Fòram na Gàidhlig

Would I be right in saying that the following dative singular feminine nouns will not require any spelling changes:

oidhche
eaglais

Bitheadh - yes. Not universal, but in general (gu h-àraidh leis an alt) standard (subject/object, nominative/accusative) masculine nouns don't change, while the others soften after the article. When it comes to the prepositional (dative), masculine nouns move to the feminine position, while feminine ones narrow at the end (stick an "i" in if there ain't one already - like there is in your examples). In the genitive, Masculine nouns follow the feminine dative pattern - while feminine ones stop leniting after the article (now "na") but sometimes get an "e" at the end (esp. otherwise monosyllabic ones). Like I say, this isn't universal truth, just a useful third of womb. e.g. "àm" gets to "ama" in the genitive, "taigh" to "taighe" (even though it's a boy) and there are numerous other exceptions.

Can I just comment, because you set alarm bells off in my head - if you already know this, please ignore!

Slenderisation (caused by whatever) does appear as a spelling change in many cases but please bear in mind that the import thing the changes in the spelling tell you about are the changes in the SOUNDS. Eaglais, as you spotted, can't be slenderised because it already ends in a slender group so /egL??/doesn't change.

But take something like bròg /br??g/ - the changes in the spelling this can undergo signal pronunciation changes above all else: bhròg /vr??g/, bròig /br??g?/. Sometimes this includes the vowel (usually before a true palatal): doras /d?r?s/ > dorais /d?r??/.

Just thought I'd bring this up as many beginners focus too much on the letter i and h and not on what their mouthes are supposed to be doing as a result

Oh, and true palatals are, before anyone asks, sounds which are actually palatal, not just sounds which the spelling marks as palatal. For example, -ib, -irr, -il are all slender finals but the sounds aren't palatal because, well, because they're not. So true palatals are /ç d? g? L? N? ? r? j/

akerbeltz wrote: Just thought I'd bring this up as many beginners focus too much on the letter i and h and not on what their mouthes are supposed to be doing as a result

At the moment, I am concentrating on the written rather than the spoken part for reasons which I have given on another thread. Am I possibly handicapping myself in learning the language due to this?

Depends on your ultimate goals. If your interest is purely academic, it's not that serious. If your goal is to speak to people, then yes, you're falling into a common trap. :/

Speak! Speak! Speak!

Even if your interest is academic. How can you write ABOUT a language if you haven't used it and tried it out? It's a living thing. Give it its due!

alsaf wrote:

akerbeltz wrote: Just thought I'd bring this up as many beginners focus too much on the letter i and h and not on what their mouthes are supposed to be doing as a result

At the moment, I am concentrating on the written rather than the spoken part for reasons which I have given on another thread. Am I possibly handicapping myself in learning the language due to this?

There is a subtle link between pronunciation and grammar -- you will never fully understand the grammar until you feel it rolling round your tongue.

I think I've used the wrong words in my previous reply. I should have asked if not learning pronunciation at the same time as learning grammar will make overall learning of the language a lot harder. From the replies, it sounds like it is.

Just to clarify, the reason why I am concentrating on grammar is because I had started out with pronunciations but got frustrated with it because while I was learning how to pronounce words properly, it wasn't much use unless I could put these words together into sentences. Since then I have been using software to memorize words quickly and then progressed onto using the same software to memorize sentence structures (the sentence creation program which I had mentioned in another thread was started with the intention of creating sentences in a quick and reliable manner).

I also want to mention that the best way I find studying is to get stuck into the practical stuff so I can get a basic understanding of the theory. Once I have learned the basics, it is easier for me to understand the more complex and in-depth stuff. This is a bit more difficult when learning a language and I could end up making mistakes but unfortunately I find it difficult by going through the theory first.

We all need a mix of theory and practice - without practice you won't be able to actually produce language, and theory can give you a boost to put it into practice faster.

As to the sounds, when you are memorising things, you will automatically hear some form of sounds in yor head, so it's best to be as close to the correct sounds as you can, because it'shard to unlearn the mistakes if you get it wrong.