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 rrch gives r̥ in tɔ꞉r̥i꞉s, ‘number at birth, partu&shy;rition’, M.Ir. torrchius.

This is one of the few internal changes which does not hold good in sandhi, e.g. ky꞉rʹ hinʹuw ɔrt = caoir theineadh ort.

r̥ is the aspirated form of initial tr, e.g. r̥α꞉χt mʹə, ‘I dis&shy;coursed’; r̥idʹ ʃə, ‘he fought’; r̥ïʃLʹi꞉ ʃə, ‘he stumbled’, Di. tuis&shy;lighim, O.Ir. tuisled; r̥ɔsk mʹə, ‘I fasted’. In the case of initial tʹrʹ the palatal&shy;isation seems to me to have been given up but r̥ in this case is a sound midway between r̥ and r̥ʹ, e.g. r̥eigʹ mʹə, ‘I abandoned’; r̥ïmwi꞉ ʃə, ‘it dried’, = thriom&shy;uigh < thior&shy;muigh; α r̥iən, ‘his third’; r̥o꞉ mʹə, ‘I ploughed’, M.Ir. trebaim; r̥o꞉r̥ə mʹə, ‘I led’; α r̥u꞉r, ‘his three’, may sometimes have r̥ʹ. At any rate the r̥ in these cases is very different from the r̥ʹ in §.

The Donegal palatal r is a very elusive sound and is perhaps more easy to acquire than to describe. The tip of the tongue hangs down slightly behind the upper teeth though not in such exaggerat&shy;ed fashion as in the case of s and ʃ. The front of the tongue a little over half an inch from the tip rests against the arch-rim leaving a narrow horizon&shy;tal slit through which the breath rushes. The Aran rʹ as I have heard it from a friend who has spent some time on the islands has not the same acoustic effect as the Donegal sound and according to Finck’s descrip&shy;tion the two must be quite distinct from one another. As far as I am able to observe the hollowing out of the front of the tongue essential for the pro&shy;duction of s, ʃ is entirely absent. Perhaps the Desmond sound described in the Chr. Bros. Aids to the Pron. of Irish (p. 23) is different. There it is stated that “the slender sound of r is produced by spreading 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.” When I first heard the Donegal rʹ, I was reminded of a j-sound formed against the arch-rim instead of against the hard palate. Cp. Henderson’s remark “in Tiree air ‘on’ sounds like eigh (eij) ‘ice’” (ZCP. iv 523). On the other hand rʹ has a distinct affinity with đ and an English&shy;man may easily acquire the sound by slightly retract&shy;ing the tongue from the edge of the upper teeth and substitut&shy;ing the contact with the arch-rim. Hence it is very natural to find đ appearing for rʹ in Scotch dialects (Henderson, ZCP. iv 516). At 3em