Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/243

 change of a to open e in Arran as to be sufficient of itself to show which of two alternative spellings should be followed. The fact that the vowels, for example, of the first syllables of nàirich or nàraich, and of bainis or banais, are respectively è and e in Arran shows that, for that island at least, the correct forms are nàraich and banais. In other districts the contrary is the case; the same pronunciations è and e in those words show, in Lochaber for example, that the right forms for that district are nàirich and bainis. Similarly math or maith (good), is pronounced ‘me’ (‘mwe’) in Lochaber and in Arran, therefore maith is the right form in Lochaber, where math would not become ‘me,’ while math is the right form in Arran, for there maith would not become ‘me’ (‘mwe’).

Another instance of the way in which the pronunciation may be a check upon the orthography is the word for a nail given by Dr. MacBain as tarrag and tarrang. But a, which never becomes e before rr in Arran, does become e there in the first syllable of this word, and thereby goes to show that rr should be r. It is r, moreover, and not rr that is heard not only in Arran and in Kintyre, where the word is tarann, but also in Perthshire, Skye, West Ross-shire, and Sutherland, where it is tarag. As final ng is liable to become nn in some districts and g in others, as in cumhann and cumhag for cumhang, those pronunciations would point to ‘tarang’ as the form of the word. The plural, however, tàirnnean in Arran, tairgean in Perth, tairnean in Skye, tairgnean in Sutherland, etc., is nearer to the more literary and Irish form tairnge, as is also the corresponding verb in the districts named. Tairnge is apt to suggest that taireang would be more correct than tarang, but a form with ai, even if it were admissible in other districts, is forbidden by the e sound given in Arran. In Perthshire an alternative plural, taragan, is also used.

Another peculiarity of Arran Gaelic is associated with this change of a to e, and also with the change, yet to be noticed, of ao to é. After b, f, p, m, l, and n a sound like that of w is