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 In the same way i takes place of ə as svara&shy;bhakti vowel between palatal combi&shy;nations such as rʹgʹ, rʹv, lʹgʹ &c. (cp. Finck i p. 35). Examples—bwilʹigʹɔg, ‘bubble’, O.Ir. bolg, bolc, gen. sing. builc; hærʹigʹ, ‘offered’, M.Ir. taircim; kʹelʹigʹ, ‘deceit’, M.Ir. celg; mʹirʹigʹ, ‘rust’, O.Ir. meirg; mwærʹigʹ, ‘woe’, O.Ir. mairg; ʃirʹivə, compar. of ʃαruw, ‘bitter’, O.Ir. serb. Lα꞉rʹikʹ, ‘thigh’, beside Macbain làirig, O.Ir. loarcc shews that the kʹ is ana&shy;logical and comes in from the plural, as no svara&shy;bhakti vowel is intro&shy;duced between r, rʹ and k, kʹ (§ ). Similarly the final ə of i꞉nʹə, ‘Friday’, becomes i in i꞉ni ·çɛəstə, ‘Good Friday’; tui çαhə, ‘rainbow’, = tuagh cheatha.

After rʹ before ɔ꞉ the off-glide sometimes developes into i, as in bʹrʹiɔ꞉tʹə, ‘sickly, delicate’, infin. bʹrʹiɔuw, Di. breodhaim, Meyer breoaim, ‘I burn’.

When standing between palatal consonants i꞉ has a very close sound but in other positions it is slightly more open. It is liable to be modified by non-palatal conso&shy;nants for which see under y (§ ) and is frequent both in syllables with chief and secondary stress.

i꞉ represents O.Ir. í between palatal consonants, e.g. in dʹi꞉gʹ, dat. sing. of dʹi꞉g (with open vowel, also dʹiəg), ‘gutter’; ʃi꞉nʹuw (ʃi꞉Nʹuw), ‘stretch’, O.Ir. sínim; dʹi꞉ʃ ‘a couple’, cp. dís dat. of días Wi.; kʹi꞉rʹə, gen. sing. of kʹi꞉r, ‘comb’, O.Ir. cír; fʹrʹi꞉, ‘flesh-worm’, O’R. frith, Di. frigh. Similarly in i꞉, ‘fat’, Raphoe Pastoral 1904 igh, Macbain igh, M.Ir. íth and in the dimin&shy;utive termina&shy;tion ‑i꞉nʹ, kælʹi꞉nʹ, ‘girl’. When the final of a mono&shy;syllable which contains iə becomes palatal, iə becomes i꞉, thus driən, ‘black&shy;thorn’, O.Ir. draigen, gen. sing. dri꞉nʹ.

O.Ir. í in words of more than one syllable before non-palatal conso&shy;nants gives i꞉ (in mono&shy;syllables we usually find iə), e.g. dʹĩ꞉wi꞉nʹ, ‘unmarried’, O.Ir. dímain; kʹi꞉krαχ, ‘ravenous’, Meyer cíccarach; kʹi꞉mwælʹ, ‘to worry, contend’, O’R. ciomaim, Macbain, Di. ciom; kαrəʃ ·kʹrʹi꞉stə, ‘sponsor’, Meyer cairdes Críst s. cairddes; mʹi꞉sə, gen. sing. of mʹi꞉, ‘month’.

Sometimes O.Ir. ía (i.e. iə) loses its second element and becomes i꞉. This is par&shy;ticular&shy;ly the case before h < th and is therefore parallel to the shorten&shy;ing of long vowels before the same sound. Examples—bʹrʹi꞉hər, ‘word, speech’, O.Ir. bríathar;