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:
“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)
“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)