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Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 4:48 am
by Lughaidh
Hallò

tha beagan cuideachaidh a dhìth orm airson fuaimneachadh roinnt fhaclan -- a-rèir dualchainnt Leòdhais, mas urrainn...

Is there some website where one can hear Lewis speakers talking, and with a transcription? I need to know especially how are the slender rd, rt, rn, rl pronounced in Lewis. Looks like in certain cases, in Lewis they use a broad retroflex consonant when it is slender in writing: for instance it looks like they say things like "càrdan" instead of "càirdean". Is this right? Is this systematic?

Here are a few words for which I need a Lewis-like pronunciation (if you can write in the IPA it's better :-) )

abaid
a-bhon-dè
abhsadh
actair
Aimeireaga
àireamhachadh
aonadh-ciùird
apracot
Àrd Ruigh
Baile Dhùn Lèibhe
bailead
bàirneach
Bearaig
Beàrnaraigh


tapadh leibh!!!

Re: Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:27 pm
by GunChleoc
I know that Carl Borgstrøm and Magne Oftedal have done some scientific work on that

Re: Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:44 pm
by Lughaidh
I have those books you're refering to but I couldn't find the answer there (nor these words), that's why I'm asking here :)

Re: Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:33 pm
by akerbeltz
Looks like in certain cases, in Lewis they use a broad retroflex consonant when it is slender in writing: for instance it looks like they say things like "càrdan" instead of "càirdean". Is this right? Is this systematic?
r + dnt can all lead to a retroflex dnt and a loss of the r (page 231 in Blas na Gàidhlig, if you have that).

As the the geographical spread, the Survey reporst them all over the Hebrides though in some cases it's the intrusive s that is retroflex (in àrd) rather than the d.

Re: Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 2:55 am
by Lughaidh
Thanks, actually I know it makes retroflex consonants, but I wanted to know if in Lewis, people use depalatalized retroflex consonants where you'd except palatalized ones eg. bàirneach like bàrnach [ˈpaːɳɔχ], càirdean like càrdan [ˈkʰaːʈən] etc... :)

Re: Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 5:51 pm
by akerbeltz
You should buy the Survey of Gaelic Dialects (DIAS has a massive bargain just now, €20 instead of €170).

All instances of càirdean in the Survey which have a retroflex have no signs of palatalness which isn't that surprising really, I think a palatal(ised) retroflex would be hard to articulate.

Re: Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 11:05 am
by Lughaidh
Ordered! thanks for telling me :)
Btw in songs, for the word càirdean, even in Uist Gaelic, I hear a kind of retroflex r followed by a palatalised d. Did you hear that too?

Re: Pronunciation of words (esp. in Lewis Gaelic)

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 12:25 pm
by akerbeltz
'S e do bheatha!

That's more of an alveolar approximant [ɹ], an allophone before d/t.