Irish phonology
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The phonology of the Irish language varies from dialect to dialect. The processes discussed here reflect a somewhat idealized version of "school Irish" that tends to be used by teachers outside of the Gaeltacht areas.
Contents |
The phonemes of Irish
Consonants
The consonant inventory of Irish is set out – using the International Phonetic Alphabet – in the table below.
| Labial | Dental and alveolar | Postalveolar and palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Velarized ("broad") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||
| Palatalized ("slender") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||
| Nasal | Velarized ("broad") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||
| Palatalized ("slender") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||
| Fricative | Velarized ("broad") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |
| Palatalized ("slender") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||
| Approximant | Velarized ("broad") | Template:IPA | ||||
| Palatalized ("slender") | Template:IPA | |||||
| Flap | Velarized ("broad") | Template:IPA | ||||
| Palatalized ("slender") | Template:IPA | |||||
| Lateral approximant | Velarized ("broad") | Template:IPA | ||||
| Palatalized ("slender") | Template:IPA | |||||
The distinction between velarized "broad" consonants and palatalized "slender" consonants is phonemic in Irish. Template:IPA is the only consonant phoneme without a broad/slender distinction; other pairs not immediately obvious in the table above are:
| Broad correspondent | Slender correspondent |
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
Broad (velarized) consonants have a noticeable velar offglide before front vowels, thus Template:IPA 'thatch' and Template:IPA 'way, manner' are pronounced Template:IPA and Template:IPA. This velar offglide is labialized after labial consonants, so Template:IPA 'yellow' is pronounced Template:IPA. The realization of the slender consonants varies somewhat from dialect to dialect; for example Template:IPA is an affricate Template:IPA in Ulster, a palatalized Template:IPA in Connacht, and an apical postalveolar Template:IPA in Munster.
Template:IPA and Template:IPA are not separate phonemes. In Munster only Template:IPA is found, and in Ulster only Template:IPA. In Connacht Template:IPA is found in syllable onsets and Template:IPA in syllable codas. In older varieties of Irish, Template:IPA and Template:IPA were bilabial fricatives but today because of English influence most people make them labiodental.
The broad coronals Template:IPA have a dental articulation as in Romance languages, and as in the Hiberno-English pronunciation of the English th sounds of thin and this.
Template:IPA is not strictly a postalveolar but rather an alveopalatal fricative Template:IPA like Polish si or Mandarin x. Nevertheless the more familiar symbol Template:IPA is usually used.
Template:IPA is a short palatalized flap similar to the tt in American English pretty.
Slender Template:IPA is a voiceless (post)palatal fricative Template:IPA like the German ich-Laut. The symbol Template:IPA is used to emphasize its relationship with the stop Template:IPA in the system of initial mutations.
Template:IPA is a palatal glide Template:IPA (like English y in yellow) before vowels; before consonants and at the ends of syllables it is a voiced (post)palatal fricative Template:IPA.
Usually all the consonants in a cluster have the same broad/slender quality, for example freagra Template:IPA 'answer'. Cf. also seachain Template:IPA 'avoid (imperative)' with slender Template:IPA but seachnaím Template:IPA 'I avoid' with broad Template:IPA, because it is next to broad Template:IPA. But there are some systematic exceptions:
- Template:IPA is always broad before coronals, even when the second coronal sound itself is slender, for example airde Template:IPA 'height', eirleach Template:IPA 'destruction', tuirne Template:IPA 'spinning wheel', cairde Template:IPA 'friends'
- Word-initial Template:IPA is always broad before labials, even when the labial itself is slender, for example smig Template:IPA 'chin', speal Template:IPA 'scythe'
As in English, voiceless stops are aspirated at the start of a word, and unaspirated after Template:IPA. Also, as in English, voiced stops may not be fully voiced but are never aspirated.
Vowels
The vowels (monophthongs and diphthongs) of Irish are given in the tables below.
| Monophthongs | Short | Long | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close ("high") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Mid | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Open ("low") | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |
| Diphthongs | Closer component is front | Closer component is back |
|---|---|---|
| Closing | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Centering | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
The backness contrast in short vowels is not phonemic.
Of the high phoneme:
- The allophone Template:IPA appears:
- before slender consonants (written i, ui)
- between a slender consonant and a broad coronal or Template:IPA (written io)
- The allophone Template:IPA appears:
- between broad consonants (written u; also in uicht, uirs, uirt(h) where the first consonant of the cluster is broad)
- between a slender consonant and a broad labial or velar (written io, iu)
Of the mid phoneme:
- The allophone Template:IPA appears:
- before a slender consonant except Template:IPA (written ei, oi)
- rarely between a broad consonant and slender Template:IPA in raibh Template:IPA 'was', saibhir Template:IPA 'rich', and daibhir Template:IPA 'poor'
- rarely between a slender consonant and a broad consonant, for example bheadh Template:IPA 'would be', bheadh sé Template:IPA 'he would be'
- The allophone [o] appears:
- between broad consonants (written o; also in oicht, oirs, oirt(h) where the first consonant of the cluster is broad)
- before Template:IPA (written ois)
- rarely between a slender consonant and a broad velar, for example deoch Template:IPA 'a drink', beag Template:IPA 'small'
The backness distinction is phonemic among long vowels, and all long vowels and diphthongs can stand next to both qualities of consonant. Exception: Template:IPA stands only word-initially or after a slender consonant, while Template:IPA stands only word-initially or after a broad consonant. Thus minimal pairs for these two diphthongs can be found only word-initially, for example iallach Template:IPA 'constraint' vs. ualach Template:IPA 'burden'.
The mid vowels are raised to high vowels before a nasal and orthographic mh Template:IPA.
Short vowels are reduced to schwa Template:IPA in unstressed syllables.
Long Template:IPA is optionally diphthongized to Template:IPA before broad Template:IPA, Template:IPA, for example fíor Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA 'true', eolaíocht Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA 'science'.
Template:IPA is a slightly rounded lax mid central vowel; in effect, it is the vowel of the English word cup with slightly rounded lips. (This is in fact a common Hiberno-English pronunciation of that vowel.)
The back long vowels Template:IPA tend to be diphthongized before slender consonants, for example Máire Template:IPA 'Mary', go fóill Template:IPA 'still', cúig Template:IPA 'five'.
Vowel-initial words
Vowel-initial words in Irish exhibit behavior that has led linguists to suggest they begin with a latent onset that, like consonants, can be either velarized (broad) or palatalized (slender).
For example, when the vowel-initial words arcán Template:IPA 'piglet' and uimhríonn Template:IPA 'numbers' (present-tense verb) are preceded by a proclitic ending in a consonant, that consonant is broad: m'arcán Template:IPA 'my piglet'; d'uimhrigh Template:IPA 'numbered'.
But when the words earc Template:IPA 'lizard' and imíonn Template:IPA 'leaves' (present-tense verb) are preceded by the same proclitics, the consonant is slender: m'earc Template:IPA 'my lizard'; d'imigh Template:IPA 'left'.
This difference is not predictable, it is a lexical property of each individual vowel-initial word. Thus some linguists have argued that roots like arcán and uimhr- actually begin with a consonant containing no features except that of being velarized, and roots like earc and im- with a consonant containing no features except that of being palatalized.
When Template:IPA is lenited to zero, its quality remains if a consonant-final proclitic takes its place, as in:
| fargán | Template:IPA | 'ledge' | m'fhargán | Template:IPA | 'my ledge' | |
| fearg | Template:IPA | 'anger' | m'fhearg | Template:IPA | 'my anger' | |
| filleann | Template:IPA | 'returns' | d'fhill | Template:IPA | 'returned' | |
| fuilíonn | Template:IPA | 'bleeds' | d'fhuiligh | Template:IPA | 'bled' |
Stress in Irish
An Irish word normally has only one stressed syllable, namely the first one:
- Template:IPA capall 'horse'
- Template:IPA seoltóir 'sailor'
- Template:IPA siopadóir 'shopkeeper'
Certain adverbs and loanwords have stress on a noninitial syllable:
- Template:IPA amháin 'only'
- Template:IPA anuas 'down from above'
- Template:IPA tobac 'tobacco'
- Template:IPA Atlantach 'Atlantic'
- Template:IPA matamaitic 'mathematics'
In compounds more than one syllable is stressed:
- Template:IPA meánaois 'middle ages'
- Template:IPA drochobair 'bad work'
- Template:IPA dodhéanta 'impossible, hard to do'
- Template:IPA droch-mheánscoil 'bad secondary school'.
Most compounds are like Template:IPA meánaois, the primary stress falls on the first member and the secondary stress on the second:
- Template:IPA dólámhach 'two-handed'
- Template:IPA seanathair 'grandfather'
- Template:IPA oiseoil 'venison'
The prefixes Template:IPA do- 'bad, hard to ..., un-X-able', Template:IPA so- 'good, easy to...' and Template:IPA in- '-able' take the secondary accent; the primary accent falls on the second member:
- Template:IPA dothuigthe 'incomprehensible'
- Template:IPA sodhéanta 'easy to do'
- Template:IPA inólta 'drinkable'
Some compounds have primary stress on both the first and the second member:
- Template:IPA bithbhuan 'everlasting'
- Template:IPA comhbhrón 'sympathy'
- Template:IPA gnátháit 'usual place'
- Template:IPA príomhoide 'principal (teacher)'