Stìophan wrote:The reason I said moom-yeh was because slender consonants tend to have a palatised quality i.e. a y sound after them.
the "yeh" sound at the end is the same as that heard in duine.
.... hmm.... methinks this requires something of an explanation, cos I imagine a few folk are going to be confused...
When you say a slender "n" -- eg "duine" -- you flatten your tongue against the roof of the mouth (AKA the palette). To stop the N sound, you don't drop your jaw as much as you do in English, but instead "peel" your tongue away from the palette, from the front. This creates a slow change in the sound from consonant to vowel -- essentially introducing a y sound -- where English would have a very sudden change.
Now, have you ever noticed how M and N are often interchangable in Gaelic? Try saying a slender N with your mouth closed.
Hmmm.... maybe they're even more confused now.....
