Page:Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish - Christian Brothers.djvu/39

 (b)  is usually pronounced broad, except in aspirable positions, when it gets its slender sound.

(c) The slender sound of is produced by spread in the tongue and forming a small hollow in the front portion of it. The point of the tongue is brought close to the gum just above the upper teeth (i.e., below the “hard rim”). The stream of voiced breath is directed into the hollow in the front of the tongue, and can be felt striking the lower lip.

(d) Initial broad in aspirable positions is pronounced slender—e.g.,.

(e) In N Connaught and Clare a “y sound” (§ 21(b)) ia heard after slender between vowels—e.g., is pronounced like mawirye.

(f) In Kilkenny slender becomes “zh” or “sh”; hence we hear pronounced like bōsheen, and  like mau-zhe, &c.

(g) The difference in sound between single and double is not at all so marked in Munster as in Connaught, hence the following sounds of  had best be learned by hearing a native of Connaught pronounce them.
 * 1. Broad strong—
 * (a) Initial broad unaspirated—e.g.,.
 * (b) Medial double broad—e.g.,.
 * 2. Slender strong—
 * (a) Initial slender unaspirated—e.g.,.
 * (b) Medial double slender—e.g.,.

These sounds hardly differ from the broad strong sounds (1) and often pass into the broad sounds both in modern and ancient Irish; hence such spelling as.