Page:Quiggin Dialect of Donegal 0122.png

 (d) The labial, dental and guttural stops.

Note on the stops and s (ʃ). In the case of l, m and n sounds and partly in the case of the r sounds in Donegal we have found that under certain conditions long consonants appear where double consonants are now or were formerly written. We further know that in the majority of cases modern Gaelic labial, dental and guttural stops together with s go back to originally double consonants which are commonly so written in O.Irish after short accented vowels, see Pedersen pp. 84 ff. The question therefore naturally arises: Are there no traces of these original double stops in the manner of articulation of the present day? I venture to think that this question may be answered in the affirmative. What strikes an English ear most in the speech of the north of Ireland is the way in which final stops are articulated. As was the case with the liquids and nasals it is chiefly at the end of monosyllables that differences of length in consonants are most clearly heard. Now if we compare the pronunciation of f′αr`, ‘man’, with that of f′ïg ‘length’, we cannot fail to be struck by the difference in duration of the finals. It may be stated once and for all that the only short or clipped consonants which Donegal Irish knows are l, l′, n, n′, r, r′, ç, w. At the end of stressed monosyllables with short vowel the stops and s, ʃ are held for a longer time than is the case with voiced consonants in standard English after a short vowel, though parallels occur in northern dialects, e.g. in the Swaledale pronunciation of ‘had’, ‘bad’. At the same time the contact is loosened very gradually, so that an off-glide is clearly heard. l, l′, n, n′, r, r′ at the end of stressed monosyllables may be regarded as over-short, in other positions as short. L, L′, N, N′, R, m, m′, the stops and s (ʃ) at the end of stressed monosyllables after short vowels are long. In other positions they are either long or half-long. Even initially they are dwelt upon and often seem to be half-long. In all cases the articulation of a final consonant is finished and the off-glide is invariably heard.

1. p. p is formed with the lips slightly protruded in the w position and is strongly aspirated. On releasing the contact a w̥ off-glide is heard which is most noticeable before æ, ɛ, e, i. For the lenis p cp. § 438.