Irish phonology

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The phonology of the Irish language varies from dialect to dialect; there is no standard pronunciation of the language. Therefore, this article focuses on phenomena that pertain generally to most or all dialects, and on some of the major differences among the dialects. Detailed discussion of the dialects can be found in the specific articles: Ulster Irish, Connacht Irish, and Munster Irish.

Consonants

Most dialects of Irish contain at a minimum the consonants shown in the following chart (see International Phonetic Alphabet for an explanation of the symbols). Symbols appearing in the upper half of each row are velarized (traditionally called "broad" consonants) while those in the bottom half are palatalized ("slender"). The distinction between velarized "broad" consonants and palatalized "slender" consonants is phonemic in Irish. The consonant /h/ is neither broad or slender.

Consonant phonemes	Labial						Coronal					Dorsal				Glottal
Consonant phonemes	Bilabial		Labio- dental		Labio- velar		Dental		Alveolar		Alveolo- palatal	Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Plosive	pˠ pʲ	bˠ bʲ					t̪ˠ	d̪ˠ	tʲ	dʲ		c	ɟ	k	ɡ
Fricative/ Approximant			fˠ fʲ	vʲ		w			sˠ		ɕ	ç	j	x	ɣ	h
Nasal		mˠ mʲ						n̪ˠ		nʲ			ɲ		ŋ
Tap										ɾˠ ɾʲ
Lateral approximant								ɫ̪		lʲ

Broad (velarized) consonants have a noticeable velar offglide before front vowels, thus [naoi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /n̪ˠiː/ "nine" and [caoi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /kiː/ "way, manner" are pronounced [n̪ˠɰiː] and [kɰiː] (Sjoestedt 1931:19, Sutton 1993). This velar offglide is labialized after labial consonants, so [buí] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /bˠiː/ "yellow" is pronounced [bwiː] (Sutton 1993, Quiggin 1906:76). The realization of the slender consonants varies somewhat from dialect to dialect; for example /tʲ/ is an affricate [tɕ] in Ulster, a palatalized [tʲ] in Connacht, and an apical postalveolar [t̠] in Munster.

/w/ has two basic allophones: the labiovelar approximant [w] and the velarized voiced labiodental fricative [vˠ]. The distribution of these allophones varies from dialect to dialect. In Munster generally only [vˠ] is found (Sjoestedt 1931:28–29), and in Ulster generally only [w] (Quiggin 1906:74–76). In Connacht [w] is found word-initially before vowels (e.g. [bhfuil] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [wɪlʲ] "is") and [vˠ] in other positions (e.g. [naomh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [n̪ˠiːvˠ] "holy", [fómhar] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ˈfˠuːvˠəɾˠ] "autumn", [bhrostaigh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ˈvˠɾˠɔsˠt̪ˠə] "hurried", [lámha] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ɫ̪ɑːvˠə] "hands" (Finck 1899:64–67, de Bhaldraithe 1966:30–31).

The labiodental fricatives /fˠ, fʲ, vʲ/ as well as the fricative allophone [vˠ] of /w/ have bilabial allophones in many dialects; the distribution depends partly on environment (bilabials are more likely to be found adjacent to rounded vowels) and partly on the individual speaker (de Bhaldraithe 1966:31–32).

The phoneme /j/ has three allophones in most dialects: a palatal glide [j] (like English y in yellow) before vowels besides /iː/ and in at the ends of syllables (e.g. [dheas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [jasˠ] "nice", [beidh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [bʲɛj] "will be"); a voiced (post)palatal fricative [ʝ] before consonants (e.g. [ghrian] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ʝɾʲiən̪ˠ] "sun"); and an intermediate sound [j˔] (with more frication than [j] but less frication than [ʝ]) before /iː/ (e.g. [dhírigh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [j˔iːɾʲə] "straightened" (Breatnach 1947:39–40, Ó Cuív 1944:42–43, de Bhaldraithe 1966:34, Mhac an Fhailigh 1968:34–35).

As in English, voiceless stops are aspirated at the start of a word, while voiced stops may not be fully voiced but are never aspirated. Also, as in English, voiceless stops are unaspirated after /s/ (e.g. [scanradh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [sˠkauɾˠə] "terror"); however, stops remain aspirated after the clitic is /s/ (e.g. [is cam] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [sˠkʰaum] "it's crooked") (Breatnach 1947:33, 76).

Vowels

The vowels of Connacht Irish (de Búrca 1958, p. 7)

File:Munster Irish vowel chart.png

The vowels of Munster Irish (Ó Cuív 1944, p. 13)

The vowel sounds vary from dialect to dialect, but in general Connacht and Munster at least agree in having:

Two close front unrounded vowels, one long and one short, where the short vowel is less close and less front than the long vowel: /iː/ and /ɪ/
Two close back rounded vowels, one long and one short, where the short vowel is less close and less back than the long vowel: /uː/ and /ʊ/
Two mid front unrounded vowels, one long and one short, where the short vowel is more open than the long vowel: /eː/ and /ɛ/
Two mid back rounded vowels, one long and one short, where the short vowel is more open than the long vowel: /oː/ and /ɔ/
Two open unrounded vowels, one long and one short. See below for a discussion of the backness of these vowels.
Two falling diphthongs, /ai/ and /au/ (in some varieties, /əi/ and /əu/)
Two centering diphthongs, /iə/ and /uə/
Schwa, found only in unstressed syllables: /ə/

The vowels of Ulster Irish are more divergent and are discussed in that article.

Vowel backness

The backness of vowels, particularly short vowels, depends to a great extent on the quality (broad or slender) of adjacent consonants. Some researchers (e.g. Ó Siadhail 1989, pp. 35–37, Ní Chiosáin 1994) have in fact argued that [ɪ] and [ʊ] are actually allophones of the same phoneme, as are [ɛ] and [ɔ]. These phonemes are not fully specified in their underlying representation, as they are not marked as either front vowels or back vowels. Rather, they acquire a specification for frontness or backness from the consonants around them.

Open vowels

In Munster, short /a/ is a front [a] when the only adjacent consonants are slender: [gairid] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ɟaɾʲədʲ]^[1] "short", [ait] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [atʲ] "peculiar", [feadh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [fʲa] "length". It is a somewhat retracted [a̠] between a broad and a slender consonant (in either order): [fear] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [fʲa̠ɾˠ] "man", [caite] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ˈka̠tʲə] "worn". It is a central [ä] between a broad labial consonant or /ɫ̪/ and a slender consonant (in that order): [baile] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [bˠälʲə] "town", [loit] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ɫ̪ätʲ]^[2] "hurt". It has a quality between central and back, [ɑ̈], when the only adjacent consonants are broad: [mac] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [mˠɑ̈k] "son", [abair] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ɑ̈bˠəɾʲ] "say", [dath] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [d̪ˠɑ̈] "color" (Ó Sé 2000, p. 21).

Phonotactics

Usually all the consonants in a cluster have the same broad/slender quality, for example [freagra] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /fʲɾʲaɡrə/ "answer". Cf. also [seachain] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /ɕaxənʲ/ "avoid (imperative)" with slender /nʲ/ but [seachnaím] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /ɕaxniːmʲ/ "I avoid" with broad /n/, because it is next to broad /x/. But there are some systematic exceptions:

/r/ is always broad before coronals, even when the second coronal sound itself is slender, for example [airde] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /aːrdʲə/ "height", [eirleach] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /eːrlʲəx/ "destruction", [tuirne] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /tuːrnʲə/ "spinning wheel", [cairde] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /kaːrdʲə/ "friends"
Word-initial /s/ is always broad before labials, even when the labial itself is slender, for example [smig] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /smʲiɟ/ "chin", [speal] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /spʲal/ "scythe"

Stress

An Irish word normally has only one stressed syllable, namely the first one:

/ˈkapəl/ [capall] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "horse"
/ˈɕoːltoːɾʲ/ [seoltóir] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "sailor"
/ˈɕupədoːɾʲ/ [siopadóir] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "shopkeeper"

Certain adverbs and loanwords have stress on a noninitial syllable:

/əˈwaːnʲ/ [amháin] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "only"
/əˈnuəs/ [anuas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "down from above"
/təˈbak/ [tobac] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "tobacco"
/ˌatˈlantəx/ [Atlantach] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "Atlantic"
/ˈmatəˌmatʲəc/ [matamaitic] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "mathematics"

In compounds more than one syllable is stressed:

/ˈmʲaːnˌiːɕ/ [meánaois] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "middle ages"
/ˈdroxˈobəɾʲ/ [drochobair] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "bad work"
/ˌdoˈjeːntə/ [dodhéanta] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "impossible, hard to do"
/ˈdroxˈvʲaːnˌskelʲ/ [droch-mheánscoil] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "bad secondary school"

Most compounds are like /ˈmʲaːnˌiːɕ/ [meánaois] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), the primary stress falls on the first member and the secondary stress on the second:

/ˈdoːˌlaːvəx/ [dólámhach] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "two-handed"
/ˈɕanˌahəɾʲ/ [seanathair] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "grandfather"
/ˈoɕˌoːlʲ/ [oiseoil] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "venison"

The prefixes [do-] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /d̪ˠɔ/ "bad, hard to ..., un-X-able", [so-] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [sˠɔ] "good, easy to..." and [in-] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /ɪnʲ/ "-able" take the secondary accent; the primary accent falls on the second member:

/ˌdoˈhicə/ [dothuigthe] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "incomprehensible"
/ˌsoˈjeːntə/ [sodhéanta] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "easy to do"
/ˌinʲˈoːltə/ [inólta] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "drinkable"

Some compounds have primary stress on both the first and the second member:

/ˈbʲiˈwuən/ [bithbhuan] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "everlasting"
/ˈkoˈvroːn/ [comhbhrón] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "sympathy"
/ˈɡnaːhˈaːtʲ/ [gnátháit] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "usual place"
/ˈpriːvˈedʲə/ [príomhoide] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "principal (teacher)"

Vowel-initial words

Vowel-initial words in Irish exhibit behavior that has led linguists to suggest they begin with a latent onset that, like consonants, can be either velarized (broad) or palatalized (slender).

For example, when the vowel-initial words [arcán] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /arkaːn/ "piglet" and [uimhríonn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /ivʲɾʲiːn/ "numbers" (present-tense verb) are preceded by a clitic ending in a consonant, that consonant is broad: [m'arcán] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /markaːn/ "my piglet"; [d'uimhrigh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /divʲɾʲiː/ "numbered".

But when the words [earc] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /ark/ "lizard" and [imíonn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /imʲiːn/ "leaves" (present-tense verb) are preceded by the same proclitics, the consonant is slender: [m'earc] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /mʲark/ "my lizard"; [d'imigh] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) /dʲimʲiː/ "left".

This difference is not predictable, it is a lexical property of each individual vowel-initial word. Thus some linguists have argued that roots like [arcán] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and [uimhr-] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) actually begin with a consonant containing no features except that of being velarized, and roots like [earc] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and [im-] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) with a consonant containing no features except that of being palatalized.

When /f/ is lenited to zero, its quality remains if a consonant-final proclitic takes its place, as in:

fargán	/farəɡaːn/	"ledge"	m'fhargán	/marəɡaːn/	"my ledge"
fearg	/fʲarəɡ/	"anger"	m'fhearg	/mʲarəɡ/	"my anger"
filleann	/fʲilʲən/	"returns"	d'fhill	/dʲiːlʲ/	"returned"
fuilíonn	/filʲiːn/	"bleeds"	d'fhuiligh	/dilʲiː/	"bled"

Footnotes

^ In the dialect of Dingle Peninsula, [gairid] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is pronounced as if spelled [geairid] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help).
^ In the dialect of Dingle Peninsula, [loit] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is pronounced as if spelled [lait] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help).

References

External links

[1] In the dialect of Dingle Peninsula, [gairid] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is pronounced as if spelled [geairid] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help).

[2] In the dialect of Dingle Peninsula, [loit] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is pronounced as if spelled [lait] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help).

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