Why you should pay attention to long vowels
Am mùthadh mar a bha e 11:26, 21 dhen Ògmhios 2018 le Akerbeltz (deasbaireachd | mùthaidhean) (Created page with "In English, the difference between short and long vowel doesn't often play a big role. There are some pairs like ship and sheep, bit and beat where the difference is key but o...")
In English, the difference between short and long vowel doesn't often play a big role. There are some pairs like ship and sheep, bit and beat where the difference is key but on the whole, it's not a hugely prominent feature. But in Gaelic, you really need to pay attention to which words have short vowels and which have long vowels. Often context or the position in a sentence can help (like you wouldn't find fan at the end of a sentence, since verbs are usually at the beginning of a sentence), but often enough, you can only keep apart words from the length. So make sure you get that right. Here's an (incomplete) list of some "minimal pairs" as linguists call them:
| Short | Meaning | Long | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| cas | 1 steep 2 foot | càs | dilemma |
| cuil | fly | cùil | nook, corner |
| faire | watch, guard | fàire | horizon |
| fan | wait! | fàn | gentle slope |
| feith | wait! | fèith | muscle |
| maille | together | màille | mail (armour) |
| min | flour | mìn | soft |
| rath | (good) fortune | ràth | 1 fortress 2 raft |
| sabaid | fight | Sàbaid | Sabbath |
| sin | that | sìn | stretch |
| sine | nipple | Sìne | Jane |
| solas | light | sòlas | solace |