Shannon. The day is calm now. He got a letter from Mr. O’Brien. Brian O’Ryan is not going to Tipperary now; he is going to Roscommon. The big boat is better than the other boat.
EXERCISE XXVI.
§ 169. We have now to speak a little more in detail, of a few of the consonantal sounds which we have not yet treated fully.
§ 170. Sounds of c.
In the very beginning, § 2, we stated that c is sounded like the English k, and is never soft like c in cell, cess, &c. In the phonetic key the student may also see—
| The symbol | sounds like | in the word |
| K | k | looking |
| k | k | liking |
This, no doubt, will appear very unmeaning to many of our students. But if close attention be paid to the pronunciation of the two words “looking” and “liking,” it will be noticed that the termination -king is not pronounced in exactly the same way in both. The “king” of "liking" is “k-ying;” while the “king” of “looking” has no “y” sound after the k. We represent the k of “looking” by capital K, and the k of “liking” by italic k. But these signs will not be always needed, for, in most words, the ordinary k will convey the correct sound to the reader. To give some familiar examples, we in Ireland usually pronounce the words “car,” “card,” &c., with the k sound; our pronunciation of these words might be represented according to our phonetic system by kaar (=k-yaar), kaard (=k-yaard).
§ 171. Then to apply this to the Irish alphabet, we may say—
| Symbol | ||
| c broad (see § 8) | is sounded like | K |
| c slender „ | „„ | k |
§ 172. We shall have no difficulty in pronouncing the K or c broad sound except before the sounds represented by our phonetic symbols a, aa; e, ae; i, ee. It is only in Ulster that the sound K is followed by aa (the sound given in Ulster to á or ái).
§ 173. EXAMPLES:
c BROAD.
| The word | sounds like | in English; | or, key-word |
| caoi | -ky | lucky | (Kee) |
| cuing | -king | looking | (King) |
| coir | -ker | looker | (Ker) |
| caon | -kain- | knock-ainy | (Kaen) |
| caill | -kall- | knock-allion | (Kal) |
§ 174. c SLENDER.
| cí | -ky | sticky | (kee) |
| cing | -king | liking | (king) |
| ceir | -ker | sticker | (ker) |
| céin | cane | caning | (kaen) |
| ceal | cal | calton | (kal) |
§ 175. If we were to carry out strictly our phonetic scheme, the last five words would be represented by kee, king, ker, kaen, kal; but the key-words which we have given represent to us in Ireland the correct sound of the above words.
§ 176. Here we may remark, as many of our students have already noticed for themselves, that the italicised symbols, k, d, l, n, r, t, all represent sounds which are merely a rapid pronunciation of ky, dy, ly, ny, ry, ty. Thus, words involving these sounds can be represented phonetically in two ways.
The sound of—
| ciuin | is represented by | kewn | or | k-yoon |
| diun | „„ | dewn | „ | d-yoon |
| liun | „„ | lewn | „ | l-yoon |
| niur | „„ | newr | „ | n-yoor |
| breas | „„ | bras | „ | br-yass |
| teas | „„ | tas | „ | t-yas |
§ 177. Words.
cailín (Kal′-een), a girl.
[1]caill (Kal), lose.
[1]caillte (Kal′-tĕ), lost.
caoin (Keen, verb, lament, mourn, “keen.”
caora (Kaer′-ă), a sheep. (Connaught, Keera.)
[1]caisleán (Kash′-laun), a castle.
[1]coill (Kel), a wood.
coir (Ker), a crime.
coirce (Ker′-kĕ), oats.
cuisle (Kish′-lĕ), a vein.
cuir (Kir), verb, put, place.
eorna (ōrNă), barley.
lom (Lŭm; Munster, Loum), bare.
O’Cuinn (ō Kin), O’Quinn.
síos (shees), down; suas (soo′-ăs), up.
§ 178. Atá caora agus uan ins an leuna. Arán coirce agus arán eorna. Atá an eorna gan in Éirinn anois, atá coirce go leor in Éirinn fós. Ná cuir an cóiste ar an asal, níl sé láidir go leor. Atá caisleán mór ar an oileán. Atá an caisleán mór, láidir. Cuir an bád ar an linn, agus cuir suas an crann agus an seol mór. Cuir an capall agus an láir ins an leuna. Atá coill ar an oileán. Slán leat. Atá an cailín deas.
