[ page ] § 70. Examples:
| Conn. | Ulster | Munster | |
| brádan, a salmon | brodh′-aun | brodh′-ăn | brodh-aun′ |
| casán, a path | kos′-aun | kos′-ăn | kos-aun′ |
| urlár, a floor | ur-Laur | ur′-Lăr | ur-Laur′ |
71. Even in Connaught, a few words are pronounced with the accent on the second syllable. The commonest of these are arán (or-aun′, in Ulster, ar′-an) bread, and Tomás (thum-aus′, in Ulster, thom′-as) Thomas. The accentuation of atá has been already noted. Some words adopted from foreign languages have retained the foreign accentuation, as, coróin (kŭr-о̄n′) a crown.
§ 72. Atá bradán mór ar an tír. Níl bradán ar an tir. Fág an bradán ar an urlár. Urlár glan. Ná fág an solas ar an urlár. Atá casán ag dul ó’n doras do’n tobar. Fág an cú ag an doras. Ná fan ag an doras. Atá arán ar an urlár.
§ 73. The path is clean (and) dry. The path is not dry; the path is soft yet. The well is full. Do not leave the salmon on the stool The salmon is clean. A fresh salmon. The hound is young; he is growing yet. The hound is at the well. Fresh sweet bread. Thomas is going to the well.
EXERCISE IX.
We now come to the pronunciation of the vowels.
§ 74. In Ulster the vowels a and o are sounded peculiarly, thus:—
| á | is sounded like | aa | in phonetic key |
| a | „„ | a | „„ |
| ó | „„ | au | „„ |
| ó | „„ | o | „„ |
Examples:
Bád (baadh), mála (maal′-ă), glas (glas), asal (as′ăl, óg (aug), fós (faus), doras (dhor′-ăs), gort (gorth).
| The | Is pronounced in | |||
| Word | Meaning | Conn. | Munster | Ulster |
| árdán | hill | aurdh′-aun | aurdh-aun′ | aardh′-an |
| mórán | much | mо̄r′-aun | mо̄r-aun′ | maur′-an |
| ordóg | thumb | ŭrdh′-о̄g | ŭrdh-о̄g′ | ordh′-og |
| cillín | little church | kil′-een | kil-een′ | kil′-in |
§ 75. Pronunciation of the Vowels in Munster.
In Munster the vowels in words of two or more syllablcs are pronounced regularly; as, balla (boL′-ă) capall (kop′-ăL), ime (im′-ĕ), of butter. It is only in monosyllables (and, to a very slight extent, in words formed from these monosyllables) that any irregularity of pronunciation occurs. The irregularity consists in the fact, that in monosyllables containing a, i, o short before ll, nn, or before m, the vowel is lengthened in sound.
§ 76. This lengthening of vowels is noticeable from Waterford (where the lengthened vowels have a very peculiar sound) up to Galway, where the lengthening is much less marked, Curiously enough, the same lengthening is to be noticed at the opposite extreme of the Gaelic-speaking district, the north and north-west of Scotland.
77. In all districts there is a perceptible lengthening of vowel sound before -ll, -nn, -rr at the end of monosyllables. Thus, the vowel sounds in mill, sinn, corr are everywhere longer than those in mil, sin, cor. Compare the vowel sounds in the English words—weld, welt; curd, curt; grand, grant.
78. What the effect of the Munster lengthening of vowel sounds is, can be seen from the following table. We do not pretend to give all the shades of pronunciation of various parts of Munster.
| The word | Is pronounced in | |||
| Connaught | W. Munst. | E. Munster | ||
| a | mall | moL | mouL | ma′-oul |
| dall | dhoL | dhouL | dha′-oul | |
| am | om | oum | a′-oum | |
| crann | kroN | kroun | kra′-oun | |
| i | im | im | eem | eim |
| mill | mil | meel | meil | |
| cinn | kin | keen | keinn | |
| binn | bin | been | bein | |
| o | poll | pŭl | pouL | |
| trom | thrŭm | throum | ||
| donn | dhŭN | dhouN | ||
79. In the phonetic key will be found the sounds to be given to “ou,” and “ei.” The East Munster a-ou is pronounced rapidly. Sometimes the sound of oo is given in Munster to o; as anonn, over (in Conn. ăn-ŭN, in Munst. ăn-ooN′).
80. We can now introduce many familiar words nvolving these prolonged vowel sounds. In the table
