Irish phrasebook consonants · Consonants in Irish phrasebook
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Consonants in Irish phrasebook
Consonants in Irish phrasebook
Consonant combinations with h are sometimes written with a dot (séimhiú, shay-VOO) on the letter instead of the h and are sometimes silent. All consonants have two versions called caol (narrow, palatalized) and leathan (wide, velarized) (except for h, which is neither palatalized or velarized); this is indicated in writing by adjacent vowels.
As a rule, if the nearest vowel is a, o, or u, the consonant is broad. If the nearest vowel is e or i, it is slender.
b�
like bed
bh�
like W sound when broad; like a V sound when slender
c�
like kid when broad; like the ty in Hungarian when slender (does not occur in English)
ch�
as in Scottish 'loch' when broad; as in German ich when slender
d�
like dog but sometimes slightly softer, like the Icelandic ð or th in them, often like the English 'j' when followed by an 'e' or 'i'
dh�
voiced h sound when broad, y when slender; sometimes vague gh sound (Munster dialect especially), always silent after long vowels
f�
like fun
fh�
silent (except in Ulster, where it's said like an h)
g�
like go when broad; like the gy in Hungarian when slender (does not occur in English, with the closest approximation probably being the d in the French dure)
gh�
see dh
h�
like help
l�
like lean
m�
like mother
mh�
same as bh but slightly softer
n�
like nice
ng�
like sing when broad and word initial (follow with a broad g otherwise); like onion when slender and word initial (follow with a slender g otherwise)
p�
like pig
ph�
like phone or whom
r�
rolled or flapped
s�
like soon when broad; like sheen when slender
sh�
like hear
t�
like th in 'the', or occasionally like t in 'tin', depending on its placement in the word; sometimes pronounced as the English 'ch' in China when slender
th�
like hear
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Irish phrasebook Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.