I'm trying to learn how to speak Irish. Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement. I'm trying to learn to pronounce Irish words. My first hint that Irish pronunciation was not going to be a pushover was learning that the greeting Dia duit (literally "God be with you") is pronounced [jee-uh ghitch]. That pronunciation was quite a shock. My mind had been silently sounding the letters as [dee-a do-it]. Silly me!
Another obstacle to learning oral Irish is that I speak it with a Spanish accent. Spanish was the first foreign language I acquired. My Spanish accent is not native-like, but it is acceptable. When I try to speak other Romance languages, Portuguese, French or Italian, they all come out with a bit of a Spanish accent. But since all of those languages belong to the same language family, my funny accent is not so noticeable. Have you experienced the same phenomenon in your language learning?
Well, enough of excuses. It is time to make a plan for pronouncing Irish. If I don't suspend my study of Irish grammar right now and learn to say the words correctly that I am writing, I fear I may be digging myself a deeper hole.
My first step was a short investigation of the Irish sound system in my new book, Speak Irish Now. The authors explain that the six Irish vowels are a, e, i, o and u. Ah now that sounds familiar. On the next page, however, they explain that the vowels can have a short or long sound, with the long sound indicated by an accent on the vowel (á,é,í,ó, ú). For example, "a" sounds like "uh," as in the English word "up." But á makes the sound of "aw," as in English "paw." Well, fair enough. English also has short and long vowel sounds, and it doesn't even bother to mark them with a written accent.
Another key concept of the Irish vowel system is the identification of broad vowels, that is "a," "o," and "u" and slender vowels, "e" and "i." Whether a vowel is identified as broad or slender may affect the pronunciation of consonants.
The thirteen Irish consonants are b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, and t. The consonants may have two different pronunciations, depending on whether they are surrounded by broad or slender vowels. Take the letter "d" for example. When "d" is surrounded by broad vowels, it is pronounced as an English speaker would expect, like the [d} in "dot." But when the "d" appears with slender vowels, the sound changes to the [dj] sound of English "edge." Now I understand why the Irish word for "god," "Dia" sounds like "jee-uh." (See first paragraph of this post.)
And more changes to consonant sounds lie in wait to trip up the unsuspecting student of Irish. Some consonants can be softened by putting an "h" after the consonant. For example, "fh" surrounded by either broad or slender vowels, becomes silent! And "bh" with broad vowels is [w] while "bh" with slender vowels is [v]. I wonder if the softening is what gives Irish its lyrical quality?
Are you glassy-eyed yet? Finally, some consonants can be "eclipsed" by other consonant sounds. If you see the letter combination "gc," the "g" is eclipsing the "c," so you will make a "g" sound, not a "c' sound.
Oh, my! The phonetic and phonological rules of Irish are fascinating but formidable. I will probably have more success with being given an approximate pronunciation, as in this sentence that translates as, "Are you here?"
Will I ever be able to pronounce Irish without a Spanish accent?
