Nasalisation or When to speak through your nose - Eachdraidh nam mùthaidhean

Susanharris 04:55, 3 dhen Lùnastal 2013

2013-08-03T04:55:18Z

Susanharris 04:53, 3 dhen Lùnastal 2013

2013-08-03T04:53:33Z

Susanharris 04:51, 3 dhen Lùnastal 2013

2013-08-03T04:51:38Z

Susanharris 07:33, 22 dhen Iuchar 2013

2013-07-22T07:33:44Z

Susanharris 07:26, 22 dhen Iuchar 2013

2013-07-22T07:26:46Z

Susanharris 07:10, 22 dhen Iuchar 2013

2013-07-22T07:10:38Z

Susanharris 07:07, 22 dhen Iuchar 2013

2013-07-22T07:07:40Z

Thrissel: wkf

2012-11-08T12:38:49Z

wkf

Akerbeltz 23:19, 4 dhen Fhaoilleach 2012

2012-01-04T23:19:20Z

Akerbeltz 23:18, 4 dhen Fhaoilleach 2012

2012-01-04T23:18:28Z

@@ Loidhne 35: / Loidhne 35: @@
 So should you now be looking for a bottle of hair conditioner to dye your hair grey?  Not really, because nasalisation in Gaelic, for the most part, is "optional".  In other words, it won't affect the meaning of a statement or confuse someone you're speaking to.  It's really a bit like English nasalisation which, when it occurs, never makes a blind bit of difference to the meaning of what you're saying.
-There are languages where it '''does''' matter ... in Lakhóta (what they speak in Dances with Wolves ... which incidentally is <span style="color: #000080;">Šųkmánitu Thą́ka ų Wačhí</span> ... not that you needed to know that), for example, the word <span style="color: #000080;">ú</span> means ''to come'' and the word <span style="color: #000080;">ų́ </span>(with nasalisation) means ''to live''. In Gaelic on the other hand, whether you say [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] or [maːhərʲ], it always means 'mother'.
+There are languages where it '''does''' matter ... in Lakhóta (what they speak in Dances with Wolves ... which incidentally is <span style="color: #6600CC;">Šųkmánitu Thą́ka ų Wačhí</span> ... not that you needed to know that), for example, the word <span style="color: #6600CC;">ú</span> means ''to come'' and the word <span style="color: #6600CC;">ų́ </span>(with nasalisation) means ''to live''. In Gaelic on the other hand, whether you say [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] or [maːhərʲ], it always means 'mother'.
 By the way, this kind of nasalisation has nothing to do with what happens to stops after the definite article in certain dialects (and in Irish, as a matter of fact).  For this phenomenon read the pages on [[Nasalisation 2 or Why am I married to ə NɯNʲə agam?|Nasalisation after the definite article]].

@@ Loidhne 5: / Loidhne 5: @@
 So when DO you do this in Gaelic?  Unfortunately, there is no simple rule and it also differs vastly from dialect to dialect which words are nasalised or not.  Here are a few pointers though:
-) Nasalisation occurs mostly in the vicinity of nasal consonants <span style="color: #6600CC;">m, mh, n</span> and <span style="color: #6600CC;">ng</span>.   Now you could argue successfully that due to the articulation process ALL vowels near a nasal are nasalised. However, we only talk about nasalised vowels if the nasalisation is audible throughout the vowel and fairly noticeable.
+) Nasalisation occurs mostly in the vicinity of nasal consonants <span style="color: #008000;">m, mh, n</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">ng</span>.   Now you could argue successfully that due to the articulation process ALL vowels near a nasal are nasalised. However, we only talk about nasalised vowels if the nasalisation is audible throughout the vowel and fairly noticeable.
 In some cases it is very important to nasalise the appropriate vowels as it affects the meaning of your statements, such as in:

@@ Loidhne 5: / Loidhne 5: @@
 So when DO you do this in Gaelic?  Unfortunately, there is no simple rule and it also differs vastly from dialect to dialect which words are nasalised or not.  Here are a few pointers though:
-) Nasalisation occurs mostly in the vicinity of nasal consonants <span style="color: #008000;">m, mh, n</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">ng</span>.   Now you could argue successfully that due to the articulation process ALL vowels near a nasal are nasalised. However, we only talk about nasalised vowels if the nasalisation is audible throughout the vowel and fairly noticeable.
+) Nasalisation occurs mostly in the vicinity of nasal consonants <span style="color: #6600CC;">m, mh, n</span> and <span style="color: #6600CC;">ng</span>.   Now you could argue successfully that due to the articulation process ALL vowels near a nasal are nasalised. However, we only talk about nasalised vowels if the nasalisation is audible throughout the vowel and fairly noticeable.
 In some cases it is very important to nasalise the appropriate vowels as it affects the meaning of your statements, such as in:

@@ Loidhne 35: / Loidhne 35: @@
 So should you now be looking for a bottle of hair conditioner to dye your hair grey?  Not really, because nasalisation in Gaelic, for the most part, is "optional".  In other words, it won't affect the meaning of a statement or confuse someone you're speaking to.  It's really a bit like English nasalisation which, when it occurs, never makes a blind bit of difference to the meaning of what you're saying.
-There are languages where it '''does''' matter ... in Lakhóta (what they speak in Dances with Wolves ... which incidentally is <span style="color: #000080;">Šųkmánitu Thą́ka ų Wačhí</span> ... not that you needed to know that) for example the word <span style="color: #000080;">ú</span> means ''to come'' and the word <span style="color: #000080;">ų́ </span>(with nasalisation) means ''to live''. In Gaelic on the other hand, whether you say [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] or [maːhərʲ], it always means 'mother'.
+There are languages where it '''does''' matter ... in Lakhóta (what they speak in Dances with Wolves ... which incidentally is <span style="color: #000080;">Šųkmánitu Thą́ka ų Wačhí</span> ... not that you needed to know that), for example, the word <span style="color: #000080;">ú</span> means ''to come'' and the word <span style="color: #000080;">ų́ </span>(with nasalisation) means ''to live''. In Gaelic on the other hand, whether you say [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] or [maːhərʲ], it always means 'mother'.
-By the way, this kind of nasalisation has nothing to do with what happens to stops after the definite article in certain dialects (and Irish as a matter of fact).  For this phenomenon read the pages on [[Nasalisation 2 or Why am I married to ə NɯNʲə agam?|Nasalisation after the definite article]].
+By the way, this kind of nasalisation has nothing to do with what happens to stops after the definite article in certain dialects (and in Irish, as a matter of fact).  For this phenomenon read the pages on [[Nasalisation 2 or Why am I married to ə NɯNʲə agam?|Nasalisation after the definite article]].
 <br />
 <br />
 {{BeaganGramair}}

@@ Loidhne 22: / Loidhne 22: @@
 |}
-This is not only restricted to the vowel immediately adjacent to the nasal, but can spread through the whole word and even affect consonants, e.g. in <span style="color: #008000;">màthair</span> [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] 'mother' or <span style="color: #008000;">seanmhair</span> [ʃɛ̃nɛ̃və̃rʲ] 'grandmother'.
+This is not only restricted to the vowel immediately adjacent to the nasal, but can spread through the whole word and even affect consonants, for example, in <span style="color: #008000;">màthair</span> [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] 'mother' or <span style="color: #008000;">seanmhair</span> [ʃɛ̃nɛ̃və̃rʲ] 'grandmother'.
 High mid vowels are almost never nasalised. Eh? I mean [e] [o] and [ɤ]. For example:
@@ Loidhne 33: / Loidhne 33: @@
 * <span style="color: #008000;">ainm</span> [ɛnɛm] "name"
-So should you be looking for a bottle of hair conditioner now to dye your hair grey?  Not really, nasalisation in Gaelic for the most part is "optional".  In other words, it won't affect the meaning of a statement or confuse someone your speaking to.  A bit like nasalisation in English really where it does occur but never makes a blind bit of difference to the meaning of what you're saying.
+So should you now be looking for a bottle of hair conditioner to dye your hair grey?  Not really, because nasalisation in Gaelic, for the most part, is "optional".  In other words, it won't affect the meaning of a statement or confuse someone you're speaking to.  It's really a bit like English nasalisation which, when it occurs, never makes a blind bit of difference to the meaning of what you're saying.
 There are languages where it '''does''' matter ... in Lakhóta (what they speak in Dances with Wolves ... which incidentally is <span style="color: #000080;">Šųkmánitu Thą́ka ų Wačhí</span> ... not that you needed to know that) for example the word <span style="color: #000080;">ú</span> means ''to come'' and the word <span style="color: #000080;">ų́ </span>(with nasalisation) means ''to live''. In Gaelic on the other hand, whether you say [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] or [maːhərʲ], it always means 'mother'.

@@ Loidhne 1: / Loidhne 1: @@
-As many other languages, Gaelic has nasalised vowels.  In linguist-speak that means that you lower your velum while making the vowel sound.
+Like many other languages, Gaelic has nasalised vowels.  In linguist-speak that means that you lower your velum while making the vowel sound.
-In other words, instead of air passing just through your mouth, some air also escapes through your nose.  It is quite easy to learn how to nasalise vowels - just try to additionally breathe out through your nose.  You can check whether you are doing the right thing both by listening to your own voice and - if you are still unsure - holding your hand under your nose - if you are doing it right, you will be able to feel your breath on the back of your hand.
+In other words, instead of air passing just through your mouth, some air also escapes through your nose.  It's quite easy to learn how to nasalise vowels - just try to additionally breathe out through your nose.  You can check whether you are doing the right thing both by listening to your own voice and - if you're still unsure - holding your hand under your nose.  If you're doing it right, you'll be able to feel your breath on the back of your hand.
 So when DO you do this in Gaelic?  Unfortunately, there is no simple rule and it also differs vastly from dialect to dialect which words are nasalised or not.  Here are a few pointers though:

@@ Loidhne 10: / Loidhne 10: @@
-{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
+{| style="width: 50%;" border="0" align="center"
 |-
 | <span style="color: #008000;">cha bhi</span> || [xa viː] || will not || ≠ || <span style="color: #008000;">cha mhi</span> || [xa vĩː] || I am not
 |-
-| <span style="color: #008000;">a-bhàn</span> || [əˈvaːn] || down (mainland) || <span style="color: #008000;">a-mhàin</span> || [əˈvãːn] || only
+| <span style="color: #008000;">a-bhàn</span> || [əˈvaːn] || down (mainland) || ≠ || <span style="color: #008000;">a-mhàin</span> || [əˈvãːn] || only
 |-
-| <span style="color: #008000;">a Dhia!</span> || [ə ʝia] || Oh God! || <span style="color: #008000;">a dhiamh!</span> || [ə ʝĩã] || yuck!
+| <span style="color: #008000;">a Dhia!</span> || [ə ʝia] || Oh God! || ≠ || <span style="color: #008000;">a dhiamh!</span> || [ə ʝĩã] || yuck!
 |-
-| <span style="color: #008000;">tàbh</span> || [taːv] || hand-net || <span style="color: #008000;">tàmh</span> || [tãːṽ] || rest
+| <span style="color: #008000;">tàbh</span> || [taːv] || hand-net || ≠ || <span style="color: #008000;">tàmh</span> || [tãːṽ] || rest
 |-
 |}

@@ Loidhne 5: / Loidhne 5: @@
 So when DO you do this in Gaelic?  Unfortunately, there is no simple rule and it also differs vastly from dialect to dialect which words are nasalised or not.  Here are a few pointers though:
-) Nasalisation occurs mostly in the vicinity of nasal consonants m, mh, n and ng.   Now you could argue successfully that due to the articulation process ALL vowels near a nasal are nasalised.  We only talk about nasalised vowels however, if the nasalisation is audible throughout the vowel and fairly noticeable.
+) Nasalisation occurs mostly in the vicinity of nasal consonants <span style="color: #008000;">m, mh, n</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">ng</span>.   Now you could argue successfully that due to the articulation process ALL vowels near a nasal are nasalised.  We only talk about nasalised vowels however, if the nasalisation is audible throughout the vowel and fairly noticeable.
 In some cases it is very important to nasalise the appropriate vowels as it affects the meaning of your statements, such as in:
@@ Loidhne 12: / Loidhne 12: @@
 {| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
 |-
-| cha bhi || [xa viː] || will not || ≠ || cha mhi || [xa vĩː] || I am not
+| <span style="color: #008000;">cha bhi</span> || [xa viː] || will not || ≠ || <span style="color: #008000;">cha mhi</span> || [xa vĩː] || I am not
 |-
-| a-bhàn || [əˈvaːn] || down (mainland dialects) || a-mhàin || [əˈvãːn] || only
+| <span style="color: #008000;">a-bhàn</span> || [əˈvaːn] || down (mainland) || <span style="color: #008000;">a-mhàin</span> || [əˈvãːn] || only
 |-
-| a Dhia! || [ə ʝia] || Oh God! || a dhiamh! || [ə ʝĩã] || yuck!
+| <span style="color: #008000;">a Dhia!</span> || [ə ʝia] || Oh God! || <span style="color: #008000;">a dhiamh!</span> || [ə ʝĩã] || yuck!
 |-
-| tàbh || [taːv] || hand-net || tàmh || [tãːṽ] || rest
+| <span style="color: #008000;">tàbh</span> || [taːv] || hand-net || <span style="color: #008000;">tàmh</span> || [tãːṽ] || rest
 |-
 |}
-This is not only restricted to the vowel immediately adjacent to the nasal, but can spread through the whole word and even affect consonants, e.g. in màthair [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] 'mother' or seanmhair [ʃɛ̃nɛ̃və̃rʲ] 'grandmother'.
+This is not only restricted to the vowel immediately adjacent to the nasal, but can spread through the whole word and even affect consonants, e.g. in <span style="color: #008000;">màthair</span> [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] 'mother' or <span style="color: #008000;">seanmhair</span> [ʃɛ̃nɛ̃və̃rʲ] 'grandmother'.
 High mid vowels are almost never nasalised. Eh? I mean [e] [o] and [ɤ]. For example:
-* [e] feum, leum, fhéin, beum, ceum...
+* [e] <span style="color: #008000;">feum, leum, fhéin, beum, ceum...</span>
-* [o] mór, modh, coma...
+* [o] <span style="color: #008000;">mór, modh, coma...</span>
-* [ɤ] coinnich, coinneamh...
+* [ɤ] <span style="color: #008000;">coinnich, coinneamh...</span>
 Words with a helping vowel tend not to have nasalisation, even if they contain nasals, for example:
-* ainm [ɛnɛm] "name"
+* <span style="color: #008000;">ainm</span> [ɛnɛm] "name"
 So should you be looking for a bottle of hair conditioner now to dye your hair grey?  Not really, nasalisation in Gaelic for the most part is "optional".  In other words, it won't affect the meaning of a statement or confuse someone your speaking to.  A bit like nasalisation in English really where it does occur but never makes a blind bit of difference to the meaning of what you're saying.
-There are languages where it DOES matter ... in Lakhóta (what they speak in Dances with Wolves ... which incidentally is Šųkmánitu Thą́ka ų Wačhí ... not that you needed to know that) for example the word ú means ''to come'' and the word ų́ (with nasalisation) means ''to live''. In Gaelic on the other hand, whether you say [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] or [maːhərʲ], it always means 'mother'.
+There are languages where it '''does''' matter ... in Lakhóta (what they speak in Dances with Wolves ... which incidentally is <span style="color: #000080;">Šųkmánitu Thą́ka ų Wačhí</span> ... not that you needed to know that) for example the word <span style="color: #000080;">ú</span> means ''to come'' and the word <span style="color: #000080;">ų́ </span>(with nasalisation) means ''to live''. In Gaelic on the other hand, whether you say [mãːh̃ə̃rʲ] or [maːhərʲ], it always means 'mother'.
 By the way, this kind of nasalisation has nothing to do with what happens to stops after the definite article in certain dialects (and Irish as a matter of fact).  For this phenomenon read the pages on Nasalisation after the definite article.