The Pronunciation of Irish (Gaelic) Vowels

A detailed and unorganised introduction to Irish vowels. Send on questions and requests for future videos. I'll add a description later!
Féach ar m'fhíseán a bhuineann le consain.
Watch my video that deals with consonants.
• The Pronunciation of I...

[@DroppinOfflay]

This is so helpful lad, I’m from Tyrone and I hardly find anyone who teaches Irish correctly, so this is a pure bun

[@davidsarif2481]

As a foreigner learning Irish, I found this video very helpful.

[@CCc-sb9oj]

The Vowels a, e, i, o, u á, é, í, ó, ú 32:03 Short Digraphs ai - 32:45 ae + ao - 33:50 e - 37:28 ea - 38:02 ei - 38:45 eo - 39:15 ia - 42:05 io - 43:22 iu - 47:06 oi - 47:55 ua - 51:31 ui - 53:00 Long Digraphs Start + á - 56:32 ái - 57:44 éa - 59:53 éi - 1:03:08 ío - 1:07:04

[@neebeeshaabookwayg6027]

I thankfully, VERY VERY thankful that I found this!! I am just learning irish-- I am hungry to do it as it should be.. but, I hear many ways and, it 'shakes my boat'--- I need an anchor a safe port and some steady captains (so to speak) ... I understand exactly what you are presenta here... even why you, and have the rough spots-- not bothered, at all.... thank you so very much, again. 4 year old video, STILL precious... 🤗🥰🏆🏆🏆

[@CCc-sb9oj]

Timestamps 2:30 - palatal vs non-palatal 4:50 - overview of palatisation 7:14 - mispronounciation of palatal T 9:50 - Dia dhuit, proper pronunce 11:15 - front vowels (i , e) 17:15 - Comparisons between Slavic + native Irish pronunciations 20:50 - Vowels 25:00 - Short Vowels 26:30 - Gaeilge, historically correct name 32:00 - The Short Vowels (from 31.50 to 56.30 he goes detailed into every short vowel combo. I will timestamp each individually in separate post) 56:32 - Long Vowels section (to 01.12.01. Will timestamp) 1:12:55 - Glides (to 01.25.00) 1:25:05 - Pure Vowels vs Dipthongised Vowels (Note: What L says here about Dublin vowels may be true for you regardless of where you live in Ireland. Many historically Dublin features have spread over the whole country in recent decades as part of a new 'Supraregional' version of Irish English. The younger one is the more likely one is to have features of this. So be mindful of your vowels!)

[@altanerener7315]

As a native Russian and Ukrainian speaker, I can confirm that while listening to native Irish speakers (especially from Munster and Connacht), I perceive their way of pronouncing slender consonants as absolutely and utterly the same as in Slavic languages. The same goes for the broad R which is thrilled (rolled) in my native language, just like I hear in the speech of native Irish speakers and not flapped R as in English (unfortunately, the majority of Irish learners tend to adopt this English way of pronouncing the broad R). BTW, Polish language is akin to Ulster dialect, since their way of pronouncing slender 't', 'd' etc. is more "palatised" than in eastern Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian) - when we pronounce slender 't' or 'd' -- they pronounce 'ch' and 'j' in those words )))

[@marcasdebarun6879]

Fyi, the English r is not flapped (except in a select few dialects, very very conservative Irish English being on of them). It is usually an approximant, which is a similar class of sounds to /w/, /l/, etc. The Irish r is actually the flapped one, as it is usually not trilled like in Spanish or Russian, but flapped just once against the alveolar ridge.

[@user-td4do3op2d]

@@marcasdebarun6879 Actually that’s not true. The flapped R was the only R in English until a few hundred years ago. The majority of traditional English dialects use the flapped R (mostly alongside the normal English R). All of Scotland and the north of England used the flapped R until recently. Working class people from some of the biggest cities in England, including Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, use the flapped R. Until 50 years ago, the prestige accent in England used flapped R sounds in certain positions. The queen still uses a flapped R when she says words like “very”.

[@mrm6607]

You may think you were rambling, good sir, but wow this was the most excellent guide to Irish vowels I've ever seen. I love the historical knowledge and elaboration on dialectal differences and using the old spelling as a proper guide. I only wish I would've seen your material when I started my journey into Irish. Go raibh maith agat a chara!

[@fs5209]

1:05:00 You know he's getting heated when he mixes up Irish and English 🤣🤣 Great to see the passion for the language and orthography in general

[@TheBullets91]

Greetings from Tír Eoghain! Looking forward to your future content! We need to start speaking Irish up here.

[@Gaff.]

This is probably exactly how it would go if I tried to do this. What that means is I think that for my own part, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I imagine it will be over the heads of a lot of people that aren't linguists or 'linguistic historians' (that's not an established term, is it?). But I stress again that I enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for making it.

[@ferncat1397]

Good point at 17:26! I never explicitly learned about broad and slender consonants in school, and have picked up a lot of mistakes you've mentioned. I could never understand why the Irish we spoke in school didn't sound like the speakers on the cluastuiscint. I can't remember any of my teachers ever distinguishing between the r caol and r leathan, for example, which to me is quite an obvious one. I'm finding it awkward to change my pronunciation after 18 years, as if I'm learning the language all over again... I also can't decide which canúint to choose!

[@AnLoingseach]

Cad as duit, nú cé as tú, nú cárb as duit? Mholfainn duit an chanamhaint bheó is girre** {féach an nóta thíos} dhuit 'o dh'fhoghlaim mar threóir duit, lé linn do chanamhaint (mharbh) t' áit dúthchais féin bheith á foghlaim (agus á h-ath-bheódhachaint) agat. Má 's deacair leat teacht ar adhbhar 'o bhuineann le canamhaint t' áit dúthchais féin, bheinn ana-shásta é 'o sh{o}láthar duit, má tá se lé fagháil! Má 's suim leat canamhaintí, buinfir ana-thaitneamh as an suidheamh so; www.doegen.ie/ga/contaetha ** Girre 》 "Giorra" (an gnáth-litriughadh i ndiubh). Is minic a múintar gur breis-chéim/sár-chéim nea{mh}-riaghalta atá oige ([ˈɛɟɪ̈]=aige=ag) 'n aidiacht "gearr" ach ní fíor son, ó 's riaghalta an t-atharrughadh ó bhun-chéim "gearr" go breis/sár-chéim "giorra"; 1. gearr 》 2. girre ("ge(a)rr + -e": ea》i)》 3. gi(o)rra (R tréan caol go R tréan leathan, [rʲ] 》[rˠ] (4. gior(r)a, R leathan tréan go R leathan séimh, [rˠ]》[ɾˠ]. De bharr an athruighthe sin, is é "giorra" an gnáth-litriughadh ach "giora" is mó a deirtar/deirtí lasmu' de Chúige Uladh (Co. Lughbhaidh agus Co. na Midhe 'san áireamh). Seana-Ghaedhlainn "girre" [ɟɪrʲɛ] > Nua-Ghaedhlainn "giorra" [ɟɪrˠə] (》"giora" [ɟɪɾˠə])

[@CCc-sb9oj]

Ferncat, Lord Loingseach asks where you are from. He recommends that you focus on learning the living Gaeltacht dialect nearest to you as a guide. While you do that you can be learning about the dead dialect of your current area with a view to localising your learning of the language (if that is your wish). He offers to provide you with information (if any exists), should you have trouble finding it, of some of the features of said past dialect. We give thanks to have received his Word, written in pre-spelling reform Holy Gaelic script.

[@CCc-sb9oj]

As a very basic general guide, and if I'm remembering correctly. Ulster and some of the northern Leinster counties (north of Meath) spoke an Ulstery dialect (Donegal dialects being the remaining native Ulster dialects). Munster, South Laois and Kilkenny spoke Munstery stuff. The rest of Leinster (south of Meath) actually may have been part of a dialect continuum with Connacht. So one of the living Connacht dialects would be closest to what they might have had. But of course choose whichever you like best. Best of luck!

[@CCc-sb9oj]

1:15:17 - The concept of glides in Irish 1:13:20 - broad vs slender C difference 1:16:00 - English language ways of avoiding or mispronouncing glides in Irish

[@thxverymuch6962]

Would love to see a follow up to this video

[@user-td4do3op2d]

Great video! We’re patiently awaiting more! 1:26:30 Many northern English dialects use a monophthong “face” and “goat” vowel.

[@maureenmorris4217]

Much helpfull information , thank you.

[@KZ-gv5tq]

The ''euh'' pronunciation of ao in East Ulster reminds me a lot of the â/î vowel sounds in Romanian. It was definitely the most difficult vowel sound for me to emulate as a native English speaker when I spent a summer learning Romanian from a friend. He told me that it is much like the sound you would make if you had a stomachache and also described it as a less rounded/more closed oooo like you did. I have been learning Irish the past 8 months or so and wondered why there was this seemingly redundant, more complicated spelling for the é vowel sound, but it makes so much more sense now if it was historically a distinct vowel sound that later merged in some of the dialects. Go raibh maith agat!

[@KZ-gv5tq]

Having finished the full video, I would also like to say that despite the rambling nature of the video, this has been the most single most helpful pronunciation resource I have stumbled across both in terms of hearing the sounds produced by a native Irish speaker both alone and within words while seeing your face move (rather than just clicking sounds on the IPA wikipedia page) and also learning the linguistic reasoning and relationship of slender and broad consonants with the adjacent vowels and glides. As a physics and mathematics major myself, I learn best with this linguistic approach to language learning that most teachers don't offer. I still can't necessarily make all of the sounds perfectly myself even in isolation, but awareness of the subtle nuances has definitely improved my Irish pronunciation and listening skills in the past two hours. One question I have, especially as an American with no county to influence my loyalty towards a particular dialect, is how important is it to pronounce all sounds in the same dialect? If the aoi from East Ulster is more intuitive to me and the éa from Connacht and the cn from Munster, is that ok because they are all still native Irish sounds?

[@jackarius101]

Love the video mate! Can I ask what county you're from?

[@davissandefur5980]

I know this video is quite old, but I'm assuming you've read Ó Siadhail's complaint about Irish spelling? Specifically how some words are highly Munster-based, specifically referencing páigh, truaighe and nuaidheach. "Standard Irish Orthography: An Assessment" (JSTOR: 30060637)

[@CharlieOBrienTF]

Neadar air fuair tú comhairle ar deireadh ach tá "Da Vinci Resolve" saor in aisce, le hadhaigh eagarthóireacht scannáin nó video ar bith ('s na téideal chomh maith dar nóigh), níl software níos fearr. Grma as ucht na físéain! Thar cinn ar fad.

[@michaelcarey5749]

32:00 sort vowels and long vowels pronunciation

[@neebeeshaabookwayg6027]

And--- I was greatly wondering about vowel combinations....

[@philipmcreynolds1611]

Go raibh mile maith agat.

[@88888Rob88888]

19/04/2020

[@padraigosuilleabhain6511]

Treise leat!

[@rolomilis1946]

A messy word salad. Could be more simply explained without jargon and more simple examples. Obviously no lesson preparation. Watch it. Learned nothing.

[@daithi1966]

I'm 5 minutes into the video any you haven't pronounced anything yet. You were on the verge of doing so, but quit when you weren't prepared and went to use two different examples that you realized would be bad examples. It was at this point that I went elsewhere for instruction.

[@kiri101]

It's incredibly rambling and long-winded but I'd encourage you to come back here when you have the desire and the patience, there's some really valuable information contained within.

[@phumgwatenagala6606]

Good luck finding native speakers who make videos - you’re welcome to learn wrong and consume polished turds if that’s your thing