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Irish, like all modernCeltic languages, is characterised by its initialconsonant mutations.[1] These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specificmorphological andsyntactic conditions. The mutations are an important tool in understanding the relationship between two words and can differentiate various meanings.
Irish, likeScottish Gaelic andManx, features two initial consonant mutations:lenition (Irish:séimhiú[ˈʃeːvʲuː]) andeclipsis (urú[ˈʊɾˠuː]) (the alternative names,aspiration for lenition andnasalisation for eclipsis, are also used, but those terms are misleading).
Originally these mutations were phonologically governed by externalsandhi effects: lenition was caused by a consonant being between two vowels, and eclipsis when anasal preceded anobstruent, including at the beginning of a word.
Irish also features t-prothesis and h-prothesis, related phenomena which affect vowel-initial words.
SeeIrish phonology for a discussion of the symbols used on this page.
Lenition as an initial mutation originally stems from the historical allophoniclenition of an intervocalic consonant, both word internally and across word boundaries, i.e if a word ended in a vowel and the next word began with a consonant + a vowel, the consonant lenited.
Today, these former final vowels are usually elided, but the lenition of following consonants remains and has beengrammaticised. For example,Proto-Celtic*esyo "his" caused the lenition of a following consonant due to its final vowel and its modern forma now causes lenition, keeping it distinct froma "her" anda "their", which cause h-prothesis and eclipsis respectively.
Lenition caused stops and*m to become fricatives,*s todebuccalise to[h],*f toelide, and the liquids*l,*n,*r to split intofortis and lenis variants. Though by the end of theMiddle Irish period lenited*m largely lost its nasal quality, lenited*t debuccalised to[h], and lenited*d lost its coronal articulation.
Lenition did not only occur word initially, though non-initial lenition was never grammaticised. For example Proto-Celtic*knāmis →cnáim →cnáimh "bone", and*abalnā →aball →abhaill "apple tree".
While it is not initially apparent, theprothesis of⟨t⟩ and⟨h⟩ stems from historical lenition combined with vowel reduction.
The prosthetic⟨t⟩- of vowel initial words is a fossilised fragment of the Proto-Celtic masculine definite article*sindos. Before vowels, the*s of the ending*-os was lenited to[h], which (combined with the loss of the*-o-) devoiced the preceding*-d- to*-t.
The prosthetic⟨t⟩ of⟨s⟩ initial words is a fossilised fragment of the d of Proto-Celtic nominative feminine definite article*sindā and masculine genitive definite article*sindī. Since they ended in vowels, a following word initial*s was lenited to[h] which (combined with the loss of the*-ā,*-ī) devoiced the preceding*-d to*-t.
The prothetic⟨h⟩ of vowel initial words has two origins, the first beingepenthetic to avoid vowel hiatus, and the second being the fossilised remnant of a historic consonant. For example, the*s of Proto-Celtic*esyās "her" was lenited between vowels to[h]. Overtime*esyās was reduced toa but the[h] remains when it is followed by a vowel initial word but is now written as part of the following word.
Eclipsis originally stems from the historicalcoalescence of consonant clusters beginning with a nasal, both word internally and across word boundaries, i.e if a word ended in a nasal and the next word began with a stop or labial fricative, they would coalesce.
Today, many of the former final nasals have been elided, but still have an effect on the pronunciation of a following consonant, which has beengrammaticised. For example, the Proto-Celtic genitive plural of the definite article*sindoisom has lost its final nasal and been reduced tona but it now causes the eclipsis of a following consonant or the prothesis of⟨n-⟩ to a vowel.
The cluster reductions involved in eclipsis turned nasal stops followed by a voiced stop into nasal stops, nasal stops followed by a voiceless stop into voiced plosives, nasal stops followed by a voiceless labial fricative into a voiced fricative, and words which have lost their final nasal add an⟨n-⟩ to vowel initial words.
These cluster reductions did not only occur word initially, though non-initial coalescence was never grammaticised. For example, Proto-Celtic*lindos →lind →linn "pool", and*kʷenkʷe →cóic →cúig "five".
This table shows theorthographical andphonological effects of lenition, eclipsis, h-prothesis, and t-prothesis. Vowels are represented by⟨v⟩ and/V/. Consonants are broad before⟨a, á, o, ó, u, ú⟩ and slender before⟨e, é, i, í⟩. See alsoIrish orthography which has a table showing non-initial lenited consonants which elided or vocalised to form diphthongs or long vowels.
| Unmutated | Lenition | Eclipsis | T-Prothesis | H-Prothesis | Meaning | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spell. | IPA | E.G. | Spell. | IPA | E.G. | Spell. | IPA | E.G. | Spell. | IPA | E.G. | Spell. | IPA | E.G. | |
| V v | /V/ | éan /eːnˠ/ | — | nV n-v | /n̪ˠV/ /n̠ʲV/ | n-éan /n̠ʲeːnˠ/ | tV t-v | /t̪ˠV/ /tʲV/ | t-éan /tʲeːnˠ/ | hV hv | /hV/ | héan /heːnˠ/ | bird | ||
| B b | /bˠ/ /bʲ/ | bean /bʲanˠ/ | Bh bh | /w/ /vʲ/ | bhean /vʲanˠ/ | mB mb | /mˠ/ /mʲ/ | mbean /mʲanˠ/ | — | — | woman | ||||
| C c | /k/ /c/ | ceann /caːn̪ˠ/ | Ch ch | /x/ /ç/ | cheann /çaːn̪ˠ/ | gC gc | /ɡ/ /ɟ/ | gceann /ɟaːn̪ˠ/ | head | ||||||
| D d | /d̪ˠ/ /dʲ/ | droim /d̪ˠɾˠiːmʲ/ | Dh dh | /ɣ/ /j/ | dhroim /ɣɾˠiːmʲ/ | nD nd | /n̪ˠ/ /n̠ʲ/ | ndroim /n̪ˠɾˠiːmʲ/ | back | ||||||
| F f | /fˠ/ /fʲ/ | freagra /fʲɾʲaɡɾˠə/ | Fh fh | ∅ | fhreagra /ɾʲaɡɾˠə/ | bhF bhf | /w/ /vʲ/ | bhfreagra /vʲɾʲaɡɾˠə/ | answer | ||||||
| G g | /ɡ/ /ɟ/ | glúin /gl̪ˠuːnʲ/ | Gh gh | /ɣ/ /j/ | ghlúin /ɣl̪ˠuːnʲ/ | nG ng | /ŋ/ /ɲ/ | nglúin /ŋl̪ˠuːnʲ/ | knee | ||||||
| L l | /l̪ˠ/ /l̠ʲ/ | leanbh /l̠ʲanˠəw/ | L l | */lˠ/ */lʲ/ | leanbh /lʲanˠəw/ | — | baby | ||||||||
| M m | /mˠ/ /mʲ/ | máthair /mˠaːhəɾʲ/ | Mh mh | /w/ /vʲ/ | mháthair /waːhəɾʲ/ | mother | |||||||||
| N n | /n̪ˠ/ /n̠ʲ/ | naomh /n̪ˠiːw/ | N n | */nˠ/ */nʲ/ | naomh /nˠiːw/ | saint | |||||||||
| P p | /pˠ/ /pʲ/ | peann /pʲaːn̪ˠ/ | Ph ph | /fˠ/ /fʲ/ | pheann /fʲaːn̪ˠ/ | bP bp | /bˠ/ /bʲ/ | bpeann /bʲaːn̪ˠ/ | pen | ||||||
| S s | /sˠ/ /ʃ/ | súil /sˠuːlʲ/ | Sh sh | /h/ | shúil /huːlʲ/ | — | tS ts | /t̪ˠ/ /tʲ/ | tsúil /t̪ˠuːlʲ/ | eye | |||||
| T t | /t̪ˠ/ /tʲ/ | teach /tʲax/ | Th th | theach /hax/ | dT dt | /d̪ˠ/ /dʲ/ | dteach /dʲax/ | — | house | ||||||
* Not all dialects contrast lenited⟨l⟩ and⟨n⟩ from their unlenited forms. SeeIrish Phonology#Fortis and lenis sonorants.
The definite article triggers the lenition of:
Lenition is blocked when acoronal consonant is preceded byan.
Instead of leniting to/h/, after the definite article,/sˠ,ʃ/ become/t̪ˠ,tʲ/ (written⟨ts⟩):
The possessive pronouns that trigger lenition aremo "my",do "your (sg.)",a "his"
These were originally preceded by the particledo and often still are in Munster.
Lenition is blocked in these constructions if two coronals are adjacent.
The singular form is used after numbers and is lenited in the following cases:
Constructions of adjective + noun are written as compounds.
In these constructions coronals are lenited even following other
The possessive pronouns that trigger eclipsis areár "our",bhur "your (pl.)",a "their"
a can mean "his", "her" or "their", but these different uses can still be distinguished, sincea causes lenition when used as "his" (a bhád), causes eclipsis when used as "their" (a mbád), and neither when used as "her" (a bád).
The numbers that trigger eclipsis (the noun being in the singular) are:
Before a vowelin is written instead ofi n-.
The genitive plural articlena eclipses a following noun:
In western and southern dialects, nouns beginning with a noncoronal consonant are eclipsed after combinations of preposition + article in the singular (exceptden,don, andsa(n), which trigger lenition)
In environments where lenition occurs a vowel initial word remains unchanged:
However, In environments where neither eclipsis nor lenition is expected, an initial vowel may acquire aprothetic consonant. For example, a vowel-initial masculine singular nominative noun requires a⟨t-⟩ (avoiceless coronal plosive) after the definite article:
Additionally, there is the prothetic⟨h⟩ (avoiceless glottal fricative), which occurs when both the following conditions are met:
Examples ofh-prothesis:
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