Cuirpthean language

Cuirpthean language
Guilleag
Pronunciation	[ˈgɯ̯͡iːʎəg]
Native to	Cuirpthe Newrey
Region	Cuirpthe
Ethnicity	Cuirptheans
Native speakers	ca. 34,245,000 (2018)
Language family	Cataisuran Thiaric Peripheral Thiaric Old Maíreidh Cuirpthean Cuirpthean language
Writing system	Fiorentine alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Cuirpthe
Regulated by	Comann na Guilleig (Cuirpthean Language Society)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	cu
ISO 639-2	cui
ISO 639-3	cui

Cuirpthean (guilleag pronounced: [ˈgɯ̯͡iːʎəg]) is a Thiaric language spoken in the Republic of Cuirpthe by over thirty four million people, with first-language communities across the border in Newrey. It is a Maíreidh language, deriving from Old Maíreidh but splitting off before the Middle Maíreidh period, and thus forming a distinct sub-branch from languages such as Mawr Lhaeraidd which derive from Middle Maíreidh. A much greater degree of contact with speakers of Newreyan and the Fiorentine languages, particularly speakers of Lilledic, have led to Cuirpthean's significant divergence in comparison to the other Peripheral Thiaric languages of tir Lhaeraidd and the Mardin Isles.

Cuirpthe has been inhabited since prehistory, and Fiorentine records show that by the classical period the region of Cuirpthe was inhabited by a people similar to the Lhaeraidd, whom the Fiorentines called Mari, probably from the local root már meaning "great". Direct rule by the Fiorentines over Cuirpthe lasted until 453CE and had significant effect on the local language. Contact with Fiorentine peoples did not end, and there is strong evidence of contact with the people who would become the Lilledics. Around this time Cuirpthean began to diverge from Old Maíreidh, and by the end of the first millennium CE had a distinct identity as Middle Cuirpthean. Later Newreyan rule from the fifteenth century further affected the development of the language in various ways.

Cuirpthean is the first language of the Cuirpthean people who primarily inhabit the Republic of Cuirpthe, where Cuirpthean is the sole official language and one of the two national languages alongside Newreyan. In Newrey, there is a first-language Cuirpthean community speaking the Dauisce dialect in the region near to the Cuirpthean border, but the language has no recognition whatsoever and faces active marginalisation and persecution.

History

The area corresponding to modern Cuirpthe has been inhabited since prehistory. Since the beginning of written records, the people of Cuirpthe have been identified as a people closely related or identical to those of neighbouring tir Lhaeraidd, referred to as the Mari or Marri by Fiorentine writers. This reflects a common element Mar- seen in the names of local tribes, which in turn derives from Old Maíreidh már "great". For a significant length of time writings by these Cuirptheans were rare and short, written both in Óm and Fiorentine scripts and so it is difficult to make linguistic generalisations about these people. However, the dominant language amongst them was clearly Maíreidh, and it is from this that Cuirpthean descends.

Old Maíreidh is the ancestral language of Cuirpthean as well as Modern Maíreidh and Gaelaidh, spoken in the Mardin Isles and tir Lhaeraidd. However, whereas Maíreidh and Gaelaidh are descendants of Middle Maíreidh, Cuirpthean branched directly from Old Maíreidh. It did however have contact with Middle Maíreidh, evidenced by reborrowings and couplets such as inherited déide "boy" and borrowed giolla "conscript", both ultimately from Old Maíreidh gilla.

As a result of the early split, Cuirpthean has retained grammatical elements that Middle Maíreidh did not, although it has lost many other elements. For example, although the neuter gender was largely lost in Middle Maíreidh it has been well preserved in Cuirpthean and is just as important as the masculine and feminine genders. On the other hand, the verbal system has been greatly simplified, with the loss of all synthetic tenses but the preterite or perfect (now a simple past) and present. Besides this, the greater duration of separation has led to Cuirpthean being far more phonetically different than its nearest relatives. While there is some amount of mutual intelligibility between Maíreidh and Gaelaidh, particularly the written forms, this is often not the case in Cuirpthean. Compare the following translations of "I have no money":

• Cuirpthean: Ní birim mé di ghaold [ɲĩː ˈbiɾəm mjẽː d͡ʒəˈɣɯ̯͡ɛld]
• Maíreidh: Níl airgead agam [nʲiːlʲ ˈaɾʲɪɟədˠ ˈagəmˠ] or chan fhuil airgead agam [xanˠ ɪlʲ ˈaɾʲɪɟədˠ ˈagəmˠ]
• Gaelaidh: Chan eil airgead agam [xanʲ elʲ ˈaɾʲakʲət ˈakəm]

Cuirpthean here has a distinction between generic possession and current possession; since the translation in question requires reference to current possession the verb bréach in its conjugated form birim is used instead of the more similar construction cho mbí... lim or in western dialects cho mbí... agam which is syntactically like chan fhuil/eil... agam used in Gaelaidh or dialectally in Maíreidh. In addition, the common word for "money" is gaold, a loan from an Alemannic language, rather than the slightly antiquated argad.

The date during which Cuirpthean split from Old Maíreidh is difficult to ascertain precisely, but is generally placed after the fall of the Fiorentine Empire in Cuirpthe but before the foundation of the Cuirpthean Confederation, thus between 453 and 906CE.

Middle Cuirpthean

Many of the developments which occurred in or after the Middle Cuirpthean period are similar to those observed in Lilledic, and it is generally agreed that this is no coincidence, but that speakers of each language had significant contact with one another and therefore shared these changes with one another. Two notable examples are traceable to Middle Cuirpthean and Old/Middle Lilledic.

First is a significant reduction in verbal complexity, with both languages moving towards the loss of all synthetic tenses bar present and past, constructing other tenses with more analytic means. However, whereas Cuirpthean took based its past tense on the Fiorentine imperfect, Cuirpthean based its on the Old Maíreidh preterite or perfect: Lilledic mandeve from Fiorentine mandēbat but Cuirpthean -dú- from ·dúaid, perfect stem of ithid "eat". Cuirpthean retained both perfect and preterite forms in the Middle period, with the latter used for imperfective aspect. A memorable example of both past tense forms is found in a translation of the Orations of Gaius of Laterna: nonn·glástar é aċ níċonn ro·ġlas "he was persuading us, but did not convince us". Compare modern Cuirpthean é raghlasta sní, ach chodann bhí seach galla, where raghlasta is the synthetic third person singular indicative independent past form of "persuade" and the perfect is expressed with the analytic construction bóch seach galla lit. "be after persuading". The syncretism of these verb forms is already apparent in Middle Cuirpthean due to the merging of most personal inflections throughout the past tense (only the third person singular remained distinct in each tense).

Besides this, other verbal changes include the total loss of deponent and passive verbs (shared with Lilledic): OM labraithir → MC laḃraċas "he speaks" with the -as ending deriving from the Old Maíreidh non-deponent relative, cf. modern Cuirpthean gríos "he works" from OM gnís "he who works". The merging of the second and third person plural forms of verbs also has a parallel in Lilledic; this change was complete already by Middle Cuirpthean: céa in na·ċreidead sisi "ye who believe such a thing", cf. fásad éad isean caille "they grow in the forest". The broad ending -ad is used already for both second and third persons. Middle Cuirpthean retained a distinction between dependent and independent verbs which has mostly been lost in the modern language. The independent conjugation of "kill" (modern verbal noun oran) follows to exemplify. This verb is useful for illustration since the perfect and preterite forms shared a stem, but the perfect added the prefix ro:

	Present		Past
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
First Person	*orġum	orgḃa, *orġḃa	(ro·)oirdeas, (ro·)oirdis	*(ro·)oirdeam, (ro·)oirdeaḃ
Second Person	*orġa	orġad	*(ro·)oirdis	(ro·)oirdead
Third Person	orġ, orġa		(ro·)oirḋter

By the end of the Middle period, the first and second person singular past forms had merged while the first person plural past ending was generalised as -ḃ throughout the first conjugation.

Second is the reduction, but not complete loss, of nominal case. This differs between the two languages more than the changes to the verbal system. Lilledic distinguishes direct and genitive cases, but Cuirpthean distinguishes direct and oblique, with the latter used after any preposition. Both languages distinguish additional cases on some words, but again not identically; while some Lilledic nouns and adjectives distinguish nominative, accusative-oblique and genitive cases, Cuirpthean has direct, genitive and dative-oblique cases marked on all adjectives. Cuirpthean does not have case marked on its pronouns, but the definite article distinguishes all of nominative, accusative, genitive and dative, as it did in Old Maíreidh. In Middle Cuirpthean, the nominative and accusative had already merged into the direct case, but the genitive remained extant in many instances, leading to fossilised modern phrases such as aigen ucht réada "first thing's first" lit. "at the front (breast) of matters"; réada is from the genitive plural of réad which has otherwise been replaced with di réadabh.

Modern Cuirpthean

As a term, "Modern Cuirpthean" or rarely "Neo-Cuirpthean" refers to the language from the unification wars onwards, although the startpoint is sometimes placed slightly earlier. While Cuirpthe was under Newreyan rule, the native language faced suppression, being barred from the political sphere but also forbidden in many schools as well as other public contexts, with often violent punishments decreed for speaking Cuirpthean. The language persisted however, with a significant amount of influence from the Newreyan language. This Newreyan superstrate lasted throughout the commonwealth period until 1722 when it was ended.

Other than those changes mentioned so far, important developments continued to occur within the verbal system in the late Middle period resulting in the loss of yet more verb forms: the conditional form was lost outside of the single relic form béa, now used as a particle, while outside the third person singular form of verbs the independent/dependent distinction was also lost: ghais "it is" → an fhaol? "is it?" but gham "I am" → an gham? "am I?". Additionally, the relative clause system was rebuilt similarly to Newreyan, with the exception of the third person indicative present of "be": ghad "(they) who are" but céa coidiod "(they) who help".

With Cuirpthe independent once again the language was restored to official status in all spheres, and a renewal of nationalist fervour led to a golden age in Cuirpthean literature. Such foundational works as In Fígheach (The Debt) and In Seinn-bhfeolla (The Violinist) were written in the decades following Cuirpthean independence, and the Cuirpthean Language Society, then called the Fellowship of Cuirpthean Literati (Muinnter na Colltraighebh Cuirptheach), was founded to standardise, regulate and promote the language.

Classification

Cuirpthean is a member of the Thiaric branch of the Cataisuran language family, the major language family of Asura and Sifhar. Amongst the Thiaric languages, it belongs to the Peripheral Thiaric subgroup which contains all descendants of Old Maíreidh. It contrasts with other such languages in splitting directly from Old Maíreidh and therefore not deriving from Middle Maíreidh. This position is visualised below:

The details of the divergence between (Middle) Cuirpthean and Middle Maíreidh are unclear. Even after the split it is clear that there was significant exchange between the Cuirptheans and Maíreidh, seen in reborrowings of words from Middle Maíreidh such as giolla "conscript" from MM gilla, which exists alongside the inherited word déide "boy", both tracing back to Old Maíreidh gilla "servant-boy". However, from grammatical changes it is apparent that the Cuirptheans had a significant amount of contact with migratory Fiorentine peoples, ancestors of the Lilledic people. Interestingly, loanwords from this period are less numerous than such a degree of contact would suggest.

Despite the aforementioned changes, many near-unique grammatical elements of the Thiaric languages remain prevalent in Cuirpthean, and the core lexicon retains a distinctly Peripheral Thiaric flavour. The following sentence demonstrates the lexical correspondence between Cuirpthean and some of its relatives. Maíreidh and Gaelaidh are both Peripheral Thiaric languages, while Mânaidh is a Central Thiaric language. Lilledic is included to demonstrate the lexical difference to non-Thiaric languages.

• Newreyan: "Four small fishes were swimming down the river"
• Cuirpthean: Céar mbig éas rathángama síos forsan aibhinn
• Maíreidh: Bhí ceithre iasc beag ag snámh síos arn abhainn
• Gaelaidh: Bha ceithir èisg beaga a' snàmh sìos air an abhainn
• Mânaidh: Oedd pedwar pysgodyn yn nofio hwnt ar yr afon
• Lilledic: Cættjer parves piskjes nouve akyn per rivale

Cuirpthean shares cognates for every word but the main verb: céar "four" to ceithre and ceithir, big "small" to beag, éas "fish" to iasc and (here in its plural form) iasg, síos "away" to síos and sìos, for "along" to ar and air and ábh (in the oblique case aibhinn) "river" to abhainn.

Phonology

Consonants

A phonemic inventory of the consonants of Cuirpthean is presented below. Bracketed entries are allophones of other sounds.

Cuirpthean consonant phonemes

	Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n nˠ	ɲ	(ŋ)
Stop	p b (pʰ)	t d (tʰ)	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ (t͡ʃʰ)	k g (kʰ)
Fricative	f v (ɸ β)	s z	ʃ ʒ ç ʝ (ɟ)	x ɣ	h
Approximant	(w)	l ɫ r ɾ	ʎ j

• The consonants /n nˠ ɲ/ and /l ɫ ʎ/ form groups of consonants where there is a contrast between lenis /n l/, broad fortis /nˠ ɫ/ and slender fortis /ɲ ʎ/. An additional distinction amongst the rhotics has been reduced in most dialects to lenis /ɾ/ and fortis /r/, though see below for discussion of the rhotics. The pronunciation of the fortis sounds is quite variable amongst dialects, and the given pronunciations represent the standard values. For more information see the section "Slender and broad sounds".
• The velar nasal [ŋ] occurs as an allophone of /n/ before a velar consonant, including across word boundaries: teanga "tongue, language" [ˈt͡ʃʰɛ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə]. This sound affects vowels similarly to the fortis consonants: ghionga "lad" is [ˈjʊ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə] not *[ˈjɔ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə].
• The bilabial fricatives [ɸ β] are used instead of /f v/ by some speakers. Similarly, [w] varies with /v/, although here they are not free variants but conditioned allophones. [v] always occurs word-initially, when slender before front vowels except after /u/ and before consonants or word boundaries while [w] occurs elsewhere in free variation: a Bhran! "O Bran!" [əˈvɾɑ̃n]; aibhín "brook" [əˈvĩːn]; cráibh "bone" [kʰɾɑ̃͡ːɒ̯v]; clubhain "meadow" [ˈkʰlũvən ~ ˈkʰlũwən]. However, when /v/ occurs as a mutation of /f/ it is always pronounced [v] except word-initially where [w] is used in western dialects and [v] in eastern: núibhfiosa "to remember" [nˠũ͡ːʉ̯ˈvisə] and never *[nˠũ͡ːʉ̯ˈwisə].
• The consonants /z ʒ/ occur only as the eclipsis mutations of /s ʃ/, and are not usually distinguished in writing: sollas "light" [ˈsoɫəs] but sollas suinnseach "bright light" [ˈsoɫə‿ˈzĩːʃəx]. In some southeastern dialects this distinction has been lost and the voiced sounds are always used word-initially. Word-internally the distinction is maintained in compounds when the first element causes eclipsis in the standard language, though most speakers do not maintain this and [s~z] are in free variation within words.
• /ʝ/ is the slender value of /ɣ/, but except in some conservative dialects it has merged with /j/. The two are not distinguished in writing: ríghe "kings" [ˈriːʝə] or [ˈriːjə] but ghionga "lad, boy" [ˈjʊ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə] and never *[ˈʝʊ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə]. Word-finally /ʝ/ has the allophone [ɟ] in western dialects: conáigh "forwards" [kʰəˈnæ̃ːɟ]. Otherwise, /j/ can occur at the start of a small number of words: Eallsabh "Elsouf (river)" [ˈjaʊ̯ɫsəv].
• /h/ only occurs word-initially, primarily as a result of H-prosthesis or lenition of /s/: a h-ach "her horse" [əˈhɑx], in shúill "the eye" [ə̃ˈhuːʎ]. It may also occur as an allophone of /x/ in eastern dialects and of /p/ in southwestern dialects: a chráibh "his bone" E. [əˈhnɑ̃͡ːɒ̯v]; corp "person" SW. [kɯ̯͡ɔɾh].
• Outside the word-initial position, /ɣ/ is marginal, occurring primarily in regularised forms of words where it would otherwise have been historically lost: ágh "side" [ɑː] but ágha "sides" [ˈɑːɣə]. Word-finally this sound is usually not pronounced, though western dialects sometimes pronounce it as [g]: ágh [ɑːg]. Word-initially on the other hand it is frequent as the lenition of /g/ and /d/: in ghuilleag "the Cuirpthean language" [əŋˈɣɯ̯͡iːʎəg]; cáid dhubh "black forest" [kʰɯ̯͡ɑ͜ːæ̯d͡ʒ ɣɯ̯͡uː].

The pronunciation of the lenis rhotic /ɾ/ varies significantly amongst dialects, though a coronal tap or flap is standard and common across the country. The most common dialectal variant is [ɹ], which is quite widespread in eastern dialects. Most dialects have lost the distinction between broad and slender for this sound, but a handful of western dialects retain the contrast. In these, there is a north/central/southern divide. In the most northern dialects, the slender value is [ð], while elsewhere it is [ɾʲ]. In the most southern dialects, the broad value is [ɹ] while elsewhere it is [ɾ]. In other words, north dialects have [ɾ ð], central dialects have [ɾ ɾʲ] and southern dialects have [ɹ ɾʲ]. Additionally, after a vowel, in all but a few southern and western dialects, /ɾ/ is reduced to a semivowel like [ə̯] or [ɐ̯] or deleted entirely. Thus, a word like fer "man" (note that the final consonant is historically broad) can be pronounced in any of the following ways: [fjɛə̯ ~ɛɐ̯ ~ɛɾ ~ɛɹ].

The fortis rhotic /r/ has similarly lost the broad-slender distinction, though the resulting pronunciation is more uniform. The most widespread value is a coronal, usually alveolar trill [r]. The most common alternative is [ɹ]. This is in fact never ambiguous, although it is also a possible pronunciation of the lenis sound: as an allophone of the lenis rhotic it occurs mainly in eastern dialects, while as an allophone of the fortis sound it is confined to northwestern dialects and therefore usage never overlaps. Another, rarer pronunciation for the fortis sound is [ʐ], found mainly in the southeast. Unlike the lenis rhotic, the fortis rhotic is always pronounced, including in the syllable coda.

Aspiration of the voiceless plosive consonants when they occur word-initially is widespread everywhere except in the most southern dialects and some transitional dialects in the northwest. Elsewhere in a word light aspiration may occur before any vowel except after a consonant, when they are pronounced with an earlier voice onset time: puirtín "small port" [ˈpʰɔə̯t͡ʃʰĩːn] but follteach "university" [ˈfuːɫt͡ʃˣəx]. Voiced plosives in contrast have a negative VOT and so are always contrastive: déad "tooth" [d͡ʒeːd]. At the end of a word, there is a strong east/west division between full release of plosives in the east (manifested with strong aspiration) and lack of audible release in the west (manifested with light glottalisation): corp "person" E. [kʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯pʰə̥] but W. [kʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯ˀp̚].

Vowels

A phonemic inventory of the vowels of Cuirpthean is presented below.

Cuirpthean vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close	iː i		uː u
Mid	eː e	(ə)	oː o
Open			aː a

The schwa [ə] occurs as a reduction of vowels in unstressed syllables. Typically these vowels are orthographically neutralised as <a> or <e>, though there are exceptions to this, such as the verbal ending -im. The reduced vowel may contextually occur as [ɨ] in some western dialects.

The short vowel /a/ has front and back allophones [æ ɑ]. The front vowel occurs before a slender consonant, as well as after a slender consonant when not followed by a broad coronal consonant. Elsewhere the back allophone occurs. Note however that the long vowel /aː/ always has a back pronunciation [ɑː] or [ɔː], except when between two slender coronal consonants or between a slender coronal onset and a slender dorsal coda, in which case it is [æː]: leáigh "he/she/it melted" [ʎæːʝ]. Long [ɑː] is often rounded to [ɔː] in northwestern dialects: cráibh [kɾɔ̃ːv], but is unrounded in the standard language.

Short vowels have distinct allophones in closed syllables. When deletion of coda [ɾ] causes an underlying closed syllable to become phonetically open, the closed vowels are maintained. The allophones are lower and laxer than the cardinal vowels: mise "me" [ˈmĩʃə] but dios "right" [d͡ʒɪs]; focal "word" [ˈfo͡ɑ̯kəl] but poblach "public" [ˈpʰɔbləx]. Lax /a/ is often back [ɑ] but as often central [ä] and is often transcribed simply as [a] in laxing position as a result.

Before fortis consonants in closed syllables short vowels undergo tensing and lengthening. Additionally, the central vowels /e o/ merge with the high vowels [i u] as [iː uː] respectively: teinn "soldier" [t͡ʃʰĩːɲ]; foll "he/she learns" [fuːɫ]. In some instances vowels can dipthongise: oill "all" [uːʎ ~ ɔɪ̯ʎ]. This is particularly common with the vowel /a/ which becomes [aʊ̯] before a broad consonant and [aɪ̯] before a slender consonant: call "church" [kʰɯ̯͡aʊ̯ɫ]; baillte "towns" [ˈbɔ̯͡aɪ̯ʎt͡ʃə]. Diphthongisation is widespread but not universal.

Despite the simplicity of the vowel system when viewed from a purely phonemic perspective, Cuirpthean phonology is complicated by a system of assimilation which occurs in stressed syllables, open syllables and syllables containing a long vowel (in other words, all syllables except unstressed, short, closed syllables, or open syllables with a schwa). This assimilation manifests as the insertion of allophonic vowels with a smooth glide between sequences. These inserted vowels are noticeably shorter than the nucleic vowel. The changes which occur depend on the nature of the surrounding consonants.

Consonants can be divided into six groups based on the effect they have on vowels. The primary division is between labial, coronal and dorsal consonants, and the secondary division is between broad and slender consonants. A full discussion of the vowel system is beyond the scope of this article, but in the most simplistic terms labial consonants induce the insertion of a rounded vowel while dorsal consonants induce the insertion of an unrounded vowel, and broad consonants induce back vowels while slender consonants induce front vowels. Coronal consonants do not generally cause any vowel to be inserted.

The specific changes which occur in a given environment are dependent on the nucleic vowel. For illustrative purposes, the following table shows the changes which affect the cardinal vowels /a i u/ in some archetypical positions.

			Coda consonant
			Broad			Slender
			p	t	k	p	t	k
Onset consonant	Broad	p	pɔ̯͡ɑ͜ɒ̯p pɔ̯͡ɪ͜u̯p pʊp	pɔ̯͡ɑt pɔ̯͡ɪt pʊt	pɔ̯͡ɑ͜ɑ̯k pɔ̯͡ɪ͜ɑ̯k pʊ͡ɑ̯k	pɔ̯͡æ͜œ̯p pɔ̯͡ɪ͜ʉ̯p pʊ͡ʉ̯p	pɔ̯͡æt͡ʃ pɔ̯͡ɪt͡ʃ pʊ͡ʉ̯t͡ʃ	pɔ̯͡æ͜æ̯k pɔ̯͡ɪ͜æ̯k pʊ͡æ̯k
		t	tɑ͡ɒ̯p tɪ͡u̯p tʊp	tɑt tɪt tʊt	tɑ͡ɑ̯k tɪ͡ɑ̯k tʊ͡ɑ̯k	tæ͡œ̯p tɪ͡ʏ̯p tʊ͡ʉ̯k	tæt͡ʃ tɪt͡ʃ tʊ͡ʉ̯t͡ʃ	tæ͡æ̯k tɪ͡æ̯k tʊ͡æ̯k
		k	kɯ̯͡ɑ͜ɒ̯p kɯ̯͡ɪ͜u̯p kɯ̯͡ʊp	kɯ̯͡ɑt kɯ̯͡ɪt kɯ̯͡ʊt	kɯ̯͡ɑ͜ɑ̯k kɯ̯͡ɪ͜ɑ̯k kɯ̯͡ʊ͜ɑ̯k	kɯ̯͡æ͜œ̯p kɯ̯͡ɪ͜ʏ̯p kɯ̯͡ʊ͜ʉ̯p	kɯ̯͡æt͡ʃ kɯ̯͡ɪt͡ʃ kɯ̯͡ʊ͜ʉ̯t͡ʃ	kɯ̯͡æ͜æ̯k kɯ̯͡ɪ͜æ̯k kɯ̯͡ʊ͜æ̯k
	Slender	p	pjæ͡ɒ̯p pɪ͡u̯p pjʊp	pjɑt pɪt pjʊt	pjæ͡ɑ̯k pɪ͡ɑ̯k pjʊ͡ɑ̯k	pjæ͡œ̯p pɪ͡ʏ̯p pjʊ͡ʉ̯p	pjæt͡ʃ pɪt͡ʃ pjʊ͡ʉ̯t͡ʃ	pjæ͡æ̯k pɪ͡æ̯k pjʊ͡æ̯k
		t	t͡ʃæ͡ɒ̯p t͡ʃɪ͡u̯p t͡ʃʊp	t͡ʃæ̯͡ɑt t͡ʃɪt t͡ʃʊt	t͡ʃæ͡ɑ̯k t͡ʃɪ͡ɑ̯k t͡ʃʊ͡ɑ̯k	t͡ʃæ͡œ̯p t͡ʃɪ͡ʏ̯p t͡ʃʊ͡ʉ̯p	t͡ʃæt͡ʃ t͡ʃɪt͡ʃ t͡ʃʊt͡ʃ	t͡ʃæ͡æ̯k t͡ʃɪ͡æ̯k t͡ʃʊ͡æ̯k
		k	kæ͡ɒ̯p kæ̯͡ɪ͜u̯p kæ̯͡ʊp	kæ̯͡ɑt kæ̯͡ɪt kæ̯͡ʊt	kæ͡ɑ̯k kæ̯͡ɪ͜ɑ̯k kæ̯͡ʊ͜ɑ̯k	kæ͡œ̯p kæ̯͡ɪ͜ʏ̯p kæ̯͡ʊ͜ʉ̯p	kæt͡ʃ kæ̯͡ɪt͡ʃ kæ̯͡ʊt͡ʃ	kæ͡æ̯k kæ̯͡ɪ͜æ̯k kæ̯͡ʊ͜æ̯k

Vowel insertion occurs mainly in dialects in the northwest and southeast to break up many consonant clusters, particularly (as in Maíreidh) after a sonorant. Typically, an inserted vowel is phonemically identical to the preceding vowel, though always short and lax. With regards to the orthography, epenthetic vowels do not alter the usual pronunciation of vowels in closed syllables: pri oillebh céamnabh "every step of the way" [pʰɾi ˈoʎəv ˈkʰẽːmɛ̃nəv], ainm "name" [ˈɛ̃nɛ̃m].

Nasalisation occurs as a non-predictable quality of vowels in some words, but has a minimal functional load. Vowels in proximity to nasal consonants are nasalised, but this also affects vowels in proximity to historical /w̃/ which has since been lost and this is unpredictable: talla "land" [ˈtʰɑ̃ːɫə] from talam; coille "council" [ˈkʰõːʎə] from comairle and so on. Nasalisation is contrastive in distinguishing the lenition of /m/ as [v] from other occurrences of [v], but rarely contrastive otherwise: céa bhóras "who bores" [ˈkʰeːə ˈvoːɾəs] but céa mhóras "who feeds" [ˈkʰeːə ˈvõːɾəs].

Stress

Stress in Cuirpthean overwhelmingly falls on the first syllable of a root. This frequently equates to the first syllable of a word, but inflectional and derivational prefixes do not cause the stress to shift, thus resulting in stress on a later syllable: basic abairt "to say" is [ˈɑ͡ɒ̯bət͡ʃ] but nubhabairt "reiterate" with the prefix nubh- is [nˠuːˈwɑ͡ɒ̯bət͡ʃ]. This fixed stress can cause syncope when a word is inflected: doras "door" → doirse "doors"; árach "beginning" → árcha "beginnings". Syncope is not always predictable, and there is sometimes variation between speakers with use of syncope, for example aireacha or archa are both possible as an inflection of aireach "careful".

In a number of words, a long vowel in the second syllable causes stress to shift away from a short, open initial syllable: aibhín "stream" [ɛ͡œ̯ˈvĩːn], lorán "florin" [ɫoˈɾɑ̃ːn]. This does not occur when the final syllable is open: deachá "tenth" [ˈd͡ʒe͡ɑ̯xɯ̯͡ɑː]. There are also unpredictable instances of second syllables being stressed: indé "today" [əɲˈd͡ʒeː], dabhaille "homeward" [dəˈvɔ̯͡æːʎə]. These words are often phrases which have been reanalysed as single words; in this instance indé derives from the now-obsolete in dé "the day", but the normal word for "day" in modern Cuirpthean is lá. Lastly, some loanwords have totally unpredictable stress: Frigideár "Frigidarum" [fɾi͡æ̯gæ̯͡iˈd͡ʒɑː].

Slender and broad sounds

Old Maíreidh possessed a consistent distinction between so-called "broad" (velarised) and "slender" (palatalised) sounds. This system has been reduced to a significant extent in Cuirpthean, but it is still present and is important in understanding the language's orthography and vowel system. Furthermore, even for consonants which otherwise do not possess the distinction, mutation may cause distinctly broad or slender sounds to manifest; for example, /k/ does not have broad and slender variants, but it lenites to /x/ when broad and /ç/ when slender, even though the value of /k/ proper is unchanged. As for vowels, cf. the variant plurals of "river": aibhne [ˈɛ͡œ̯vnə] but abhna [ˈɑ͡ɒ̯vnə].

A broad consonant can only be preceded or followed by the written vowels <a o u> while a slender consonant can only be preceded or followed by <e i>. This rule is followed whenever possible, even in compounds: lí "beauty" + blách "flower" → líobhlách "darling (term of endearment)" not *líbhlách. Rarely, following this rule is impossible: follteach "university" has a broad and slender sound together as a result of compounding and the spelling rule cannot be followed. In these cases original spelling is maintained.

The pairs of sounds with distinct pronunciations in the modern language are as follows:

Basic sound	Slender		Broad
	Value	Example	Value	Example
/p/	[p]	pobal "people" [ˈpʰobəl]	[pj], [p] (before /i/)	piur "sister" [pʰjʊə̯]
/b/	[b]	baille "town" [ˈbɔ̯͡æːʎə]	[bj], [b] (before /i/)	ben "woman" [bjɛ̃n]
/f/	[f]	foll "blood" [fuːɫ]	[fj], [f] (before /i/)	fer "man" [fjɛə̯]
/v/	[v]	bhá "he was" [vɔ̯͡ɑː]	[vj], [v] (before /i/)	búibhe "victories" [ˈbu͡ːʉ̯vjə]
/m/	[m]	magh "field" [mɔ̯͡ɑ̃ː]	[mj], [m] (before /i/)	meón "middle" [mjõːn]
/t/	[t]	talla "land" [ˈtʰɑ̃ːɫə]	[t͡ʃ]	teinn "soldier" [t͡ʃʰĩːɲ]
/d/	[d]	doras "door" [ˈdorəs]	[d͡ʒ]	déad "tooth" [d͡ʒeːd]
/s/	[s]	souill "eye" [suːʎ]	[ʃ]	sé "six" [ʃeː]
/N/	[nˠ]	tonn "wave" [tʰũːnˠ]	[ɲ]	neart "power" [ɲɛ̃ə̯t]
/L/	[ɫ]	lá "day" [ɫɑː]	[ʎ]	lí "stone; beauty" [ʎiː]
/x/	[x]	in chall "the church" [əŋˈxaʊ̯ɫ]	[ç]	in chlé "the left" [ə̃ˈçʎeː]
/ɣ/	[ɣ]	ghas "is" [ɣɯ̯͡ɑs]	[ʝ], [j]	gráigheach "citizen" [ˈgɾæːʝəx, -jəx]

As the table shows the distinction is maintained for most dental consonants, velar fricatives, and labial sounds, though palatalisation within the latter group has yielded to clusters with [j].

Although other sounds do not experience a phonetic shift when broad or slender, as this is still often important in understanding the effect on vowels, many scholars choose to consistently transcribe for example aice [ˈɛ͡æ̯kə] and aca [ˈɑ͡ɑ̯kə], the present and past stems of "see", as /ˈakʲə/ and /ˈakˠə/ respectively so as to avoid having to posit more vowel phonemes for the language.

Alternation between broad and slender consonants is involved in some inflectional processes, such as the formation of first declension feminine oblique nouns: ágh "side (direct case)" [ɑː] → áigh "side (oblique case)" [æːʝ]; call "church (dir.)" [kʰaʊ̯ɫ] → cill "church (obl.)" [kʰiːʎ]; foll "blood (dir.)" [fuːɫ] → foill "blood (obl.)" [fɔɪ̯ʎ]. Some nouns experience slenderisation in the plural: doras "door" [ˈdoɾəs] → doirse "doors" [ˈdɔə̯ʃə]; magh "field" → [mɔ̯͡ɑː] maighe "fields" [ˈmɔ̯͡æʝə]. Many verbs also alternate between broad and slender: aicí "he sees" [ˈɛ͡æ̯kæ̯͡iː] → aca "he saw" [ˈɑ͡ɑ̯kə]; rafhall "I saw" [ɾaːʊ̯ɫ] → rafhaill "he saw" [ɾaːɪ̯ʎ]. As one can see this frequently causes spelling changes.

Note that when a fortis consonant is subject to lenition, there is no phonetic distinction between slender and broad, but the underlying pronunciation is shown by the orthography: lí "stone" [ʎiː] → da lí "your stone" [dəˈliː]. Other consonants maintain a distinction where possible: da ghúch "your voice" [dəˈɣu͡ːɯ̯x] but da ghéall "your jaw" [dəˈʝeːɫ].

The pronunciations of the fortis consonants varies between dialects. Often they are written simply as /Nˠ Nʲ Lˠ Lʲ/ to avoid specifying any particular pronunciation over another. The traditional distinction, as with other slender/broad pairs is velarisation v. palatalisation but the manifestation of this today is variable. The standard values are velarised [nˠ ɫ] and palatal [ɲ ʎ]. However, some speakers in the west use palatalised coronal sounds [nʲ lʲ] rather than true palatals. For yet other speakers, the palatalised sounds have merged with the lenis sounds and the velarised sounds are distinguished by tenseness, giving /Nˠ Nʲ Lˠ Lʲ/ → [nː n lː l]. Some speakers merge the fortis sounds with one another, distinguishing them from lenis sounds by their place of articulation: fortis sounds are alveolar or postalveolar while lenis sounds are dental.

Mutations

Cuirpthean has retained the Old Maíreidh mutation system largely intact, with three mutations: lenition (transcribed L), eclipsis (also called nasalisation, transcribed N) and H-prosthesis (also called aspiration, transcribed H). Each mutation occurs in specific morphophonological environments. For example, nouns and adjectives may have cases which are pronounced identically except that they cause a different mutation on the following word. Compare the following:

• In corp^N gcórach [əŋˈkʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯p ˈgɯ̯͡õːɾəx] "The foreign person"
• In^L chorp^L chórach [əŋˈxɯ̯͡ɔə̯p ˈxɯ̯͡õːɾəx] "Of the foreign person"
• Na^H cáide^H h-arda [nəˈkɯ̯͡æːd͡ʒə hɑːdə] "The tall forests"
• Na^N gcáidebh ard [nəˈgɯ̯͡æːd͡ʒəv ɑːd] "Of the tall forests"

Superscript letters show the mutation a given form causes on the next word. This is the only means by which in corp gcórach in the nominative-direct case is distinguished from in chorp chórach in the genitive-oblique case. The full set of mutations is given below. Note that H-prosthesis only occurs before words starting with a vowel, and does nothing otherwise.

Basic sound	Broad mutations		Slender mutations		H-prosthesis
	Lenition	Eclipsis	Lenition	Eclipsis
/p/	[f]	[b]	[fj]	[bj]	No change
/t/	[x]	[d]	[ç]	[d͡ʒ]
/k/	[x]	[g]	[ç]	[g]
/b/	[v]	[m(b)]	[vj]	[m(b)j]
/d/	[ɣ]	[n(d)]	[ʝ]	[ɲ(d͡ʒ)]
/g/	[ɣ]	[ŋ(g)]	[ʝ]	[ɲ(d͡ʒ)]
/m/	[ṽ]	[m]	[ṽj]	[mj]
/N/	[n]	[Nˠ]	[n]	[Nʲ]
/L/	[l]	[Lˠ]	[l]	[Lʲ]
/f/	Silent	[v]	[j]	[vj]
/s/	[h]	[z]	[hj]	[ʒ]
/a/	[a]	[na]	N/A		[ha]

Two types of mutation are observed in Cuirpthean. Phrasal mutation occurs only on the next word within a given phrase (such as a noun phrase); after the final word in said phrase, mutation cannot occur on any following word as it belongs to a different phrase. For example, when a noun precedes a verb, the noun does not cause mutation to the verb: in^L rí^H ích in^N bhfléagh^L "the king eats the meal"; here rí causes a phrasal H-prosthesis but since ích is not within the same phrase this mutation does not occur (*h-ích). However the eclipsis mutation does occur to fléagh as in bhfléagh is a single phrase. The exception to this is that a noun can cause mutation to a following preposition: in fer^N n-ón scáighe^L "the man in the mirror".

A much rarer mutation is the jumping mutation. This is believed to have arisen as a result of syntactic changes occurring to the language without any changes to the mutations which occur. A jumping mutation causes mutations to apply out of the usual order: they may affect a word which does not immediately follow, or even a word which precedes. The primary situtation in which this mutation occurs is when an adjective precedes its head noun rather than follows. The mutation of the definite article applies to the noun while the mutation of the noun applies to the adjective. For example: in^N thapach dtúch^L "the educated society"; here the eclipsis of the article applies to the noun túch while the lenition of that applies to tapach. A small number of jumping mutations trace back to Old Maíreidh; for example, the possessive a "his, her, its, their" causes mutation to a following numeral, with the exception of dá "two" which is ignored: a^L dá chos "his two legs".

Orthography

Cuirpthean orthography is based on the traditional Maíreidh orthography and thus contains many quirks making a concise description difficult. Digraphs and trigraphs are common due to the rule of coél pra coél as léan pra léan "slender with slender and broad with broad": the letters <a o u> are broad vowels and the letters <e i> are slender vowels. The only exceptions to this rule are compounds where following the orthographic rule is otherwise impossible, such as follteach [ˈfuːɫt͡ʃəx] "university", where the cluster [ɫt͡ʃ] cannot be written in accordance to the rule. Additionally, digraphs of a consonant plus <h> are common as a means of showing lenition, though one may alternatively encounter the overdot used in more traditional spelling styles (eg. ġaḃa or ghabha "we are").

All mutations are indicated orthographically. Mutations before a vowel are separated with a dash: a fer "her husband" but a h-ach "her horse". Otherwise, the initial consonant of the mutated word is altered. Generally, lenition is shown by inserting a <h>: <b> becomes <bh>, <t> becomes <th> and so on. Lenition of the fortis consonants, however, is not indicated: a ghúch "his voice" but a lí "his stone". Therefore, in writing, only context can tell whether one of these sounds is unlenited or lenited. Eclipsis of plosives is shown by prefixing the new sound to the old sound: <p> becomes <bp>, <g> becomes <ng> and so on. Eclipsed <f> is written as <bhf> as in Maíreidh. Eclipsed <s> is rarely written as <zs> and this spelling is accepted in the standard but usually there is no orthographic distinction made.

The possible ways of writing given consonant sounds follow. Compared to vowels, consonants are quite simple and their writing predictable:

Consonants

Letter(s)		Pronunciation	Examples
b	broad	[b]	bó [boː] "cow", bran [bɾɑ̃n] "raven", scúba [ˈskɯ̯͡uːbə] "brushes"
	slender	[b] before [i]	bí [biː] "there is", birim [ˈbiɾəm] "I carry"
		[b] word-finally	róib [ro͡ːø̯b] "dress (oblique)"
		[bj]	ben [bjɛ̃n] "woman", béall [bjeːɫ] "mouth"
bh	broad	[v ~ w]	bhó [voː ~ woː] "cow (lenited)", bhá [vɔ̯͡ɑː ~ wɑː] "was", clubhain [ˈkʰluwən ~ ˈkʰluvən] "meadow"
	slender	[v] before [i]	aibhín [æ͡œ̯ˈvĩːn] "stream", bhime [ˈvĩ͡ʉ̯mjə] "we were (subjunctive)"
		[v] word-finally	sibh [ʃɪ͡ʏ̯v] "you (plural)", loébh [ɫe͡ːø̯v] "days (obl.)"
		[vj]	bhearn [vjɛ̃ə̯n ~ vjɑ̃ːn] "gap (lenited)", Ílbhe [ˈiːlvjə] "Vaellenia", gaibhim [ˈgɯ̯͡æ͜œ̯vjəm] "I hold"
	See vowel chart for obh, ubh
bhf	broad	[v ~ w] word-initially	bhfár [vɔ̯ɑː ~ wɑː] "better (eclipsed)"
		[v]	chobhfainn [xəˈvɔ̯͡ãɪ̯ɲ] "unhappy"
	slender	[v] before [i]	núibhfiosa [nˠũ͡ːʉ̯ˈvisə] "remember"
		[vj]	bhfeolla [ˈvjoːɫə] "violin (ecl.)"
bp	broad	[b]	bpoblach [ˈbɔbləx] "public (ecl.)"
	slender	[b] before [i]	bpíos [biːs ] "piece (ecl.)"
		[bj]	bpiur [bjʊə̯] "sister (ecl.)"
c	[k]		cása [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ɑːsə] "reason", colltur [ˈkʰɯ̯͡uːɫtə] "culture", céam [kʰæ̯͡ẽ͜ːɒ̯m] "step", cí [kʰiː] "what", focal [ˈfo͡ɑ̯kəl] "word"
ch	broad	[x]	char [xɯ̯͡ɑː] "across", chos [xɯ̯͡ɔs] "foot (len.)", grách [gɾɑ͡ːɑ̯x] "normal"
	slender	[ç]	chéam [çẽ͡ːɒ̯m] "step (len.)", chist [ˈçɪʃt] "question (len.)", maich [mɔ̯͡æ̃ç] "good"
d	broad	[d]	dá [dɑː] "two", drom [dɾɔ̃m] "ridge"
	slender	[d͡ʒ]	déide [ˈd͡ʒeːd͡ʒə] "boy", indé [əɲˈd͡ʒeː] "today"
dh	broad	silent in forms of one preposition	chodha [ˈxɯ̯͡oə] "not... her", chodhad [ˈxɯ̯͡oəd] "not... you"
		[ɣ]	dhubh [ɣɯ̯͡uː] "black (len.)", radhúa [ɾəˈɣɯ̯͡uːə] "he ate"
	slender	[ʝ]	dhios [ʝɪs] "right", dhéad [ʝeːd] "tooth (len.)"
dt	broad	[d]	chodtapach [xəˈdɑ͡ɒ̯pəx] "unintelligent"
	slender	[d͡ʒ]	dtíos [d͡ʒiːs] "north (ecl.)"
f	broad	[f]	fás "to grow" [fɔ̯͡ɑːs], fúam [ˈfuːəm] "sound"
	slender	[f] before [i]	fiche [ˈfiçə] "twenty"
		[f] word-finally	scairf [skɯ̯͡æə̯f] "scarf (obl.)"
		[fj]	feolla [ˈfjoːɫə] "violin", fer [fjɛə̯] "man"
fh	silent		mé fhén [mjẽː ẽːn] "myself", d'fhios [dɪs] "your message"
g	[g]		galla [ˈgɯ̯͡ɑːɫə] "to persuade", guilleag [ˈgɯ̯͡iːʎəg] "Cuirpthean language", géall [geːɫ] "jaw", grín [gɾĩːn] "to do", coga [ˈkʰɯ̯͡o͜ɑ̯gə] "war"
gc	[g]		gcoél [gɯ̯͡eːl] "thin (ecl.)"
gh	broad	silent before a consonant	raghlas [ˈɾɑːɫəs] "he persuaded", aghnabh [ˈɑːnəv] "next to the (plural)"
		[ɣ]	ágha [ˈɑ͡ːɑ̯ɣə] "sides", trághann [ˈtʰɾɑ͡ːɑ̯ɣɯ̯͡ɑ̃ːnˠ] "coasts"
	slender	[j] required in some loanwords	ghionga [ˈjʊ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə] "lad"
		[ʝ]	lúigh [ɫuːʝ] "calf", lígheach [ˈʎiːʝəx] "beautiful"
	See vowel chart for agh, agha, aigh(e) and igh(e)
h	[h]		hacaín [ˈhɑ͡ɑ̯kɯ̯͡ĩːn] "to hack", a h-oichte [əˈhɔ͡æ̯çt͡ʃə] "her breasts"
l	broad	[ɫ] when word-initial and unlenited	lá [ɫɑː] "day", lubhra [ˈɫuːɾə] "to say"
		[ɫ] after [x] or [ɣ]	chlubhain [ˈxɫuwən] "meadow (len.)", ghlann [ɣɫãʊ̯nˠ] "valley (len.)"
		[l]	lá [lɑː] "day (len.)", la [lə] "with", pobal [ˈpʰobəl] "people"
	slender	[ʎ] when word-initial and unlenited	lí [ʎiː] "beauty", léan [ʎẽːn] "broad"
		[ʎ] after [ç] or [ʝ]	chlé [çʎeː] "left", ghleinnighe [ʝʎẽːɲĩː] "yokel"
		[l]	lí [liː] "beauty (len.)", lim [lɪm] "with me", speil [ʃpɛl] "sickle (obl.)"
ll	broad	[ɫ]	sollas [ˈsoːɫəs] "light", Eallsabh [ˈjaʊ̯ɫsəv] "River Elsouf"
	slender	[ʎ]	soillse [ˈsɔɪ̯ʎʃə] "lights", mille [ˈmĩːʎə] "thousand"
m	broad	[m]	magh [mɔ̯͡ɑ̃ː] "field", muinnter [ˈmu̯͡ĩːɲt͡ʃə] "nation", fúmann [ˈfũːmɔ̯͡ɑ̃ːnˠ] "sound"
	slender	[m] before [i]	miosa [ˈmĩsə] "to measure", fúimín [ˈfũ͡ːʉ̯mĩːn] "whisper"
		[m] word-finally	im [ɪ̃m] "butter", creidim [ˈkʰɾed͡ʒəm] "I see"
		[mj]	meón [mjõːn] "middle", coimeach [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ẽ͜ø̯mjəx] "when"
mb	broad	[m(b)]	mbaille [ˈm(b)ɔ̯͡æːʎə] "towns (ecl.)", mbratach [ˈm(b)ɾɑtəx] "flag (ecl.)"
	slender	[m(b)] before [i]	cho mbí [xəˈm(b)iː] "there is not", mbía [ˈm(b)iːə] "living things (ecl.)"
		[m(b)j]	cho mbéad [xəˈm(b)jeːd] "there are not", mbeolla [ˈm(b)joːɫə] "mouths (ecl.)"
mh	broad	[ṽ ~ w̃]	mhaich [vɔ̯͡æ̃ç ~ wɔ̯͡æ̃ç] "good (len.)", lámhór [ˈɫɑ͡ːɒ̯võːə̯ ~ ˈɫɑ͡ːɒ̯wõːə̯] "parliament"
	slender	[ṽ] before [i]	mhise [ˈvĩʃə] "me (emphatic)", mhille [ˈvĩːʎə] "thousand (len.)"
		[ṽj]	mheónach [ˈvjõːnəx] "central", mheán [vjɑ̃ːn] "desire (len.)"
	silent in forms of one preposition		umhnabh [ˈũːnəv] "around the (pl.)", imhe [ˈĩːə] "around him"
n	broad	[nˠ] when word-initial and unlenited	nú [nˠũː] "new", naíghe [ˈnˠĩːʝə] "child"
		[n]	nú [nũː] "new (len.)", nám [nɑ̃͡ːɒ̯m] "than me", meón [mjõːn] "middle"
	slender	silent in one word	báins [bɔ̯͡æ̃ːʃ] "we were (subjunctive)"
		[ɲ] when word-initial and unlenited	neart [ɲɛ̃ə̯t ~ ɲæ̯͡ɑ̃ːt] "power", ní [ɲĩː] "is not"
		[ɲ] before [t͡ʃ] or [d͡ʒ]	indé [əɲˈd͡ʒeː] "today", in teinn [əɲˈt͡ʃʰĩːɲ] "the soldier"
		[n]	neart [nɛ̃ə̯t ~ næ̯͡ɑ̃ːt] "power (len.)", nine [ˈnĩnə] "we (emph.)", daíne [ˈdĩːnə] "people"
nd	broad	[nˠ(d)]	ndoras [ˈnˠ(d)oɾəs] "door (ecl.)", ndubh [nˠ(d)uː] "black (ecl.)"
	slender	[ɲ(d͡ʒ)]	ndéad [ɲ(d͡ʒ)eːd] "tooth (ecl.)", ndios [ɲ(d͡ʒ)ɪs] "right (ecl.)"
ng	broad	[ŋ(g)] word-initially	ngúch [ŋ(g)ɯ̯͡u͜ːɑ̯x] "voice (ecl.)", ngrá [ŋ(g)ɾɑː] "peer (ecl.)"
		[nˠ] before a consonant when not a mutation of /g/	teangda [ˈt͡ʃʰãʊ̯nˠdə] "tongues"
		[ŋg]	teanga [ˈt͡ʃɛ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə] "tongue", chongrách [xəŋˈgɾɑ͡ːɑ̯x] "abnormal"
	slender	[ɲ(d͡ʒ)] word-initially	ngéall [ɲ(d͡ʒ)e:ɫ] "jaw (ecl.)", ngleinne [ˈɲd͡ʒʎeːɲə] "valleys (ecl.)"
		[ɲ] before a consonant when not a mutation of /g/	teingde [ˈt͡ʃʰĩːɲd͡ʒə] "soldiers" (superseded spelling)
		[ŋg]	aingeast [ˈɛ̃͡æ̯ŋgəst] "cowardice"
nn	broad	[nˠ]	cann [kʰãʊ̯nˠ] "head", tonn [tʰũːnˠ] "wave"
	slender	silent before a sibilant	suinnseach [ˈsĩːʃəx] "bright"
		[ɲ]	fainn [fɔ̯͡ãɪ̯ɲ] "happy", seinne [ˈʃẽːɲə] "to sing"
p	broad	[p]	port [pʰɔə̯t] "port", pobal [ˈpʰobəl] "people", corp [kʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯p] "person"
	slender	[p] before [i]	píos [pʰiːs] "piece", pían [ˈpʰiːən] "wound"
		[p] word-finally	maip [mɔ̯͡æ̃͜œ̯p] "paper (obl.)"
		[pj]	péana [ˈpʰjẽːne] "to punish", peachra [ˈpʰjɛ͡ɑ̯xɾə] "sisters"
ph	broad	[f]	phort [fɔə̯t] "port (len.)", phobal [ˈfobəl] "people (len.)"
	slender	[f] before [i]	phíos [fiːs] "piece (len.)", phían [ˈfiːən] "wound (len.)"
		[fj]	phéan [fjẽːn] "pain (len.)", phiur [fjʊə̯] "sister (len.)"
r	[r] when word-initial and unlenited		rú [ruː] "dark red", rí [riː] "king"
	[ə̯] or silent in the syllable coda		derg [d͡ʒɛə̯g] "light red", lár [ɫɑː] "bottom"
	[ɾ]		rú [ɾuː] "dark red (len.)", priom [pʰɾɪ̃͡u̯m] "alongside us"
rr	[r]		tearra [ˈt͡ʃʰɑ̃ːrə] "army", arra [ˈɑːrə] "for her", corr [kʰuːr] "point"
s	broad	[z] when eclipsed	sollas [ˈzoːɫəs] "light (ecl.)"
		[s]	saighead [ˈsæʝəd] "arrow", souill [suːʎ] "eye", scách [skɯ̯͡ɑ͜ːɑ̯x] "reflection, shadow"
	slender	[ʒ] when eclipsed	séall [ʒeːɫ] "story (ecl.)"
		[ʃ]	sé [ʃeː] "six", sibh [ʃɪ͡ʏ̯v] "you (pl.)", sní [ʃnĩː] "we"
sh	broad	[h]	shaighead [ˈhæʝəd] "arrow (len.)"
	slender	[hj]	sheon [hjɔ̃n] "here, now"
sp	broad	[sp]	spáit [spɔ̯͡æːt͡ʃ] "space", aspra [ˈɑspɾə] "difficulty"
	slender	[ʃp]	speal [ʃpɛl] "scythe", taispéne [ˈtʰæʃpẽːnə] "to show"
st	broad	[st]	stán [stɑ̃ːn] "tin", aingeast [ˈɛ̃͡æ̯ŋgəst] "cowardice"
	slender	[ʃt]	steát [ʃtɑːt] "authority", cist [kæ̯͡ɪʃt] "question"
t	broad	[t]	tabhairt [ˈtʰɑ͡ɒ̯vət͡ʃ] "to give", tú [tʰuː] "you (singular)", trá [tʰɾɑː] "coast"
	slender	[t͡ʃ]	téar [t͡ʃʰeːə̯] "west", tíos [t͡ʃʰiːs] "north", trí [t͡ʃʰɾiː] "three"
th	broad	silent in one word	áthar [ɑː] "father"
		[x]	thrá [xɾɑː] "coast (len.)", síothalla [ˈʃi͡ːɑ̯xɯ̯͡ɑ̃ːɫə] "overseas territory"
	slender	silent after a consonant	cuirptheach [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯pjəx] "Cuirpthean"
		[ç]	thíos [çiːs] "north (len.)", áither [ˈæːçə] "fathers"
ts	broad	[t]	in tsádra [ənˈtʰɑːdɾə] "the downpour"
	slender	[t͡ʃ]	in tsíosacht [əɲˈt͡ʃʰiːsəxt] "the otherworld"
zs	broad	[z]	zsollas [ˈzoːɫəs] "light (ecl.)"
	slender	[ʒ]	zséall [ʒeːɫ] "story (ecl.)"

Certain spellings in the above table require additional explanation. The following set of graphemes represent lenitions, though they may occur in non-initial position: bh ch dh fh gh mh ph sh th. Word initial fortis sounds and their lenitions as lenis sounds are not distinguished from one another and the correct pronunciation must be deduced from context. The following graphemes represent eclipses: bhf bp dt gc mb nd ng zs. When mb nd ng represent the eclipsis of b d g respectively many speakers pronounce them as simple nasal consonants with no plosive sounds, but otherwise they always represent consonant clusters. The use of zs is tolerated but not generally used except where context is not sufficient; otherwise, s is used and thus the eclipsis is not distinguished. Finally, ts is a special mutation of s which occurs after some forms of the definite article.

The letter h occurs alone in native Cuirpthean words only as a result of H-prosthesis before vowel-initial words, and is always written with a dash. However, it also occurs in loanwords. Loanwords are generally adapted to Cuirpthean spelling, but some proper nouns resist this and may retain their original spelling, therein using letters which do not otherwise occur: Vescovi [vɔ̯͡ɛsˈkɯ̯͡o͜ːø̯viː].

Vowels are far more complicated due to the broad/slender spelling rule, although in some words this rule is not strictly followed as the relevant contrast has been lost (although Cuirpthean is arguably stricter in adhering to this rule than Maíreidh). This means that many digraphs and trigraphs are in use, as well as graphemes which incorporate consonant letters. Certain rules always apply:

• Vowels with an acute accent (gúchfhúmann agútacha) are always pronounced: á é í ó ú
• Vowels next to agútacha are used to adhere to the broad/slender rule and do not generally specify a particular phoneme, with the main exception of vowels indicating a schwa as in the spelling ía: snía "to drip" [ˈʃnĩːə]
• The letter i after another vowel is usually for spelling reasons and not pronounced with the exception of ui before a fortis consonant: coideas "support" [ˈkʰɯ̯͡o͜ø̯d͡ʒəs] but guilleag "Cuirpthean language" [ˈgɯ̯͡iːʎəg]
• Except for i as described above, before a fortis consonant the last written vowel usually determines the phoneme: dionn "out of us" [d͡ʒũːnˠ]
• Various graphemes have multiple pronunciations depending on the surrounding consonants, particularly before fortis consonants

Simple vowels

Letter		Pronunciation	Examples
a	stressed	[ɑː] before fortis consonants in an open syllable	canna [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ɑ̃ːnˠə] "heads", talla [ˈtʰɑ̃ːɫə] "country"
		[aʊ̯] before fortis consonants in a closed syllable	cann [kʰɯ̯͡ãʊ̯nˠ] "head", tall [tʰaʊ̯ɫ] "that"
		[ɑː] before /ɾ/ in a closed syllable	sar [sɑː] "forwards", char [xɯ̯͡ɑː] "across"
		[ɑ] in open syllables	agam [ˈɑ͡ɑ̯gəm] "beside me", bratach [ˈbɾɑtəx] "flag"
		[ɑ ~ a] in closed syllables	map [mɔ̯͡ɑ̃͜ɒ̯p ~ mɔ̯͡ã͜ʊ̯p] "paper", lasc [ɫɑsk ~ ɫask] "whip"
	unstressed	[ɑː] before fortis consonants	comann [ˈkʰɯ̯͡õmɔ̯͡ɑ̃ːnˠ] "council", síothalla [ˈʃi͡ːɑ̯xɯ̯͡ɑ̃ːɫə] "overseas territory"
		[ə]	poblach [ˈpʰɔbləx] "public", óchtar [ˈo͡ːɑ̯xtə] "top", fiosa [ˈfisə] "to know"
e	stressed	[e] in open syllables	rene [ˈrẽnə] "straits"
		[ɛ] in closed syllables	fer [fjɛə̯] "man"
	unstressed	[ə]	coirpe [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯pjə] "people", aice [ˈɛ͡æ̯kə] "to see, beside her"
i	stressed	[iː] before fortis consonants	mille [ˈmĩːʎə] "thousand", innde [ˈĩːɲd͡ʒə] "in them"
		[i] in open syllables	mise [ˈmĩʃə] "me (emph.)", di [d͡ʒi] "of"
		[ɪ] in closed syllables	rin [rɪ̃n] "strait", im [ɪ̃m] "butter"
		[iː ~ eː] in forms of one preposition	imhe [ˈĩːə ~ ˈẽːə] "around him", imhibh [ĩːv ~ ẽːv] "around you (pl.)"
	unstressed	[iː] before fortis consonants	naíghinn [ˈnˠĩːʝĩːɲ] "children", iminn [ˈĩmĩːɲ] "butters"
		[ə]	creidim [ˈkʰɾed͡ʒəm] "I think", íchim [ˈiːçəm] "I eat"
o	stressed	[oː] before fortis consonants in an open syllable	tonna [ˈtʰõːnˠə] "waves", follan [ˈfoːɫən] "to learn"
		[uː] before fortis consonants in a closed syllable	nonn [nũːnˠ] "to there", foll [fuːɫ] "he learns"
		[o] in an open syllable	coga [ˈkʰɯ̯͡o͜ɑ̯gə] "war", tonach [ˈtʰonəx] "to wonder"
		[ɔ] in a closed syllable	bog [bɔ͡ɑ̯g] "bog", ocht [ɔ͡ɑ̯xt] "eight"
	unstressed	[u] in one word	áo [ˈɑːu] "grandson"
		[uː] before fortis consonants	áonn [ˈɑːũːnˠ] "grandsons", choronn [ˈxɯ̯͡oɾũːnˠ] "across us"
		[ə]	chobhfainn [xəˈvɔ̯͡ãɪ̯ɲ] "unhappy"
u	stressed	[uː] before a fortis consonant	ullar [ˈuːɫə] "floor"
		[u] in an open syllable	tusa [ˈtʰusə] "you (sing. emph.)", druma [ˈdɾũmə] "ridges"
		[ʊ] in a closed syllable	sun [sʊ̃n] "to here", ucht [ʊ͡ɑ̯xt] "chest"

Vowels with the acute accent are always pronounced as long vowels, and are always pronounced when part of di- and trigraphs.

Acute vowels

Letter(s)	Pronunciation	Examples
á	[ɑː]	lá [ɫɑː] "day", grá [gɾɑː] "peer"
ái	[æː]	cáid [kʰɯ̯͡æːd͡ʒ] "forest", áir [æːə̯] "air, sky"
aí	[iː]	daíne [ˈdĩːnə] "people", naíghe [ˈnˠĩːʝə] "child"
aío		caíoga [ˈkʰɯ̯͡i͜ːɑ̯gə] "fifty", maíobh [mɔ̯͡ĩ͜ːu̯v] "to boast, to threaten"
áo	[ɑːu] in one word	áo [ɑːu] "grandson"
	/aːo/	áonn [ɑːũːnˠ] "grandsons"
é	[eː]	indé [əɲˈd͡ʒeː] "today", fér [fjeːə̯] "grass"
éi		déide [ˈd͡ʒeːd͡ʒə] "boy", éis [eːʃ] "fishes"
oé		coél [kʰɯ̯͡eːl] "thin", soér [seːə̯] "free, variable"
éa	[eːə] word-finally	céa [ˈkʰæ̯͡eːə] "who", déa [ˈd͡ʒeːə] "god"
	[eː]	béall [bjeːɫ] "mouth", éas [eːs] "fish"
eá	[ɑː]	leán [ʎɑ̃ːn] "rock", caisleán [ˈkʰɯ̯͡æʃlɑ̃ːn] "castle"
eái	[æː]	leáigh [ʎæːʝ] "it melted"
eó	[oː]	meón [mjõːn] "middle"
éoa	[eːə]	béoabh [ˈbjeːəv] "living beings (obl.)"
í	[iː]	lí [ʎiː] "beauty", tígheabha [ˈt͡ʃʰi͡ːu̯və] "we go"
ío		píos [pʰiːs] "piece", síosacht [ˈʃiːsəxt] "spirit world"
ía	[iːə]	bía [ˈbiːə] "living things", remhía [ɾəˈvĩːə] "he measured"
iú	[uː]	ciún [kʰæ̯͡ũːn] "quiet", siúlas [ˈʃuːləs] "he walks"
iúi		ciúinse [ˈkʰæ̯͡ũ͜ːʉ̯nʃə] "quiets, obediences", Tiúibhe [ˈt͡ʃʰu͜ːʉ̯vjə] "Lhedwin (obl.)"
ó	[oː]	ór [oːə̯] "gold", nó [nˠõː] "nine"
ói		dóid [doːd͡ʒ] "they choose", óim [õ͡ːø̯m] "from me"
óa	[oːə]	bóa [ˈboːə] "bend", dóa [ˈdoːə] "to choose"
ú	[uː]	fúmann [ˈfũːmɔ̯͡ɑ̃ːnˠ] "noises", gúch [gɯ̯͡u͜ːɑ̯x] "voice"
úi		fúimín [ˈfũ͡ːʉ̯mĩːn] "whisper", lúigh [ɫuːʝ] "calf"
úa	[uːə]	fúam [ˈfuːəm] "sound", gúa [ˈgɯ̯͡uːə] "voices"

Digraphs and trigraphs are particularly complex, with numerous positional pronunciations. Moreover, some spellings may have variant pronunciations depending on dialects, such as ao.

Di- and trigraphs

Letter(s)		Pronunciation	Examples
ai	stressed	[aɪ̯] before fortis consonants in a closed syllable	baillte [ˈbɔ̯͡aɪ̯ʎt͡ʃə] "towns", fainn [fɔ̯͡ãɪ̯ɲ] "happy"
		[æː] before fortis consonants in an open syllable or /ɾ/ in a closed syllable	baille [ˈbɔ̯͡æːʎə] "town", dabhaille [dəˈvɔ̯͡æːʎə] "homeward"
		[ɛ] word-initially	aicí [ˈɛ͡æ̯kɯ̯͡iː] "he sees", aingeast [ˈɛ̃͡æ̯ŋgəst] "cowardice"
		[æ]	caisleán [ˈkʰɯ̯͡æʃlɑ̃ːn] "castle", maich [mɔ̯͡æ̃ç] "good"
	unstressed	[æː] before fortis consonants	clubhainnte [ˈkʰluwæ̃ːɲt͡ʃə] "meadows", parlamainnte [ˈpʰɑːləmɔ̯͡æ̃ːɲt͡ʃə] "parliaments"
		[ə]	archais [ˈɑ͡ːɑ̯xəʃ] "because", tabhairt [ˈtʰɑ͡ɒ̯vət͡ʃ] "to give"
ao	[ɛ] in closed syllables		gaold [gɯ̯͡ɛld] "cash", faol [fɔ̯͡ɛl] "is (dependent)"
	[iː] or [eː]		saoracht [ˈsiːɾəxt ~ ˈseːɾəxt] "kingdom", nao [nˠiː ~ nˠeː] "than her"
aoi	[iː] or [eː]		órsaoigh [ˈoːə̯siːʝ ~ ˈoːə̯seːʝ] "golden", naoide [ˈnˠiːd͡ʒə ~ ˈnˠeːd͡ʒə] "than them"
ea	stressed	[aʊ̯] before fortis consonants in a closed syllable	teangda [ˈt͡ʃʰãʊ̯nˠdə] "tongues", Eallsabh [ˈjaʊ̯ɫsəv] "Elsouf river"
		[ɑː] before fortis consonants in open syllables	tearra [ˈt͡ʃʰɑ̃ːrə] "army"
		[ɛ] or [ɑː] before /ɾ/ in a closed syllable	bearn [bjɛ̃ə̯n ~ bjɑ̃ːn] "gap", bearbha [ˈbjɛə̯və ~ ˈbjɑ͡ːɒ̯və] "we carry"
		[e] in an open syllable	spealán [ˈʃpelɑːn] "sickle", bearaid [ˈbjeɾəd͡ʒ] "they carry"
		[ɛ] in a closed syllable	teach [t͡ʃʰɛ͡ɑ̯x] "house", seach [ʃɛ͡ɑ̯x] "beyond"
	unstressed	[ɑː] before fortis consonants	cisteann [ˈkʰæ̯͡ɪʃtɑ̃ːnˠ] "questions", imeann [ˈi͡ʏ̯mjɑ̃ːnˠ] "butters (nonstandard)"
		[ə]	aireach [ˈɛɾəx] "careful", inem [ˈinəm] "in me"
ei	stressed	[iː] before fortis consonants in a closed syllable	teinn [t͡ʃʰĩːɲ] "soldier", seinn [ʃĩːɲ] "he sings"
		[eː] before fortis consonants in an open syllable	gleinne [ˈglẽːɲə] "valleys", seinnim [ˈʃẽːɲəm] "I sing"
		[e] in open syllables	creidim [ˈkʰɾed͡ʒəm] "I think"
		[ɛ] in closed syllables	eich [ɛç] "horses", creidbhe [ˈkʰɾɛd͡ʒvjə] "we think"
	unstressed	[ə]	soéreis [ˈseːɾəʃ] "freedoms", aingeist [ˈɛ͡æ̯ŋgəʃt] "cowardice (obl.)"
eo	[oː] before fortis consonants		feolla [ˈfjoːɫə] "violin", beolla [ˈbjoːɫə] "mouths"
	[ɔ]		seon [ʃɔn] "this", sheon [hjɔn] "here"
ia	[ɑ]		siasca [ˈʃɑskə] "sixty"
io	stressed	[uː] before fortis consonants in a closed syllable	reshionn [ɾəˈhjũːnˠ] "he sang"
		[iː] before fortis consonants in an open syllable	giolla [ˈgæ̯͡iːɫə] "conscript"
		[ʊ] before [ŋ]	ghionga [ˈjʊ̃͡ɑ̯ŋgə] "boy"
		[i] in open syllables	diosa [ˈd͡ʒisə] "rights", fiosa [ˈfisə] "to know"
		[ɪ] in closed syllables	dios [d͡ʒɪs] "right", fios [fɪs] "knowledge"
	unstressed	[iː ~ uː] before a fortis consonant	airionn [ˈɛɾĩːnˠ ~ ˈɛɾũːnˠ] "for us"
		[ɪ ~ ə]	creidiod [ˈkʰɾed͡ʒɪd ~ ˈkʰɾed͡ʒəd] "they think", airiom [ˈɛɾɪm ~ ˈɛɾəm] "for me"
iu	[ʊ]		piur [pʰjʊə̯] "sister"
oi	[ɔɪ̯] before fortis consonants in a closed syllable		oill [ɔɪ̯ʎ] "all", oinn [ɔ̃ɪ̯ɲ] "from us"
	[oː] before fortis consonants in an open syllable		coille [ˈkʰɯ̯͡oːʎə] "council", foillim [ˈfoːʎəm] "I learn"
	[e] before [m f v] in open syllables		coimeach [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ẽ͜ø̯mjəx] "when"
	[ɛ] before [m f v] in closed syllables		oibh [ɛ͡œ̯v] "from you (pl.)"
	[o] in open syllables		oise [ˈoʃə] "water", coide [ˈkʰɯ̯͡od͡ʒə] "to support"
	[ɔ] in closed syllables		doirse [ˈdɔə̯ʃə] "doors", coid [kʰɯ̯͡ɔd͡ʒ] "he supports (dep.)"
oui	[uː]		souill [suːʎ] "eye"
ui	[iː] before fortis consonants		suinnseach [ˈsĩːʃəx] "bright", guilleag [ˈgɯ̯͡iːʎəg] "Cuirpthean language"
	[ɔ] before /ɾ/ in closed syllables		Cuirpeath [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯pjəx] "Cuirpthe", cuirpe [ˈkʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯pjə] "Cuirptheans"
	[ɪ]		suin [sɪn] "meaning", duibh [dɪ͡ʏ̯v] "black (feminine dative)"

Some vowel spellings incorporate the consonant digraphs bh and gh but have distinct pronunciations. The spellings below may include additional vowels to fit with the spelling rule without any effect on the pronunciation, cf. liubhra and lubhra. The spellings aighe and ighe appear to have an extra syllable, but this is often not pronounced and in the former is often used to permit the writing of diphthongs in loanwords such as Haigheada.

Spellings with bh and gh

Letter(s)	Pronunciation	Examples
obh	[oː]	cobh [kʰɯ̯͡õː] "as", diobh [d͡ʒoː] "out of you (pl.)"
ubh	[ʊv] word finally in certain endings	dubh [dʊv] "towards you (pl.)", bubh [bʊv] "cows (obl.)"
	[uː] word-finally	dubh [duː] "black"
	[uː] before a consonant	liubhra [ˈʎuːɾə] "books", lubhra [ˈɫuːɾə] "to say"
	[ɔː] in a few words	liubhar [ʎɔːə̯] "book", tubhal [tʰɔːl] "table"
	[u(w)]	bhubha [ˈvuwə] "we were", nubhabairt [nˠũˈwɑ͡ɒ̯bət͡ʃ] "reiterate"
agh	[ɑː] before a consonant	raghlas [ˈɾɑːɫəs] "he persuaded", aghnabh [ˈɑ̃ːnəv] "at the (pl.)"
	[ɑː] in monosyllables	magh [mɔ̯͡ɑ̃ː] "field"
	[ə(g)] word-finally	fléagh [ˈfleːə(g)] "meal", poblagh [ˈpʰɔblə(g)] "public (fem. dat.)"
agha	[ɑː]	raghailseam [ˈɾɑːlʃəm] "we persuaded", raghabhais [ˈɾɑ͡ːɒ̯vəʃ] "he held"
aigh(e)	[iʝə] word-finally in certain endings	meónaighe [ˈmjõːniʝə] "middle (fem. genitive)"
	[əʝ] word-finally in certain endings	áraigh [ˈɑːɾəʝ] "spring (obl.)", brataigh [ˈbɾɑtəʝ] "flag (obl.)"
	[iː] word-finally	súraighe [ˈsuːɾiː] "nobleman"
	[ai̯] in some words	Haigheada [ˈhaɪ̯də] "(a woman's name)"
	[ə] before a consonant	folltaighbh [ˈfuːɫtəv] "universities (obl.)"
	[æʝ]	saighead [ˈsæʝəd] "arrow", taighe [ˈtʰæʝə] "houses"
igh(e)	[iː]	folltigh [ˈfuːɫt͡ʃiː] "university (obl.)", gleinnighe [ˈglẽːɲĩː] "yokel"

Morphology

Cuirpthean retains many of the complexities of Old Maíreidh which have been lost in other languages, while other elements of the morphology have been simplified to a greater extent than in related languages. Cuirpthean retains continues to inflect verbs for person and number, unlike modern Maíreidh for example which usually distinguishes only the first person morphologically: Maíreidh ithim "I eat" but itheann tú/sé/sí "you eat/he/she eats"; Cuirpthean íchim "I eat", íche "you eat", ích "he/she eats". Verbs also distinguish indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods as well as past and present tenses. Nouns, meanwhile, distinguish singular, plural and rarely dual numbers, as well as direct and oblique case. Nouns have one of three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Adjectives agree with nouns in number (singular and plural), gender, and case (the oblique is divided into genitive and dative). The definite article further divides the direct case into nominative and accusative. As in other Thiaric languages, prepositions in Cuirpthean use suffixes, which are not always predictable, to mark pronominal objects.

Nouns

All nouns in Cuirpthean have either masculine, feminine or neuter gender; knowing the gender of a noun is key not only for adjective and article agreement but also for correctly inflecting a noun. Gender is predictable from the presence of certain suffixes or from semantic factors, but otherwise is arbitrary. Nouns inflect for singular and plural number, though a very small number of noun also have a dual: souill^N "eye", dá souill^L "two eyes", in thrí souille^H "the three eyes". In speech the dual tends to replace or be replaced by the plural: dá souille^H or in thrí souill^L. Nouns distinguish two cases: the direct which functions as a nominative and accusative and the oblique which functions as a genitive and dative. Some analyses add a third case, the vocative, identical to the direct but with a slenderised final consonant. The vocative always collocates with the particle a and so is not classed as a case herein.

Nouns have four main paradigms with a number of subclasses. All paradigms have slight differences between masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The most numerous declension is the first declension, into which many distinct Old Maíreidh nouns merged. Within this are subcategories for the following Old Maíreidh noun types: feminine i-stem, neuter i-stem and neuter u-stem. The distinctiveness of feminine i-stem nouns is being lost. The second declension continues Old Maíreidh velar-stem nouns and includes no neuter nouns, the third declension continues nt-stem and dental-stem nouns and seems to be merging with the first declension (masculine, feminine) and fourth declension (neuter), and the fourth declension continues n-stem nouns. Outside these paradigms are a few truly irregular nouns.

An important aspect of nominal inflection in Cuirpthean is the mutations caused by a given form; cases may be distinguished not by suffix but by mutation. As a result, all mutations are listed in the tables below, and where there is variation in mutations, that is also discussed.

Regular first declension masculine nouns decline identically, though the following points must be noted. Spelling changes may occur depending on whether the final consonant of a stem is broad or slender, but the pronunciation is not otherwise affected (this is true throughout the language). Thus, one writes géalla but cráibhe, both words being regular first declension masculine direct plural forms. When the word ends in a vowel, the direct plural has no ending: bóa "bend(s)", but historically vowel-final words may lengthen the final vowel: cogá "wars" ← Old Maíreidh cocada, however often they are treated like other vowel-final nouns: coga "war(s)".

A major point of dialectal variation in the first declension for masculine nouns is the mutation of the direct singular. Most frequently, and in the standard language, this form causes eclipsis. However, many speakers in the west instead have no mutation. This is somewhat important when considering a similar variation amongst feminine first declension nouns.

The declension of the regular first declension broad masculine noun géall "jaw" is as follows:

N1MB	Singular	Plural
Direct	géallN	géallaH
Oblique	géallL	géallabh

The declension of the slender noun cráibh "bone" follows; as mentioned above, the only difference is in how the inflections are spelt to conform with spelling rules:

N1MS	Singular	Plural
Direct	cráibhN	cráibheH
Oblique	cráibhL	cráibhebh

To exemplify a noun ending in a vowel coga "war" is given below. Since the historic form of this noun ends with a consonant it is one of the few nouns which can distinguish the direct plural with vowel lengthening, but most speakers have ceased to distinguish it from other vowel-final nouns:

N1MV	Singular	Plural
Direct	cogaN	cogáH, cogaH
Oblique	cogaL	cogabh

Ablaut is quite common in noun inflection, though to a far lesser extent than amongst verbs. The majority of ablauting nouns are first declension masculine nouns. Most common is ablaut in the plural, though some nouns also have ablaut in the oblique singular. In the latter instance the oblique plural always has the same ablaut, but in the former instance it may occur with or without it. The noun fer "man" is given below to exemplify the former type of ablaut:

N1MSAi	Singular	Plural
Direct	ferN	fireH
Oblique	ferL	ferebh, firebh

To exemplify the latter, the noun bran "raven" is given. This type of ablaut is uncommon and outside the written language is often being lost entirely. Therefore, the common spoken forms are also given:

N1MBAii	Singular	Plural
Direct	branN	bronaH, branaH
Oblique	bronL, branL	bronabh, branabh

Adjectives ending in -ach are declined slightly differently when used as nouns to when used as adjectives. Historically, these match to the first declension, and so form an additional subset of this paradigm. These decline more like feminine nouns (see below), but cause the mutations that are expected based on their gender; since most happen to be masculine, the declension of córach "foreigner" (note the syncope in the plural) is given now to illustrate this:

N1MG	Singular	Plural
Direct	córachN	córchaH
Oblique	córaighL	córchabh

First declension feminine nouns, excluding i-stem nouns, decline much like first declension masculine nouns but cause different mutations. There is an important morphological distinction, however, in that broad consonants at the end of a word are slenderised in the oblique singular, which otherwise has no ending: ágh → áigh. This is irrelevant when the final consonant is already slender or when the word ends with a vowel.

As with masculine nouns, feminine nouns in the first declension have dialectal variation in the mutation occurring after the direct singular. The most common, and again standard, mutation is lenition, and this is given in the tables below. However, some speakers instead use eclipsis, creating a near-merger with the masculine paradigm. Speakers who do not use eclipsis in the masculine will always use lenition in the feminine. In the direct plural, the standard is for no mutation to occur, but as with masculine nouns H-prosthesis is often heard.

The noun ágh "side", which ends with a broad consonant, is given below:

N1FB	Singular	Plural
Direct	ághL	ágha
Oblique	áighL	ághabh

The oblique singular is differentiated above by slenderisation of the final consonant; the declension of amaid "fool" which follows shows that this cannot occur when the consonant is already slender:

N1FS	Singular	Plural
Direct	amaidL	amaide
Oblique	amaidL	amaidebh

This also does not apply to nouns ending in a vowel, as coille "council" below illustrates:

N1FV	Singular	Plural
Direct	coilleL	coille
Oblique	coilleL	coillebh

Feminine i-stem nouns form a peculiar subset. The mutations they cause are identical to masculine nouns rather than feminine nouns. Slenderisation occurs not only in the oblique singular but also throughout the plural where possible. Finally the oblique singular is marked with a suffix identical to that of the direct plural; this last feature however is often lost in speech. The declension of foll "blood" is given below:

N1FBJ	Singular	Plural
Direct	follN	foilleH
Oblique	foilleL, foillL	foillebh

Slender nouns naturally experience no change in the slenderising environments, as shown by cáid "forest" below:

N1FSJ	Singular	Plural
Direct	cáidN	cáideH
Oblique	cáideL, cáidL	cáidebh

First declension neuter nouns have not been levelled quite as much as masculine or feminine nouns, with two additional subsets reflecting i-stem and u-stem neuter nouns.

The primary paradigm for first declension neuter nouns is almost identical to that of masculine nouns; the only difference is that the direct plural is either marked with zero suffix and H-mutation or by a suffix with lenition, both possibilities being distinct from the masculine. The declension of cann "head" exemplifies:

N1NB	Singular	Plural
Direct	cannN	cannaL, cannH
Oblique	cannL	cannabh

The same occurs with slender nouns such as fér "grass" below:

N1NS	Singular	Plural
Direct	férN	féreL, férH
Oblique	férL	férebh

Like feminine i-stem nouns, neuter i-stem nouns are characterised by an ending in the oblique singular, which once again is often dropped in speech. The direct plural always occurs with an ending and lenition here as well. The noun drom "ridge" below experiences ablaut, but the endings are regular:

N1NBJ	Singular	Plural
Direct	dromN	drumaL
Oblique	dromaH, dromL	dromabh, drumabh

Neuter u-stem nouns are similar to regular first declension neuter nouns, but in the standard language the direct plural does not cause any mutation. Some speakers use lenition by analogy to other nouns in the first declension. Moreover, the plural is characterised by slenderisation, as in doras "door" which follows:

N1NBU	Singular	Plural
Direct	dorasN	doirse
Oblique	dorasL	doirsebh

The first declension contains numerous irregular nouns. These irregularities may involve irregular inflectional forms and/or irregular mutations. The latter in particular is a very unstable irregularity and outside the most common nouns speakers tend to apply more predictable mutations.

An example of an irregular masculine noun is ach "horse" below. This word has an unusual ablaut pattern, and the direct plural eich traditionally causes lenition. However, demonstrating the instability of many irregular nouns, this is often replaced with H-prosthesis or regularised entirely to ocha:

N1MI	Singular	Plural
Direct	achN	eichL/H, ochaH
Oblique	ochL	achabh

A common irregularity in the first declension is the insertion of a consonant in the plural forms. Some nouns have a consonant change before this ending as well, but most often this change is regularised away, unless the change is from a lenis to fortis consonant (see below). An example of such a noun is baille "town" as shown here:

N1MI	Singular	Plural
Direct	bailleN	baillteH, bainnteH
Oblique	bailleL	bailltebh, bainntebh

Numerous nouns ending in -ch experience the loss of this sound in the plural. The vowel in the following inflection is lost after some vowels and retained in others; the oblique plural ending may occur without the vowel even when the direct plural retains it. The noun gúch "voice" is an example of this:

N1MI	Singular	Plural
Direct	gúchN	gúaH
Oblique	gúchL	gúabh, gúbh

The above irregular nouns are all masculine, but irregularities also exist for feminine and neuter nouns, with similar peculiarities. For example, the feminine i-stem noun clubhain "meadow" gains a consonant in the plural: clubhainnte while the neuter noun teach "house" experiences both vowel and consonant changes and has a distinct mutation pattern: taighe^L "houses".

The second declension contains no irregular nouns, nor any neuter nouns. It continues velar-stem nouns from Old Maíreidh. The velar part of the stem is not present in the singular; it may be written as a silent consonant, but this is not common. It surfaces in both plural forms. The only difference between masculine and feminine second declension nouns is that in the direct singular masculine nouns cause H-prosthesis while feminine nouns cause lenition.

The masculine noun rí "king", rarely written rígh, is given below:

N2M	Singular	Plural
Direct	ríH	rígheH
Oblique	ríL	ríghebh

The feminine noun cáchra "castle", rarely written cáchragh, is given below. Note that despite the apparently broad ending in the alternative spelling, when the velar element is pronounced it is always slender:

N2F	Singular	Plural
Direct	cáchraL	cáchraigheH
Oblique	cáchraL	cáchraighebh

The third declension continues Old Maíreidh nt-stem and dental-stem nouns. Masculine and feminine nouns are identical except for their mutations. In older Cuirpthean, whether the plural forms had a broad or slender consonant was unpredictable and lexically-conditioned, but today the tendency is for it to match the preceding stem. Neuter nouns however are morphologically distinct in this declension.

Masculine nouns are notable for having no mutations other than lenition in the oblique singular. The noun teinn (formerly spelt teing) follows to exemplify:

N3MS	Singular	Plural
Direct	teinn	teinnde
Oblique	teinnL	teinndebh

Note the above noun is slender. The following feminine noun, teanga "tongue", is broad and the endings reflect this. Final vowels in this declension are lost in the plural forms:

N3FB	Singular	Plural
Direct	teangaH	teangdaH
Oblique	teangaL	teangdabh

Third declension neuter nouns, aside from their mutations, are exceptional for various reasons. The oblique singular and for some speakers plural experience slenderisation. Neither plural form adds a consonant, and the paradigm looks rather like the first declension; however, there is increasing tendency to mark the direct plural with -ann or infrequently -inn which has spread from the fourth declension. The noun déad "tooth" is given below:

N3NB	Singular	Plural
Direct	déadN	déada, déadannL
Oblique	déidL	déadabh, déidebh

The fourth declension contains the descendants of Old Maíreidh n-stem nouns. Between genders, only the direct case has distinct mutations, while neuter nouns are morphologically distinct in the oblique singular.

The masculine noun talla "land" is given below. This is a broad noun, and so the direct plural uses the ending -ann:

N4MB	Singular	Plural
Direct	talla	tallannH
Oblique	tallannL	tallanabh

The feminine noun naíghe "child" meanwhile is slender, and so the direct plural ends in -inn. Note, however, that in the oblique singular only -ann is ever used. Also, some speakers lack mutation after the direct singular, thus merging masculine and feminine nouns in this declension:

N4FS	Singular	Plural
Direct	naígheL	naíghinnH
Oblique	naígheannL	naíghnebh

Fourth declension neuters nouns are distinguished by the abscence of -ann in the oblique singular as well as distinct mutations in the direct case. The noun céam "step" is given below:

N4FS	Singular	Plural
Direct	céamN	céamannL
Oblique	céamL	céamnabh

Some nouns are so irregular as to defy categorisation into any of the four cardinal declensional paradigms. Descendants of the few Old Maíreidh r-stem nouns are examples of such nouns. They have identical mutations, though they do not pattern with each other. One example, áthar "father" (which also has an irregular pronunciation) is given below:

NMI	Singular	Plural
Direct	áthar	áitherH
Oblique	áitherL	áithrebh

Some nouns are even more irregular. One example, which was irregular in Old Maíreidh, is bó "cow", which declines as follows; note the two variants for the oblique singular:

NFI	Singular	Plural
Direct	bóL	baíH
Oblique	bonN, bóH	bubh

After a noun, an adjective is mutated in accordance with the mutations listed above. When multiple adjectives follow a noun, they all experience the same mutation: corp dtapach gcaiseach "a clever and careful person". For the small number of adjectives which precede the noun, the mutation applies backwards: shean map "old paper". When no adjectives follow a noun, a following preposition may be mutated: in trá ndin tallann "the coast of the country".

Adjectives

Adjectives in Cuirpthean decline to agree with their head noun in number (singular and plural), gender (only in the singular; usually masculine-neuter and feminine, with the neuter distinguished in only a few irregular adjectives) and case. Unlike nouns, adjectives distinguish three cases, dividing the oblique case into a genitive and dative. Adjectives tend to pattern similarly to first declension nouns. There is a different declension which continues i-stem and yo-stem/ya-stem adjectives; this patterns more like first declension i-stem nouns. There is another paradigm for u-stem adjectives, as well as a number of irregular adjectives.

The very common adjective-forming suffix -(e)ach is considered to be first declension, but has some irregularities. The adjective meónach "middle" is declined in the following table to illustrate. Note that the variants of the masculine-neuter genitive and feminine dative are both acceptable:

	Masculine-Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Direct	meónach		meónacha
Genitive	meónagh, meónaigh	meónaighe	meónach
Dative	meónach	meónagh, meónaigh	meónachabh

More regular adjectives decline like first declension nouns, though with some exceptions. Since nouns do not distinguish the genitive case, this must be learnt as a solely adjectival property. Also, the masculine-neuter dative form always has an ending, and both the feminine and plural dative forms experience slenderisation. The regular adjective súr "noble" is given below:

	Masculine-Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Direct	súr		súra
Genitive	súr	súra	súr
Dative	súra	súir	súirebh

The so-called i-stem adjective declension (a slight misnomer as it also continues yo-stem adjectives) are distinguished by the use of an ending in the feminine direct as well as both genitive singular forms. The common i-stem adjective maich "good" is as follows:

	Masculine-Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Direct	maich	maiche
Genitive	maiche		maich
Dative	maiche	maich	maichebh

In most forms of u-stem adjectives it is the broadness or slenderness of the final consonant that determines case rather than the presence of endings. Those three forms which do have an ending can be pronounced either with a broad or slender consonant depending on the speaker. The common u-stem adjective dubh "black" follows to demonstrate:

	Masculine-Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Direct	dubh		dubha, duibhe
Genitive	duibh	dubha, duibhe	dubh
Dative	dubh	duibh	dubhabh, duibhebh

Some adjectives have a completely irregular declension, such as nú which follows now:

	Masculine-Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Direct	nú		naí
Genitive	nú	núa
Dative	nú		nobh

The distribution of forms amongst irregular adjectives vary; compare the above paradigm with that of bé "alive" below:

	Masculine-Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Direct	bé		bía
Genitive	bía		bé
Dative	bé	bía	béoabh

Adjectives also possess three additional inflected grades which are only used predicatively, not attributively. The comparative is formed with slenderisation or lenition and a suffix -e, which triggers a consonant change for -ach adjectives: grách "usual" → gráighe "more usual". Some adjectives experience ablaut in this grade: sean "old" → sine "older", tréan "strong" → tríne "stronger", lúch "fast" → laoiche "faster". Some adjectives did not traditionally cause slenderisation: arda "taller", but these have now largely been regularised: airde. After a vowel, the suffix used is -sa: nú "new" → núsa "newer". The adjective maich "good" has the totally irregular comparative grade fár "better", and likewise olch "bad" and miasa "worse". These forms are all indeclinable.

The regular superlative is formed by adding the broad ending -nn to the comparative adjective: gráigheann "most usual", sineann "oldest", tríneann "strongest", laoicheann "fastest", ardann or airdeann "tallest", núsann "newest". The completely irregular superlative of maich is deach "best" while that of olch is formed normally from the comparative: miasann "worst". Once again, all of these forms are indeclinable.

The final grade, the equative, is formed by adding the ending -ía after the comparative stem: gráighía "as usual", sinía "as old", trínía "as strong", laoichía "as fast", ardaía or airdía "as tall", núsaía "as new". There are no truly irregular equative adjectives: from the comparative fár "better" comes fáraía "as good" while from miasa "worse" comes miasaía "as bad". Once more, these are indeclinable.

These forms can be used predicatively in the following constructions:

• Complement of "to be"
  • Ghais in rí fár. [ɣɯ̯͡æʃ ə̃ˈriː fɔ̯͡ɑː] "The king is better."
  • Ghais in rí'n deach. [ɣɯ̯͡æʃ ə̃ˈriːn d͡ʒɛ͡ɑ̯x] "The king is the best."
  • Ghais in rí cófáraía. [ɣɯ̯͡æʃ ə̃ˈriː kʰɯ̯͡õːˈfɔ̯͡ɑːɾiːə] "The king is as good."
• Targeted comparison as a complement of "to be"
  • Ghais in rígheán fár nán rí. [ɣɯ̯͡æʃ ən ˈɾiːʝæ̯͡ɑ̃ːn fɔ̯͡ɑː nɑ̃ːn riː] "The queen is better than the king."
  • Ghais é deach dinebh ríghebh. [ɣɯ̯͡æʃ eː d͡ʒɛ͡ɑ̯x ˈd͡ʒĩnəv ˈriːʝəv] "He is the best of the kings."
  • Ghais in rí fáraía's in rígheán. [ɣɯ̯͡æʃ ə̃ˈriː ˈfɔ̯͡ɑːɾiːəs ən ˈɾiːʝæ̯͡ɑ̃ːn] "The king is as good as the queen."
• Definite nouns with an implied referent (usually with mhá "alone")
  • Mé daígheas a bhfár mhá. [mjẽː ˈdiːʝəs əˈvɔ̯͡ɑː vɔ̯͡ɑ̃ː] "I chose the better (one)."
  • Go búibhíé'n deach mhá. [gəˈbu͡ːʉ̯viːeːn d͡ʒɛ͡ɑ̯x vɔ̯͡ɑ̃ː] "May the best (man) win."
  • Bía go pósá mé'n bhfáraía's íse mhá. [ˈbiːə gəˈpʰoːsɑː mjẽːn ˈvɔ̯͡ɑːɾiːəs ˈiːʃə vɔ̯͡ɑ̃ː] "I only want to marry one as good as her."

Note that when used alone, the equative generally takes a prefix có- which carries no additional meaning. This prefix is less common when the equative meaning is indicated in other ways.

None of the above forms may be used attributively with a noun. Instead, the basic grade of an adjective is used with qualifying particles to express degree. The comparative particle is lín, the superlative is óch or och and the equative is cobh:

• In rí tapach [ə̃ˈriː ˈtʰɑ͡ɒ̯pəx] "The wise king"
• In rí lín^N dtapach [ə̃ˈriː lĩːn ˈdɑ͡ɒ̯pəx] "The wiser king"
• In rí h-óch tapach [ə̃ˈriː ho͡ːɑ̯x ˈtʰɑ͡ɒ̯pəx] "The wisest king"
• In rí cobh^H tapach (as) [ə̃ˈriː kʰɯ̯͡õː ˈtʰɑ͡ɒ̯pəx (əs)] "The as-good (as...) king"

There are some adjectives which do not decline to agree with their head at all. This set of adjectives includes numerals and demonstratives and precede (if they are placed before the noun) or follow (if after the noun) any other adjectives which may occur: ún mhaich chaillín mhá [ũːn vɔ̯͡æ̃ç ˈxɯ̯͡æːʎĩːn vɔ̯͡ɑ̃ː] "one good girl"; in dhéide maiche tall [ə̃ɲˈʝeːd͡ʒə ˈmɔ̯͡æ̃çə tʰaʊ̯ɫ] "those good boys".

Definite article

Cuirpthean has no indefinite article, but does have a definite article ("the"). Whereas nouns only mark direct and oblique case, and adjectives mark direct, genitive and dative, the definite article continues to distinguish four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive and dative, though the dative article only occurs suffixed to prepositions. The article also shows number and gender. There are only three distinct independent forms of the article: in, a and na; however, the various cases cause distinct mutations to occur. The full declension is given below:

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine-Neuter
Nominative	in, in t-1	aN	inL, in t-2	inL	naH
Accusative	inN		inN	naH
Genitive	inL, in t-2		naH	naN
Dative	-n, -n t-2			-nabh, -nebh

Two types of special mutations occur after certain forms of the definite article. After the masculine nominative singular (1) T-prosthesis occurs before a vowel-initial word: in t-ach "the horse". Like all pre-vowel mutations, this is attached to the word with a hyphen. In the nominative singular feminine and masculine and neuter singular genitive, as well as the dative singular (2), a special T-mutation occurs to s at the start of a word, becoming ts which is pronounced /t/: in tsouill "the eye". This does not apply to certain occurrences of s in clusters: in scoll "the school" not *in tscoll.

After a preposition the article occurs in its dative form as a suffix rather than as an independent word. Mutations never occur in this environment. For more information, see the relevant section on prepositions. After conjunctions which function like prepositions, but do not conjugate, the nominative case is used: fáraía's in t-ach "as good as the horse".

Verbs

There is something of a paradox in that the Cuirpthean verbal system is both where the simplifications that have affected the language are most apparent, but also where those conservatisms which distinguish Cuirpthean from its sibling languages are most easily observed. Compared with Old Maíreidh, there has been an overwhelming trend towards simplification in the Cuirpthean verbal system. The wide array of inflections on the Old Maíreidh verb have been collapsed, and in Cuirpthean verbs conjugate for only two tenses (present and past), three moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative) and only one voice (active). Besides these, verbs also have a verbal noun and a past/passive participle. The third person singular of regular continues to distinguish between an independent and dependent form (traditionally "absolute" and "conjunct" respectively), and the third person present tense of "to be" further retains relative forms.

Beyond the aforementioned synthetic verbal system however, Cuirpthean has shifted to more analytic methods for conveying elements such as the passive voice and non-progressive aspects. In the spoken language this switch to analytic language is more prominent than in literary Cuirpthean; for example, whereas one would write mé néada for "I am not", with "not be" expressed using a suppletive verb, in speech one is likely to hear the analytic constructions mé ní gham or mé cho gham.

Verbs in Cuirpthean fall into one of two conjugational paradigms with distinct endings. Most verbs of the first conjugation are regular (with the common exception of an unpredictable verbal noun form) while most verbs in the second conjugation are irregular with regards to the verb stem. Only the verb bóch "to be" is irregular both in stem and in endings, but being used in many analytic constructions, this is the most important verb in the language. The conjugational paradigms are referred both as first and second conjugation and as type-A and type-B conjugation, depending on the terminology. Each has slightly different patterns depending on whether the stem ends with a broad or slender consonant or vowel.

The present tense of verbs carries a progressive, habitual or gnomic meaning. It can also be used to express a future tense. In speech, it is most common to express the progressive aspect periphrastically with the structure bóch ag + verbal noun. The future tense is still often expressed with the plain present form, but using the phrase tígheach do + verbal noun is also widespread; see below.

In the first conjugation, the singular present indicative endings are basically identical throughout, with some minor spelling differences. In the plural, after a broad stem the first person is broad while the non-first person is slender; the inverse is true after a slender stem. The dependent third person form is marked with zero ending in contrast to the second conjugation. The subjunctive endings are characterised by the insertion of a long vowel before the person inflections, á after a broad consonant and é elsewhere. Person is not distinguished in the singular, while the first person plural ending is identical to the indicative and the non-first person plural ending is always broad.

The present tense conjugation given below is that of the following four first conjugation verbs: fiosa "to know", dóa "to choose", creide "to think", aice "to see". The present stem of aice is aicí- while for the other verbs it is the verbal noun without the final vowel:

		Indicative		Subjunctive
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		fiosam dóm creidim aicím	fiosbha dóbha creidbhe aicíbhe	fiosá dóé creidé aicíé	fiosábha dóéabha creidébhe aicíébhe
2nd person		fiosa dóa creide aicía	fiosaid dóid creidiod aicíod		fiosád dóéad creidéad aicíéad
3rd person	Independent	fiosas dóas creideas aicíos
	Dependent	fios dó creid aicí

The second conjugation is not significantly different in the present tense with regards to its personal endings. The most notable differences are that the dependent third person is marked here with an ending -í and the independent with a zero ending, opposite to the first conjugation, and that broad consonants experience slenderisation in the first and second person singular, as well as for the singular subjunctive. For both moods, vowel stems have a non-first person plural ending in -da. The dependent and independent third person are not contrasted after a vowel stem.

Second conjugation verbs frequently have unpredictable stems, though this is more common in the past tense. The following second conjugation verbs are used to illustrate: follan "to learn", galla "to persuade", íche "to eat", búibhín "to win". The stem of these verbs is respectively foll-, glá-, ích- and búibhi-. The short vowel in the final word is lengthened before the subjunctive endings.

		Indicative		Subjunctive
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		foillim glám íchim búibhim	follbha glábha íchbhe búibhiobha	foillé gláé íché búibhíé	follábha gláéabha íchébhe búibhíéabha
2nd person		foille glágha íche búibhighe	follaid gláda íchid búibhioda		follád gláéada íchéad búibhíéada
3rd person	Independent	foll glá ích búibhí
	Dependent	follaí glá íchí búibhí

The uses of the subjunctive are discussed in the section on syntax. In the third person singular there is a distinction between an independent and dependent form. The dependent form is used after a variety of particles such as negative ní and interrogative an: é ní h-íchí di naráidebh "he doesn't eat oranges", ana ndó í ca lúch? "will she choose it soon?". Compare these with the plain positive equivalents which use independent forms: é ích di naráidebh "he eats oranges", í na dhóas ca lúch "she will choose it soon". The particle no which occurs as na in the latter example is exceptional in not requiring the dependent form, and most speakers use the independent. The the section on pronouns for more information on this particle.

The present tense can function alone as a future tense, but an alternative construction is to use the present tense of the irregular verb tígheach "to go" with the preposition do and a verbal noun. The present tense of this verb is given below; not that the subjunctive forms use an irregular stem.

		Indicative		Subjunctive
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		téagham, téam	tígheabha, tiobha	tísé	tíosábha
2nd person		téagha, téa	tígheada, tíoda		tíosád
3rd person	Independent	téid
	Dependent	téad

The preceding example can thus be replaced with í na théid do dhóa ca lúch. This makes the possible interpretation of "she is choosing it quickly" impossible as the phrase is clearly future tense.

Using the present tense of bóch "to be" with the preposition ag and a verbal noun creates a distinct progressive present (ie. not habitual or gnomic). This verb is extremely irregular and the conjugation will be given later. An example of a present progresive phrase is gham mé a' grín in^N siosa "I am doing to work".

The past tense of verbs carries a progressive or preterite (depending on the verb) or past-habitual meaning. The progressive aspect can be indicated unambiguously with the same construction as in the present tense, but using the past forms of bóch instead of the present. The preterite can be shown with a separate construction, also used for a perfective aspect, involving bóch and the preposition seach.

The past tense of first conjugation verbs is very simple in comparison to the second conjugation. All indicative forms apart from the third person singular contain a common element s which traces to the s-past formations of Old Maíreidh, but in Cuirpthean this has been generalised to all first conjugation verbs. A consonant alternation occurs in the past tense wherein broad vocalic stems become slender and slender vocalic stems become broad. This change is often, though not always accompanied by an unpredictable change to the stem. Like second conjugation present tense verbs, first conjugation past tense verbs do not distinguish dependent and independent forms after a vocalic stem. In the indicative, the first and second person singular are not distinguished. Subjunctive forms are more distinct than in the singular.

The same verbs as those given in the present are used to exemplify the past tense conjugation. Note, however, that dóa and aice both have irregular stems, respectively daíghe- and aca-. These show the alternation previously described.

		Indicative		Subjunctive
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		fiosas daígheas creidis acais	fiossabh daígheasabh creidhseabh acasabh	fiosainn daígheinn creidinn acainn	fiosbhais daígheabhais creidbheis acabhais
2nd person			fiossad daígheasad creidhsead acasad		fiosdais daígheadais creidhdeas acadais
3rd person	Independent	fiosaí daíghe creidí aca
	Dependent	fios daíghe creid aca

Although some of the above forms are homophones of present tense forms in isolation, in context confusion is rarely an issue. Since Cuirpthean does not usually allow dropping pronouns, the similarity between (for example) both meanings of fiosa are not ambiguous, while the presence or absence of lenition on fios is usually enough to determine the correct tense.

The second conjugation past tense is significantly more complicated. Unlike in the first conjugation, there is not one consistent affix marking the past tense; verbs either have no distinct marker, or an unpredictable marker, primarily s or d. More distinct however is the past prefix, written as ra- or re- before a consonant and r- before a vowel (without the hyphen). This occurs before all independent past verbs and some past verbs preceded by a particle (such as the interrogative an, which combines with the prefix to give ar) and causes lenition by default. In some instances it disappears; in this instance, absent any other mutations, it causes eclipsis in its absence.

The past tense stem of a second conjugation is either identical to the present stem or totally unpredictable. The third person singular independent form ends in -ta or -te depending on the preceding stem, while the dependent form has a zero ending. However, the third person singular is frequently itself irregular; even where otherwise regular, it usually experiences slenderisation or broadening. The non-third person singular ending is -a or -e after a consonant cluster but zero ending otherwise. The non-first person plural indicative endings are undergoing a merging in speech, illustrated by the alternatives shown below. The older first person plural ending with m persists in the indicative here.

The model verbs used below are follan, íche and galla as in the first conjugation, as well as miosa "to measure". The past tense stems of these respectively are fall- (3s faill-), dhú-, ghails- (3s ghlas) and mhé- (3s mhí-). They are shown with the past prefix in the table below.

		Indicative		Subjunctive
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		rafhall radhú raghailse remhé	rafhallam radhúma raghailseam remhéama	rafhaillinn radhouinn raghaillinn remheinn	rafhallbhais radhúbhais raghailbheis remhéabhais
2nd person			rafhallaid, rafhallad radhúide, radhúda raghailsead, raghailsid remhéada, remhéide		rafhalldais radhúdais raghaildeas remhéadais
3rd person	Independent	rafhaillte radhúta raghlasta remhíte
	Dependent	·fhaill ·dhúa ·ghlas ·mhía

Perfect and pluperfect are formed with the construction bóch seach and a verbal noun, literally "be after doing". The present tense of bóch makes a present perfect "have done" while the past tense makes a past perfect "had done" and implies the completed action is relevant to the contemporaneous time frame: gham mé seach íche'n n-arán "I've eaten the bread (and therefore am not hungry yet)".

All verbs have two imperative forms, except for bóch which has four. These forms are second person singular and plural. In older speech the plural imperative was used for polite requests, but polite requests today tend to be formed with ag and the verbal noun: a' tabhairt airiom in shallann "please pass me the salt".

The singular imperative is always identical to the bare present stem of a verb, with any appropriate spelling changes to reflect final short vowels being pronounced as schwa. The plural imperative is marked with the suffix -(a)ich. Imperatives are very often preceded by the particle á and optionally but frequently lenited. This is not used before a vowel, and lenition never affects f-. The imperative forms of all hereto mentioned verbs are given below.

	Singular	Plural
fiosa	fios, á fios	fiosaich, á fiosaich
dóa	dó, á dhó	dóich, á dhóich
creide	creid, á chreid	creidich, á chreidich
aice	aicí	aicích
follan	foll, a foll	follaich, a follaich
galla	glá, á ghlá	gláich, á ghláich
íche	ích	íchich
búibhín	búibhe, á bhúibhe	búibhich, á bhúibhich
miosa	mios, á mhios	miosaich, á mhiosaich

The conjugation of the verb bóch "to be" is extremely irregular and contains dimensions of inflection which have been lost in other verbs. Its importance to the language makes it deserving of special attention. Cuirpthean has only on verb for "be" plus a defective, but related existential verb bía "there is". As a result, whereas for example Maíreidh contrasts tá mé luath "I am fast" with is mé ben "I am a woman", Cuirpthean uses the same verb for both: gham mé lúch and gham mé ben.

In the present tense, both the singular and plural third person forms of bóch have retained relative forms which are used without a relative pronoun in relative clauses: in chaillín ghas lígheach "the girl who is beautiful", cf. in chaillín céa ích in bhfléagh "the girl who is eating the meal". Note that except in less formal speech the indicative present tense of this verb is not negated in the usual way; instead, a suppletive negative verb is used. This is also shown below.

		Positive				Negative
		Indicative		Subjunctive		Indicative
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		gham	ghabha	bé	beim	néada	néadan
2nd person		ghá	ghaid		beid		néadad
3rd person	Independent	ghais				ní
	Dependent	faol
	Relative	ghas	ghad

The past tense lacks many of the complications of the present tense, with no relative forms and a regularly-formed negative. However, it is still completely irregular.

		Indicative		Subjunctive
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		bhasa	bhubha	bách	báins
2nd person			bhaid		báid
3rd person	Independent	bhá
	Dependent	bí

The imperative forms of bóch are also irregular. Exceptionally, the verb has retained third person imperative forms meaning "let be". These are in fact homophones of the existential verb forms, but due to collocating with the particle á this is never a source of ambiguity.

	Singular	Plural
Second person	bí, á bhí	bá, á bhá
Third person	bía, á bhía	béad, á bhéad

Non-second person imperatives of other verbs are expressed through two means. For third person imperatives, the third person imperatives are used with the preposition ag and a verbal noun: á bhía a' dóa co h-úiné "let him choose first". For first person imperatives and as an alternative for third person imperatives, the phrase no léige bóch ag is used: á nom^L léig bhóch aca aice "let me see it". After a singular imperative bóch is lenited while after a plural imperative there is no change.

The existential verb forms are singular bía and plural béad: bía fléagh aigen cann in thubhal "there is a meal on the table", béad cóg chorp isen tigh sheon "there are five people in this house". This verb has no other forms, including no past tense forms. The past tense is expressed with the construction bhá go shisé (singular) or bhá go shiosád (plural), meaning literally "it was that there stood...".

Pronouns

Cuirpthean retains two sets of personal pronouns, traditionally called absolute and emphatic forms. The absolute forms are unmarked and largely occur as enclitics whereas emphatic forms are syntactically free. Often, emphatic pronouns are also used to emphasise a contrast : tusa "you (in contrast to me)".

The two sets are as follows:

		Absolute		Emphatic
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		mé	sní	mese	snine
2nd person		tú	sibh	tusa	sise
3rd person	Masculine	é	éad	éasa	éise
	Feminine	í		íse
	Neuter	ad		ása

Absolute pronouns can only occur in proximity to a verb; as a result, mé aiceam é "I see him" is correct but *co aiceasa mé é is not a correct way to say "that I see him". In this instance, either the emphatic pronoun must be used (co aiceasa mé éasa) or an object clitic must be used (ca n-aiceasa mé). The former is more common in speech, while object clitics are largely confined to writing today.

Object clitics are always bound to a preverbal particle; when none otherwise occurs the particle no is used. Clitics can cause mutations on a following verb. The set of object clitics before the verb breach "carry" and aice "see" follow. The third person singular present indicative is used to demonstrate:

		Singular	Plural
1st person		nubh bheir nubh h-aiceas	nann beir nann aiceas
2nd person		nad bheir nad h-aiceas	nobh beir nobh aiceas
3rd person	Masculine	no mbeir no n-aiceas	nas mbeir nas n-aiceas
	Feminine	nas mbeir nas n-aiceas
	Neuter	no bheir no h-aiceas

Prepositions

Cuirpthean prepositions are somewhat more complicated than those of Old Maíreidh. Most dialects of Cuirpthean have inherited two forms of many prepositions, depending on the phonological environment in which the preposition occurs. For example, the preposition ca "to, until" has the form co which is used before most vowels and certain consonants. Cuirpthean has also inherited the so-called conjugating preposition system of that language, meaning that prepositions take sometimes unpredictable suffixes to indicate pronominal arguments. Although some irregularities in the Old Maíreidh system have been levelled out in modern Cuirpthean, some exceptional forms still occur. Presented below are the personal forms of the prepositions pra/pri "towards" (OM fri) and í "in":

		pra/pri		í
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st person		priam [ˈpriəm]	prinn [priːɲ]	ineam [ˈinəm]	inionn [ˈinuːnˠ]
2nd person		prid [prɪd͡ʒ]	priabh [priəv]	iniod [ˈinəd]	ineabh [ˈinəv]
3rd person	Masculine/Neuter	pris [prɪʃ]	pría [ˈpriːə]	in [ɪn]	inde [ˈɪnd͡ʒə]
	Feminine	pría [ˈpriːə]		ine [ˈinə]

Of particular note here is the third person masculine/neuter (no distinction is made between the two genders) and plural forms which are largely unpredictable. Other forms are mostly predictable, though some vowel alternations are not.

Distinct emphatic forms have been lost, with the preposition plus free pronoun used instead with optional mutation: pra mese/mhese "to me".

Many prepositions also have distinct combining forms before the definite article, although the form of the definite article itself never changes in this position. Pra has no distinct form: pran. However, í takes the form ise-, giving the forms isen and isneabh.

Although Old Maíreidh distinguished dative arguments from accusative arguments in the third person and when combined with the definite article, this distinction has been lost in Cuirpthean where the dative forms are generalised. These are used even where an accusative meaning is intended, and where the noun takes the direct case: gham mé isen mora "I am in the sea" (dative/oblique) but mé tíghem isen mor "I go into the sea" (accusative/direct).

Prepositions cause a variety of mutations, including the "jumping mutation" which is unique to Cuirpthean. Pra causes lenition, for example, while í causes eclipsis. These mutations occur on the head noun, ie. the last word in a prepositional phrase, rather than to the word immediately following. If a word preceding the head would cause mutation, the jumping mutation takes priority: sní tíobha pran^L túigheach^{N L}thráigh "we will go to the northern coast." In this case, we have lenited thráigh rather than nasalised *dtráigh for "coast".

Syntax

Syntactically, influence from non-Thiaric languages has caused Cuirpthean to partially move towards a subject-verb-object word order rather than the traditional verb-subject-object order characteristic of other Thiaric languages: Maíreidh itheann an fear an t-im but Cuirpthean in fer ích a n-im "the man eats the butter". However, in many environments the original order is maintained: mé creidim go íchí'n fer a n-im "I think that the man eats the butter".

The unmarked word order of Cuirpthean is SVO, that is, subject-verb-object. However, there are exceptions. The Old Maíreidh order of VSO returns in two main instances: with the verb buich "be" which is always placed first in the clause, as well as in subordinate clauses such as content clauses:

• In tallabh móras in dtúach. [ɪnˈtaɫəv ˈmoːɾəs ɪnˈduːəx] "The land feeds the people."
• Ghas in tallabh mór. [ɣas ɪnˈtaɫəv moːɐ̯] "The country is large" lit. "is - the - country - large"
• Mé fiosam, ca n-iched na mbaí a fér. [mjeː fisəm kəˈniçəd͡ʒ nəˈmiː əˈfjeːɐ̯] "I know that cows eat grass" lit. "I - know - that - eats - the - cows - the - grass"

Peripheral arguments can be placed before or after the direct object, with no change in meaning. Placing such an argument elsewhere however is marked: mé móras in bhflé bpran bhó or mé móras pran bhó 'n bhflé "I fed the meal to the cow." Adverbs of time, however, almost always go at the end of a clause: mé ra h-iochd in bhflé indí "I ate the meal today."

Subordinate clauses are always marked by some subordinating particle. Declarative content clauses generally begin with ca, while interrogative and relative clauses begin with the appropriate pronoun. The clause following has a default VSO word order, though any subordinating pronoun is placed before the verb:

• Mé creidem, ca ghas a dtall failt. [mjeː ˈkɾed͡ʒəm kə ɣas aˈdau̯ɫ falt͡ʃ] "I don't think that's right."
• Mé fiosam, cí rabhaird tú coga. [mjeː ˈfisəm kiː ˈɾavəɐ̯d͡ʒ tuː ˈkogə] "I know what you said to her." (OVS)
• Mé fiosam, céa ghas in tall. [mjeː ˈfisəm ˈkeːə ɣas ɪnˈtau̯ɫ] "I know who that guy is." (SVO)
• Mé aiceas éad, co a tardas tú in liobhar. [mjeː ˈakəs ˈeːəd ˈkoə ˈtaɐ̯dəs tuː ɪɲˈʎivəɐ̯] "I saw him/her to whom you gave the book." (VSO with an indirect object initial)

Questions can be formed in various ways. Perhaps the most common is to simply use the structure of a declarative sentence with a rising intonation. However, two alternative methods exist in the spoken language. To form formal questions, it is most common to simply use a subjunctive verb; in the absence of any other particles, this verb takes the prefix ga- or ge-. The other possibility, and the only form permissible in the written language, is to use a sentence-initial particle an which forces the clause to take a VSO syntax. Before the ra- or re- prefix occurring on second conjugation past tense, the prefix is lost, merging with an to give ar. However, the verb is still lenited: ar bheird "did you bring?". The following examples all mean "did you see the church?":

• Tú aiceas in gceill? [tuː ˈakəs ɪŋˈgɛʎ]
• Tú gachdasa 'n gceill? [tuː ˈgaxdəsəŋ gɛʎ] (spoken language only, formal)
• An aiceas tú 'n gceill? [əˈnakəs tuːŋ gɛʎ]

Interrogative words can be placed in the unmarked position or fronted for emphasis; if a question word is fronted causing the object to precede the subject, the verb is required to be placed at the end of the clause, though it can precede adverbs: tú bere cí tall? or cí tall tú bere? or cí tú bere tall? "what are you carrying there?"

Vocabulary

Numerals

Cuirpthean	Old Maíreidh	Translation
ún	óen	one
dá	dau	two
trí	trí	three
céir	cethair	four
cóig	cóic	five
sé	sé	six
siacht	seacht	seven
acht	ocht	eight
nú	nói	nine
deich	deich	ten
ún deag	óen deac	eleven
dá dheag	dau deac	twelve
trí deag	trí deac	thirteen etc
fiche	fiche	twenty
tríacha	trícho	thirty
ceórcha	cethorcho	forty
caíoga	coíca	fifty
seasca	sesca	sixty
siachmó	sechtmoga	seventy
achmó	ochtmoga	eighty
nócha	nócha	ninety
céad	cét	hundred
dá chéad	dau cét	two hundred
trí céad	trí cét	three hundred etc
mille	míle	thousand