6. Vowel-shortening.
§ 451. Apart from the reduction of vowels in proclitics every long vowel in a syllable immediately preceding the stress tends to become short. Finck states that the short vowel under these circumstances retains its quality. This is not the case in Donegal. Examples – trα·nõ:nə, ‘afternoon’, Di. tráthnóna; αr̥uw ·N′e:, ‘the day before yesterday’, < α:r̥uw, Di. athrughadh; gə d′αr sə k′l′iuw, ‘that he made a basket’; d′αnuw g′r′iN′, ‘to make fun’; d′αN skαrt′ er′, ‘call him’; rɔʃə ·wα:n = Róise bhán; kɔtə mo:r, ‘great coat’ (kɔ:tə); gɔl çɔ:l′, ‘singing &c.’, = gabháil cheóil; ə hɔrt l′ïm, ‘to take with me’; tɔrt suəs, ‘giving up’; tər dũw ə, ‘give it me’ (to:r′); N′i: vɛ Lɔχ p′i:N′ə də rïN′ əgəm l′αt, ‘I won’t have anything to do with you’, Lɔχ < Luəχ, cp. § 27; təg ɔrt, ‘get up, on with you’ said to a cow = tóg ort; ꬶɔ Nɔ t′r′i: ə χuərtə, ‘two or three visits’, = dhó no[A 1] trí de chuarta; N′i: vɛ ʃɛ, ‘he will not be’, pausa form b′e(:)i, b′əi; ə m′ɛd′ ïm′ə, ‘the amount of butter’ (m′eid′); ʃɛ də ·vαhə = sé do bheatha; α·hein′, ‘himself’; k′ib′ ꬶUw̥, ‘sedge’ (k′i:b′).
We have already seen that long vowels in stressed syllables are commonly shortened before h < th (§ 7). This also seems to have taken place in d′içəL, ‘strenuous effort’, Di. díchioll, Wi. díchill. In other cases we get double forms due to varying stress, e.g. α:t′, ‘place’ but ə Næt′ i:n′αχ, ‘in some place or other’; mo:rαn, ‘much, many’, but əNə mɔrαn ɔkuw.
7. Uncertainty of Initial.
§ 452. As words beginning in O.Ir. with e followed by a non-palatal consonant or with u (o) followed by a palatal consonant now begin with α and ï respectively there is considerable hesitation as to whether the final of the article should be palatal or non-palatal before such forms. Some instances have already been given in § 4. Further examples – ə t′i:vəL = an t‑aoibheall; ə tαbər, ‘the mud’, M.Ir. ebor, beside sə N′αbər, ‘in the mud’; l′eʃ ə NαLαχ, ‘with the cattle’, O.Ir. ellach; bαnəN sə kα:s, ‘it was just the same’, for αnəN see § 4; ə N′iʃɔil′, ‘the game’, = an uis-fheóil; ə N′iʃαg, ‘the lark’, = an uiseag but always ə tiʃk′ə, ‘the water’; ə t′ed′ə, ‘the teacher’, M.Ir. aite; ə t′eir′ə,
- ↑ This no often aspirates a following numeral, e.g. ku:g′ər Nɔ heʃər; t′r′u:r Nα çαr̥ər. This may possibly be a relic of the ancient usage, see Pedersen, KZ. xxxv 425.
