Certain initial consonants

[Jkspiezio]

In my dictionary, the initial “a”s of “ceart” and “cara” are listed as short. Thereby, they should be pronounced “ceArt” and “cAra” respectively. However, when spoken, they sound like the have long vowels, so “cyAHrt” and “cAHra”. Is this some sort of dialectical difference, or is my dictionary just wrong here?

[Onuvanja]

In Connemara, the short “a” (as the first vowel in “cara”) is often lengthened and has a quality close to “ea” (as in “ceart”), though I would say not exactly the same one. Still, the vowels in “cara” and “ceart” sound quite different, as the latter has a y-glide.

[Jkspiezio]

So does ceart have a long a or short one?

[An Lon Dubh]

Short, at least in Munster and Connacht Irish.

[Cúnla]

They can be pronounced with long* vowels in Connemara at least, as /cÃ¦ËÉ¾Ë tÌªË /, /ˈkaËÉ¾Ë É™/.

*Not to be confused with ⟨á⟩ “a fada” = “long a,” which is phonologically a different vowel altogether, viz. /ɑː/.

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