Page:Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish - Christian Brothers.djvu/103

 eclipsing one, is pronounced—e.g., is pronounced.

140. In the Table of Consonants given in Chapter V. the letters, and occur in the first column, under the heading “Voiceless Stops,” whilst  and  are found in the second column—the “Voiced Stops.”  occurs in the third column under the heading “Voiceless Spirants,” while  is in the fourth column—“Voiced Spirants.”

The eclipsing letters for and  (viz., ) all occur in the fifth column—the “Nasal Liquids.”

141. Eclipsis may, therefore, be more scientifically defined as “The voicing of the initial consonant of an Irish word, if it be voiceless, or the nasalising of it, if it be already voiced.”

142. It has been already pointed out in the Irish Grammar that the letter cannot be eclipsed—a fact that is still questioned by some writers. A glance at the Table of Consonants will show that there is a gap in column 4, where the sound of “z,”—i.e., the voiced sound of should occur. The voiced sound of