The Secrets of Irish Spelling

Part 1

Illustration of an ancient Ogham stone being carved.
The Ogham Alphabet

Without a doubt, one of the most difficult aspects of Irish for beginners is its spelling system. There are logical reasons for how and why Irish writing evolved as it did, mostly stemming from the lack of sufficient letters in the Latin alphabet to represent all the sounds in Irish. Like magicians, medieval scribes devised certain spelling conventions to bridge those gaps.

Broad and Slender Consonants

Traditionally, there are thirteen* consonant letters in Irish:

b  c  d  f  g  h  l  m  n  p  r  s  t

Each consonant, except h, has two variations, referred to as broad and slender. In Irish spelling, they are indicated by placing a so-called “broad” or “slender” vowel letter on either side of the consonant:

broad:

a  á  o  ó  u  ú

slender:

e  é  i  í

Saoirse Ronan, lead actress in
Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017)

Chances are you have already seen and heard examples of this pattern in popular Irish names like Seán and Sinéad, both of which begin with a slender s, commonly spelled “sh” in English. In contrast, the name Saoirse (“SEER-shuh”) begins with a broad s, while the second s is slender.

This pattern is known as caol le caol agus leathan le leathan, or “slender with slender and broad with broad.” It is present throughout Irish spelling. In some cases, it can change the meaning of a word. For example:

fáilte

/faːl′t′ə/
welcome

feallta

/f′aːltə/
deceived

á marks a broad /f/
 — as in “ford”
i marks a slender /l′/
 — as in “mile” and “million”
e marks a slender /t′/
 — as in “capture”

e marks a slender /f′/
 — as in “fjord”
a marks a broad /l/
 — as in “mill” and “miller”
a marks a broad /t/
 — as in “captor”

In phonetic transcription of Irish, slender consonants are marked with a posterior accent mark similar to an apostrophe (e.g., /b′/) while broad consonants are unmarked. Listen to these contrasting word pairs to hear the differences between broad and slender consonant sounds:

broad:

bó

/boː/
a cow

slender:

beo

/b′oː/
alive

caol

/kiːl/
slender

ciall

/k′iːl/
common sense

doire

/dor′ə/
an oak wood

deora

/d′orə/
tears

gal

/gal/
warlike valor, fury

geal

/g′al/
white, bright

lón

/loːn/
lunch

leon

/l′oːn/
a lion

mall

/maːl/
slow

meall

/m′aːl/
to beguile

naomh

/niːv/
a saint

niamh

/n′iːv/
brightness, luster

paca

/pakə/
a pack

peaca

/p′akə/
a sin

cór

/koːr/
a choir; a military corps

cóir

/koːr′∕
justice, equity

saoi

∕siː∕
a wise person

sí

/s′iː∕
a fairy mound

tús

∕tuːs∕
a beginning

tiús

∕t′uːs∕
thickness, density

Long and Short Vowels

In addition to broad and slender, vowels are classified as either “long” or “short.” An accent mark called a síneadh fada (or simply a fada) indicates a long vowel, although other spelling rules can also mark length. For example, double consonants at the end of a syllable (e.g., mall, geall) produce a long vowel sound.

In phonetic transcription, long vowels are marked with a posterior “:” symbol. Listen to these contrasting word pairs to hear the differences between long and short vowel sounds:

long:

geall

∕g′aːl∕
a pledge

short:

geal

∕g′al∕
white, bright

déis

∕d′eːs′/
a vassal

deis

∕d′es′/
right-hand side

maidín

∕mad′iːn′/
a small dog

maidin

∕mad′in′/
morning

pótaire

∕poːtər′ə/
a drunkard

potaire

∕potər′ə/
a potter

túr

∕tuːr/
a tower

tur

∕tur/
dry, arid

Regarding the Phonetic Transcriptions

Due to dialectical differences, there are various ways to pronounce Irish correctly. The transcriptions provided here are consistent with the “neutral” or “core” pronunciations published in the “Phonetic Preface” of Foclóir Póca: Irish-English / English-Irish Dictionary (An Gúm, 1986, 1993). For a more detailed description of Irish phonetics and phonology, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Irish.



* The letters j, k, q, v, w, x, y, and z are not historically part of the Irish alphabet but occur in loan words. ⬆Back