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Ro-ràdh |
Séimheachadh - Lenition Lenition (softening) is a process whereby certain consonants which appear at the beginning of words are made 'softer'. This is indicated in writing by adding a h to the consonant. For example lenition changes p to an f sound which is spelled ph. Lenition changes an initial b to bh, g to gh, c to ch, d to dh, t to th, m to mh, s to sh, f to fh as we have seen already. See above for the pronounciation of ph, bh, gh, ch, dh, th, mh, sh, fh. The -h form of a consonant,
when it appears at the beginning of words, is referred to as
the lenited form of the consonant. Those consonants which can
'add' h are called lenitable consonants; there are only
nine of them. There are three more consonants which are also
lenitable but which do not show this in the spelling: l,
n and r.
No we're not mental, see the special pages on
l,
n, r on this
topic.
You will see that the word
for <her> and <his> is a, the only difference between them
being that the word for <his> lenites a following (lenitable)
consonant whereas the word for <her> does not. We say that a
<his> is a leniting word, and that it lenites a follwing word.
We will distinguish between leniting and non-leniting words by placing the
symbol * after those words which cause lenition. Lenition is
extremely common in Scottish Gaelic and you will meet many more leniting
words and particles as you progress. Here are some more examples of
the words for <his> and <her>:
Lenition and Slenderisation Lenition and slenderisation can operate simultaneously on a word. When we address a person in Gaelic, the name is preceded by a which lenites the initial consonant e.g.: Download seimheachadh02
However, when we address a male, the name is also slenderised e.g.:
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