It's been a while a dhaoine!

Can anyone tell me how consistent is the differentiation between L/LL and N/NN in Connaght and Ulster?

I know that:
In West Munster (Kerry, Clare), no phonetic distinction is made between broad L/LL [l̪ˠ], slender L/LL [lʲ], broad N/NN [n̪ˠ], and slender N/NN [nʲ], however they do cause the previous vowel to diphthonguise or lengthen.

In East Munster (Cork, Waterford, South Tipperary), they are pronounced the same with one exception that a phonetic distinction is made between slender N [nʲ] and slender NN [ɲ]/[ŋʲ], this distinction is very consistent and regular. They also cause the previous vowel to diphthonguise or lengthen.

In the Youghal area (South East Cork), a distinction is made between broad L [l̪ˠ] and broad LL [l̪ˠd̪ˠ], slender L [lʲ] and slender LL [lʲdʲ], as well and slender N [nʲ] and NN [ɲ]/[ŋʲ], no distinction is made between broad N and borad NN. This distinction is very consistent and regular and the previous vowel is diphthonguised or lengthened.


In Connaght and Ulster, a distinction is made between all of them from what I understand, however I don't exacty understand what the difference in pronunciation is nor how consistent and regular said distinction is (especially for broad L/LL and N/NN).

In LASID, they are all fairly consistently differentiated in Connaght/Ulster (using phonemic transcription /l/ /ʟ/ /l′/ /ʟ′/ /n/ /ɴ/ /n′/ /ɴ′/), however I don't understand the phonetic differentiation in the Phonetic Symbols section.

On Wikipedia, in the Fortis and lenis sonorants section, there is some more information, how accurate is it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_phonology

I’m familiar with the Munster pronunciations of l and n, which I think are fairly straightforward, but judging by the Wikipedia table you linked to, things are a bit more complicated in Connacht and Ulster.

Some dialects distinguish between [lʲ] and [l̠ʲ] and between [nʲ] and [n̠ʲ]. The absence of the bar underneath the l and n signifies that the primary place of articulation is alveolar (the same as the place of articulation of l and n in English). Whereas, the bar underneath the l and n signifies that the primary place of articulation is alveolo-palatal (aka pre-palatal) – this is slightly further back in the mouth than the alveolar versions. These seem like very subtle distinctions to me and it would be helpful to hear them pronounced side by side.

Interestingly some dialects also have the plain (i.e. lacking secondary articulation) alveolar consonants [l] and [n], which are identical to l (specifically light l) and n in English.

Coincidentally, a recent news article on Tuairisc.ie complains about the poor quality of pronunciation on adverts on Radió na Gaeltachta, and specifically mentions the distinction between ‘l’ and ‘ll’ and between ‘n’ and ‘nn’. “Agus smeadar Gaeilge i gcuid díobh, gealladh sa mBealtaine seo caite nach gcraolfaí fógraí a bheadh ar dhroch-chaighdeán feasta…Tá daoine ar a mbionda ag iarraidh foghraíocht chruinn a thabhairt dá gclann agus dá ndaltaí agus ní aithníonn cuid de na daoine sna fógraí sin an difríocht idir tuil agus tuill, fail agus faill, sin agus sinn.” See https://tuairisc.ie/gan-eisteoiri-a-chur-o-dhoras-le-drochfhoghraiocht-agus-na-dushlain-eile-roimh-raidio-na-gaeltachta/

My understanding is that, historically, the fortis versions of l and n were simply the long versions of the corresponding lenis consonants i.e. for fortis l (both broad and slender types) and for fortis n (both broad and slender types), you dwelt on the consonant a little longer. For example, slender lenis l was [lʲ] but slender fortis l was [lʲ:]. This phenomenon is called gemination or consonant lengthening. See article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemination. Italian and Latin represent long consonants by doubling up the letter e.g. in the Italian word ‘bella’, and it seems that this spelling convention was borrowed into Irish.

Similarly, originally, in Irish, lenis r – both broad and slender types – were aleveolar taps historically, whereas fortis r – both broad and slender types – were alveolar thrills historically. Since a thrill is approx. three taps in rapid succession, then a thrill can be seen as a lengthened version of a tap.

(Irish also used to distinguish between lenis and fortis versions of the m sounds, but the distinction here was totally different i.e. it had nothing to do with short versus long consonants.)

Fortis versions of l, n and r are represented in the spelling by doubling up the consonant, except for word initially. In word-initial position, the consonants were never doubled up in the spelling, but the default word-initial pronunciations of l, n and r were nonetheless the fortis versions. However, if the word-initial l, n or r becomes lenited, the pronunciation shifts from the fortis to the lenis version. For example, ‘rogha’ was historically pronounced with a velarised alveolar thrill, whereas ‘do rogha’ was historically pronounced with a velarised alveolar tap.

In Munster, the consonant lengthening was lost and, in the process, the lengthening was generally transferred to the preceding vowel (which ended up being either lengthened or diphthongised).