TABLE OF CONTENTS. Alphabet and Pronunciation, § 1—5. Vowels, § 6-28; Infection, § 16-24; Shortening of long Vowels, § 25; Suppression of Vowels, § 26; Variation of Vowels, § 27; Sequence of Vowels, § 28. Consonants, § 29-77; Aspiration, § 59-68; Assimila- tion, § 69-73; Compensatory lengthening, § 74—77. Intercalation of Vowels, § 78; Metathesis, § 79–80; Terminal sound, § 86-106; Aspiration, § 91-96; Prosthesis, § 107-108; Apheresis, § 108-108c. Ia Stems in a, § 110-114; 1b Stems in ia, § 115–120; II Stems in i, § 121-125; II Stems in u, § 126—133; Iva Dental stems, § 134-143; Ivb Guttural stems, § 144-148; IV C The terms of relationship in r, § 149-151; IV d Masculine and feminine stems in n and nn, iv e Neuters in man, mann, Iv f Neuters in 46-48 49-50 51 52-61 Demonstrative, § 190-198; Personal, § 199-206; Posses- Cardinal, § 229-232; Ordinal, § 233; Numeral substan- 65-68- Conjugations, § 248; Tenses, § 249-250; Verbal parti- Present (1. Indicative, 2. Conjunctive, 3. Imperative, 4. Second Present, 5. Present of habit), § 255—264°, 6. T-past, § 265-268; 7. S-past, § 269-274; 8 and 9. Reduplicated future with Conditional, § 275-281; 10 and 11. B-future with Conditional, § 282-284; 12 and 13. S-future with Conditional, § 285-289; 14. Perfect, § 290-303; Other tense forms, § 304–311. Present (1. Ind., 2. Conj., 3. Imperat., 4. Second Pre- sent), § 312-314; 5 and 6. Reduplicated Future with Conditional, § 315-317; 7 and 8. B-future with Con- ditional, § 318-319; 9 and 10. S-future with Condi- 1. Indicative, 2. Conjunctive Present, § 333-337; 3. S-past, § 338-340; 4. B-future, § 341-342; 5. S-future, § 343-345; 6. Reduplicated Future, § 346; PAGES 1. Negative, § 390, 391; 2. Question and Answer, § 392 -393; 3. Conjunctions, § 394-400; 4. Particles used I. PHONOLOGY. 1. THE Old Irish alphabet consists of the following letters: a b c (ch) d e f (ph) g h i l m n o p r s t (th) u, with the long vowels, á é í ó ú, the true diphthongs ía, ái áe, ói óe, úa, au, and the improper diphthongs enumerated § 18 et seq. x is sometimes met with as another form of writing cs. y and z occur only in borrowed words. The Old Irish writing is a peculiar form of the Roman character, and is in use to this day. 2. In Modern Irish the consonants d t g clr ns, whether preceding or following a broad vowel (a o u), have the broad pronunciation corresponding to that in German, after or before a slender vowel a liquid pronunciation. S in this case has the sound of the English sh. In like manner ch is differently pronounced as the German ch in ach and ich. 3. The sounded spirants gh dh bh mh show the same difference in pronunciation, but are not distinguished till the later I writings from the unaspirated g db m (§ 68). dh has in Modern Irish the pronunciation of gh: both sounds before or after a broad vowel resemble the spirant in the German word Magen, and both before or after a slender vowel sound like the German j: as terminal sounds they become silent. bh before or after a broad vowel sounds like the German w, before or after a slender vowel like the English v. In median sound between short broad vowels it becomes vocalized into u. I. G. 1 mh has the same pronunciation but with a nasal sound. Both bh and mh in initial sound are always pronounced in Munster like the English v. (O'Donovan, Grammar, pp. 46, 51.) 4. th is pronounced in Modern Irish like h, as also is 8 or sh (§ 91); ph like the German f; ƒ is silent. Even in Old Irish lathe, day, is found contracted to laa, lá, and the aspirated s and ƒ are left out in writing: senaig for sesnaig, the perfect of snigim; sith-laith for sith-faith, Fiacc's Hymn 19; ind atsine for fatsine, 22; a ridadart for fridadart, 32. 5. The transition of e t p g db m 8 f into ch th ph gh dh bh mh s fis called aspiration. The typographical marks of aspiration in Old Irish are for c and t, an h following (ch), or an Old Greek rough breathing placed over the letter; for s and f, a dot (s). In Modern Irish aspiration is uniformly indicated by a dot placed over the letter (¿). VOWEL SOUNDS. 6. a o (u) e i are the short a-vowel sounds: alt, educavit, Latin alo; canim, I sing, Latin cano; saigim, adeo, Gothic sokja; ocht, eight, Latin octo; roth, wheel, Latin rota; muir, genitive mora, sea, Latin mare (§ 18); ech, horse, Latin equus; celim, I conceal, Gothic hila; berim, Latin fero; med, mead, Greek péov; dligim, debeo, Gothic dulgs, guilt; midiur, judico, Greek pédopai; mil, honey, Latin mel. On e and o standing for original i and u see § 21. 7. occurs particularly often before nd, nn, mb, mm, ng, ns: ind-rith, incursus, Old Gaulish Ande-ritum, imb, imm, Greek audi; imb, butter, Latin unguentum, Sanskrit añjana (according to Stokes); inga, nail, Latin unguis; imbliu, genitive imlenn, navel, Greek oμpadós; lingim, I leap; cingim, I stride; mí, genitive mís, month, Latin mensis (§ 74). |