Mamun -university roman -german philology english department

the consonants (na consain)

The consonants are classified depending their point of origin (bilabial, dental, alveolar, velar, glottal) and by their nature of production (plosives = stops, fricatives, nasals , liquids). Many consonants have an unvoiced and a voiced version (e.g.: [p]/[b], [t]/[d], [k]/[g], etc.)
Although, there are no truly aspirated consonants (k, p, t, are always aspirated in German)

• 
  Bilabials:
  
  • 
    plosives: [p], [b]
    
  • 
    fricatives: [f], [v], [w]
    
  • 
    nasals: [m]
    

Also [f] and [v] are often spoken bilabially, i.e. they are formed with both the upper and lower lip.(in German these sounds are labiodental, i.e. with the lower lip and the upper row of teeth or vice versa).
[w] (a semivowel) is often at the beginning of a word (in Connacht/Donegal) used as the velar form of the (palatal) [v] ; within a word always [v], if spoken as a consonant.

• 
  Dentals:
  
  • 
    plosives: [t], [d]
    
  • 
    liquids: [l]
    
  • 
    nasals: [n]
    

The dental fricatives [θ] and [ð] (equiv to the engl. th in thing and that) no longer exists in Irish (replaced with [h] and [γ])

• 
  Alveolars:
  
  • 
    fricatives: [s], [z]
    
  • 
    liquids: [r]
    

The broad [r] ist a rolled tip-of-the-tongue-r, the slender [r'] is rather complicated.
The broad Irish s is always an unvoiced s [s]
The voiced s-sound ([z]) only appears in foreign words: zoo = zú [zu:].
(in a few dialects also as an eclipse of the s: e.g.: ag an tsagart [eg'@ zag@rt])

• 
  Palatoalveolars:
  
  • 
    fricatives: [], [3]
    

The slender s ist always the same as an unvoiced german "sch" ([]). In transcriptions simply [s'] is used.
The voiced variation [3] only appears in a few foreign words of English origin. In transcriptions, one uses [z'] e.g. jab = job [d'z'ab] for simplicity.

• 
  Velars:
  
  • 
    plosives: [k], [g]
    
  • 
    fricatives: [x], [γ]
    
  • 
    nasals: [ng]
    

Also those consonants formed on the soft palate (Velum) are divided into broad (velar) and slender (palatal) (see below)
[γ] is equivalent to the modern Greek letter γ (Gamma). A broad [γ] is a "voiced ch", like g in a Berlinerisch "Wagen" or Spanish "Tarragona", a slender [γ'] is the same as a [j] like the German j in "ja".
A broad [x] like ch in the German "ach", the slender [x'] is equivalent to [ç] like ch in the German "ich".

• 
  Glottals:
  
  • 
    stops: [?]
    
  • 
    fricatives: [h]
    

The glottal stop, [?], e.g. in the German "Aorta" [?a?orta] is virtually unknown to modern spoken Irish. An abrupt collision of vowels (Hiatus) is avoided. The glottal stop is, however, often still used in traditional Irish vocals (sean-nós) , also in Scottish Gaelic it is still quite commonly used (written mostly as th)
The disappearance of the glottal stop in Irish leads to a mingling and lengthening of vowels, if consonants then devoiced (e.g. athair Standard [ah@r'] but Cois Fhairrge with a voiceless [h]: [æ:r'])
[h] appears only as a produkt of lenition of t and s (th, sh), as well as the h-prefix. Occasionally, also f is spoken as [h]
[h] connects to voiced [b], [g], [d], [v] and makes these voiceless ([p], [k], [t], [f]), e.g. sciobtha [s'kip@] instead of [s'kibh@]
between vowels, [h] always disappears in Cois Fhairrge, and the vowels mingle: e.g. beatha [b'ah@] > [b'æ:]