\/strong>” (antidisestablishmentarianism), just as English can range from single-letter words (a, I, o) to longer delights, like the “anti-d-e” just noted or other letter-crunching goodies like “honorificabilitudinitatibus”\u00a0(a bhu\u00ed le Shakespeare<\/strong>) or “floccinaucinihilipilification” (the act of describing something as unimportant).<\/p>\n

Anyway, here are some samples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Gaeilge <\/strong><\/td>\nFuaimni\u00fa<\/strong><\/td>\nB\u00e9arla<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
An Afraic Thoir<\/strong><\/td>\nun AFF-rik hirzh<\/td>\nEast Africa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ainm an \u00e9isc<\/strong><\/td>\nAN-yim un ayshk<\/td>\nthe name of the fish<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
bitheola\u00edocht mhuir\u00ed<\/strong><\/td>\nBIH-HOHL-ee-ukht \u00a0WIRzh-ee<\/td>\nmarine biology<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00e9adairbhe<\/strong><\/td>\nAY-DARzh-uh-vuh<\/td>\nfutility<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
i nd\u00e1ir\u00edre<\/strong><\/td>\nin-aw-RzhEE-rzhuh (slender r’s)<\/td>\nseriously, in earnest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00cdoslainnis<\/strong><\/td>\nEESS-lin-ish<\/td>\nIcelandic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R\u00fais<\/strong><\/td>\nroosh<\/td>\nRussia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sula bhf\u00e1gfaidh <\/strong><\/td>\nSUL-uh WAWG-hee (f like h)<\/td>\nbefore (we) (will) leave<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Svaih\u00edlis<\/strong><\/td>\nsva-HEEL-ish<\/td>\nSwahili<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The slender “r” sound referred to is virtually unknown in English, though it has been compared to the “r” in some pronunciations of “tree.”\u00a0 I use the lower-case “zh” to indicate the buzzy sound of this “r,” which is much like the “r” of the Czech name “Ji\u0159\u00ed<\/em>,” if that helps.<\/p>\n

The letter “f” is often pronounced like an “h” in future tense verbs like “f\u00e1gfaidh<\/strong>” [FAWG-hee], “caithfidh<\/strong>” [KAH-hee], and “\u00f3lfaidh<\/strong>” [OHL-hee].\u00a0 A prominent exception to this rule is “tch\u00edfidh<\/strong>” [TCHEE-fee], meaning “will see,” primarily found in Irish in the North.<\/p>\n

The above examples happen to have a lot of “slender s’s,” which are pronounced like the English “sh” sound in “fish,” “shin,” or “shimmy.”\u00a0 “Slender” consonants (consain chaola<\/strong>), remember, occur adjacent to the vowels “e” and “i” in Irish, at least, about 99.99% of the time.<\/p>\n

How about those short words in Irish?\u00a0 The ones given above are:<\/p>\n

a<\/strong> [uh], this word\/particle has too many meanings for this blog, (\u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>!),<\/p>\n

\u00e1<\/strong> [aw], various meanings, like “at its” and “to its,”(ar\u00eds, \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>),<\/p>\n

\u00e9<\/strong> [ay], him, it, sometimes “he”,<\/p>\n

i<\/strong> [ih], in; also, in a completely different context (as “.i.” with the periods), short for “id est”, like “i.e.” used in English,<\/p>\n

\u00ed<\/strong> [ee], her, it, sometimes “she”,<\/p>\n

\u00f3<\/strong> [oh], 1) from, 2) since, 3) descendant, 4) particle used in “\u00f3 thuaidh<\/strong>” and “\u00f3 dheas<\/strong>,” 5) “oh” (the interjection), \u00a0and finally, 6) “ear,” but that last is very archaic, since we usually say “cluas<\/strong>” for “ear”<\/p>\n

A few other nice short words in Irish, with pronunciation in brackets: ag<\/strong> [egg], an<\/strong> [un, the definite article], an-<\/strong> [ahn, the prefix], faoi<\/strong> [fwee], r\u00f3n<\/strong> [rohn], stad<\/strong> [stahd], tae<\/strong> [tay], t\u00e9<\/strong> [tchay], t\u00fas\u00a0<\/strong>[tooss].\u00a0 And that could go on for a long time.<\/p>\n

Finally, as for that “frith-dh\u00edbhuna\u00edochas<\/strong>,” like its English counterpart, it’s fairly straightforward once you break it down into its component parts: FRIH-YIH-WUN-ee-ukht-ukh-us.\u00a0\u00a0 Most Irish words put equal stress on prefixes and the first main syllable of a word (unlike some English words like “subJECTive” or “immiGRAtion”), so in this case, there are three fairly equal stresses at the beginning of the word.\u00a0 Just to add to the measc\u00e1n<\/strong>, I recently saw a reference to “anti-antidisestablishmentarianism” in English, which would then be “*frith-frith-dh\u00edbhuna\u00edochas<\/strong>” in Irish (not that I’ve seen anyone use it yet, another new coinage, fad m’eolais<\/strong>!).\u00a0 I’m going out on a bit of a limb there, not leniting the “f” of the second “frith<\/strong>,” but the letter “f” does tend to dip in and out of lenitability, especially in non-traditional contexts (mo <\/strong>+ f\u00f3n<\/strong> usually combines as “mo f\u00f3n<\/strong>” [muh fohn] not as “m’fh\u00f3n<\/strong> [mohn], at least in my experience, though “m’fhiacla,<\/strong>” my teeth, follows the standard).\u00a0 So we’d have “FRIH-FRIH-YIH-WUN-ee-ukht-ukh-us.”\u00a0 Admittedly, though, one could argue for a “FRIH-RIH” pronunciation.\u00a0 \u00c1bhar blag eile<\/strong>, and no reference intended, pro- or anti-, to the rabbit god Frith from\u00a0Watership Down<\/em>. \u00a0SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) This blog will simply be a pronunciation guide to the last two blogs and some general pronunciation notes.\u00a0 Pronunciation seems to be the eternal issue in Irish language learning, so, \u00f3 am go ham, I think it deserves a blog of its own.\u00a0 So here’s a round-up for some of the longer and…<\/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":[211694,211693,211692,211695,211697,292452,211699,374947,374946,211700,5667,10693,6539,11,211698,211690,211691,6844,211696],"class_list":["post-2296","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-anti-antidisestablishmentarianism","tag-antidisestablishmentarianism","tag-consain-chaola","tag-disestablish","tag-frith","tag-frith-dhibhunaiochas","tag-frith-dhibhunaiochtachas","tag-frith-fhrith-dhibhunaiochas","tag-frith-frith-dhibhunaiochas","tag-frith-frith-dhibhunaiochtachas","tag-irish","tag-irish-pronunciation","tag-pronounce","tag-pronunciation","tag-rabbit-god","tag-slender-consonant","tag-slender-r","tag-slender-s","tag-watership-down"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296","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=2296"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6331,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296\/revisions\/6331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}