Connemara Irish is spoken in the west of Ireland in the Connemara region of Co. Galway, to the west of the city of Galway.
Connemara Irish phonemic consonant inventory
The consonant phoneme inventory of Connemara Irish is given below (de Bhaldraithe 1945; Ó Siadhail 1991; Ní Chiosáin & Padgett 2012). Palatalized consonants are marked with a following superscript j, and velarized consonants are marked with a following superscript ɣ. The Connemara vowel system can be roughly described as /i,e,a,o,u/, each occurring in long and short form.
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | pɣ pj | tˠ tj | kˠ kj | |
| bˠ bj | dˠ dj | ɡˠ ɡj | ||
| Fricative | fˠ fj | sˠ sj | xˠ xj | hˠ (hj) |
| vˠ vj | (ɣ) (ɣj) | |||
| Nasal | mˠ mj | nˠ nj | ŋˠ ŋj | |
| Liquid | lˠ lj | |||
| rˠ rj |
Tongue position during palatalization
The sample images below show the position of the tongue when palatalized vs. velarized consonants are pronounced.
Click on the links to listen to hear a Connacht speaker saying words containing those consonants.
Connacht labial consonants
Connacht coronal consonants
Learn about coronal consonants
Connacht dorsal consonants
Photos from Connemara
