Scottish Gaelic phonology
Encyclopedia
This article is about the phonology
of the Scottish Gaelic language. There is no standard variety
of Scottish Gaelic; although statements below are about all or most dialects, the north-western dialects (Hebrides
, Skye
and the Northwest Highlands
) are discussed more than others as they represent the majority of speakers.
Gaelic phonology is characterised by:
Due to the geographic concentration of Gaelic speakers along the western seabord with its numerous islands, Gaelic dialectologists tend to ascribe each island its own dialect
. On the mainland, no clear dialect boundaries have been established to date but the main areas are generally assumed to be Argyllshire, Perthshire
, Moidart
/Ardnamurchan
, Wester Ross
and Sutherland
.
Edward Lhuyd
published the earliest major work on Scottish Gaelic after collecting data in the Scottish Highlands
between 1699 and 1700, in particular data on Argyll
Gaelic and the now obsolete dialects of north-east Inverness-shire
.
Following a significant gap, the middle to the end of the twentieth century saw a great flurry of dialect studies in particular by Scandinavia
n scholars, again focussing largely on phonology:
In the period between 1950 to 1963, fieldwork was carried out to document all then remaining Gaelic dialects, culminating in the publication of the five-volume Survey of the Gaelic Dialects of Scotland by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 1997. The survey collected data from informants as far south as Arran
, Cowal
, Brig o' Turk
, east to Blairgowrie
, Braemar
and Grantown-on-Spey
, north-east to Dunbeath
and Portskerra
and all areas west of these areas, including St Kilda
.
Note: The English equivalents given are only approximate, and refers most closely to the Scottish pronunciation of Standard English
. The vowel most commonly found in 'Southern' English cat is not [a] but [æ], just as the [aː] in English father is [ɑː]. The "a" in English late in Scottish English is the pure vowel [eː] rather than the more general diphthong
[eɪ]. The same is true for the "o" in English boat, [oː] in Scottish English, instead of the diphthong [əʊ].
Category 1 : vowel plus glide vowels.
In this category, vowels in digraphs/trigraphs that are next to a neighbouring consonant are for all intents and purposes part of the consonant, showing the broad or slender status of the consonant.
Category 2 : 'diphthongs' and 'triphthongs'.
In this category, vowels are written together to represent either a diphthong, or what was in Middle Irish a diphthong.
Category 2 digraphs can by followed by Category 1 glides, and thereby form trigraphs:
and Manx
, Scottish Gaelic contains what are traditionally referred to as "broad" and "slender" consonants. Historically, Primitive Irish consonants preceding the front vowels /e/ and /i/ developed a [j]-like coarticulation similar to the palatalised consonants found in Russian
while the consonants preceding the non-front vowels /a/, /o/ and /u/ developed a velar coarticulation
. While Irish distinguishes "broad" (i.e. phonologically velar or velarised consonants) and "slender" (i.e. phonologically palatal or palatalised consonants), in Scottish Gaelic velarisation is only present for /n̪ˠ lˠ̪ rˠ/. This means that consonants marked "broad" by the orthography are, for the most part simply unmarked, while "slender" consonants are palatal or palatalised. The main exception to this are the labials (/p pʰ m f v/), which have lost their palatalised forms. The only trace of their original palatalisation is a glide found before or after back vowel
s, e.g. beul /pialˠ̪/ ('mouth') vs beò /pjɔː/ ('alive').
Celtic linguists traditionally transcribe slender consonants with an apostrophe following the consonant (e.g. m′) and leave broad consonants unmarked.
In the modern languages, there is sometimes a stronger contrast from Old Gaelic in the assumed meaning of "broad" and "slender". In the modern languages, the phonetic difference between "broad" and "slender" consonants can be more complex than mere "velarisation"/"palatalisation". For instance, the Gaelic "slender s" is so palatalised that it has become postalveolar
[ʃ].
Certain consonants (in particular the fricatives [h x ç ɣ ʝ v] and the lenis coronals [l n ɾ ɾʲ]) are rare in initial position except as a result of lenition.
The Survey of Scottish Gaelic Dialects occasionally reports labialised forms such as [lˠ̪w] or [lˠ̪v] outside the area they predominantly appear in, for example in Harris and Wester Ross
.
stops /pʰ, t̪ʰ, tʲʰ, kʲʰ, kʰ/ are voiceless and aspirated; this aspiration occurs as postaspiration in initial position and, in most dialects, as preaspiration in medial position after stressed vowels. Similar to the manifestation of aspiration, the slender consonants have a palatal offglide when initial and a palatal onglide when medial or final.
varies in strength and can manifest as glottal ([ʰ] or [h]) or can vary depending on the place of articulation
of the preaspirated consonant; being [ç] before "slender" segments and [x] before "broad" ones. The occurrence of preaspiration follows a hierarchy of c > t > p; i.e. if a dialect has preaspiration with /pʰ/, it will also have it in the other places of articulation. Preaspiration manifests itself as follows:
become voiced when they follow nasal consonant
s of the definite article, for example: taigh ('a house') is [t̪ʰɤj] but an taigh ('the house') is [ən̪ˠ d̪ɤj]; cf. also tombaca ('tobacco') [t̪ʰomˈbaʰkə]. In such dialects, the lenis stops /p, t, tʲ, kʲ, k/ tend to be completely nasalised, thus doras ('a door') is [t̪ɔrəs], but an doras ('the door') is [ə n̪ˠɔrəs].
consonants have special pronunciations.
The /s̪/ is not lenited when it appears before /m p t̪ k/. Lenition
may be blocked when homorganic consonants
(i.e. those made at the same place of articulation
) clash with grammatical lenition rules. Some of these rules are active (particularly with dentals), others have become fossilised (i.e. velars and labials). For example, blocked lenition in the surname Caimbeul ('Campbell') (vs Camshron 'Cameron') is an incident of fossilised blocked lenition; blocked lenition in air an taigh salach "on the dirty house" (vs air a' bhalach mhath "on the good boy") is an example of the productive lenition blocking rule.
vowels between certain adjacent consonants. This affects orthographic l n r when followed by orthographic b bh ch g gh m mh; and orthographic m followed by l r s ch.
Occasionally, there are irregular occurrences of the epenthetic vowel, for example in Glaschu /klˠ̪as̪əxu/ "Glasgow
".
[ə] at the end of a word is dropped
when followed by a word beginning with a vowel. For example:
only exist in the dialects of Lewis and Sutherland in the extreme north of the Gaelic-speaking area. Phonetically and historically, these resemble the tones of Norway, Sweden and western Denmark; these languages have tonal contours typical for monosyllabic words and those for disyllabic words. In Lewis Gaelic, it is difficult to find minimal pairs. Among the rare examples are: bodh(a) ('underwater rock') vs. bò ('cow'), and fitheach ('raven') vs. fiach ('debt'). Another example is the tonal difference between ainm and anam, the latter of which has the tonal contour appropriate to a disyllable. These tonal differences are not to be found in Ireland or elsewhere in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd
.
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
of the Scottish Gaelic language. There is no standard variety
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
of Scottish Gaelic; although statements below are about all or most dialects, the north-western dialects (Hebrides
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
, Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
and the Northwest Highlands
Northwest Highlands
The Northwest Highlands are the northern third of Scotland that is separated from the Grampian Mountains by the Great Glen . The region comprises , Assynt, Caithness and Sutherland. The Caledonian Canal, which extends from Loch Linnhe in the west, via Loch Ness to the Moray Firth in the north...
) are discussed more than others as they represent the majority of speakers.
Gaelic phonology is characterised by:
- a phoneme inventory particularly rich in sonorantSonorantIn phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
coronal phonemes (commonly 9 in total) - a contrasting set of palatalised and non-palatalised consonants
- strong initial word-stressStress (linguistics)In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
and vowel reductionVowel reductionIn phonetics, vowel reduction is any of various changes in the acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to changes in stress, sonority, duration, loudness, articulation, or position in the word , and which are perceived as "weakening"...
in unstressed syllables - The presence of preaspirationPreaspirationIn phonetics, preaspiration is a period of voicelessness or aspiration preceding the closure of a voiceless obstruent, basically equivalent to an -like sound preceding the obstruent. In other words, when an obstruent is preaspirated, the glottis is opened for some time before the obstruent closure...
of stops in certain contexts - falling intonationIntonationIntonation may refer to:*Intonation , the variation of tone used when speaking*Intonation , a musician's realization of pitch accuracy, or the pitch accuracy of a musical instrument*Intonation Music Festival, held in Chicago...
in most types of sentences, including questions - lenitionLenitionIn linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
and extreme sandhiSandhiSandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries . Examples include the fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of sounds due to neighboring sounds or due to the grammatical function of adjacent words...
phenomena
Due to the geographic concentration of Gaelic speakers along the western seabord with its numerous islands, Gaelic dialectologists tend to ascribe each island its own dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
. On the mainland, no clear dialect boundaries have been established to date but the main areas are generally assumed to be Argyllshire, Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, Moidart
Moidart
Moidart is a district in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland.Moidart lies to the west of Fort William and is very remote. Loch Shiel cuts off the south-east boundary of the district. Moidart includes the townships of Dorlin, Mingarry, Kinlochmoidart and Glenuig. At Dorlin is located the ancient fortress...
/Ardnamurchan
Ardnamurchan
Ardnamurchan is a peninsula in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length.-Geography:...
, Wester Ross
Wester Ross
is a western area of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland, notably containing the villages on the west coast such as:* Lochcarron* Applecross* Shieldaig* Torridon* Kinlochewe * * * Aultbea* Laide* Ullapool* Achiltibuie...
and Sutherland
Sutherland
Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...
.
History of the discipline
Descriptions of the language have largely focused on the phonology. Welsh naturalistNaturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
Edward Lhuyd
Edward Lhuyd
Edward Lhuyd was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also known by the Latinized form of his name, Eduardus Luidius....
published the earliest major work on Scottish Gaelic after collecting data in the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
between 1699 and 1700, in particular data on Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
Gaelic and the now obsolete dialects of north-east Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire
The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...
.
Following a significant gap, the middle to the end of the twentieth century saw a great flurry of dialect studies in particular by Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n scholars, again focussing largely on phonology:
- 1938 Nils Holmer Studies on Argyllshire Gaelic published by the University of Uppsala
- 1937 Carl Borgstrøm The Dialect of BarraBarraThe island of Barra is a predominantly Gaelic-speaking island, and apart from the adjacent island of Vatersay, to which it is connected by a causeway, is the southernmost inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.-Geography:The 2001 census showed that the resident population was 1,078...
published by the Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap - 1940 Carl Borgstrøm The Dialects of the Outer HebridesOuter HebridesThe Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are geographically contiguous with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland...
published by the Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap - 1941 Carl Borgstrøm The Dialects of Skye and Ross-shireRoss-shireRoss-shire is an area in the Highland Council Area in Scotland. The name is now used as a geographic or cultural term, equivalent to Ross. Until 1889 the term denoted a county of Scotland, also known as the County of Ross...
published by the Norwegian University Press - 1956 Magne Oftedal The Gaelic of LeurbostLeurbostLeurbost is a village on the east coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is approximately 6 miles south of Stornoway on the road to Harris. It is the main settlement in the area of the island known as North Lochs...
, Isle of Lewis published by the Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap - 1957 Nils Holmer The Gaelic of KintyreKintyreKintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert in the north...
published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies - 1962 Nils Holmer The Gaelic of Arran published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
- 1966 Gordon MacGillFhinnein Gàidhlig Uibhist a Deas ("South Uist Gaelic") published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
- 1973 Elmar Ternes The Phonemic Analysis of Scottish Gaelic (focussing on ApplecrossApplecrossThe Applecross peninsula is a peninsula in Wester Ross, Highland, on the west coast of Scotland. The name Applecross is at least 1300 years old and is not used locally to refer to the 19th century village with the pub and post office, lying on the small Applecross Bay, facing the Inner Sound, on...
Gaelic) published by the Helmut Buske Verlag - 1978 Nancy DorianNancy DorianNancy C. Dorian is an American linguist who has carried out research into the death of the East Sutherland dialect of Scottish Gaelic for over 40 years, particularly in the villages of Brora, Golspie and Embo....
East SutherlandSutherlandSutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...
Gaelic published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies - 1989 Máirtín Ó Murchú East Perthshire Gaelic published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
In the period between 1950 to 1963, fieldwork was carried out to document all then remaining Gaelic dialects, culminating in the publication of the five-volume Survey of the Gaelic Dialects of Scotland by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 1997. The survey collected data from informants as far south as Arran
Isle of Arran
Arran or the Isle of Arran is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, and with an area of is the seventh largest Scottish island. It is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire and the 2001 census had a resident population of 5,058...
, Cowal
Cowal
thumb|Cowal shown within ArgyllCowal is a peninsula in Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands.-Description:The northern part of Cowal is mostly the mountainous Argyll Forest Park. Cowal is separated from the Kintyre peninsula to the west by Loch Fyne, and from Inverclyde and North Ayrshire to...
, Brig o' Turk
Brig o' Turk
Brig o' Turk or is a small community in the Trossachs, a range of hills in Stirling, Scotland. Its name is derived from the Gaelic Tuirc meaning wild boar.-Features:...
, east to Blairgowrie
Blairgowrie
Blairgowrie is the name of several places in the world:* Blairgowrie and Rattray, United Kingdom* Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia* Blairgowrie, Gauteng, South Africa...
, Braemar
Braemar
Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an altitude of ....
and Grantown-on-Spey
Grantown-on-Spey
Grantown-on-Spey is a town in the Highland Council Area in Scotland.It was founded in 1765 as a planned settlement on a low plateau at Freuchie beside the river Spey at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about 20 miles South East of Inverness .It is the main town in what was the...
, north-east to Dunbeath
Dunbeath
Dunbeath is a village in south-east Caithness, Scotland on the A9 road.It was the birthplace of Neil Gunn , author of The Silver Darlings, Highland River etc., many of whose novels are set in Dunbeath and its Strath...
and Portskerra
Portskerra
Portskerra is a hamlet that overlooks Melvich Bay to the east, in Sutherland, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.The village of Melvich is less than 1 mile directly southeast....
and all areas west of these areas, including St Kilda
St Kilda, Scotland
St Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...
.
Vowels
| Spelling | Pronunciation | English equivalents | As in |
|---|---|---|---|
| a, á | [a], [a] | cat | bata, ás |
| à | [aː] | father/calm | bàta |
| e | [ɛ], [e] | get | le, teth |
| è, é | [ɛː], [eː] | wary, late/lady | gnè, dé |
| i | [i], [iː] | tin, sweet | sin, ith |
| ì | [iː] | evil, machine | mìn |
| o | [ɔ], [o] | top | poca, bog |
| ò, ó | [ɔː], [oː] | jaw, boat/go | pòcaid, mór |
| u | [u] | brute | Tur |
| ù | [uː] | brewed | tùr |
Note: The English equivalents given are only approximate, and refers most closely to the Scottish pronunciation of Standard English
Scottish English
Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language....
. The vowel most commonly found in 'Southern' English cat is not [a] but [æ], just as the [aː] in English father is [ɑː]. The "a" in English late in Scottish English is the pure vowel [eː] rather than the more general diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
[eɪ]. The same is true for the "o" in English boat, [oː] in Scottish English, instead of the diphthong [əʊ].
Vowel di-/tri-graphs
The language uses many vowel combinations. These can be categorised into two types depending on the status of one or more of the written vowels in the combinations.Category 1 : vowel plus glide vowels.
In this category, vowels in digraphs/trigraphs that are next to a neighbouring consonant are for all intents and purposes part of the consonant, showing the broad or slender status of the consonant.
Category 2 : 'diphthongs' and 'triphthongs'.
In this category, vowels are written together to represent either a diphthong, or what was in Middle Irish a diphthong.
| Spelling | Pronunciation | As in |
|---|---|---|
| ai | [a]~[ɛ]; (unstressed syllables) [ɛ]~[ə]~[i] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
(stressed syllable) caileag, ainm [ɛnɛm]; (unstressed syllables) iuchair, geamair, dùthaich |
| ài | [aː] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
àite, bara-làimhe |
| ea | [ʲa]~[e]~[ɛ] [in part dialect variation] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
geal; deas; bean |
| eà | [ʲaː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
ceàrr |
| èa | [ɛː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad m, mh or p |
nèamh |
| èa | [ia] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant other than m, mh or p |
dèan |
| ei | [e]~[ɛ] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
eile; ainmeil |
| èi | [ɛː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
sèimh |
| éi | [eː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
fhéin |
| eo | [ʲɔ] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
deoch |
| eò | [ʲɔː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
ceòl |
| eòi | [ʲɔː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
feòil |
| eu | [eː]~[ia] [dialect variation, broadly speaking south versus north] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
ceum; feur |
| io | [i], [(j)ũ(ː)] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
fios, fionn |
| ìo | [iː], [iə] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
sgrìobh, mìos |
| iu | [(j)u] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
piuthar, fliuch |
| iù | [(j)uː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
diùlt |
| iùi | [(j)uː] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
diùid |
| oi | [ɔ], [ɤ] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
boireannach, goirid |
| òi | [ɔː] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
òinseach |
| ói | [oː] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
cóig |
| ui | [u], [ɯi], [uːi]; (unstressed syllables) [ə/ɨ] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
muir, uighean, tuinn |
| ùi | [uː] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
dùin |
| Spelling | Pronunciation | As in |
|---|---|---|
| ao | [ɯː] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
caol |
| ia | [iə], [ia] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
biadh, dian |
| ua | [uə] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a broad consonant |
ruadh, uabhasach |
Category 2 digraphs can by followed by Category 1 glides, and thereby form trigraphs:
| Spelling | Pronunciation | As in |
|---|---|---|
| aoi | [ɯː]~[ɤ] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
caoil; gaoithe |
| iai | [iə], [ia] preceded by a slender consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant |
Iain |
| uai | [uə] preceded by a broad consonant or Ø and followed by a slender consonant | ruaidh, duais |
Consonants
Like the closely related languages, Modern IrishIrish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
and Manx
Manx language
Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
, Scottish Gaelic contains what are traditionally referred to as "broad" and "slender" consonants. Historically, Primitive Irish consonants preceding the front vowels /e/ and /i/ developed a [j]-like coarticulation similar to the palatalised consonants found in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
while the consonants preceding the non-front vowels /a/, /o/ and /u/ developed a velar coarticulation
Velarization
Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant.In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of three diacritics:...
. While Irish distinguishes "broad" (i.e. phonologically velar or velarised consonants) and "slender" (i.e. phonologically palatal or palatalised consonants), in Scottish Gaelic velarisation is only present for /n̪ˠ lˠ̪ rˠ/. This means that consonants marked "broad" by the orthography are, for the most part simply unmarked, while "slender" consonants are palatal or palatalised. The main exception to this are the labials (/p pʰ m f v/), which have lost their palatalised forms. The only trace of their original palatalisation is a glide found before or after back vowel
Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
s, e.g. beul /pialˠ̪/ ('mouth') vs beò /pjɔː/ ('alive').
Celtic linguists traditionally transcribe slender consonants with an apostrophe following the consonant (e.g. m′) and leave broad consonants unmarked.
| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Coronal Coronal consonant Coronal consonants are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical , laminal , domed , or subapical , as well as a few rarer orientations, because only the front of the tongue has such... |
Dorsal Dorsal consonant Dorsal consonants are articulated with the mid body of the tongue . They contrast with coronal consonants articulated with the flexible front of the tongue, and radical consonants articulated with the root of the tongue.-Function:... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental | Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Palatal | Velar | ||||
| Stop Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
pʰ p | t̪ʰ t̪ | tʲʰ tʲ | kʲʰ kʲ | kʰ k | ||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
f v | s̪ | ʃ | ç ʝ | x ɣ | h | |
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n̪ˠ | n | ɲ | |||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
lˠ̪ | l | ʎ | j | |||
| Tap | ɾ ɾʲ | ||||||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
rˠ | ||||||
In the modern languages, there is sometimes a stronger contrast from Old Gaelic in the assumed meaning of "broad" and "slender". In the modern languages, the phonetic difference between "broad" and "slender" consonants can be more complex than mere "velarisation"/"palatalisation". For instance, the Gaelic "slender s" is so palatalised that it has become postalveolar
Postalveolar consonant
Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate...
[ʃ].
Certain consonants (in particular the fricatives [h x ç ɣ ʝ v] and the lenis coronals [l n ɾ ɾʲ]) are rare in initial position except as a result of lenition.
Phonetic variation
Gaelic phonemes may have various allophones as well as dialectal or variations in pronunciation not shown in the chart above. The more common ones are: as [tʃʰ] or [tɕʰ] as [ð] in Hebridean dialects as [nʲ]Velarised l
Velarised /lˠ̪/ has 6 main realisations as shown on the map:- Area 1, by far the most populous, has [lˠ̪]. The area includes most of the Outer Hebrides, the Highlands and areas south of central western areas such as Kintyre, Arran, Argyll and East Perthshire.
- Area 2, ArdnamurchanArdnamurchanArdnamurchan is a peninsula in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length.-Geography:...
, MoidartMoidartMoidart is a district in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland.Moidart lies to the west of Fort William and is very remote. Loch Shiel cuts off the south-east boundary of the district. Moidart includes the townships of Dorlin, Mingarry, Kinlochmoidart and Glenuig. At Dorlin is located the ancient fortress...
, LochaberLochaberDistrict of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
, South LornLornLorn may refer to:* John Lorn McDougall , Ontario businessman and political figure* John Lorn McDougall, Sr. , businessman and political figure in Canada West* Lorn, New South Wales, Australia...
and Upper BadenochBadenochBadenoch is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by the Cairngorms and Braemar, on the south by Atholl and the Grampians, and on the west by Lochaber...
has [lˠ̪w] or [wlˠ̪] - Area 3, between MullMull-Places:*Isle of Mull, Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides*Sound of Mull, between the island and the rest of Scotland*Mull , Anglicisation of Gaelic Maol, hill or promontory**Mull of Galloway, Scotland**Mull of Kintyre, Scotland...
and LismoreLismore-Places:Australia*Lismore, New South Wales, city*Lismore, Victoria, townCanada*Lismore, Nova Scotia, villageIreland*Lismore, County Waterford, town*Lismore Castle*Lismore, County Down, a townland in County Down,Scotland*Lismore, Scotland, island...
has vocalisedL-vocalizationIn linguistics, l-vocalization is a process by which an sound is replaced by a vowel or semivowel sound. This happens most often to velarized .-English:...
it: [u̯ˠ] - Area 4, in the south of Mull and EasdaleEasdaleEasdale is one of the Slate Islands, in the Firth of Lorn, Scotland. Once the centre of the British slate industry, there has been some recent island regeneration....
, has [ð] or [ðˠ] - Area 5, IslayIslay-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...
, has [t̪ˠ] or [t̪ˠlˠ̪] - Area 6 (St KildaSt Kilda, ScotlandSt Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...
) has [w] or [ʊ̯]
The Survey of Scottish Gaelic Dialects occasionally reports labialised forms such as [lˠ̪w] or [lˠ̪v] outside the area they predominantly appear in, for example in Harris and Wester Ross
Wester Ross
is a western area of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland, notably containing the villages on the west coast such as:* Lochcarron* Applecross* Shieldaig* Torridon* Kinlochewe * * * Aultbea* Laide* Ullapool* Achiltibuie...
.
Aspiration
The fortisFortis and lenis
In linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc....
stops /pʰ, t̪ʰ, tʲʰ, kʲʰ, kʰ/ are voiceless and aspirated; this aspiration occurs as postaspiration in initial position and, in most dialects, as preaspiration in medial position after stressed vowels. Similar to the manifestation of aspiration, the slender consonants have a palatal offglide when initial and a palatal onglide when medial or final.
Preaspiration
PreaspirationPreaspiration
In phonetics, preaspiration is a period of voicelessness or aspiration preceding the closure of a voiceless obstruent, basically equivalent to an -like sound preceding the obstruent. In other words, when an obstruent is preaspirated, the glottis is opened for some time before the obstruent closure...
varies in strength and can manifest as glottal ([ʰ] or [h]) or can vary depending on the place of articulation
Place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
of the preaspirated consonant; being [ç] before "slender" segments and [x] before "broad" ones. The occurrence of preaspiration follows a hierarchy of c > t > p; i.e. if a dialect has preaspiration with /pʰ/, it will also have it in the other places of articulation. Preaspiration manifests itself as follows:
- Area 1 as [xk xt xp] and [çkʲ çtʲ çp]
- Area 2 as [xk xt hp] and [çkʲ çtʲ hp]
- Area 3 as [xk ht hp] and [çkʲ htʲ hp]
- Area 4 as [ʰk ʰt ʰp]
- Area 5 as [xk] and [çkʲ] (no preaspiration of t and p)
- Area 6 no preaspiration
Nasalisation
In some Gaelic dialects (particularly the north-west), stops at the beginning of a stressed syllableSyllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
become voiced when they follow nasal consonant
Nasal consonant
A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
s of the definite article, for example: taigh ('a house') is [t̪ʰɤj] but an taigh ('the house') is [ən̪ˠ d̪ɤj]; cf. also tombaca ('tobacco') [t̪ʰomˈbaʰkə]. In such dialects, the lenis stops /p, t, tʲ, kʲ, k/ tend to be completely nasalised, thus doras ('a door') is [t̪ɔrəs], but an doras ('the door') is [ə n̪ˠɔrəs].
Lenition and spelling
The lenitedLenition
In linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
consonants have special pronunciations.
| Radical | Lenited | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broad | Slender | Orthography | Broad | Slender | |
| [p] | [pj] | b | bh | [v] | [vj] |
| [kʰ] | [kʲʰ] | c | ch | [x] | [ç] |
| [t̪] | [tʲ] | d | dh | [ɣ] | [ʝ] |
| [f] | [fj] | f | fh | silent | |
| [k] | [kʲ] | g | gh | [ɣ] | [ʝ] |
| [l̪ˠ] | [ʎ] | l | [l̪ˠ] | [l] | |
| [m] | [mj] | m | mh | [v] | [vj] |
| [n̪ˠ] | [ɲ] | n | [n] | [n] | |
| [pʰ] | [pʰj] | p | ph | [f] | [fj] |
| [rˠ] | r | [ɾ] | |||
| [s̪] | [ʃ] | s | sh | [h] | [hj] |
| [t̪ʰ] | [tʲʰ] | t | th | [h] | [hj] |
The /s̪/ is not lenited when it appears before /m p t̪ k/. Lenition
Lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
may be blocked when homorganic consonants
Homorganic consonants
Homorganic consonants is a phonetics term for consonant sounds which are articulated in the same position or place of articulation in the mouth, such as , or...
(i.e. those made at the same place of articulation
Place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
) clash with grammatical lenition rules. Some of these rules are active (particularly with dentals), others have become fossilised (i.e. velars and labials). For example, blocked lenition in the surname Caimbeul ('Campbell') (vs Camshron 'Cameron') is an incident of fossilised blocked lenition; blocked lenition in air an taigh salach "on the dirty house" (vs air a' bhalach mhath "on the good boy") is an example of the productive lenition blocking rule.
Stress
Stress is usually on the first syllable: for example drochaid 'a bridge' [ˈt̪rɔxɪtʲ].Epenthesis
A distinctive characteristic of Gaelic pronunciation (also present in Scots and Scottish English dialects (cf. girl [ɡʌɾəl] and film [fɪləm]) is the insertion of epentheticEpenthesis
In phonology, epenthesis is the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially to the interior of a word. Epenthesis may be divided into two types: excrescence, for the addition of a consonant, and anaptyxis for the addition of a vowel....
vowels between certain adjacent consonants. This affects orthographic l n r when followed by orthographic b bh ch g gh m mh; and orthographic m followed by l r s ch.
- tarbh (bull) — [t̪ʰaɾav]
- Alba (Scotland) — [alˠ̪apə].
Occasionally, there are irregular occurrences of the epenthetic vowel, for example in Glaschu /klˠ̪as̪əxu/ "Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
".
Elision
SchwaSchwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
[ə] at the end of a word is dropped
Elision
Elision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce...
when followed by a word beginning with a vowel. For example:
- duine ('a man') — [ˈt̪ɯɲə]
- an duine agad ('your man') — [ən̪ˠ ˈt̪ɯɲ akət̪]
Tones
Of all the Celtic languages, lexical tonesTone (linguistics)
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
only exist in the dialects of Lewis and Sutherland in the extreme north of the Gaelic-speaking area. Phonetically and historically, these resemble the tones of Norway, Sweden and western Denmark; these languages have tonal contours typical for monosyllabic words and those for disyllabic words. In Lewis Gaelic, it is difficult to find minimal pairs. Among the rare examples are: bodh(a) ('underwater rock') vs. bò ('cow'), and fitheach ('raven') vs. fiach ('debt'). Another example is the tonal difference between ainm and anam, the latter of which has the tonal contour appropriate to a disyllable. These tonal differences are not to be found in Ireland or elsewhere in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd
Gàidhealtachd
The Gàidhealtachd , sometimes known as A' Ghàidhealtachd , usually refers to the Scottish highlands and islands, and especially the Scottish Gaelic culture of the area. The corresponding Irish word Gaeltacht however refers strictly to an Irish speaking area...
.
External links
- A near-exhaustive pronunciation guide on Akerbeltz (IPA)
- Rough pronunciation guide on Taic (spelt pronunciation)