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Ro-ràdh
Vowels
Consonants
Fricatives
Slenderisation
Lenition
Pre-aspiration
Diphthongs
Helping Vowel
Hiatus
L, N, R
Rt & Rd
Vowels before
rr, ll, nn
Unstressed Vowels
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Fuaimreagan
gun Chudrom - Unstressed Vowels
The stress usually
falls on the first syllable of words. When it occurs on the second
syllable, this is normally indicated by means of a hyphen e.g.
Download gunchudrom01
| an-sin |
ən'ʃin |
there |
| an-seo |
ən'ʃɔ |
here |
| an-siud |
ən'ʃid̪̊ |
over
there |
| a-staigh |
ə'sd̪̊ɯj |
inside |
| a-steach |
əs'd̊ʲax |
into |
| a-muigh |
ə'muj |
outside |
| a-mach |
ə'max |
out |
| a-rithist |
ə'r̴i.iʃtʲ |
again |
| an-dé |
ən'd̊ʲeː |
yesterday |
| an-diugh |
ən'd̊ʲu |
today |
| a-màireach |
ə'maːɾʲəx |
tomorrow |
It follows that all
vowels in second and subsequent syllables are unstressed. Long
vowels never occur unstressed in Scottish Gaelic. Generally
speaking, there are only three vowels which occur unstressed in
Gaelic. These are:
| (1)
an obscure vowel [ə]
like <e> in <the> |
| (2)
an [ɪ] vowel
similar to <i> in <bit> |
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(3)
an [a]
vowel like <a> in <cat> in Scottish English
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The first two are by
far the most common.
(1) occurs before
broad consonants and finally after broad consonants
(2) occurs before
slender consonants and finally after slender consonants
(3)
occurs frequently but Scottish Gaelic spelling does not indicate it. Such
instances must be noted and learnt as you go along. Here are some examples
of each:
Download gunchudrom02
(1)
a/ea
[ə]
like like <u> in
<putt> |
| a |
tobar, còta,
bata, bàta, glanadh, Dòmhnall, Seumas |
| ea |
aiseag,
nighean, ìseal, Gàidheal, tilleadh, fuireach |
Download
gunchudrom03
(2)
i/ai/e
[ɪ]
like <i> in <bit> |
| i |
litir,
sgillinn, fuirich, fìrinn, Gàidhlig, cuiridh, Peigi |
| ai |
eaglais,
briogais, àlainn, socair, pìobaire, pàrlamaid |
| e |
gille, céile,
baile, coire, uisge, innse |
Download
gunchudrom04
(3)
a/ai/ea /a/
like <a> in <cat> |
| a |
clachan, òran,
sporan, Mórag |
| ai |
fallain |
| ea |
uinneag,
eilean, Ailean, caileag, faoileag |
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