Page:Simple Lessons in Irish, Part 1 - O'Growney.pdf/28

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28

o short before ll, nn, or before m, the vowel is lengthened in sound.

§ 76. This lengthening of vowels is noticeable from Waterford (where the lengthened vowels have a very peculiar sound) up to Galway, where the lengthening is much less marked, Curiously enough, the same lengthening is to be noticed at the opposite extreme of the Gaelic-speaking district, the north and north-west of Scotland.

77. In all districts there is a perceptible lengthening of vowel sound before -ll, -nn, -rr at the end of monosyllables. Thus, the vowel sounds in mill, sinn, corr are everywhere longer than those in mil (like mil in milt), sin (like shin in shinty), cor (like cur in curt). Compare the vowel sounds in the English words—weld, welt; curd, curt; grand, grant.

78. What the effect of the Munster lengthening of vowel sounds is, can be seen from the following table. We do not pretend to give all the shades of pronunciation of various parts of Munster.

The word Is pronounced in
Connaught W. Munst. E. Munster
mall moL mouL ma′-oul
dall dhoL dhouL dha′-oul
am om oum a′-oum
crann kroN kroun kra′-oun
im im eem eim
mill mil meel meil
cinn kin keen keing
binn bin been being
poll pŭl pouL
trom thrŭm throum
donn dhŭN dhouN