The semi-vowel and consonant systems 4.1 Semi-vowels Some sounds in Irish have a very limited usage in actual pronunciation. A good example is the fact that /y/ is needed only initially in Irish (as opposed to Scottish Gaelic where it is found non-initially). Another example is the fact that while slender dhlgh 1)1 and slender ch Ix'l are found initially in all dialects, only in Donegal and Connacht are slender dhlgh 1)1 and slender c h Ix'l necessary medially. Yet despite the restricted occurrence of such sounds in actual pronunciation, an underlying broad dhlgh /y/, slender dhlgh 1)1, broad bh /w/ and broad mh /•#/ are required in order to explain the relationship which exists between certain forms.
Slender fricatives
Here the conversion of a semi-vowel slender ch Ix'l or slender bhlmh fv'l to 1)1 is our main concern; but the further change dhlgh /)/ to /g7 is also discussed.
4.1.1(i)
Treatment of slender ch Ix'l and slender dh/gh 1)1. The various developments of slender ch Ix'l and slender dhlgh 1)1 in the major dialects are illustrated in Table .1.In summary it can be said that slender ch Ix'l either must be preserved as in cloiche /klox'a/ (D, Mo) or be changed to /h/ as in cloiche /kloha/ (M) or be changed to /j/ following an unstressed vowel. Conversely, slender dhlgh 1)1 is changed to slender ch Ix'l as in cruaidh fkmisx'/ (Mo).It must be pointed out that, although the convention in Irish is to spell the plural of eadach 'cloth' as eadaighe (or more recently eadai), from a morphological point of view, we are dealing with a plural formed by slendering with the addition of the vowel -e /a/ (see 7.3.2), i.e. eadaiche (-> /eidi:/). [The addition of an underlying /a/ is necessary to allow for the difference between, for instance eadach 'cloth', plural /eidi:/ and bromach 'colt', plural /bruma/ (Cf).] Similarly, although the genitive of bealach 'way' is 67 of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.

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2024-05-16