Page:Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie Vol. 5.djvu/99

Rh the i-position. But in Manx daa hlieau 'two mountains or hill-slopes' the noun 'sounds like the Welsh word łłiw or per- haps more exactly łłi̯ĭ́u' (Rhys p. 147). Curiously in spoken Manx, though not indicated in the spelling, ł is 'introduced between labials and yod just as in the Slavonic languages' (Rhŷs p. 147) e. g. as (vłi̯ṓys) in na'n vioys hene 'than the life itself': also in fioghey 'to fade or wither' Ir. feochaim 'I droop', Ga. feodhaich 'decay'. This is not common in the Highlands, but I recollect an instance in N. Inv. where feòdar 'pewter' is invariably (flhɔɔṭəṛ)—save that the l is not mouillé.

Point-Side-Voice (1). This is the front slender l and differs from the English sound in being- only half voiced. The back of the tongue is besides slightly raised. which is not the case in English. It is not necessarily alveolar, for it may be produced either with the tongue point against the arch or on the front upper gum. It occurs in N. Inv. in the preposition (lɛ) le 'with' and in the prepositional pronouns wherein it appears e. g. (luwm) liom 'with me', (le) leis 'with him', but in many dialects it is mouillé (łe), its sound in N. Inv. thereby falling together with leis 'a thigh'; in medials: (elɑt‘) eilid 'bind'; (elə) eile 'other'; in finals, (ḍɑɑl) dàil 'delay', (ḍhɑl) dail 'dale', (kumal) cumail 'keeping', (vel) bheil 'is?', (xɑn el) cha'n eil 'there isn't'; (xa ṛic u lɛs‘) cha ruig thu leas 'you need not'; (a :lɛh) a leith 'its half, the half of it'; if strongly stressed it > fully breathed as in (xɑ ;lheeṛ ᵹɔ̯h) cha léir dhomh 'I can't see'; (an ulhçc) an uilc 'of the evil'; (an ulht) an uilt 'of the joint'.

NB. Front slender l i, e. (l) after front vowels has with some speakers a slighter degree of palatalization ; it is a dental point l formed with a simultaneous approach to the palatal position. In my transcripts I use l, but I wish to state once for all that if all the dialects be taken into account this stands for two different sounds (1) a slightly palatalized l, (2) the point-side-voice (l) which differs from the Eng. in being only half-voiced. The former tends with same N. Inv. Speakers to be converted into (ł) with strong palatalization. This seems to be the case in Manx. It also holds true of r: e. g. in ruighe 'arm' we have (r) without palatalization, while it exists in (ṛju‘) riutha 'to them'; (ṛjuhṭ‘) 'to