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There are three (now predominantly in County Donegal ), Connacht (Counties Mayo and Galway ), and Munster (Counties Kerry and Cork ). None of these has the status of a Standard Pronunciation , and in schools pupils learn the pronunciation of whatever dialect is geographically closest, or else a mixture of all the dialects. In the Media (for example the Irish language Television channel TG4 and the Irish language Radio station Raidió Na Gaeltachta ), the Connacht pronunciation is probably the most widely heard, and is therefore a good choice for a beginner, especially one outside Ireland and with no ties to one of the other dialects, to focus on. In addition, a committee from the Linguistics Institute of Ireland devised a standardized pronunciation called the ''Lárchanúint'' ('central dialect') that was intended to become a standardized, spelling-based pronunciation. It is easy for a beginner to learn, but it is quite artificial and is almost never used by native speakers or teachers. THE ALPHABET Prior to the 20th Century , Irish was written using the Uncial script. The uncial alphabet, together with letter name pronunciations and Lenited letters (''séimhiú'') is shown below. Use of the uncial script is today almost entirely restricted to decorative and/or self-consciously traditional contexts. The dot above the lenited letter is usually substituted with a following ''h'' in the standard Roman alphabet. The alphabet now used for writing the Irish language consists of the following letters, written in the standard international form: :a á b c d e é f g h i í l m n o ó p r s t u ú In addition, words of foreign derivation may contain j k v x z; of these, only '''v''' is at all common. CONSONANTS The consonant letters generally correspond to the consonant phonemes as shown in this table. See Irish Phonology for an explanation of the symbols used. VOWELS The following chart indicates how written vowels are ''generally'' pronounced. Each dialect has certain divergences from this general scheme. In the Context column, C stands for a broad consonant and Cʲ for a slender consonant. THE EPENTHETIC VOWEL In a sequence of short vowel + + Labial or Velar Consonant an unwritten gets pronounced between the and the following consonant. :Examples: gorm 'blue'; '''dearg''' 'red'; '''dorcha''' 'dark'; '''ainm''' 'name'; '''seanchaí''' 'storyteller'; '''leanbh''' 'child'; '''colm''' 'dove'. There is no epenthesis before Voiceless Stops or after long Vowel s and Diphthong s: corp 'body'; '''olc''' 'bad'; '''téarma''' 'term'; '''dualgas''' 'duty'. SPECIAL PRONUNCIATIONS IN VERB FORMS In Verb forms some letters and letter combinations are pronounced differently from elsewhere. :In the '' Imperfect '', '' Conditional '', and '' Imperative '', -dh is pronounced before a pronoun beginning with '''s-'''. :Otherwise it is pronounced :In the ''preterite impersonal'', -dh is pronounced :-(a)idh and '''-(a)igh''' are pronounced before a pronoun, otherwise :In the '' Future '' and ''conditional'', f (broad or slender) has the following effects: ::After vowels and sonorants () it is pronounced : ::It makes a voiced obstruent () voiceless: ::It is silent after a voicless obstruent () ::But in the future and conditional ''impersonal'' f is often :In the Past Participle th (also '''t''' after '''d''') is silent but makes a voiced obstruent voiceless SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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