Connacht Irish - Phonology

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Connacht Irish (based on the accent of Tourmakeady in Mayo) is as 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 consonant /h/ is neither broad or slender.

The vowels of Connacht Irish are as shown on the following chart. These positions are only approximate, as vowels are strongly influenced by the palatalization and velarization of surrounding consonants.

In addition, Connacht has the diphthongs /iə, uə, əi, əu/.

Some characteristics of Connacht that distinguish it from the other dialects are:

• In some varieties, vowel lengthening before word-internal clusters of voiced plosive + liquid (e.g. /ɑːɡləʃ/ eaglais "church"
• In some varieties, a four-way distinction among coronal nasals and laterals: /n̪ˠ ~ n̪ʲ ~ nˠ ~ nʲ/, /l̪ˠ ~ l̪ʲ ~ lˠ ~ lʲ/, often without lengthening of orthographic short vowels before them.
• In the variety spoken in Cois Fharraige (the area along the north shore of Galway Bay between Barna and Casla), underlying short /a/ is realized as a long front while underlying long /aː/ is realized as a back .
• /n/ is realized as (or is replaced by /r/) after consonants other than . This happens in Ulster as well.
• Broad bh is rendered /w/ even in initial positions, with a few exceptions.
• The inflected pronouns agam, agat, againn, agaibh are usually reduced into monosyllables /am/, /ad/, /an/, /aɡiː/
• The prepositions do, di are frequently pronounced (and sometimes written) in their lenited forms.
• The preposition and article sa causes eclipsis, where it causes lenition in the Caighdeán.