§ 341. The silencing of ḋ and ġ as above has brought about the contraction of many words in the spoken language, as—
| blaiḋain, | a year | pronounced | bliaḋn, | blee′-ăn. |
| Briġid, | Brigid | „ | Briġd, | breed. |
| foiġid, | patience | „ | foiġd, | fweed. |
| Nuaḋat, | of Nuada; | „ | Nuaḋt, | Noo′-ăth. |
As in Maġ Nuaḋat (mau-noo′-ăth), the plain of Nuada, Maynooth.
EXERCISE LVI.
ḋ AND ġ AT THE BEGINNING OF WORDS.
§ 342. When slender, i.e., next e or i, they are pronounced like y.
§ 343.
| mo Ḋia | (mŭ yee′-ă), | my God. |
| „ ḋiallaid | ( „ yee′-ăL-ăd), | my saddle. |
| „ ḋíċeall | ( „ yeeh′-ăL), | my best. |
| „ ġiall | ( „ yee′-ăL), | my jaw. |
| „ ġé | ( „ yae), | my goose. |
- deun do ḋíċeall, do thy best.
- Rinne sé a ḋíċeall, he did his best.
| Munster. | |||
| mo ġeall, | my promise, | yaL | youL. |
| an ġealaċ, | the moon, | yal′-ăCH | yal-oCH′. |
§ 344. Ná cuir mo ḋiallaid ar mo ċapall, a Ṡeaġain, aċt cuir an diallaid eile ar an asal, agus cuir mo ḋiallaid ar an láir. Atá an oiḋċe geal anois, atá an ġealaċ ins an speur. Ní raiḃ an ġealaċ ins an speur, agus ḃí an oiḋċe duḃ.
§ 345. Do not break your promise. Conn did his best; he gave his horse, his saddle, and his bridle to Niall, and he gave his coach to Art. Tim got a blow from Art; his jaw is broken.
EXERCISE LVII.
ḋ AND ġ BROAD AT BEGINNING OF WORDS.
§ 346. At the beginning of words ḋ and ġ broad have a sound not heard in English, and which we shall represent by the Greek gamma γ.
It is not easy to learn this sound except by ear. Until the student has heard it, it may be pronounced like g broad, i.e. (G).
We shall try to teach the sound as well as we can. Take the English word “auger,” a carpenter’s tool (Irish, taraċair, thor′-ăCH-ăr). In pronouncing this word “auger,” the tongue is pressed against the back part of the mouth in bringing out the sound of g. Try to pronounce “auger” without allowing the tongue to touch the back part of the mouth, and the result will be “auγer,” thus giving the sound we want.
It will then be seen that this sound γ is not so hard as g, but is in reality only a partial consonant sound. Try the same experiment with the words “go,” gráḋ, “graw,” &c.
§ 347. The phrase that we have until now spelled Dia duit! is always pronounced Dia ḋuit (γit, almost gu-it′). Another popular phrase is a ġráḋ (ă γrau; between ă grau and ă rau) o love. Another is a ḋuine ċóir (ă γin′-ĕ CHōr), my good man.
§ 348. The preposition ar, on, upon, causes aspiration; as ar Ḋoṁnall (er γōn′-ăL), on Donal.
- druim (dhrim), back.pian (pee′-ăn), pain.
§ 349. Dia agus Muire ḋuit, a ḋuine ċóir. Dia agus Muire ḋuit, agus Pád- raig. Ní ḟuil do ġort glas fós. Atá mo ġort mór; aċt ní ḟuil coirce ag fás in mo ġort anois. Atá mo ḋoras dúnta. Fuair mé pian in mo ḋruim. Fuair Conn cóta nuaḋ, agus atá cóta nuad eile ar Doṁnall O’h-Aoḋa. Ní ḟuil do laoġ in mo ġort; ḃí sé ins an leuna, aċa atá sé ar an sliaḃ anois.
§ 350. My back is broken. Do not break my window; do not break my door. I am sick, and my pain is great. I was sick, but I am not sick now; I have no pain at all in my back. I was going to Derry in the night, and my horse died on the road, ród. There is not a tree growing on the mountain; the moun- tain is bare and cold.
EXERCISE LVIII.
COMBINATIONS OF CONSONANTS.
§ 351. Having now finished aspiration of consonants, we have to deal only with some combinations of consonants. In pronouncing English words like “farm,” “elm,” &c., we usually say in Ireland (faar′-ăm, el′-ĕm). This is a peculiarity of our own Irish language, in which some combinations of consonants are pronounced as if there was a vowel between the con- sonants. Thus:—
