Page:The Celtic Review volume 4.djvu/354

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SCOTTISH GAELIC DIALECTS
341

In those third singular feminine and third plural prepositional pronouns in which p or mp is written, ch is usually heard in Arran and in Kintyre. Uaipe, from her, is bhuaiche and uapa, from them, is bhuacha in both districts. So foipe, under her, and fopa, under them, have ch in lieu of p in both districts. Ròiche for roimpe, before her, occurs in Arran and ròcha for rompa, before them, in both districts. Troimpe, through her, is ròiche for thròiche, and trompa ròcha for thròcha in Arran; in Kintyre they are roiche and ropa. MacAlpine writes foithe for foipe, fodha and fotha for fopa, roithe and roimhpe for roimpe, throimhe for troimpe, and thrompa for trompa. In West Ross foipe is fòithe, pronounced ‘fòhi,’ and might be written fòthaigh; compare the pronunciation there of cloiche, of a stone, viz., ‘clohi.’ So in that district also roimpe is ròimhe ‘ròhi,’ and troimpe tròimhe ‘tròhi.’ In all cases in which m is found in the usual written form o is nasalised in the pronunciations given, and therefore ròiche might be, and perhaps ought to be, written ‘ròimhche’ or ‘roimhthe,’ ròcha ‘ròmhcha’ or ‘ròmhtha’ and so on.

Ch is heard in others of the prepositional pronouns. Dhiubh, of them, written dhiuth by MacAlpine, is pronounced dhiuch in Arran. Leatha, with her, leotha (for leò), with them, rithe, to her, riutha (for riù), to them, all have ch for th in Arran with lengthening, moreover, of the preceding vowel leà’che (with her), leòcha, rìche, but also rithe (not rìthe), and riùcha. MacAlpine also gives ch and lengthens the vowels, leatha and lèche, leócha, rìche, and riùcha. Ch where it occurs in those pronunciations of prepositional pronouns is for th.

dh broad.

D for dh may be noted in two or three instances. The two forms iomadh or ioma and iomad are well known. Àraidh, certain, is with MacAlpine àraid. In Perthshire there are two instances. A thuilleadh (or thuille) air sin, moreover, in addition to that, is a thuillead air sin, and sometimes