Page:Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish - Christian Brothers.djvu/77

 77. A diphthong cannot be developed immediately beside a long vowel.

N.B.—The of  is always long,=.

78. A long vowel sound at the end of a word is usually shortened by the addition of a grammatical inflection beginning with a consonant.

Likewise with the verbal adjectives of verbs ending in, &c.

79. We have already shown in Chapter VIII. how glides are formed, and we have also explained why it is not necessary to write the glides in English, whilst it is necessary to do so in Irish; consequently there are a large number of digraphs in Irish, for it is frequently necessary to join a slender consonant to a broad vowel, and vice versa. The digraphs used in Modern Irish are and. If one of the vowels of the digraph carries a —e.g.,, &c, there is no difficulty in recognising which is the vowel and which the glide; but when there is not a the matter is not quite so easy—e.g., in