into English, and other short sentences in English to be translated into Irish. At the head of these exercises are given the words which the student must know. After each word we give two things, its pronunciation and its meaning. Thus, the entry, “sál (saul), a heel,” will convey to the student that the Irish word sál is pronounced “saul,” and means a “heel.”
§ 11. We may call these words in brackets KEY-WORDS, as they give a key to the pronunciation.
It is, of course, absolutely necessary that we should know what is the sound of each letter, and each combination of letters, in the key-words.
§ 12. Sounds are divided into vowel sounds and consonant sounds.
THE VOWEL SOUNDS.
The vowel sounds of the English language are tabulated as follows by Mr. Pitman, the great authority on phonetics:—
I.—THE SIX LONG VOWEL-SOUNDS.
| 1. | The vowel-sound in the word | half; |
| 2. | do.do.do. | pay; |
| 3. | do.do.do. | he; |
| 4. | do.do.do. | thought; |
| 5. | do.do.do. | so; |
| 6. | do.do.do. | poor; |
II.—THE SIX SHORT VOWEL-SOUNDS.
| 7. | The vowel-sound in the word | that; |
| 8. | do.do.do. | bell; |
| 9. | do.do.do. | is; |
| 10. | do.do.do. | not; |
| 11. | do.do.do. | much; |
| 12. | do.do.do. | good; |
The six long vowel-sounds, then, are brought to mind when we repeat the words:—
- “Half-pay he thought so poor.”
Similarly, the six short vowel-sounds are brought to mind when we repeat the words:—
- “That bell is not much good.”
In our key-words the following symbols shall be used to represent those sounds:—
PHONETIC KEY.
§ 13. I.—THE VOWELS.
| In the key-words, | Are to be | In the English | |
| the letters | sounded like | words | |
| 1. | aa | a | half; calf |
| 2. | æ | ae | Gaelic |
| 3. | ee | ee | feel; see |
| 4. | au | au | naught; taught |
| 5. | ō | o | note; coke |
| 6. | oo | oo (long) | tool; room |
| 7. | a | a | bat; that |
| 8. | e | e | let; bell |
| 9. | i | i | hit; fill |
| 10. | o | o | knot; clock |
| 11. | ŭ | u | up; us |
| 12. | u | oo (short) | good; took |
| (same sound as in full.) | |||
It is useful to note that the sound (No. 6) of oo in poor is the same as the sound of u in rule; while the sound (No. 11) of u in up, us, is the same as that of o in son, done. It will be noticed that the same numbers are attached to the same sounds in both tables.
§ 14. II.—THE OBSCURE VOWEL-SOUND.
THE SYMBOLS ă and ĕ.
There is in Irish, as in English, a vowel sound usually termed “obscure.” In the word “tolerable” the a is pronounced so indistinctly that from the mere pronunciation one could not tell what is the vowel in the syllable. The symbols ă and ĕ will be used to denote this obscure vowel-sound. The use of two symbols for the obscure vowel-sound will be found to have advantages. The student should, therefore, remember that the symbols ă and ĕ represent one obscure vowel-sound, and are not to be sounded as “a” and “e” in the table of vowels above. Thus, when the Irish for “a well,” tobar, is said to be pronounced “thŭbăr,” the last syllable is not to be pronounced “ar,” but the word is to be sounded as any of the words, “thubbar, thubber, thubbor, thubbur,” would be in English.
§ 15. III.—THE DIPHTHONGS.
| In the Key words, | Are to be | In the English |
| the letters | sounded like | words |
| ei | ei | height |
| ou | ou | mouth |
| oi | oi | boil |
| ew | ew | few |
§ 16. IV.—THE CONSONANTS.
The consonants used in representing the pronunciation of Irish words will be sounded thus:—
- b, f, m, p, v, w, y, as in English.
