CHAPTER II.
Aspiration.
15. The word "aspiration" comes from the Latin verb "aspirare," to breathe; hence, when we say in Irish that a consonant is aspirated, we mean that the breath is not completely stopped in the formation of the consonant, but rather that the consonant sound is continuous.
Take, for example, the consonant b. To form this consonant sound the lips are pressed closely together for an instant, and the breath is forced out on separating the lips. Now, if we wish to get the sound of b aspirated (or ḃ), we must breathe the whole time whilst trying to form the sound of b; i.e. we must not close the lips entirely, and the resulting sound is like the English consonant v. Hence we say that the sound of ḃ (in some positions) is v.
The Irish letter c corresponds very much to the English k, and the breathed sound of k corresponds to the sound of ċ (when broad). To sound the English k, we press the centre of the tongue against the palate, and cut off the breath completely for an instant. In pronouncing ċ (when broad), all we have to do is to try to pronounce the letter k without pressing the tongue against the palate. The word loċ, a lake, is pronounced somewhat like luk; but the tongue is not to touch the palate to form the k. The sound of ċ aspirated when slender (especially when initial) is very well represented by the sound of "h" in "humane."
The Irish g (g) has always the hard sound of g in the English word "go." In pronouncing this word we press the back of the tongue against the back of the palate. Now, to pronounce ġ (and also ḋ) when broad, we must breathe in forming the sound of g, i.e. we must keep the tongue almost flat in the mouth.
The various sounds of the aspirated consonants are not given, as they are dealt with very fully in the second part of the "O'Growney Series." It may be well to remark, however, that the sound of ṗ is like the sound of the Irish f, not the English f. The Irish f is sounded without the aid of the teeth.
