Gweedore pronunciation of “-ir” words

[Rosie]

I was wondering about the paculiar pronunciation of some words in the Gweedore area. For instance, I know that “-acht” is pronounced like “-ahrt.” But it seems also that “r”s (that come after “i”??) are not pronounced or take on a “ee” sound. Is that right? For example, I’m guessing “fir” would be like “fee.” And “athair” and “deartháir” something like “A-hy” and “JAHR-hy”? “Nuh béir”=”nuh-BAY”? Something like that maybe. Can anybody tell if I have that right?

[Onuvanja]

I’m not at all a specialist of Donegal Irish, but yes, there’s a tendency to pronounce slender “r” as “y” between vowels (maybe also at the end of the word?). For example, the lead singer of Clannad, Máire Ní Bhraonáin, uses the name “Moya” for her solo career, as it reflects the dialect pronunciation of her first name “Máire”. I’m sure other members will be able to tell you more.

[Rosie]

Thank you.

[Labhrás]

I’m not at all a specialist of Donegal Irish, but yes, there’s a tendency to pronounce slender “r” as “y” between vowels (maybe also at the end of the word?)

Not at the end.
There’s a normal slender r.

[Onuvanja]

I’ve just listened to the Donegal pronunciation of a few words ending in slender “r” given on http://www.focloir.ie, and in some cases you can clearly hear the “r” (bádóir, deartháir), though curiously it sounds like a broad “r” rather than a slender one, while in others the “r” seems to be missing or very indistinct (athair, máthair). I wonder if that’s just due to normal variation within the dialect or the influence of Standard Irish …

[Rosie]

Yeah, I’m thinking you’re right that it may be a regional variation thing. Today, on YouTube, on “Now You’re Talking Irish” episode 20, at 2min 10sec., the girl says, “Cad é an chuma atá air?” and clearly pronounces “air” like “ay.” While others in other clips say it with a regular “r” and still others with a more slender “r.” A couple more good examples at 14:27 and 16:00. Thanks for all the input from everyone so far. I’m trying to learn as authentic a Gweedore Ulster as I can, and I find the little details pretty interesting.

[Hugo]

‘Gaoth Dobhair’ itself is pronounced ‘gee – doh-eeh’. ‘Doire’ = ‘Di-yih’, ‘Máire’ = ‘Mweh-yih’.

[Rosie]

Thanks. That helps confirm some of what I thought.

[Lughaidh]

Rosie > I’ve been trying to learn and speak Gaoth Dobhair Irish for 23 years 🙂

Labhrás wrote:
Not at the end.
There’s a normal slender r.

normally the slender r’s are also pronounced like “y” at the end of words in Gaoth Dobhair.

fir [fʲɪj]
féir [fʲeːj]
air [ej ~ ɛj]
athair [ɛhɛj]
máthair [mÊ·É›hÉ›j]
óir [ɔːj]
úir [uːj]
deartháir [dʲaɾhaj]

But in the case of “cuir” for example, they use “cur” instead (even as a conjugated verb) in GD as far as I know so they pronounce [kɔɾ] and not [*kɰɪj] or [*kÉ”j], normally.

[Rosie]

Lol. I’m glad I’m not alone! It looks like I may have long/fun road ahead.🍀🤞🏼

[Lughaidh]

It’s the sweetest dialect (and to me, the sweetest language on earth) <3
You could listen to Barrscéalta on RnaG; there are also interviews of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh on Youtube. Many people from GD here too:
http://www.bealoideasbeo.ie/fais_ceantar/Gaoth Dobhair

[Rosie]

These are gonna be great resourses (I’ve just subscribed to Barrscéalta in Podcasts!), thank you. (Although I’m not “líofa” enough to even navigate that one website you gave a link to yet, though.🧐). I love the sound of Ulster too. Thus far my only dialectal resources have been “Now You’re Talking Irish” videos, BBC Ulster Blás podcast, the “Ulster” button on Teanglann.ie, and the Gaoth Dobhair setting in the Abair.ie synthesizer…so I DEFINITELY like extra references!

[Author]

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