several Irish language assistants in my university (in Brittany) would use "séimhiú" when talking about prefixing h to vowels, and many of my fellow students when I was in Ireland (and Irish students in Brittany who would attend to Irish classes too), would also say that. I guess they haven't all invented that by themselves, they were taught it at school.
Btw my excellent Irish teacher when I was in Ireland, would complain about that fact as well.

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

You referred to teachers Lughaidh. I didn't realise you were talking about language assistants or students. Ask many students what a séimhiú is and they'll say 'h'. But they are students, who may or may not listen to what they are being told in class.

Sometimes teachers are careless or not specific enough when they say the likes of: 'mo' puts on a 'h'. Students might then assume that mo héan is correct. That could be a problem without doubt.

However, Lughaidh, when you say "Many teachers say like you, they use "séimhiú" to talk about prefixing h and about putting h after a consonant, and that's why so many learners mix up everything", that is a world away from what I mentioned above, and I doubt it happens. There is a difference between a student misinterpreting information because it is not specific enough and a teacher not knowing his or her grammar. I would be shocked if any teacher actually believed that a prefixed h was a séimhiú.

Every First Year secondary school book includes An Aidiacht Shealbhach, usually in the first chapter. It normally starts with mo chóta etc. and is followed, sometimes on the same page, by examples with nouns starting with a vowel. It is blindingly obvious that 'séimhiú' cannot refer to prefixed h when explaining the rules. I've met a lot of Irish teachers, believe it or not, and despite varying ability, none are that stupid. It's time to stop the teacher-bashing Lughaidh, even if it makes you feel superior.

language assistants teach the language in a university, right? They have diplomas in the language...



I would be shocked but not surprised. I heard discussions between my teacher and students, the students said "we were taught these things at school" although these things were wrong.



but people could use the word "séimhiú" to talk about h prefixed to vowels anyway.



?? I just want to help people who are learning Irish, and that's why I give my opinion about what explanations are clear or not for learners. And I'm not happy when I see that teachers may teach wrong things or say things that may confuse learners (while the right things are quite simple). Nothing about stupidity, really. It's more about the way things are explained.

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

The correct terminology as you have rightly said is h- prefixed to vowels but I see no harm in calling it a séimhiú either because when an Irish speaker says séimhiú, they do not think of the English word lenition, they think of the word mellowing or "h" as that's what a "h" does in Irish whether it is a consonant or a vowel- it mellows or changes the sound of the consonant or vowel. One thing I have noticed is whenever a native Irish speaker is spelling (particularly older speakers) they call a "h" a séimhiú wherever it falls:

For instance:

A Mhichíl: a M-séimhithe i c-séimhithe i-fada l

or

Do chuaidh/ chuaigh: c-séimhithe u a i d-séimhithe/

In the case of the Aidiacht Sheilbheach it looks very clear to me even if someone did call a "h- prefixed to vowels" a séimhiú, once all the rules were explained correctly and more importantly an example was given.

so:

A chat- his cat: a, c-séimhithe a t- for when a male owns a noun beginning with a consonant (séimhiú)
A cat- her cat: a, c a t- for when a female owns a noun beginning with a consonant (no séimhiú)
A uncail- his uncle: a, u n c a i l- for when a male owns a noun beginning with a vowel (no séímhiú)
A huncail- her uncle: a, séimhiú-u n c a i l, for when a female owns a noun beginning a vowel (séimhiú)

Is just the same complexity as saying :

A chat- his cat: a, c-lenited a t
A cat- her cat: a, c a t (no lenition)
A uncail- his uncle: a, u n c a i l (no h- prefixed to vowels)
A huncail- her uncle: a h (h-pre- fixed to a vowel) u n c a i l

Especially when someone has never heard the term lenition or séimhiú before. A learner is bound to make mistakes anyway because that's what learners do- make mistakes until the are eventually corrected and they get in right. But thanks for letting me know about that, I wont be making that mistake again !



thanks for clearing that up!

_________________

Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

But you can't lenite a vowel...

Anyway when you spell a word, you say "h", not séimhiú:
a, c, h, a, t
a, h, u, n, c, a, i, l.
I never heard people saying "séimhiú" when spelling a word, séimhiú is a grammatical phenomenon, not a letter...

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

, I wont be making that mistake again!



Yes it is a grammatical phenomenon but that's how I heard some native speakers spelling it.

_________________

Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice