Page:Sean-Chaint na nDéise - Sheehan.pdf/14

 thrust further forward when you pronounce the second word “moon.” In Irish, for broad, they would be thrust still further forward, and for slender would be drawn further back than they are for the “m” in “met.” The sound of  may cause some difficulty. English “f” is produced by laying the upper teeth on the lower lip, whilst Irish is produced by bringing the lips close together and forcing out the breath. As an exercise in these sounds read aloud a page of Irish, taking care to give the lips the correct position for each labial. The prayers “Hail Mary” and “Hail, Holy Queen” will be found to contain broad and slender labials quite close to one another, and may therefore be selected with advantage for this exercise.

(2) and  broad are pronounced, as explained in the ordinary books, by pressing the tip of the tongue against the inside of the upper front teeth. In pronouncing and  slender the tip of the tongue is raised and touches the hard flesh just over the upper front teeth. and slender are not pronounced like the “t” in “tune" and the “d” in “duty.” We do not say tyir-im or chir-im for, nor dyee-ah or gee-ah for . The  and  slender are produced by pressing so loosely with the tongue that some breath escapes during the contact. If the learner is from Munster he may have noticed that some English speakers give an exaggerated form of this slender  pronunciation to the final “t” in “what,” “that,” &c., so that these words sound almost like “whass,” “thass.”

aspirated is often pronounced like the in. When such is the case it is written as. has this sound when it is preceded by a broad vowel and is the last letter of a word whose genitive contains