caightheach; αrt α kʹaLy꞉, ‘Art O’Kelly’; kʹαNy꞉m, ‘I buy’, M.Ir. cendaigim.
§ 126. After other non-palatal consonants than those mentioned in the preceding paragraph the characteristic features of y are not so strongly marked and we get a sound between y and i, now approaching more nearly to the one, now to the other. This is the case after w, p, t, d, s, e.g. in tyNʹə, gen. sing. of to̤N, ‘wave’; sy꞉, ‘to sit’, O.Ir. sude; sy꞉, ‘sage’, O.Ir. sui; i꞉nuw, ‘wonder’ but Nʹi꞉rʹ wy꞉nuw, ‘it was no wonder’.
§ 127. We have seen that y꞉, i꞉ frequently take the place of ⅄꞉ especially with the younger people but even J. H. has y꞉ in a number of words such as tyuw, ‘side’, O.Ir. tóib; kryuw, ‘branch’, M.Ir. cróeb, cráeb, gen. sing. kri꞉və, plur. kry꞉wαχə). In the case of aoi great uncertainty prevails. J. H. sometimes has y꞉ in y꞉ʃ, ‘age’, O.Ir. áis; y꞉lʹ, gen. sing. of ⅄꞉l, ‘lime’, O.Ir. áel and frequently in inflected forms like sy꞉rʹ, gen. sing. of s⅄꞉r, ‘free, cheap’. But the tendency with the younger generations is to introduce i꞉ everywhere.
(c) The irrational vowel ə.
§ 128. The so-called irrational vowel in Donegal seems to lie between the mid-mixed ə in German Gabe (narrow according to Sweet) and my ï with which it often appears to interchange. It may be regarded as a lowered ï and it is interesting to find that Craig writes: “in the following a is obscure (i.e. unstressed), and is pronounced like i in mist (= ï):—asam, asat &c.” (Grammar² p. 3). In this book I have chosen to write ə before l, n, r, m &c. instead of ḷ, ṇ, ṛ, ṃ, as the quality of the vowel seems to me to be generally retained, cp. Finck’s remarks i pp. 34, 35. ə may represent the reduction of any O.Ir. short vowel in syllables not bearing the chief stress, except in the case of the termination ‑ach. Before palatal consonants i takes the place of ə (§ 113).
§ 129. Examples of ə as the reduction of O.Ir. short vowels in unstressed syllables—(a) O.Ir. a, αləbənαχ, ‘Scotch, Presbyterian’, O.Ir. albanach; αsəl, ‘ass’, M.Ir. assal; αstər (χlïNʹə), ‘labour’, Meyer astar; α̃uwərk, ‘sight’, M.Ir. amarc; α꞉məd, ‘timber’, M.Ir. admat; bαnəLtrə, ‘nurse’, M.Ir. banaltru; bαtə, ‘stick’, M.Ir. bata; gαNtənəs, ‘scarcity’, Di. ganntanas; kαr̥əNαχ, ‘loving’, Meyer carthanach; ruəmən Nə gyNʹəl, ‘daddy long-legs’, cp. Di. ruaim, ‘a long hair’, O’R. ruaghmhar, ‘whisker’
