Getting back to the pronunciation series that was started a few blogs ago, there are a few more points I’d like to add. As I said before, what I’m doing here is primarily explaining the transcription system that I use, not attempting to account for every possible sound or variation of a sound in Irish or every possible way of transcribing it.
As I’ve also said before, I realize that the most precise system is the International Phonetic Alphabet, but even that presents the dilemma of whether to use the original IPA or the Irish-modified version. And for most learners, at least the students I’ve had over the years, a rough guide based on English is much more graspable.
The problem, of course, with using the sounds of English as a guide is that English is full of multiple ways to spell the same sound. Here’s a set of examples I recently culled from the Internet to explain the pronunciation of “Caique,” as in the Caique parrot: kigh-eek, kah-eek, kai-eek, kai-EEK, ky-eek and kye-eek (the latter two used interchangeably in the same website). To complicate matters, those are just for one approach; some people apparently just pronounce the word like “cake.” But the main point is that in the relatively specialized world of Caique parrot aficionados, six transcription systems have been used. I’ve been trying to keep mine, for Irish, consistent.
At any rate, from time to time I explain the system I’m using, but if I did that every time it would take up at least half the blog, so I hope people can refer back to the other pronunciation blogs if there’s a question.
And finally, getting to the sounds I wanted to discuss in today’s blog – the broad and slender “b.” While there are basically two sounds involved here, one could see them as four sounds: there’s a regular broad “b” in words like “bata” (stick), “bog” (soft), and “bus” (bus), as discussed previously. But in front of certain vowel combinations, the broad “b” becomes, well, broader. This is especially typical with the vowel clusters “ao,” “aoi,” and “uí,” as in the following:
buí [bwee], yellow
baoi [bwee], a buoy
baoth [bwee], foolish, vain; the silent “th” at the end of the word you might recognize as par for the course by now
Likewise, baol (danger), baoite (bait), baothghalánta (snobbish), buíoch (thankful), buíochas (thanks), and buíon (band, troop).
For these sounds, I’m simply using the “w” after the “b” in the transcription to get the effect. I can’t say I can think of any English words that start with this sound, except maybe borrowed words such as the Swahili “bwana” and French “bois” as in “faux bois garden furniture.” And that actual French “bois” doesn’t include W. E. B. Du Bois or Boise, Idaho, at least not in their usual American pronunciations.
Why troscán gairdín needs to be described as “faux bois” at all is an issue I’ll leave to the margóiri. Or maybe the maisitheoirí intí.
And now for the slender “b” (appearing adjacent to the vowels “e” and “i”). In a previous blog, I discussed the slender Irish “b” as in biúró [ByOO-roh], bureau, and b’fhiú é … [byoo ay, “fh” is silent], it would be worth (it). As I mentioned in that blog, I mark these “b” sounds with the superscript “y.” I’d describe these slender “b” sounds as quite slender. It resembles the “b” in English “beauty” (as opposed to “booty,” which we’ve been through before).
Other examples that I’d say have a particularly slender “b” are:
beo [byoh], alive
beoir [byohrzh], beer
But there’s also a “slender b” that’s not quite as articulated, and that appears in words like:
bean [ban] woman
beirt [bertch] two people
beiriú [BERZH-yoo] to boil, boiling
béirín [BAYRzh-een], little bear
biongó [BING-goh], bingo
There’s still a subtle distinction here, in comparison to the broad “b” but it’s not as salient, so I don’t transcribe it in the phonetic guide.
Much of this seeming variation between the broad and slender sounds really has to do with the specific vowels that come after the consonant involved, rather than representing a different consonant pronunciation. But the effect is create some variety in the best way to transcribe the sounds.
The good news about these subtle distinctions is that they’ll be repeated with the letters f, m, and p (na consain dhéliopacha eile). Please stay tuned for more examples.
By the way, I also realize that not all readers of this blog are native English speakers but since the blog is dátheangach (cuid i nGaeilge agus cuid i mBéarla), I’m assuming most of the English-based references are reasonably useful. At any rate, I get a lot of requests for more pronunciation information, and quite a few thanks as well, so it must be working. Ultimately, of course, the goal is for learners to see Irish words and not need a pronunciation guide ar chor ar bith but that seems to take longer for Irish than with some other languages.
Gluais: dátheangach, bilingual; déliopach [DJAY-LIP-ukh] bilabial, as in consonant pronunciation; lenited and plural, this becomes dhéliopacha [YAY-LIP-ukh-uh]; maisitheoir, decorator; margóir, marketer
Bás Michael Jackson (1958-2009)
Posted by róislín 1 CommentBhuel, tar éis a bheith ag smaoineamh faoi, after pondering the matter, I figured I may as well join the sluaite (hordes) ag scríobh faoi Michael Jackson.
First stop, as usual, what else has been written about his death, as Gaeilge? Can’t say I found mórán (much). A cuardach Google limited to “Bás Michael Jackson” brought up 99 results, only one of which turned out to be in Irish. How’d that happen? An iomarca teangacha a bhfuil “bas” (gan síneadh fada) mar fhocal acu, go mór mór, an Fhraincis (see gluaisín thíos, for vocab help).
Next stop, minus the word “bas,” to eliminate the French and other languages. That brought me back to the móriomlán (grand total) of one result for “Bás Michael Jackson” as such. Searching in the Irish version of Google didn’t seem to make any difference.
Cúpla straitéis eile, a couple other strategies. How about using the “gaelú” (gaelicization) of Jackson’s name? But first, an explanation — names of celebrities and international figures are not usually gaelicized unless their bearer shows some precedent for doing so. That’s generally true, even if they have Irish or partly Irish backgrounds. Sampla gasta, a quick example, using Google hits as an admittedly rough frame of reference: “Bill Clinton,” 23,700,000 (ní nach ionadh); “William Clinton,” 356,000; “William Jefferson Clinton,” 320,000, but for “Liam Cliontún,” the gaelú of his name, the results were exactly tada, faic, a dhath ar bith – all Irish ways of saying “nothing.” And that’s despite his dúchas Éireannach (Irish heritage). Of course, I’m not saying here that no one has ever used the “Liam Cliontún” version of his name, just that it doesn’t show up in a Googlable manner. If the results had been, mar shampla, “Bill Clinton,” 5, and “Liam Cliontún, 0, then I’d say, “completely inconclusive.” But at 23 milliún+ to náid (0), I think we can safely say there’s no formal precedent for saying “Liam Cliontún” when referring to iaruachtarán na Stát Aontaithe (the former president of the United States), even if writing in Irish.
For good measure, I even tried “Liam Clinton,” a hybrid version of the name, since some people are more comfortable changing their “ainm baiste” (given name) for use in Irish language classes or social contexts, but are less likely to adapt their surname, even informally. “Liam Clinton” gave me about 155 hits, of which only a handful were actually about an tUachtarán, the president. There are other Liam Clintons in the world who come up in the search, including one who was born in 2009. And most of the presidential references were due to glitches in wording, which meant that “Wil-liam Clinton” (with word-break) would show up in my search for “Liam Clinton,” where “William Clinton” would not. So much for that ascaill (avenue), or, to be more concise, sin sin (that’s that).
There are some exceptions to not gaelicizing names, mar shampla, An Mháthair Treasa, possibly triggered by the expected translation of the honorific, and Criostóir Colambas.
So, now back to Mícheál Mac Siacais. Did searching for the gaelicized version of his name bring up any abundance of commentary as Gaeilge? Can’t say it did. I found a móriomlán of one actual article and two brief fan commentaries.
I also tried searching for “bás Mhíchíl (Mhícheál) Mhic Shiacais,” using the name in the genitive case (Mhic instead of Mac, etc.) figuring that anyone who cared enough about the ábhar (topic) to write about it in Irish might have gone ahead with the gaelú anyway. Glantoradh (net result), one repeat hit.
OK, so this has gotten me through blag amháin eile without even getting up to my intended project, a capsúlbheathaisnéis* of Jackson, as Gaeilge. So far, I’ve only gotten through whether or not it made sense to refer to him as Mícheál Mac Siacais (Mac Siac-Ó?). So the capsúlbheathaisnéis will have to wait for blag eile, and will be forthcoming, more on the “forth-“ (sooner) side of things if I hear from readers that they are interested in the ábhar. More on the farther side of “forthcoming” má chloisim (if I hear) tada, faic, a dhath ar bith uaibhse (from ye). Even though my own musical taste is much more traidisiúnta, I’m happy to write about virtually any topic that is tráthúil (timely) agus i mbéal na ndaoine (being talked about). But there are other topics looming large, tearmainn na n-asal (the donkey sanctuaries) agus an chéad scannán eile i sraith Harry Potter, mar shampla, so do let me know má tá suim agaibh!
Sin é – Róislín
*OK, OK, in the time-honored tradition of Gaeilgeoirí, especially those active before the general spread of World Wide Web and Internet usage, which brought online dictionaries and which I date to about 1994, I made up the word “capsúlbheathaisnéis.” I find no precedent for it online. But that is how new words get started. Hint: beathaisnéis itself comes from beatha, life + faisnéis, information, i.e. biography. I didn’t choose to say “beathaisnéis chapsúil,” since to me that would sound more like the life story of a capsule (say what?), from being part of sheet of plastic to being a tablet filled with medicinal powder. Not real exciting – it would sound a bit like the booklets we used to have ar scoil (at school), like “The Story of a Coffee Bean.” These would cover the saolré (life-cycle) of the pónaire chaife (coffee-bean) from péacán (sprout) to cupán “iáva.” Not that a pónaire chaife is really a pónaire, it’s really a síol (seed), ach sin scéal eile – Á.B.E.!
Gluaisín [GLOO-ish-een]: an iomarca [un YUM-ark-uh], too many; a bhfuil … acu [uh wil … AHK-uh], that/which have; gan [gahn], without; go mór mór, especially; an Fhraincis [un RANK-is, silent “f”], the French language, scannán, film, movie; sraith, series (“th” is silent).
Leideanna Fuaimnithe: faic [fwack], capsúlbheathaisnéis [KAHP-sool-VA-hash-naysh, silent “t”], uaibhse [OO-iv-sheh], beatha [BA-huh], faisnéis [FASH-naysh]. saolré [seel-ray], síol [sheel]