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Initial Mutations

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Initial Mutations

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  1. What makes these “mutations” so important is that they actually convey grammatical information. They are not just idiosyncratic rules of pronunciation but, rather, required changes in order for people to make any sense of what you are saying. Most mutations are caused by the word preceding the affected word. Initial Mutations • One of, if not the, most unusual feature of Irish is the system of “initial mutations” which can affect the vast majority of the words in the language which begin with a consonant. There are two main types: • Lenition, calledséimhiú(shay-voo) in Irish. • Nasalization, called úrú(oo-roo) in Irish.

  2. Essentially, with these consonants you don't “close off” the airflow completely as you speak. Instead, you restrict the airflow enough to cause a vibration. Lenition / Séimhiú • At the most basic level, lenition is the weakening of the affected consonant and is indicated by placing an “h” after the consonant. In other words, the consonant is not fully pronounced. Most of the changes in pronunciation resulting from lenition are fairly straightforward (the > symbol denotes lenition on this slide): • “p” > “f” e.g. páirc (park/field) > pháirc, pronounced foy-erc • “b” > “v” e.g. béal (mouth/lip) > bhéal, pronounced vay-ul • “c” > “ch” e.g. ceann (head) > cheann, pronounced chyawn • “g” > “gh” e.g. gúna (gown/dress) > ghúna, pron. ghoo-na • “m” > “v” e.g. meán (middle) > mheán, pron. van

  3. The pronunciation of lenited “d” is even less straightforward and will be explained in Week 3. Right now I just want you to get a general sense of how lenition works. To be clear, the following consonants can be lenited in all Irish dialects: b, p, m, d, t, s, g, and c Lenition / Séimhiú cont. • The pronunciation of some other lenited consonants are less obvious: • “t” > “h” e.g. teach (house) > theach, pron. hyach • “s” > “h” e.g. súil (eye) > shúil, pron. hool • “f” > “_” e.g. feiceáil (to see) > fheiceáil, pron. ec-oil.

  4. English speakers generally have the most trouble pronouncing “ng.” The sound exists in English but is only found at the end of words, i.e -ing. In my own experience learning to pronounce this, I found it helpful to imagine I was trying to get peanut butter off the top of mouth. Nasalization / Úrú • As with lenition, certain words cause a nasalization/úrú to attach to the beginning of the following word. This is indicated by placing the “altered pronunciation” ahead of the unaltered word. That sounds complicated, but really isn't so bad: • “b” > “m” e.g. baile (town) > mbaile, pron. mal-yuh • “p” > “b” e.g. páirc (park/field) > bpáirc, pron. boy-erc • “d” > “n” e.g. doras (door) > ndoras, pron. nor-us • “t” > “d” e.g. teach (house) > dteach, pron. dyach • “f” > “v” e.g. feadóg (whistle) > bhfeadóg, pron. vad-ohg • “g” > “ng” e.g. gúna (gown/dress) > ngúna, pron. ngoo-na • “c” > “g” e.g. carr (car) > gcarr, pron. gar • All vowels are subject to nasalization. This is indicated by prefixing an “n” to the beginning of the word with a hyphen in between, i.e. n-áthair (father).

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