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 The forms of the verb ‘to choose’ have ö̤꞉, though we should expect an o-sound. Writers of Ulster Irish print raogha, rae (Craig, Lloyd, G. J. vi 146, Di. ré) which represent the pronun&shy;ciation of the younger people. It would seem that a took the place of o in these forms, i.e. that M.Ir. togaim became tagaim whence tö̤꞉m, ‘I choose’, pret. hö̤꞉ mʹə, infin. tö̤uw. Similarly rö̤꞉, ‘choice’, O.Ir. rogu, from which is formed rö̤꞉nαhαs, ‘choice’; tö̤꞉nə, ‘select, recherché’. The past part. of tö̤uw is tïtʹə.

ö̤꞉ takes the place of ⅄꞉ before a following n in several words, thus ö̤꞉n beside ⅄꞉n, ‘one’, O.Ir. óin (also i꞉n); ɛrö̤꞉n, ‘together’, Di. araon; klö̤꞉n, ‘incli&shy;nation’, klö̤꞉nuw, ‘to incline’, O.Ir. clóin; trö̤꞉nə, ‘corn-crake’, also trɛənə, Di. Macbain traona; krö̤꞉rək, krö̤꞉r, ‘light-red’, Di. craorac < caor-dhearg. One may also hear kö̤꞉rə, ‘sheep’; kö̤꞉rαn, ‘moor’; sö̤꞉l, ‘life’.

The depalatalisation of initial *Rʹ may completely change the character of the following vowel. Under these circum&shy;stances O.Ir. ía (i.e. iə) becomes ö̤꞉. Lloyd gives two instances of this change for Monaghan, G. J. 1896 p. 146 col. 1. Examples—rö̤꞉l, ‘rule’, O.Ir. ríagul; rö̤꞉ruw (r⅄꞉ruw), ‘to look after’ (erʹ), Di. ríarugh&shy;adh, sɔrö̤꞉r̥ə, ‘easily satisfied’, Di. soir&shy;iartha from rö̤꞉r, O.Ir. ríar, whence also ərʹeirʹ, ‘according to’, do réir but note tα꞉ ʃïnʹ glαky꞉ ərʹö̤꞉r Nə bʹlʹiəNə, ‘that is taken by the year’; rö̤꞉skən (rɛəskən), ‘a rough, untilled piece of ground’, Di. riasc, whence ku꞉lṟö̤꞉skαχ, ‘backward, out of the world’, also rö̤꞉skαNtə, ‘wild, rough’; rö̤꞉χtənəs, ‘need’, M.Ir. riach&shy;tanus (also r⅄꞉χtənəs); rö̤꞉wαχ, ‘brindled’, M.Ir. riabach, Lɛhə Nə rö̤꞉wi꞉, ‘borrowing-days’, see Dinneen s. mí.

This is the symbol for the low-front-wide vowel in English ‘man’, ‘cat’. It usually appears taking the place of α before all conso&shy;nants with palatal (palatal&shy;ised) articu&shy;lation except the labials, i.e. before Lʹ, lʹ, Nʹ, nʹ, rʹ, ɲ, tʹ, dʹ, kʹ, gʹ, ʃ. In place of æ a vowel inter&shy;mediate between this sound and α is sometimes heard.