I don't know why but despite the fact that the root was Gaoidheal- etc in Classical Irish, nowadays nobody pronounces an /i:/ sound in those words, it's an /e:/ sound everywhere. I think it's an exceptional word. Even in Scottish Gaelic, pronouncing -àidhea- as an /e:/ sound isn't normal, I think.

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

Maybe it's phonotactics and aesthetics -'guíoltacht' and especially 'Guílig' sounds a bit odd

_________________
__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

When the pronunciation of ao(i) was /e:/ everywhere, ae was used.
Many loanwords in which it's used seem to have been once spelt with aoi too - captaen/captaoin, conntae/conntaoi, etc.

_________________
(SL)(GM)

I was under the impression that it was never /e:/ everwhere but /ɨ:/ in 'Conn's half' and /ɤ/ in 'Mogh's half' becoming í and é respectively later on

I don't know why the spelling was that way -use of ao(i) to signify é or the preference of a Munster orientated orthography?

_________________
__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

/gil'k'/ is the Manx pronunciation of the name of the language. Aesthetics is a matter of personal taste "Gaoidhealg" probably had an /i:/ sound. Its Old Irish ancestor was goídelc /ˈgojðɛlg/.
I wonder when it became an /e:/ in all dialects

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

And I think aesthetics is a big factor in the use of English sounds and Béarlachas. People don't identify with fuaimeanna na Gaeilge because it is foreign to them, yet they believe that they are 'saving the language' by making it into a mirror of their native language which just underlines how well they have been colonized.

For example see this Phonics course for Irish. It's basically one for English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6GKjfG3jMM


This suggest that 'ao(i)' was used for more than one sound and so the predictive power of the written form is weak here. What about it ever once having been /gɰðɛlg/?


Maybe it was unstable or varied a lot or Munster was held in more esteem for an important period

_________________
__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___