A Scottish Gaelic Pronunciation Guide

A
Short
Pronunciation
Guide
 Vowels
 a
 à


cat
(more
like
a
Scottish
a)
 rather
(same
goes
for
à,
as
a
Scottish
 long
a)
 ao
 Gi(r)l
 e
 Let
/
gate
 è
 Long
version
of
e
 i
 Between
sin
and
sweep
 ì
 Evil
 o
 Between
top
and
boat
 ò
 call
 u
 brood
 ù
 brew
 


Bata
 bàta
 caol
 le
/
teth
 Sèimh
/
fhèin
 Sin
/
ith
 Sìn
 Poca
/
bog
 Mòr
 Tur
 Tùr


Diphtongs
 Ae
 Ai
 Ao
 Ea
 Ei
 Eo
 Eu
 Io
 Iu
 Ia
 Oi
 Ua
 Ui
 


Last
vowel
faintly
sounded
 Last
vowel
faintly
sounded
 As
in
g(irl)
 First
vowel
faintly
sounded
 Last
vowel
faintly
sounded
 First
vowel
faintly
sounded
 Æ,
always
long
 Last
vowel
faintly
sounded
 First
vowel
faintly
sounded
 Always
long
 Last
vowel
faintly
sounded
 Always
long

 Last
vowel
faintly
sounded


all,
ann,
am
–
the
a
is
pronounced
as
‘ow’
in
how.
 oll,
onn,
om
–
the
o
is
pronounced
as
the
o
in
RP
no.
 aill,
ainn,
aim
–
the
ai
is
pronounced
as
‘y’
in
my
 aibh,
aimh,
einn,
eim
–
the
ai
is
pronounced
as
'ay'
in
'say'
 Triphtongs
 Aoi
 Eoi
 Iai
 Uai
 Iui
 


As
ao
followed
by
a
barely
noticeable
i
 As
eo
followed
by
a
barely
noticeable
i
 As
ia
followed
by
a
barely
noticeable
i
 As
ua
followed
by
a
barely
noticeable
i
 As
iu
followed
by
a
barely
noticeable
i


Broad
Consonants
 All
consonants
followed
or
preceded
by
a,
o
or
u
are
called
broad.

 
 B



 Bh
 



 C



 Ch
 
 D



 Dh



 The
pronunciation
of
b
 depends
on
it
position
in
a
 word.
If
it
is
at
the
 beginning
of
a
word
it
is
 pronounced
as
an
English
 ‘b’,
but
if
it
is
in
the
middle
 of
a
word,
or
at
the
end
it
is
 pronounced
as
an
English
 ‘p’
 
 
 ‘bh’
is
either
pronounced
as
 v,
if
at
the
beginning
of
a
 word,
or
as
a
w.
Different
 dialects
use
different
v
 sounds,
and
I
usually
say
 ‘w’
 If
it
comes
between
two
 vowels
it
will
often
be
 pronounced
as
a
silent
 pause.
 
 At
the
beginning
of
a
word
 one
would
pronounce
c
as
 in
cup,
but
if
found
 elsewhere
in
a
word,
one
 pronounce
it
as
something
 close
to
chk
in
Loch
Keith
 
 
 As
ch
in
loch
 
 
 As
d
at
the
beginning
of
a
 
word,
or
as
as
t
if
found
 elsewhere
in
a
word
 
 
 As
the
Greek
letter
gamma,
 sort
of
like
a
mi
between
a
 g
and
an
r.
 If
it
comes
between
two
 vowels
it
will
often
be
 pronounced
as
a
silent
 pause.



 Barraigh
‐
/bʌrʌj/
 
 Alba
‐
/ʌlәpʌ/



 Do
Bharraigh
‐
/dɔ:
vʌrʌj/
 
 
Labhair
‐
/lʌwәr/
 



 Cù
‐
/kʊ:/
 
 Aca
‐
/ʌhkә/



 loch
‐
/lɒx/
 
 Dubh
‐

/du:w/
 
 Ad
‐
/ʌt/
 
 Dhà
‐
/γa:/



 F
 
 Fh
 
 G



 Gh



 H
 
 L



 M
 
 Mh



 N
 
 P



 
 As
in
English



 Fada
 
 



 Silent,
but
pronounced
as
h
 in
fhèin
 
 
 At
the
beginning
of
a
word,
 Gabh
 as
a
g,
otherwise
as
a
k
 
 Beag
 
 
 
 As
the
Greek
letter
gamma,
 Ghabh
‐
/
γa:w/
 sort
of
like
a
mi
between
a
 g
and
an
r.
 If
it
comes
between
two
 vowels
it
will
often
be
 pronounced
as
a
silent
 pause.
 
 
 
 As
in
English
 Halo
 
 
 
 L
is
a
funny
letter,
it
can
be
 An
lantair
 pronounced
as
a
dark
L,
 and
is
then
pronounced
 with
your
tongue
touching
 your
upper
teeth,
and
sort
 of
similar
to
your
LL.
It
can
 be
pronounced
as
ll
in
 pulled
as
well
 
 
 
 As
in
English
 Mòr
 
 
 
 Cf.
bh
 A
Mhona
 If
it
comes
between
two
 vowels
it
will
often
be
 pronounced
as
a
silent
 pause.
 
 
 
 As
an
n
in
e.g.
kindred
 Nuaidh
 
 

 As
an
English
p
at
the
 Padraig
 beginning
of
a
word,
 



 Ph


elsewhere
it’s
preceded
by
 an
h
sound

 
 As
in
pheasant



 R



 As
in
Scottish
English



 S



 As
in
English



 Sh



 Pronounced
as
h



 T



 As
an
English
t
at
the
 beginning
of
a
word
(or
 well,
sometimes
preceded
 by
a
sh‐sound)
elsewhere
 preceded
by
an
h
sound



 Th




 As
a
h
in
English


Ròpa
 
 a
Phadraig
 
 
 Rùn
 
 
 sona
 
 
 shona
 
 
 Trì

 
 
 
 
 
 
 A
Thearlaich
 



 Slender
consonants
 All
consonants
preceded
or
followed
by
e
or
i
are
called
slender.
I’ll
only
list
a
consonant
if
 the
pronunciation
differs
from
its
broad
equivalent.
 
 
 C
 
 Ch



 D
 
 Dh
 
 G


At
the
beginning
of
a
word
 as
K,
otherwise
 pronounced
as
chk


Ceòl
 
 aice
 
 
 
 As
in
German
ich

or
sort
of
 Chì
 like
a
strange
version
of
sh
 in
she
 
 
 
 As
J
in
John
 Dèiseal
 
 
 
 As
in
English
yet
 Dheth
 
 
 At
the
beginning
of
a
word
 Geal
 g
is
pronounced
as
an
 


English
g
followed
by
y,
 otherwise
pronounced
as
a
 k
 
 Gh
 
 L
 
 N
 
 S
 
 T



 As
in
English
yet

 
 
 As
in
allure


Aige
 
 
 
 
 Gheal



 Leabhar
 
 
 
 As
in
new
 Nighean
neònach
 
 
 
 As
in
shingle
 Sinn
 
 
 
 As
in
chin
at
the
beginning
 Teth
 of
a
word,
elsewhere
the
ch
 
 sound
should
be
preceded
 Cait
 by
an
h
sound.



 The
stress
of
a
word
usually
falls
on
the
first
syllable
of
a
word
–
of
course,
as
with
every
 language
there
are
exceptions
to
this
rule,
but
it
is
a
fairly
accurate
one.
The
only
time
 when
you
should
be
suspicious
about
a
Gaelic
word
is
when
you
suspect
it
might
originally
 have
been
a
compound
word
–
in
those
cases,
the
stress
falls
on
the
second
syllable,
as
in
a­ nis,
an­diugh,
and
so
on.
The
–
usually
shows
you
that
the
word
once
was
a
compound
 word.
 
 Scottish
Gaelic
is
a
syllable
timed
language
and
the
sort
of
sing­songy
sound
of
Gaelic
can
 be
attributed
to
this
fact.
If
two
vowels
follow
each
other
they
are
both
pronounced,
but
at
 the
same
time
run
together.
Moreover,
if
a
consonant
is
preceded
by
an
l,
one
inserts
a
 schwa
/ә/
after
the
l.
Cf.
Alba,
or
Colm.
If
you
somehow
wish
to
learn
Lewis
Gaelic,
my
 relatives
speak
Lewis
Gaelic,
you
will
have
to
deal
with
the
fact
that
Northern
Lewis
Gaelic
 is
tonal,
this
however
is
restricted
to
the
northern
parts
of
the
island,
and
is
not
to
be
found
 in
other
Gaelic
dialects.