[Help] Phonetic transcription of an Old Irish text

siva-nataraja siva-nataraja at infonie.fr
Wed May 2 21:43:38 UTC 2001


Hello everyone,

[please note that English  is not my mother tongue]

    I'm working on Old Irish phonetics and transcription rules, and would
need some help : I'm trying to make a phonetic transcription of a text
(from _Scél Mucci Mic Dathó_), but I cannot manage to figure out where
some lenited consonants might be (since lenited "c", "t" and "p" are
neither spelled with a punctum delens nor a subsequent "-h" ; in the same
way, a certain number of eclipsed consonants might hide where I do not
expect them to be ("r", "l" and "n", or unvoiced consonants for
instance). Moreover, I read that a lenited "m" could nasalize the
following vowel. But, what if the following phoneme is a consonant ? I
also read that, for example, a "t" between two vowel was voiced, a "d"
lenited. What if this "t" or this "d" precede or follow a consonant?
Clusters of consonants are rather difficult, for me, to interpret. Last,
were broad consonants velarized, as in modern Irish?

    Here is, first line, the text then the transcription and so on
(assuming that "D" is a voiced apico-dental approximant, Eng. "THen", "B"
a voiced bilabial approximant, Esp. "saBer", "~"  indicates the
nasalization of the preceding vowel, "c" is an unvoiced dorso-palatal
stop, Skt. "Ca", "q" a voiced dorso-palatal stop [both slender
realisations of "k" and "g"], Skt. "Jîva-", "T" an unvoiced apico-dental
approximant, Eng. "THin", "G" is a voiced dorso-velar approximant, Esp.
"paGo", "P" an unvoiced bilabial approximant, Jap. "Fukeba", "S" an
unvoiced dorso-postalveolar fricative, Eng. "SHunt" [slender "s"], "ç" an
unvoiced dorso-palatal spirant, Ger. "iCH" [slender "ch"], that "R", "L"
and "N" are apico-alveolopalatal consonants with tongue retraction, and
are opposed to "r", "l" and "n", the late being apico-dental consonants
[nota bene: I'm not sure of these oppositions],  and, last but not least,
that ' indicates palatalization of the following consonant) :

Tucad dóib  iarum in   mucc ocus XL
tugaD do:B' iruB  i~n' muk  ogus (40)

dam dia tarsnu cenmotha in  biad ar chena
daB d'a tarsnu cenBo~Ta in' b'aD ar çena ||

Mac Dathó fessin icond fherdaigsecht.
mag daTo: Pesin' igonD   erDaixSext ||

"Mo chen duib," ar se,
 mo çen duB' |  ar Se |

"ni  dabar samail  riss sin.
 n'i daBar saBa~l' R'iS Sin' ||

Ataat aige ocus mucca la Laigniu.
adaad aqe  ogus muka  La LaGn'u ||


A testa  desin   mairfider  dúib  imbárach."
a t'esta d'eSin' marP'iD'er du:B' imBa:rax ||

"Is maith in  mucc," ar Conchobar.
 iS maT'  in' muk |  ar konxoBar ||

"Is maith imorro," ar Ailill.
 iS maT'  iBo~Ro | ar al'iL' ||

    I'm sure there are errors in my transcription, especially with
eclipsis and lenition the letters do not show.

    Thanks for your help.

       Regards,

               Vincent Ramos
               France
--
Atta unsar þu in himinam, weihnai namo þein.
Qimai þiudinassus þeins ; wairþai wilja þeins.



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