Vowels
In spite of the complex chart below, pronunciation of vowels in Irish is mostly predictable from a few simple rules:
- Fada vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) are always pronounced.
- Vowels on either side of a fada vowel are silent. They are present only to satisfy the "caol le caol agus leathan le leathan" ("slender with slender and broad with broad") rule. This rule states that e or i (slender) and a or o or u (broad) vowels must be of the same type on both sides of any consonant, to unambiguously determine the consonant's own broad vs slender pronunciation.
- Between a consonant and a broad vowel, e and i are silent clc-rule vowels:
- fear, bean, leabhar, seomra -> silent e
- cailin, uncail, abhainn, aimsir, bainne -> silent i
The following chart indicates how written vowels are generally pronounced. Each dialect has certain divergences from this general scheme.
Read more about this topic: Irish Orthography
Famous quotes containing the word vowels:
“As no one can tell what was the Roman pronunciation, each nation makes the Latin conform, for the most part, to the rules of its own language; so that with us of the vowels only A has a peculiar sound.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Playing “bop” is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.”
—Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
“These equal syllables alone require,
Though oft the ear the open vowels tire;”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)