AShortPronunciationGuide Vowels a cat(morelikeaScottisha) rather(samegoesfor,asaScottish longa) ao Gi(r)l e Let/gate Longversionofe i Betweensinandsweep Evil o Betweentopandboat call u brood brew Diphtongs

htongs Ae Ai Ao Ea Ei Eo Eu Io Iu Ia Oi Ua Ui Lastvowelfaintlysounded Lastvowelfaintlysounded Asing(irl) Firstvowelfaintlysounded Lastvowelfaintlysounded Firstvowelfaintlysounded ,alwayslong Lastvowelfaintlysounded Firstvowelfaintlysounded Alwayslong Lastvowelfaintlysounded Alwayslong Lastvowelfaintlysounded Bata bta caol le/teth Simh/fhin Sin/ith Sn Poca/bog Mr Tur Tr

all,ann,amtheaispronouncedasowinhow. oll,onn,omtheoispronouncedastheoinRPno. aill,ainn,aimtheaiispronouncedasyinmy aibh,aimh,einn,eimtheaiispronouncedas'ay'in'say' Triphtongs Aoi Eoi Iai Uai Iui Asaofollowedbyabarelynoticeablei Aseofollowedbyabarelynoticeablei Asiafollowedbyabarelynoticeablei Asuafollowedbyabarelynoticeablei Asiufollowedbyabarelynoticeablei

BroadConsonants Allconsonantsfollowedorprecededbya,ooruarecalledbroad. B Thepronunciationofb dependsonitpositionina word.Ifitisatthe beginningofaworditis pronouncedasanEnglish b,butifitisinthemiddle ofaword,orattheenditis pronouncedasanEnglish p bhiseitherpronouncedas v,ifatthebeginningofa word,orasaw.Different dialectsusedifferentv sounds,andIusuallysay w Ifitcomesbetweentwo vowelsitwilloftenbe pronouncedasasilent pause. Atthebeginningofaword onewouldpronouncecas incup,butiffound elsewhereinaword,one pronounceitassomething closetochkinLochKeith Aschinloch Asdatthebeginningofa word,orasastiffound elsewhereinaword AstheGreeklettergamma, sortoflikeamibetweena gandanr. Ifitcomesbetweentwo vowelsitwilloftenbe pronouncedasasilent pause. Barraigh/brj/ Alba/lp/

Bh

DoBharraigh/d:vrj/ Labhair/lwr/

C/k:/ Aca/hk/

Ch D

loch/lx/ Dubh/du:w/ Ad/t/ Dh/a:/

Dh

 F Fh G

AsinEnglish

Gh

H L

M Mh

N P

Silent,butpronouncedash infhin Atthebeginningofaword, Gabh asag,otherwiseasak Beag AstheGreeklettergamma, Ghabh/a:w/ sortoflikeamibetweena gandanr. Ifitcomesbetweentwo vowelsitwilloftenbe pronouncedasasilent pause. AsinEnglish Halo Lisafunnyletter,itcanbe Anlantair pronouncedasadarkL, andisthenpronounced withyourtonguetouching yourupperteeth,andsort ofsimilartoyourLL.Itcan bepronouncedasllin pulledaswell AsinEnglish Mr Cf.bh AMhona Ifitcomesbetweentwo vowelsitwilloftenbe pronouncedasasilent pause. Asannine.g.kindred Nuaidh AsanEnglishpatthe Padraig beginningofaword,

Fada

 Ph R S Sh T

elsewhereitsprecededby anhsound Asinpheasant AsinScottishEnglish AsinEnglish Pronouncedash AsanEnglishtatthe beginningofaword(or well,sometimespreceded byashsound)elsewhere precededbyanhsound AsahinEnglish

Rpa aPhadraig Rn sona shona Tr AThearlaich

Th Slenderconsonants

Allconsonantsprecededorfollowedbyeoriarecalledslender.Illonlylistaconsonantif thepronunciationdiffersfromitsbroadequivalent. C Ch Atthebeginningofaword asK,otherwise pronouncedaschk Cel aice AsinGermanichorsortof Ch likeastrangeversionofsh inshe AsJinJohn Diseal AsinEnglishyet Dheth Atthebeginningofaword Geal gispronouncedasan

D Dh G

Englishgfollowedbyy, otherwisepronouncedasa k Gh L N S T AsinEnglishyet Asinallure

Aige Gheal

Leabhar Asinnew Nigheannenach Asinshingle Sinn Asinchinatthebeginning Teth ofaword,elsewherethech soundshouldbepreceded Cait byanhsound.

Thestressofawordusuallyfallsonthefirstsyllableofawordofcourse,aswithevery languagethereareexceptionstothisrule,butitisafairlyaccurateone.Theonlytime whenyoushouldbesuspiciousaboutaGaelicwordiswhenyoususpectitmightoriginally havebeenacompoundwordinthosecases,thestressfallsonthesecondsyllable,asina nis,andiugh,andsoon.Theusuallyshowsyouthatthewordoncewasacompound word. ScottishGaelicisasyllabletimedlanguageandthesortofsingsongysoundofGaeliccan beattributedtothisfact.Iftwovowelsfolloweachothertheyarebothpronounced,butat thesametimeruntogether.Moreover,ifaconsonantisprecededbyanl,oneinsertsa schwa//afterthel.Cf.Alba,orColm.IfyousomehowwishtolearnLewisGaelic,my relativesspeakLewisGaelic,youwillhavetodealwiththefactthatNorthernLewisGaelic istonal,thishoweverisrestrictedtothenorthernpartsoftheisland,andisnottobefound inotherGaelicdialects.