Page:Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish - Christian Brothers.djvu/89

 the “a” in Maggie (i.e., the long sound of the first vowel, § 12 (a)). The shows that the preceding consonant must be slender.

104. When is followed by  or  it is pronounced á (§ 12) or.

105. Both these digraphs represent the same sound, and the first one (i.e., ) has been adopted by the Gaelic League as it represents the sound of the digraph in Connaught and in Ulster—viz., followed by a broad glide; and as  does not denote the Munster sound better than,  should be accepted as the standard spelling.

(a) In Munster the sound is generally —i.e., the long sound of followed by the sound of  in  &c. There is practically equal stress on the two vowels.

(b) Before gutturals, labials, and, the sound varies between and  (second  in ), while there