Kevin Riley: more on bilabial secondary articulation.

[Elizabeth J. Pyatt]

Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:44:05 +1100 (AUS Eastern Daylight Time)
From: "Kevin Riley" <klriley at alphalink.com.au>
To: <CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>

[QUOTES DELETED FOR LENGTH]

It is usual to represent the Irish bilabial fricative with /v/ no matter
what it's pronunciation.  Some also use /w/ [e.g. O Siadhail].  The slender
sound is a fricative in all cases - originally bilabial but now a
labio-velar for some speakers - almost certainly from English influence.
The broad sound varies.  In Scotland and Munster it is usually a bilabial
fricative, with most speakers in Munster using a bilabial approximant only
when in absolute initial position in a phrase.  Donegal does seem to use a
bilabial approximant in all positions, and in Connacht the use of a bilabial
fricative seems to be restricted to final position [at least in Galway].  I
think the point is that to Irish speakers the amount of friction indicates a
person's origin, but is irrelevant to understanding the sound as broad or
slender as that is indicated by velarisation and palatalisation.  I have
listened to a few recordings I have, and found it hard to decide if the
consonant is nasalised in Munster Irish as nasalisation is light or
non-existent in most words.  I do hear the nasalisation extending to the
consonant in some cases in the Connacht tapes, but am not prepared to swear
to that under oath :)  I think it would be reasonable to assume that at
least teh beginning of the consonant is nasalised.

Kevin Riley
--
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

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