{"id":5850,"date":"2014-11-05T17:02:57","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T17:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5850"},"modified":"2014-11-20T17:31:08","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T17:31:08","slug":"dont-be-silent-even-if-it-was-the-cat-a-pronunciation-round-up-for-the-irish-black-cat-blogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/dont-be-silent-even-if-it-was-the-cat-a-pronunciation-round-up-for-the-irish-black-cat-blogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Be Silent, Even If It Was The Cat: A Pronunciation Round-up for the Irish Black Cat Blogs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cat<\/a>

Cat dubh a bhfuil an t-ainm ‘Lilith’ uirthi, tarrth\u00e1ilte as cl\u00f3s p\u00e1irce\u00e1la ollmhargaidh nuair a bh\u00ed s\u00ed ina pisc\u00edn. Nach sl\u00edoctha gal\u00e1nta anois \u00ed?
(http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Blackcat-Lilith.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Even some seemingly simple Irish words may benefit from a few pronunciation tips, so this blog will look at some of the terms that come up as we go through the forms of the phrases “an cat<\/strong>” and “an cat dubh<\/strong>” in Irish, as discussed in some previous blogs (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

First, let’s look at “cat<\/strong>” itself, plus the plural “cait<\/strong>,” and the two possessive forms “chait<\/strong>” and “gcat<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

One key point is that the “a” is a short “ah” sound, not like the “a” (\/\u00e6\/) of English “cat,” “bat,” or “mat.”\u00a0 Some speakers pronounce “cat<\/strong>” with more of a short “u” sound, almost like American English “put” or “soot” (but not “putt” or “Sutter”).\u00a0 So, although the two words, English “cat” and Irish “cat<\/strong>,” look identical, they aren’t pronounced quite the same.<\/p>\n

For the phrase “an cat<\/strong>” (the cat), remember this “an<\/strong>” is pronounced like the “un” of “fun” or the “a” of “sofa.”<\/p>\n

So far, so good, I imagine.<\/p>\n

The plural form “cait<\/strong>” (cats) inserts the letter “i” before the final letter. \u00a0This changes the vowel sound to “i” as in “bit” or “kit.”\u00a0 It’s definitely not like a typical “ai” in English, as in “Tait” or “rain.”<\/p>\n

But the word “cait<\/strong>” is not simply like English “kit.”\u00a0 For one thing we have the “broad c” at the beginning, which has a slight “w” quality to it–but just slight, not as much as “quit.”\u00a0 So maybe we could say that the “c” of “cait<\/strong>” is about halfway between “kit” and “quit.”<\/p>\n

And we now have a slender “t” at the end of the word (“t” pronounced next to an “e” or an “i”).\u00a0 So the final “t” is more like “tch.”<\/p>\n

To sum it up, the full word “cait<\/strong>” is like “kw<\/sup>itch<\/sup>.”<\/p>\n

And what about various possessions “of the cat” (… an chait<\/strong>)?\u00a0 The “ch” is as in German “Buch<\/em>,” Yiddish “Chutzpah<\/em>,” Scottish Gaelic (and Irish) “loch<\/strong>,” and Welsh “coch<\/em>.”\u00a0 The final slender “t” is the same as described above.\u00a0 So we could have the phrase:<\/p>\n

lapa\u00ed an chait<\/strong> [LAH-pee un khw<\/sup>itch<\/sup>], the paws of the cat.\u00a0 Some speakers might not pronounce the “n” of “an<\/strong>,” since it often dropped before consonants, as in “bean an t\u00ed<\/strong>,” usually pronounced “ban-uh-tch<\/sup>ee,” not “ban-un-tch<\/sup>ee.”<\/p>\n

As for “the paws of the cats,” we use the plural form for “of the cats,” which is “na gcat<\/strong>.”\u00a0 The “g” covers over (or “eclipses”) the original “c.”\u00a0 So we have “nuh gaht,” and for “the paws of the cat,” we have “LAH-pee nuh gaht.”<\/p>\n

And how about the black cat, and the word ‘black” itself: an cat dubh<\/strong> (dubh<\/strong>, black).<\/p>\n

There are two main pronunciations of “dubh<\/strong>” in Irish: duv (with the “u” similar to English “put”) or, in the North, “doo” (with the long “u” sound of “pool” or Irish “\u00fall<\/strong>“).\u00a0 In the latter, the “-bh” has become completely silent.\u00a0 You might recognize the word “dubh<\/strong>” from the folksong “The Little Beggarman,” which is about “Johnny Dhu” (aka “Johnny Doo”).\u00a0 Every version of the song I’ve heard uses the “oo” sound, rhyming with “rigadoo.”\u00a0 “Johnny Dhu” means “black-haired Johnny.”<\/p>\n

The basic plural form of “dubh<\/strong>” is “dubha<\/strong>,” with the “-bh-” pronounced either like a “v” or\u00a0 “w.”<\/p>\n

But after a noun like “cait<\/strong>,” which ends in a slender “t,” the initial “d” of “dubh<\/strong>” changes to “dh.”\u00a0 And this pronunciation is … <torm\u00e1il druma<\/strong>> … our old friend, the voiced velar fricative.\u00a0 We’ve dealt with this sound before, in various blogs (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>) and the note (N\u00f3ta<\/strong> 1) below gives a few more examples.\u00a0 In a nutshell, it’s a bit like the “kh” sound of “Buch<\/em>” and “Chutzpah<\/em>,” but deeper in the throat and more rolling.\u00a0 This sound is represented by a letter from the Greek alphabet, the gamma sign \/\u0263\/ and there’s no exact equivalent in the Roman alphabet.<\/p>\n

So that should now enable you to say “the black cat” [un kaht duv] and “the black cats” [nuh kw<\/sup>itch<\/sup> \u0263w<\/sup>iv-uh] in Irish.<\/p>\n

Well, there are many more focail<\/strong> we could wrap \u00e1<\/strong>r dteangacha<\/strong> around, but those will have to do for now.<\/p>\n

To hearken back to today’s title, we might have to be silent if we were on the crew of the H.M.S. Pinafore, singing “Goodness me, why what was that?” and the answer came, “Silent be, it was the cat.”\u00a0 But for today’s purpose, the best plan is not to be silent, but to speak Irish, as much and as often as one can.\u00a0 And that includes practicing all the words we’ve practiced above (cat, cait, an chait, na gcat, dubh, dubha, dhubha<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

For a little more on the cat in H.M.S. Pinafore, see\u00a0n\u00f3ta<\/strong>\u00a02<\/strong> below.\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta 1:<\/strong> \u00a0Additional examples include: A Dh\u00f3nail, A Dhonncha, a dh\u00fan<\/strong>. \u00a0The same sounds occurs with broad “gh”: An Ghaeilge, A ghr\u00e1, mo ghr\u00e1, a ghas\u00fair<\/strong>. \u00a0And did we say that was a friCATive sound?\u00a0 Sheer coincidence that that occurred in a cat-themed blog! \u00a0There’s no sign of a “cat”-syllable in the Irish for “fricative;” it’s “cuimilteach<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta 2:<\/strong> Of course, the Gilbert and Sullivan text also refers to a “cat o’ nine tails,” which in Irish is simply “lasc na naoi gcraobh<\/strong>,” literally “whip of the nine ‘branches,’ here best understood as “straps.”\u00a0 No reference to “cats” here.<\/p>\n

naisc <\/strong>(the voiced velar fricative sound):<\/p>\n

https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/six-ways-to-say-i-want-some-more-in-irish-ag-cur-gaeilge-ar-athfhriotal-cluiteach-oilibheir\/ (Six Ways to Say, \u201cI Want Some More\u201d in Irish (ag cur Gaeilge ar athfhriotal cl\u00faiteach Oilibh\u00e9ir)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0;\u00a010 Bealtaine 2014<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/saying-i-love-you-in-irish\/ (Saying \u201cI love you\u201d in Irish and Minding Your Velar Fricatives<\/a>\u00a0;\u00a09 Deireadh F\u00f3mhair 2011<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/how-to-pronounce-a-dheaide-a-dhaidi-and-other-forms-of-daddaddy-in-irish\/ (How To Pronounce \u2018A Dheaide<\/strong>,\u2019 \u2018A Dhaid\u00ed,<\/strong>\u2019 and Other Forms of \u2018Dad\/Daddy\u2019 in Irish<\/a>;\u00a06 Meitheamh 2013)<\/p>\n

naisc (cait dhubha): <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Cats\u2019, \u2018of the cats,\u2019 \u2018black cats\u2019 and related phrases in Irish<\/a>, Posted on 31. Oct, 2014 by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a>\u00a0 (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/cats-of-the-cats-black-cats-and-related-phrases-in-irish\/)<\/p>\n

B\u00edg\u00ed Ci\u00fain! Ba \u00e9 an cat \u00e9!<\/strong> Or Should That Be \u201cBa Iad Na Deich gCat Dhubha Iad<\/strong>\u201d?<\/a> Posted on 15. Oct, 2012 by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a>\u00a0 https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/bigi-ciuin-ba-e-an-cat-e-or-should-that-be-ba-iad-na-deich-gcat-dhubha-iad\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Even some seemingly simple Irish words may benefit from a few pronunciation tips, so this blog will look at some of the terms that come up as we go through the forms of the phrases “an cat” and “an cat dubh” in Irish, as discussed in some previous blogs (naisc th\u00edos). First, let’s…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[359537,4577,359536,255006,4999,255005,255008,359557,255007,359556,30166],"class_list":["post-5850","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-cait-dhubha","tag-cat","tag-cat-dubh","tag-dhubha","tag-dubh","tag-dubha","tag-gilbert-and-sullivan","tag-lilith","tag-pinafore","tag-silent-be-it-was-the-cat","tag-voiced-velar-fricative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t