The w sound

[Fabiola]

[size=4]Hi,[/size]

Does the w sound ( like in English world ) occur in Irish words like Gaeilge or Dia is Muire dhuit ?
Are they pronounced gweelin and dias mwiri ghwit or geelin and dias miri ghit ?

Thank you for your answer.

[Cúnla]

In ⟨Gaeilge⟩ (or ⟨Gaelainn⟩), no, there’s no labialization (your lips don’t round like for an English ⟨w⟩). More like [É¡Ë eːlʲɟɪ] and [É¡Ë elɪɲ] with the first vowel also velarized…

In ⟨Muire⟩, yes. [mʷɪɾʲɪ], maybe…

[Lughaidh]

Does the w sound ( like in English world ) occur in Irish words like Gaeilge or Dia is Muire dhuit ?
Are they pronounced gweelin and dias mwiri ghwit or geelin and dias miri ghit ?

Yes when they are badly pronounced LOL. It’s one of the ways to recognize if a speaker is a native speaker or a non-native (but there are non-native who pronounce properly too, thank God)

In native Irish there’s another sound after these consonants, but it doesn’t exist in English, it’s like a very very short uh-sound, but it’s better to hear it from native speakers. It’s not rounded as w : your lips don’t move forward unlike with w.
Like in Ulster :
guh-AY-likk
jee-uh SMWIH-yeh duh-Itch (roughly)

[Días Lasairfhíona]

The w-sound does occur on broaden p-, b-, f-, m– and g-sounds, like in Gaeilge, faoi, buí. And, as Irish does not know the letter w, it can be written as bh– and mh– and bhf-.

[Cúnla]

@Días Lasairfhíona: yes, it does occur after the broad labials ⟨p⟩, ⟨b⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨m⟩, but the labialized semivowel [w] does not occur after broad velars like ⟨g⟩ or ⟨c⟩ as in Gaeilge &c.

[Lughaidh]

Seconded. Only non-native speakers say “gwaylga”, it’s a pronunciation that replaces the Irish sounds by the closest English ones…

[Fabiola]

Hi !

I’m asking about pronunciation of Irish An Mhuir Mheann.
Is it [ ən virj vjan] or [ ən vwirj vjan ] with w sound ?

Thank you for your answer.

[Cúnla]

Would depend on the dialect, I’d think…

/É™nÌªË wɪɾʲ vʲɑːnÌªË / in Connemara Irish.

/É™nÌªË vwɪɾʲ vʲaunÌªË / (???) in Munster-ish Irish???…

[aonghus]

An Meánmhuir is the Mediterranean if that is what you mean.

You will get synthesised Gaoth Dobhair an Cois Fharraige pronunciations here

http://www.abair.tcd.ie/

[Cúnla]

Cf. [url=http://glg.csisdmz.ul.ie/flash/hi/0726.jpg]http://glg.csisdmz.ul.ie/flash/hi/0726.jpg[/url]

[aonghus]

Ambaist!

I had forgotten that usage, it is usually called Muir Éireann now.

Muir Meann

[Cúnla]

Muise tá an ceart agat a Aonghuis—sean-neodrach a bhí i ⟨muir⟩ fadó, ar ndóigh.

[Fabiola]

But you haven’t answered my question.
Is the pronunciation [ virj ] for the word [size=4]mhuir[/size] correct ?
Thank you for your answer.

[aonghus]

Fabiola, since I cannot read IPA I cannot answer your question.
That is why I suggested the synthesiser.

[Fabiola]

I’m repeating my question.
Is the pronunciation [ virj ] for the word [size=4]mhuir[/size] correct ?
Thank you for your answer.

[Author]

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