Irish phonology

Irish phonology varies from dialect to dialect; there is no standard pronunciation of Irish. Therefore, this article focuses on phenomena shared by most or all dialects, and on the major differences among the dialects. Detailed discussion of the dialects can be found in the specific articles: Ulster Irish, Connacht Irish, and Munster Irish.

Irish phonology has been studied as a discipline since the late 19th century, with numerous researchers publishing descriptive accounts of dialects from all regions where the language is spoken. More recently, Irish phonology has been the focus of theoretical linguists.

One of the most important aspects of Irish phonology is that almost all consonants (but ) come in pairs, a "broad" and a "slender" pronunciation. Broad consonants are either velarized (◌ˠ; back of tongue is pulled back and slightly up in the direction of the soft palate during articulation) or simply velar (for example, ). Slender consonants are palatalized (◌ʲ; tongue pushed up towards hard palate during articulation). The contrast between broad and slender consonants is crucial in Irish, because the meaning of a word can change if a broad consonant is substituted for a slender consonant or vice versa. For example, the only difference in pronunciation between the words ('cow') and ('alive') is that is pronounced with broad , while is pronounced with slender . The contrast between broad and slender consonants plays a critical role not only in distinguishing the individual consonants themselves, but also in the pronunciation of the surrounding vowels, in the determination of which consonants can stand next to each other, and in the behaviour of words that begin with a vowel. This broad/slender distinction is similar to the hard/soft one of several Slavic languages, like Russian.

Irish shares a number of phonological characteristics with its nearest linguistic relatives, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, as well as with Hiberno-English, which it currently has the most language contact with.

History of the discipline

Until the end of the 19th century, linguistic discussions of Irish focused either on the traditional grammar (issues like the inflection of nouns, verbs and adjectives) or on the historical development of sounds from Proto-Indo-European through Proto-Celtic to Old Irish. The first descriptive analysis of the phonology of an Irish dialect was , which was based on the author's fieldwork in the Aran Islands. This was followed by , a phonetic description of the dialect of Meenawannia near Glenties, County Donegal. is predominantly a historical account, but has some description of modern dialects as well. Alf Sommerfelt published early descriptions of Ulster dialects ( and for the village of Torr in Gweedore, , and for the now extinct dialect of South Armagh). The dialect of Dunquin on the Dingle Peninsula in Munster was described by . From 1944 to 1968 the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies published a series of monographs, each describing the phonology of one local dialect: for West Muskerry in County Cork (Ballyvourney, Coolea and vicinity), (first published 1945) for Cois Fhairrge in County Galway (Barna, Spiddal, Inverin and vicinity), for An Rinn in County Waterford, for Tourmakeady in County Mayo, for Teelin, County Donegal, for Erris in County Mayo. More recent descriptive phonology has been published by for Rosguill (Kilkieran and vicinity) and for the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry.

Research into the theoretical phonology of Irish began with , which follows the principles and practices of Chomsky and Halle's '' The Sound Pattern of English'' and which formed the basis of the phonology sections of . Dissertations examining Irish phonology from a theoretical point of view include , in optimality theory, and and in government phonology.

Consonants

Most dialects of Irish contain at a minimum the consonant phonemes shown in the following chart (see International Phonetic Alphabet for an explanation of the symbols). The consonant is neither broad nor slender.

On- and offglides

Broad (velar(ized)) consonants have a noticeable velar offglide (; a very short vowel-like sound) before front vowels, which sounds like the English but without rounding. Thus ('nine') and ('way, manner') are pronounced and , respectively. This velar offglide is labialized (pronounced after labial consonants, so ('yellow') is pronounced .

Similarly, slender (palatal(ized)) consonants have a palatal offglide (; like English ) before back vowels, e.g. ('thick') is pronounced .

When a broad consonant follows a front vowel, there is a very short vowel sound (called an onglide) just before the consonant, e.g. ('sell') is pronounced . Similarly, when a slender consonant follows a back vowel, there is an onglide before the consonant, e.g. ('place') is pronounced , ('drinking' gen.) is pronounced , ('understanding') is , and ('to us') is .

These all are also a feature of the northern Slavic languages such as Russian or Polish, so speakers and learners of those languages have an advantage with Irish pronunciation.

Allophones

(written as ) has two basic allophones: the labiovelar approximant and the velarized voiced labiodental fricative . The distribution of these allophones varies from dialect to dialect. In Munster, generally only is found, and in Ulster generally only is found. In Connacht, is found word-initially before vowels (e.g. 'is') and in other positions (e.g. 'saint', 'autumn', and 'hurried').

The remaining labial fricatives are typically labiodental , but they as well as the fricative allophone of have bilabial allophones in many dialects; the distribution depends partly on environment (bilabials are more likely to be found adjacent to rounded vowels) and partly on the individual speaker.

Most coronals are alveolar, except broad stops and approximates which are typically dental , and the slender fricative is typically postalveolar . may be realized as alveolo-palatal affricates in a number of dialects, including Tourmakeady, Erris, and Teelin.

may be true palatals or palatovelars .

has three allophones in most dialects: a palatal approximant before vowels (except ) and syllable-finally (e.g. 'nice', 'will be'); a voiced (post)palatal fricative before consonants (e.g. 'sun'); and an intermediate sound (with more frication than but less frication than ) before (e.g. 'straightened').

has the primary allophone .

In many varieties, and alternate with under a variety of circumstances. For example, as the lenition of and , is replaced by before back vowels, e.g. ('I would give'), ('drove'). In Munster, becomes after a vowel, e.g. ('twenty'). In Ring, final becomes in monosyllabic words, e.g. ('fear'). In some Ulster varieties, e.g. Tory Island

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