#lenition

[maeve-an-bhanchainti]

Gaeilge question: do you still lenit a word if you interject an English expletive between it and a possessive pronoun? like for example would it be "mo focain mháthair" or just "mo focain máthair" when your mom pisses you off? would it just be treated as a regular adjective?

[gaeilge101]

Hello! I'm new to Irish, been learning it for a while on duolingo. Could you please explain the difference between "dheartháir" and "deartháir"? I can't seem to figure which one to use where.

Thank you!

Hi there!

It's definitely one of those things in Irish that can be tricky to get a handle on. Here's a good description of it:

Séimhiú (lenition) literally means "a softening" and involves adding the letter "h" after the first consonant in the word that is being changed. The séimhiú changes both the sound of the word and its spelling. Some examples of when a séimhiú is used with nouns include: ● after some possessive pronouns (e.g. mála (bag) > mo mhála (my bag)) ● with the definite article an (the) before a feminine noun (e.g. fuinneog (window) > an fhuinneog (the window)) ● after "a" in the vocative case, used when calling or addressing someone (e.g. Bríd (female name) > a Bhríd) [source]

Here's a more comprehension explanation on wikipedia which looks a bit scary but it will explain things more fully. Don't worry about not understanding/remembering everything! I'm a learner too and I certainly don't!

In your question you use deartháir (brother). So if you wanted to say my brother you would use mo dheartháir (my brother) because 'my' is possessive.

Real life example:

sráid = street caisleán = castle sráid an chaisleáin = castle street (lit. street of the castle).

[katiritu]

Hello! I saw your friendship in Navi post and was wondering if you want to add little to ‘eylan do you keep the gluttal stop and just put the word little in front of ‘eylan to make it “little friend”? Or are the two words are kept separate. I want it to be like a nickname given to someone that’s dear to the speaker. Can you add the word little after ‘eylan too?

you can say 'eylantsyìp (diminutive; does not imply actual size, better as an endearing nickname) or hì'ia 'eylan/'eylan ahì'i (means "little friend" as in small in size). in either case you do not get rid of the tìftang. you should only ever remove tìftang at the start of a word if you are pluralizing it ('eylan -> ayeylan -> eylan; see my post about pluralization) or if there's an adposition in front of it that causes lenition.

[ly0nstea]

Irish grammar spotlight - séimhiú or lenition

The séimhiú (shay-voo) is the process of adding an 'h' between the first and second letter of a word, for example, the word mála (maw-la) (bag) would become mhála (vaw-la).

The séimhiú softens the start of the word, as above it turns m into a v sound.

Only some letters take a séimhiú, a, e, i, o, u, h, j, l, n, r, v, and s (though s has some exceptions) are all exempt from séimhiu.

This means the letters b, c, d, f, g, m, p, t, and occasionally, s.

The séimhiú aspirates the consonant, which means that while saying the consonant you exhale a puff of air, similar to how the 'h' is pronounced in english words like house, essentially you combine the consonant with 'h' sounds.

Approximately, the consonants go from:

buh > vuh, kuh > khuh, duh > yuh, fuh > wuh, guh > ghuh , muh > wuh/vuh, puh > fuh, tuh > huh, suh > huh. (Note pronunciations may vary between dialects.)

So when do you use a séimhiú?

Well, a séimhiú is always used after the first and second person possessive pronouns, as well as the masculine third person (note this is the way irish diffrentiates 'a' into his or her so the séimhiú here is quite important) This makes mála go to mo/do/a mhála (my/your/his bag)

A séimhiú is used after the 'vocative a', the vocative a is essentially a call to get someones attention, for instance, the sentence 'Hey Séan!' would turn to 'A Shéain' (note, in the vocative you also put an i before the last letter)

When conjugating the past and conditional tenses you add a séimhiú (with some exceptions)

When using 'an' (meaning the) before a feminine noun you add a séimhiú to the noun such as fuinneog to an fhuinneog

When listing a number of items 1 through 6, i.e. one boat is aon bháid, six boats are sé bháid.

After certain prepositions, such as ar (on/in/at/for), do (to/for), de(of/like), sa, faoi (under), ó (from), and roimh (before), as well as preverb modifiers like ba and má (if)

Most negatives (words after ní, níor, nár) take a séimhiú

Proper nouns are lenited when indicating ownership, e.g gúna Chaoimhe (Caoimhe's dress)

When compounding words, all words except from the first are lenited. (e.g. bangharda)

There are other cases but these should cover just about every case. This amy seem like a lot but it really isn't a massive deal, play it by ear. Worst comes to worst, feel it out! If it feels like it should take a séimhiú, throw one in, no ones going to kill you for it.

(here and here are some other good explanations for when to use a séimhiú)

[ana-actually]

14 Day Langblr/ Languages Challenge by lass-uns-studieren

Day 7: Hardest thing about your target language(s)

Irish:

* still learning lenition (séimhiú) and eclipsis (urú)

* pronunciation was a challenge, but it’s getting easier

Swedish:

* pitch accent

* the audio on Duolingo is hard to understand if I’m not looking at the written text

Latin: 

* too early to tell--probably keeping all of the cases straight

[airystudy]

MASTERPOST OF BASIC IRISH NOTES

{7.10.19 ◦ this post is not complete. i’ll add to it as i get more notes typed up :) it should hopefully be done by the end of next week if i can stay on track}

this is my list of the most basic concepts of irish you need to understand to be able to use the language! these are all my own notes so if you spot any spelling/grammar mistakes or incorrect rules or translations, please please please let me know!!! also lemme know if any links are broken and i’ll fix them up asap. constructive criticism is always appreciated <3

important things to know about irish verbs (x)

regular verbs concise notes on conjugation (x)

conjugation of irregular verbs

lenition and eclipses (séimhiú agus urú)

the copula

possessive pronouns

prepositional pronouns

[soyioblog]

Don't Stop the Flow: Turn Voiced Stops into Fricatives

https://www.soyioblogging.com/blog/don-t-stop-the-flow-turn-voiced-stops-into-fricatives

Sometimes when we first learn a language, we tend to over-enunciate our words. We start to understand more overt pronunciation characteristics but are unaware of the subtler nuances between sounds. In Spanish, the first thing you probably learned was the alphabet. At first, it seems like every sound in Spanish is represented by a letter or combination of letters. However, that is not the case. 

In Spanish and other languages, there are consonants that are pronounced differently depending on what sounds they are next to. In this case, we’re talking about how the Voiced Stops [b], [d] and [g] become Fricatives [β], [ð] and [ɣ]. This is a phonemic process known as Fricativization or Lenition, the weakening of a consonant. Those words may seem weird and scary, but it’s another important aspect of speaking Spanish that will help you sound more natural.

How and why does this happen? In casual speech, a fully pronounced [b], [d] or [g] between two vowels (or a consonant and a vowel) would disrupt the flow of an utterance because they are all Voiced Stops. Voiced Stops are Obstruents, sounds produced by obstructing airflow. To facilitate the transition from one sound to the next, the Stops must be weakened.

👄 Practice Lenition by reducing how you articulate [b], [d] and [g]. You can use these tips to turn your Stops into Fricatives:

[b] Voiced Bilabial Stop > [β] Voiced Bilabial Fricative: Reduce the amount of contact your lips make. Instead of letting the sound explode from your mouth, interrupt the airflow by only lightly putting your lips together before transitioning into the vowel. In other words, make a [b] sound that’s not a plosive.

[d] Voiced Dental Stop > [ð] Voiced Dental Fricative: In Spanish, d is dental rather than alveolar (pronounced on the back of your teeth instead of on the roof of your mouth). To weaken it, you have to move your tongue in-between your teeth. This will produce a sound similar to a lisp but continue to vibrate your vocal cords so that the consonant remains Voiced.

[g] Voiced Velar Stop > [ɣ] Voiced Velar Fricative: This one may prove to be more difficult than the others. [g] is a velar sound, meaning it is pronounced with the back of the tongue. I think it helps to imagine you're making the [h] sound, but deep in your throat.

Bonus: I found this neat video on YouTube by the channel Glossika Phonics titled "[ β ] voiced bilabial non-sibilant fricative"

[allthingslinguistic]

How to pronounce Irish names: a video from Benny Lewis. Further notes from Benny Lewis in the comments: 

- 't' before e/i is pronounced like the 'ch' in chair. So Fáilte (welcome) is pronounced more or less as "fawl-chuh" 

 - even if another consonant separates it from the vowel, the rule still applies as if it were directly attached, so the 's' in scéal still has the 'sh' sound, giving "sh-kayl" 

- 'd' before e/i is pronounced like the letter 'j'. So the "Dia" in the phrase I showed is pronounced as 'jee-ya' (it means "god" and the full "dia dhuit" means "god be with you" as a greeting, typically used regardless of your religious leanings) 

- while the short vowels a/e/i/o/u are pronounced more or less as they are in many English words, the long vowels are á [aw], like "paw", é [ay] like "pay", í [ee] like fee, ó [oh] like snow, ú [oo] like "do" 

- Note that several of the rules I gave here don't apply universally, as there are different dialects in Ireland that have their own pronunciation rules. I tried to use what tends to be as universally applied as possible, especially with names.

The thing where consonants are pronounced differently depending on which vowels are beside them is called palatalization because the vowels /i/ and /e/ (and the glide /j/ as in “yes”) are pronounced with the tongue at the hard palate (back of the roof of your mouth) so they tend to drag nearby consonants also towards the palate. It happens in many, many languages because it’s based on the natural shape and tendency of your mouth. In English, it’s fossilized in -tio ending (as in station, ratio) and it’s still active in rapid speech when a word ending with /t/ comes before “you”, as in “don’t you” > “doncha” and “do you” > “d’you” > “joo”.