Irish Pronunciation http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/irish.

htm

Irish Pronunciation
the basics

A very, very basic guide to the pronunciation of written Irish - to help English speakers with getting performers and song/tune names somewhat more correct than we usually
do.

A note about names: Distinctively Irish surnames tend to begin with Ó, Ní, Mac or Nic (sometimes written as 'ac or 'ic). Mac and Nic mean 'son/daughter of', Ó and Ní mean 'of
the family of' - for male and female names respectively. However, this is not a hard and fast rule - you will find a few male Nís and female Ós too.

Formal names for married women are more complicated - Seán Ó Conaill's wife, Máire, could be formally addressed as Máire Bean Uí Chonaill - literally 'Moira, woman of
O'Connell'. Other name forms are even more complex. Fortunately for us, in traditionally Irish speaking areas, married women tended to be known informally by their maiden
names.

Some Common (male) Surnames

Ó Conaill O'Connell Ó Mathúna O'Mahoney

Ó Dochartaigh Doherty Ó Cinnéide Kennedy

Ó Riagáin Re(a)gan Ó Murchú Murphy

Ó Ceallaigh Kelly Mac Mathúna McMahon

Mac Cárthaigh McCarthy Mac Craith McGrath

Mac Gearailt FitzGerald Breathnach Branagh

Female versions of male names like those above, will often have an h added as the secong letter - resulting in a change in pronunciation:

remember, the ch sound is as in loch

Male Female Pronounced

Ó Conaill Ní Chonaill Nee Chonuil

Ó Murchú Ní Mhurchú Nee Wurachoo

Ó Ceallaigh Ní Cheallaigh Nee Chyala

Ó Sé Ní Shé Nee Hay

The Guide:
The Irish Alphabet:
ABCDEFGHILMNOPRSTU

Vowels:
When they have an accent, called a sína fada (sheena fodda), they are pronounced long - e.g. Érin is pronounced 'Aerin', bán (meaning white) is pronounced 'bawn' and the man's
name should be written Seán, otherwise it ought to be pronounced 'shan', as in sean nós.

Long Vowels are 'pure' vowel sounds as in German, French or Italian, and do not end with y or w glides as do the corresponding sounds in English.

Long Vowels
í like English ee in meet sí = she (she)

é like French é or German eh mé = meh (I or me)

á like English aw in bawl lá = law (day)

ó like French au or German oh bó = beau (cow)

ú like English oo in pool tú = too (you)

Short Vowels
i like English short i in pit sin (that) sounds like English shin

e like English short e in get te (hot)

a either as in English tap or top fada = fodda

o like English book, but with the mouth more open

u like the English oo in look tugann (gives)

As in English, vowels are often combined to procuce another sound:

ei = e in get, e.g. ceist (question) (pron. kesht)

ea = a in hat, e.g. bean (woman) sounds rather like English ban
ai = between a in hat and o in hot, e.g. baile (town) (pron. bolle)
ui = ui , e.g. cuid (part) is like quid; muid (we) sounds like mwid
oi = a sound between e and o, e.g. scoil (school)
io = i between consonants, e.g. mion (tiny).

... or composite sounds:

ceol (pron. kyol) (music)

píosa ceoil (a piece of music) (pron. pisa kyoil)

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Irish Pronunciation http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/irish.htm

feoil (meat) (pron. fyoil)

cíuin (quiet) (pron. kyuin)
buíoch (grateful) (pron. bweeoch)

When they occur at the beginning of a word, some combinations lose their first vowel:

eo is pronounced like o - eolas (information) (pron. ohlas)

iu is pronounced like u - Iúil (July) (pron. uil)
ui is pronounced like i - uisce (water) (pron. ishke)
oi is pronounced like i or e - oifig (office) (pron. ifig or efig)

Consonants;
Generally pronounced much as in English - except that s is almost always sh. (except in is (is)); Seán (John) pronounced Shawn. Muiris (Maurice) sounds like mwirish. Sheila is
spelled Síle.

In some areas, t and d sound like English ch and j respectively:

te (hot) pron. che
deoch (drink) pron. juch.

A symbol called a sí buailte (she boo-ilta) was once used to change the sound of some consonants in written Irish. With the advent of the typewriter, the letter h was substituted
for this purpose, but often retains the Irish name.

Consonant + h
bh v Sean Bhan Bhocht = Shan Van Vocht
ch gutteral ch or k/q Taoiseach = Teeshock

dh silent or g ceilidh = kayli

fh silent Fhear Muí = Are Mwee

gh g or y or silent Bean an Tigh = Ban a' Tee

mh v, w or silent Niamh = Neev

ph f Stíophán = Stefawn

sh silent or h Ní Shé = Nee Hay

th h thug (gave) = hoog - pron. as in hook

There are many, many more rules - 'broad' and 'slender' consonants, vowels written but not pronounced, vowels pronounced but not written, beginnings or endings of words
'mutated' by what comes before or after them, capitals inside words ....... It has even been suggested, in certain quarters, that they only do it to confuse the English!

This has been nothing but the most basic of guides. I hope it may have helped a little.

My sincere thanks to friends Ruarí Ó Caomhanach and Alain De Búrcha for their help in putting it together.

Please let us know if it has been helpful - and if you think that sound clips of some of the pronunciations would be a useful addition.

Rod Stradling - 15.8.98

Correspondence:

Rod Stradling - e-mail: rod@mustrad.u-net.com Tel: 01453 759475

snail-mail: 1 Castle Street, Stroud, Glos GL5 2HP, UK

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