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Hey, I recognize the distinction between broad and slender consonants, and that they need to align beside consonants. What I don’t understand is how do you know which one is pronounced? I look at a word such as “tiontaigh” and I know that the first T is slender and the second is broad, but which actual vowels do I pronounce? Which ones are “original” and which are for orthographical reasons? Is it “Tyintay” or “tyontay,” is O the glide into the broad or is I the glide from the slender? And is there any clear system or way for me to find out/look it up if I find a new word?
It depends on the cluster of vowels rather than on the consonants.
In general you can know, but with some clusters you have to learn the pronunciation with every word.
For instance, “io” can be either /o/ or /i/. I’d say it’s more often /o/.
Oi can be either /o/ or /i/ or /e/ too. I’d say it’s more often /i/.
Stressed “ai” is generally /a/ but sometimes /i/ ; unstressed “ai” is always /i/.
Stressed “ui” is almost always /i/.
Stressed “ea” is generally /a/ (but it may change before “mh”, “bh”…, unstressed “ea” is generally /É™/ (but before “ch” it is /a/ in Ulster)etc…
If you can get your hands on a copy of Ó Siadhail’s Learning Irish, there is an extensive section in the back (Appendix I) that looks at most combinations of vowels and neighboring consonants and how they are pronounced in Cois Fhairrge. Much of it is transferrable throughout the island.
I once thought Irish was the most non-phonetic language on the planet. Now I know better. It’s just a matter of learning the somewhat large set of rules.
I once thought Irish was the most non-phonetic language on the planet.
French, English, Tibetan, most dialects of Breton (if you use the “unified spelling”), Manx… are much worse than Irish, and I don’t talk about those languages whose writing isn’t composed of letters or syllables (Chinese, Old Egyptian, etc) 😆
I know it’s somewhat phonetic, however only after you hear it pronounced. If you told me it was pronounced “tyontay/chontay” I would understand, but I would also understand if you told me it was “tyintay/chintay.”
If you can get your hands on a copy of Ó Siadhail’s Learning Irish, there is an extensive section in the back (Appendix I) that looks at most combinations of vowels and neighboring consonants and how they are pronounced in Cois Fhairrge. Much of it is transferrable throughout the island.
I once thought Irish was the most non-phonetic language on the planet. Now I know better. It’s just a matter of learning the somewhat large set of rules.
And I will check this out 😉 Thanks!
An example analysis of “tiontaigh” from Ó Siadhail:
io /u/ siopa, iondúil
/i/ when not at beginning of word bior, fios, cion, giota, giodamai /a:/ when in unstressed syllable baile
An example analysis of “tiontaigh” from Ó Siadhail:
io /u/ siopa, iondúil
/i/ when not at beginning of word bior, fios, cion, giota, giodamai /a:/ when in unstressed syllable baile
Donegal:
/s’apÉ™/, /onduËlˈ/?
/bˈir/, /fˈis/, /kˈon/, /gˈotə/, /gˈodəm/?
/balˈə/(I’m not sure iondúil and giodam exist in Donegal)
Tiontaigh is tiontóigh in Ulster and pronounced /t’ontaj/ (unstressed ó is /a/ in Ulster)
You can check pronunciation and get IPA representation of words and phrases using the synthesiser at
There is a Donegal and two Conamara versions (different technologies in the Conamara versions)
get IPA representation of words
get a phonological (phonemic) representation of words.
IPA ie. phonetics is much more precise than that…ok, caithfear “sil” agus “0” agus “2” a bhaint mar sin… cha dtuigim tuighe bhfuil siad san abairt 🙂 fadhb ineacht leis an “copy and paste” gan amhras 🙂
scrìobhfainn [s ˈtɰɪsË É™ nË ËˆsË aɲɔlÉ°i]
I recommend picking up a copy of An Gum’s Foclóir Póca. Aside from having a pretty good collection of words for a dictionary that size, it has a rough phonetic transcription of every word on the Irish side. While it won’t tell you EXACTLY how to pronounce the words, it will tell you which vowels are glides and which are pronounced as true vowels.
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