FUAIMEAN NA GÀIDHLIG

THE SOUNDS OF SCOTTISH GAELIC

[English]

Beginning on April 15th, An Lòchran commenced a wee block of fortnightly sessions on Gaelic pronunciation, run kindly by Christopher Lewin. Among many other things, Christopher is involved in Misneachd, a campaign group that advocates for the rights of Gaelic speakers and for strengthening the language within communities. Please take a closer look at the important work they do!

April 29th was our second session looking at the pronunciation of Gaelic phonemes (speech sounds). As we all know, good phonetics is the key to sounding like a native speaker - even if it’s not easy to begin with! Here are some quick examples of what we learned at this session, with most of the focus on consonants but some focus on vowels too:

If dh / gh appears between two vowels in a word, it’s not pronounced. Instead, there’s a brief “stop” (hiatus). Examples: taghadh, leaghadh
Vowels after cn / gn / mn / tn are pronounced nasally (i.e. go into your nose when saying them). Examples: cnuic, gnothach, mnà
In bread (aran), the a sounds are pronounced the same way. This often happens if the word came into Scottish Gaelic from Irish. Another example is prìosan (Irish: príosún) - that “a” sound is pronounced the same as in “aran”.
When using “ag” followed by a verbal noun, native speakers quite often don’t pronounce the “a” on “ag”, especially when talking at their natural speed. Examples: ag aideachadh, ag èistachd, ag ionnsachadh, ag òl, ag ullachadh.
We looked at how Lewis pronunciation can be more nasalized at times. Examples include am pòg sounding like a mòg, an taigh like a daigh, and am bòrd like a mòrd.

This is just a wee sample of what we looked at. The sessions themselves are a lot more in-depth, and well worth attending if you’re looking to brush up on your pronunciation! Please check out our weekly events page for more, or get in touch with us on info@anlochran.com if you’d like to request additional sessions. We’ll see what’s possible.

[Gàidhlig]

Bhon 15mh latha dhen Ghiblean air adhart, thòisich An Lòchran air sreath beag de thachartasan (gach cola-deug) air fuaimneachadh na Gàidhlig, ’s Gille-chrìost MacGill’Eòin aig an stiùir. Am measg tòrr rudan eile, tha Gille-chrìost an sàs ann am Misneachd, buidheann-iomairt a bhrosnaicheas còraichean luchd-labhairt na Gàidhlig agus neartachadh a’ chànain taobh a-staigh choimhearsnachdan. Nach toir thu sùil nas gèire air an obair chudromach ris a bheil iad!

B’ e an 29mh latha dhen Ghiblean an dàrna seisean againn air fuaimneachadh sa Ghàidhlig. Mar a tha fios againn uile, ’s ann riatanach a tha deagh fhuaimneachadh ma thathar airson bruidhinn mar neach-labhairt dùthchasach - fiù ’s mur h-eil e furasta an toiseach! Seo beagan eisimpleirean dhuibh de na dh’ionnsaich sinn aig an t-seisean seo, ’s am fòcas air connragan sa mhòr-chuid ach beagan ionnsachaidh a’ dol mu fhuaimreagan cuideachd:

Ma nochdas dh / gh eadar dà fhuaimreag ann am facal, cha tèid fhuaimneachadh. An àite sin, tha “stad” goirid ann (hiatus). Eisimpleirean: taghadh, leaghadh
’S ann gu srònach a thèid fuaimreagan às dèidh cn / gn / mn / tn fhuaimneachadh. Eisimpleirean: cnuic, gnothach, mnà
San fhacal “aran”, thèid an dà a fhuaimneachadh san son dòigh. ’S tric a thachras seo mas ann bho Ghaeilge a thàinig am facal a-steach dhan Ghàidhlig. ’S e prìosan eisimpleir eile (Gaeilge: príosún) - thèid a fhuaimneachadh coltach ris an a ann an “aran” an seo.
Nuair a thathar a’ cleachdadh “ag” ro ainmear gnìomhaireach, ’s minig nach abair luchd-labhairt dùthchasach “a” san fhacal “ag” - gu h-àraid ma tha iad a’ bruidhinn air astar a tha nàdarrach dhaibh. Eisimpleirean: ag aideachadh, ag èistachd, ag ionnsachadh, ag òl, ag ullachadh.
Thug sinn sùil air mar a tha fuaimneachadh ann an Leòdhas nas srònaiche aig amannan. Am measg eisimpleirean, tha na leanas ann: am pòg coltach ri a mòg, an taigh coltach ri a daigh, agus am bòrd coltach ri a mòrd.

Seo dìreach blasad de na dh’ionnsaich sinn. ’S ann fada nas doimhne a tha na seiseanan fhèin, agus ’s fhiach e a bhith an làthair ma tha thu airson do chuid fuaimneachaidh adhartachadh! Nach cùm thu sùil air an duilleig de thachartasan seachdaineil againn airson tuilleadh fiosrachaidh fhaotainn - air neo, nam bu toil leat seiseanan a bharrachd fhaicinn, cuir post-d thugainn aig info@anlochran.com - chì sinn an uair sin dè ghabhas a dhèanamh.