Smoke in the Wind Read Free

syllable, the second syllable bears the stress.
    There are five short vowels - a, e, i, o, u - and five long vowels - á, é, í, ó, ú . On the long vowels note the accent, like the French acute, which is called a fada (lit. long), and this is the only accent in Irish. It occurs on capitals as well as lower case.
    The accent is important for, depending on where it is placed, it changes the entire word. Seán (Shawn) = John. But sean (shan) = old and séan (she-an) = an omen. By leaving out the accent on the name of the famous film actor, Sean Connery, he has become ‘Old’ Connery!
    These short and long vowels are either ‘broad’ or ‘slender’. The six broad vowels are:
    a pronounced ‘o’ as in cot
á pronounced ‘aw’ as in law
o pronounced ‘u’ as in cut
ó pronounced ‘o’ as in low
u pronounced ‘u’ as in run
ú pronounced ‘u’ as in rule
The four slender vowels are:
i pronounced ‘i’ as in hit
í pronounced ‘ee’ as in see
e pronounced ‘e’ as in let
é pronounced ‘ay’ as in say
    There are double vowels, some of which are fairly easy because they compare to English pronunciation - such as ‘ ae ’ as in s ay or ui as in q ui t. However, some double and even triple vowels in Irish need to be learnt.
    ái pronounced like ‘aw’ as in law (dálaigh =
daw’lee)
ia pronounced like ‘ea’ as in near
io pronounced like ‘o’ as in come
éa pronounced like ‘ea’ as in bear
ei pronounced like ‘e’ as in let
aoi pronounced like the ‘ea’ as in mean
uai pronounced like the ‘ue’ as in blue
eoi pronounced like the ‘eo’ as in yeoman
iai pronounced like the ‘ee’ as in see

Hidden vowels
    Most people will have noticed that many Irish people pronounce the word film as fil’ um . This is actually a transference of Irish pronunciation rules. When l , n or r are followed by b , bh , ch , g (not after n ), m , or mh , and are preceded by a short stressed vowel, an additional vowel is heard between them: ie bolg (stomach) is pronounced bol’ag; garbh (rough) is gar’ev; dorcha (dark) is dor’ach’a; gorm (blue) is gor’um and ainm (name) is an’im.

The consonants
    b , d , f , h , l , m , n , p , r , and t are said more or less as in English.
    g is always hard like ‘g’ as in gate
c is always hard like the ‘c’ as in cat
s is pronounced like the ‘s’ as in said except
before a slender vowel when it is pronounced ‘sh’
as in shin
    In Irish the letters j , k , q , w , x , y and z do not exist and v is formed by the combination of ‘ bh ’.
    Consonants can change their sound by aspiration or eclipse. Aspiration is caused by using the letter ‘h’ after them.
    bh is the ‘v’ as in voice
ch is a soft breath as in lo ch (not pronounced as
lock!) or as in Ba ch .
dh before a broad vowel is like the ‘g’ as in gap
dh before a slender vowel is like the ‘y’ as in year
fh is totally silent
gh before a slender vowel can sound like ‘y’ as in
yet
mh is pronounced like the ‘w’ as in wall
ph is like the ‘f’ as in fall
th is like the ‘h’ as in ham
sh is also like the ‘h’ as in ham
    Consonants can also change their sound by being eclipsed, or silenced, by another consonant placed before them. For example na mBan (of women) = nah m ’on; or i bpaipéar (in the paper) i b ’ap’er; or i gcathair (in the city) i g ’a’har.
    p can be eclipsed by b , t
t can be eclipsed by d
c can be eclipsed by g
f can be eclipsed by bh
b by m
d and g by n
    For those interested in learning more about the language, it is worth remembering that, after centuries of suppression during the colonial period, Irish became the first official language of the Irish State on independence in 1922. The last published Census of 1991 showed one third of the population returning themselves as Irish-speaking. In Northern Ireland, where the language continued to be openly discouraged after Partition in 1922, only ten-and-a-half per cent of the population were able to