{"id":563,"date":"2010-12-19T16:27:22","date_gmt":"2010-12-19T16:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=563"},"modified":"2012-01-01T23:01:29","modified_gmt":"2012-01-01T23:01:29","slug":"pronunciation-roundup-tearmai-nollag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/pronunciation-roundup-tearmai-nollag\/","title":{"rendered":"Pronunciation Roundup: T\u00e9arma\u00ed Nollag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wondering how to pronounce any of the recent vocabulary?\u00a0 Here are some tips, especially for s\u00e9imhi\u00fa <\/strong>and ur\u00fa.\u00a0 <\/strong>These processes are part of the building blocks of Irish, second only, I\u2019d say, to an aib\u00edtir \u00ed f\u00e9in<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

First, a brief recap of what s\u00e9imhi\u00fa <\/strong>and ur\u00fa<\/strong> are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

S\u00e9imhi\u00fa<\/strong> or lenition \u2013 a softening of the initial sound of a word, indicated by inserting the letter \u201ch\u201d after the first consonant or consonant cluster.\u00a0 There are at least 15 reasons why this process occurs in Irish, obviously too many to deal with in aon bhlag amh\u00e1in.\u00a0 <\/strong>We\u2019ll just look at examples that came up with the Christmas terms.\u00a0 The consonants b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s, and t are the only ones that show lenition in writing.<\/p>\n

Ur\u00fa <\/strong>or eclipsis \u2013 similar to what happens to the sun and the moon, ur\u00fa <\/strong>means covering over the initial sound of a word, indicated by adding a new letter at the beginning (bosca, i mbosca, <\/strong>for example).\u00a0 <\/strong>Only b, c, d, f, g, p, and t are affected by this change.<\/p>\n

And now, roinnt t\u00e9arma\u00ed le s\u00e9imhi\u00fa<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nollaig Shona <\/strong>[NUL-ik HUN-uh].\u00a0 Here we have a feminine singular noun, \u201cNollaig,\u201d <\/strong>modified by the adjective \u201csona.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>Adjectives modifying feminine singular nouns are generally lenited.\u00a0 There are plenty of other uses of \u201csona<\/strong>\u201d [SUH-nuh] where it is not lenited, like \u201cl\u00e1 breithe sona duit<\/strong>\u201d (happy birthday to you) and \u201cT\u00e1 m\u00e9 sona s\u00e1sta<\/strong>\u201d (I\u2019m happy and content).<\/p>\n

S\u00e9imhi\u00fa<\/strong> after certain r\u00e9amhfhocail<\/strong> [RAYV-OK-il] (prepositions):<\/p>\n

The preposition \u201cfaoi\u201d <\/strong>(under, about) causes lenition of a noun that immediately follows.<\/strong><\/p>\n

faoi sh\u00e9an <\/strong>[fwee hayn] lit. under happiness (s\u00e9an <\/strong>becomes sh\u00e9an; <\/strong>be careful of the long mark over the vowel, or you\u2019ll end up \u201cfaoi She\u00e1n,\u201d <\/strong>another matter altogether).\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

faoi mhaise <\/strong>[fwee WISH-uh] under adornment or beauty, adorned, flourishing, from the noun \u201cmaise\u201d <\/strong>(adornment, beauty, etc.)<\/p>\n

Several other prepositions follow this rule too, but we\u2019ll deal with them i mblag \u00e9igin eile.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

This rule will change for phrases with definite nouns, like \u201cfaoin mbosca<\/strong>\u201d (under the <\/em>box), but sin \u00e1bhar blag eile freisin.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Roinnt t\u00e9arma\u00ed le hur\u00fa:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, lo and behold, dh\u00e1 bhlag ioml\u00e1n <\/strong>with hardly any ur\u00fa!\u00a0 <\/strong>Looks like I\u2019ll have to make up a couple of sampla\u00ed.\u00a0 Aistri\u00fach\u00e1in th\u00edos:<\/strong><\/p>\n

seacht gcrann Nollag <\/strong>[shakht grahn NUL-uk], \u201ccrann\u201d<\/strong> changes to \u201cgcrann\u201d<\/strong> after the numbers 7 to 10<\/strong><\/p>\n

ocht gcar\u00fal Nollag <\/strong>[okht GAR-ool NUL-uk], but remember, \u201cCar\u00fal a hOcht<\/strong>\u201d (Carol No. 8)<\/p>\n

and, for a completely different reason, the plural possessive adjective:<\/p>\n

\u00e1r mbronntanais<\/strong> [awr MRUN-tun-ish]<\/p>\n

and still another reason (using the preposition \u201ci<\/em>\u201d for \u201cin\u201d)<\/p>\n

i bpaca Dhaid\u00ed na Nollag<\/strong> [ih BAH-kuh \u0263ADJ-ee nuh NUL-uk].\u00a0 For more on the sound transcribed phonetically as \/\u0263\/ and spelled here as \u201cdh\u201d (Dhaid\u00ed<\/strong>) you might want to check out the notes i mblag na bliana seo caite (24 M\u00ed na Nollag 2009) faoin \u00e1bhar seo<\/strong> (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tag\/nollaig-shona-dhuit\/<\/a>).\u00a0 I also did a fuller treatment of it in last July 27th<\/sup>\u2019s blog (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/treoir-don-treoir-a-guide-to-the-guide-for-pronunciation-cuid-a-2\/<\/span>).<\/p>\n

And finally, here\u2019s a phrase that has both ur\u00fa<\/strong> and a final \u201cdh\u201d sound that is permanently lenited .. and silent!<\/p>\n

i nd<\/span>iaidh<\/span> na Nollag <\/strong>[in yay nuh NUL-uk OR in YEE-uh nuh NUL-uk, depending on dialect]<\/strong><\/p>\n

The eclipsis is in the word <\/strong>\u201cdiaidh<\/strong>\u201d changing to <\/strong>\u201cndiaidh<\/strong>\u201d <\/strong>because of the preposition \u201ci\u201d (<\/strong>in).\u00a0 \u201cDiaidh<\/strong>\u201d <\/strong>literally means \u201cwake\u201d or \u201ctrail\u201d but is rarely used on its own.\u00a0 When used with phrases like \u201cna Nollag,<\/strong>\u201d it means \u201cafter.\u201d\u00a0 The original initial \u201cd\u201d is eclipsed (made silent or covered over) so the \u201ci\u201d glides together with the new initial letter, \u201cn.\u201d\u00a0 At the end of the word, we have a lenited \u201cdh,\u201d which is silent.<\/p>\n

I have a bunch more pronunciation notes ready but this is fada go leor<\/strong> for aon bhlag amh\u00e1in<\/strong>.\u00a0 More to come soon!<\/p>\n

Gluais: aib\u00edtir,<\/strong> alphabet; \u00e1r<\/strong>, our (causes ur\u00fa<\/strong>); breithe<\/strong> [Brzh<\/sup>EH-huh], of birth; bronntanais<\/strong>, presents, gifts; paca<\/strong> [PAH-kuh], a pack; roinnt<\/strong> [rinch], some<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wondering how to pronounce any of the recent vocabulary?\u00a0 Here are some tips, especially for s\u00e9imhi\u00fa and ur\u00fa.\u00a0 These processes are part of the building blocks of Irish, second only, I\u2019d say, to an aib\u00edtir \u00ed f\u00e9in.\u00a0 First, a brief recap of what s\u00e9imhi\u00fa and ur\u00fa are. S\u00e9imhi\u00fa or lenition \u2013 a softening of the…<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","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=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1576,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}