The images on this page shows the position of an Irish speaker's tongue when a dorsal consonant (k, x) is pronounced. These consonants are called "dorsal" because they are articulated by making a constriction using the back of the tongue, or the tongue dorsum. The stop or plosive /k/ is pronounced by briefly making a complete closure, then releasing it. The fricative /x/ (like the "ch" sound in German Bach) is pronounced by making an incomplete closure, so that some air still passes through.
To listen to audio recordings or read about a dialect, click on the dialect-specific links below.
