Hello,

I'm working on some etymology things. Can anybody confirm to me the pronunciation of the endings -inn and -in in Irish and Scottish Gaelic?
Are they all pronounced palatalized as -ñ or there are exceptions?
any advice is welcome. :-)

Depends of the word has 1 or more syllables, ie. if the syllable where -in/-inn is stressed or not, and depends if there's a vowel before (-ainn, -uin, -uinn, -oinn, -áin etc etc). Depends on the dialect too...

Normally the final single slender n is pronounced [nʲ] and the double one is pronounced [ɲ], but there are differences, depending on the dialect...
Can you give examples of words ?

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Thank you for your reply. I am finding there is no overall rule for the ɲ sound in Irish. By chance I found out a website with spoken word samples, according to the region in Ireland (Munster, Connamara and Ulster). Seems like going to the South the sound is less palatalized and to the North, more palatalized. As you say, it depends on the dialect, I am finding out now. I thought this was kind of a general palatalization pronounce in the whole of Ireland.

"inn" is often pronounced "ing" in the south (Cork, Waterford), but "in" in Kerry. But they make a diphthong of the preceding vowel when possible (ann > "ownn").
In Donegal we pronounce single slender n as "ny" between vowels : báine > bwaa-nyeh, which is not the case in other dialects...
Etc etc, there are many cases...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

This dispels an idea I had about the palatalized -inn. Well, thank you!