Concerning "Meagsago" and other Anglicizations

Ciamar a chanas mi.... / How do I say...
akerbeltz
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Re: Concerning "Meagsago" and other Anglicizations

Unread post by akerbeltz »

bean~beanntan wasn't so much about the vowel as it was about the consonant. The rule is that if the spelling tells you you have slender b bh m mh p ph f fh at the start of a word, you can get either /b/ or /bj/, /m/ or /mj/ etc. The key is the following vowel.

If it's a front vowel (/i/ /e/ or /?/), you don't get the /j/:
milleadh /mi.../
fios /fi.../
pinn /pi:.../
bean /b?../
féis /fe:.../

Otherwise, i.e. if it's a back vowel, you get the /j/:
beanntan /bjau.../
meall /mjau.../
peann /pjau.../
feallsanachd /fjau.../


Thrissel
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Re: Concerning "Meagsago" and other Anglicizations

Unread post by Thrissel »

The key is the following vowel... And because as a reader I can apparently only make out whether the ea in bean/beanntan is front or back by looking at whether that is followed by a single or double n, the key to the consonant for me is actually the consonant following the following vowel... Tha mo cheann goirt. :)
akerbeltz
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Re: Concerning "Meagsago" and other Anglicizations

Unread post by akerbeltz »

Full points!
GunChleoc
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Re: Concerning "Meagsago" and other Anglicizations

Unread post by GunChleoc »

Seonaidh wrote:Duilich, I'm not quite with this "bean - beanntan" thing.
Tha e a-mach air fuaimneachadh a' chiad lide - ben an coimeas ri bjawn
Oileanach chànan chuthachail
Na dealbhan agam
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