Page:Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish - Christian Brothers.djvu/25

 the hard palate, whilst the sides of the tongue touch the back teeth in the upper jaw, thus forming a hollow in the front portion of the tongue (Fig. IV.).

This sound is represented by the trigraph or by  when followed by a “protected ” (§ 59).

(b) ă, (short). This sound is the short sound of the vowel described in the preceding paragraph. It is represented by (not followed by “protected ”) or by, when these digraphs are stressed and there are no disturbing influences due to the consonants.

(c) (long). This is the second or mid vowel. The tongue assumes a position similar to that required for the production of “a,” but the centre of the tongue is more arched up in front, thus leaving a narrower passage between the centre of the tongue and the front of the hard palate for the escape of the air. The mouth is not quite so open as for “a” (Fig. V.).

(d) (short). This vowel when stressed has the short sound of, the tongue being in the same position for both. Hence (short) does not correspond to “e” in the words “bed,” “let” “bet” For the production of the English “e” the tongue is quite relaxed, and is not arched in front.

(e) unstressed has a more relaxed sound than the preceding vowel, and resembles the second “e” in the word “meshes.”

(f) (long). This is the third or high vowel. The tongue is arched higher for this vowel than for ,