rjw@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) (08/05/85)
It should be pointed out that not only are there major differences
between Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic, but there are also several
distinct dialects of Irish Gaelic (I know nothing about Scots, but
suspect they have differences too). For this reason, you'll never
find consensus about the pronunciation of ANY word. As a Dubliner,
I'm probably least qualified to expound on this subject (:-)), but
here's my contribution to the clairseach/Oisin debate:
,
Clairseach (that's a 'fada' over the 'a') = CLAW-ir-shock
,
Oisin (fada over the 'i'), anglicized as Ossian = UH-sheen
Incidentally, the 'fada' (acute accent) over a vowel changes its
pronunciation from 'short' to 'long', i.e. -
a goes from short 'ah' to long 'aw'
e 'eh' 'ay'
i 'ih' 'ee'
o 'uh' 'oh'
u goes from short 'oo' (as in 'book') to long 'oo' (as in 'fool')
--
rod williams | {ihnp4,dual}!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjw
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