Cuirpthean language

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Cuirpthean language
Guilleag
Pronunciation[ˈgɯ̯͡iːʎəg]
Native to Cuirpthe
 Newrey
RegionCuirpthe
EthnicityCuirptheans
Native speakers
ca. 34,245,000 (2018)
Cataisuran
Fiorentine alphabet
Official status
Official language in
Cuirpthe
Regulated byComann na Guilleig (Cuirpthean Language Society)
Language codes
ISO 639-1cu
ISO 639-2cui
ISO 639-3cui

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

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 () t d () t͡ʃ d͡ʒ (t͡ʃʰ) k g ()
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].

Generally the first syllable of a word is stressed, which 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". When prefixes are added to a root, the stress does not usually shift: fiosa "know" has stress on the initial syllable but prefixed núibhfiosa "remember" has stress on the second syllable. There are, moreover, words which have irregular stress. For example the word indé "today" has stress on the last syllable: [əɲˈd͡ʒeː]. 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 . Other examples are dabhaille [dəˈvɔ̯͡æʎə] "homeward" and conáigh [kʰəˈnæːʝ] "forwards".

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]. 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]. 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: "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] "six" [ʃeː]
/N/ [nˠ] tonn "wave" [tʰũːnˠ] [ɲ] neart "power" [ɲɛ̃ə̯t]
/L/ [ɫ] "day" [ɫɑː] [ʎ] "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" [ˈɛ͡æ̯kɯ̯͡iː]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: "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 corpN gcórach [əŋˈkʰɯ̯͡ɔə̯p ˈgɯ̯͡õːɾəx] "The foreign person"
  • InL chorpL chórach [əŋˈxɯ̯͡ɔə̯p ˈxɯ̯͡õːɾəx] "Of the foreign person"
  • NaH cáideH h-arda [nəˈkɯ̯͡æːd͡ʒə hɑːdə] "The tall forests"
  • NaN 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] [] [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: inLH ích inN bhfléaghL "the king eats the meal"; here 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 ferN n-ón scáigheL "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: inN thapach dtúchL "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 "two" which is ignored: aL 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] [boː] "cow", bran [bɾɑ̃n] "raven", scúba [ˈskɯ̯͡uːbə] "brushes"
slender [b] before [i] [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", [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] [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 [ɫɑː] "day", lubhra [ˈɫuːɾə] "to say"
[ɫ] after [x] or [ɣ] chlubhain [ˈxɫuwən] "meadow (len.)", ghlann [ɣɫãʊ̯nˠ] "valley (len.)"
[l] [lɑː] "day (len.)", la [lə] "with", pobal [ˈpʰobəl] "people"
slender [ʎ] when word-initial and unlenited [ʎiː] "beauty", léan [ʎẽːn] "broad"
[ʎ] after [ç] or [ʝ] chlé [çʎeː] "left", ghleinnighe [ʝʎẽːɲĩː] "yokel"
[l] [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 [nˠũː] "new", naíghe [ˈnˠĩːʝə] "child"
[n] [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", [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 [ruː] "dark red", [riː] "king"
[ə̯] or silent in the syllable coda derg [d͡ʒɛə̯g] "light red", lár [ɫɑː] "bottom"
[ɾ] [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] [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", [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] [ɫɑː] "day", grá [gɾɑː] "peer"
ái [æː] cáid [kʰɯ̯͡æːd͡ʒ] "forest", áir [æːə̯] "air, sky"
[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"
coél [kʰɯ̯͡eːl] "thin", soér [seːə̯] "free, variable"
éa [eːə] word-finally céa [ˈkʰæ̯͡eːə] "who", déa [ˈd͡ʒeːə] "god"
[eː] béall [bjeːɫ] "mouth", éas [eːs] "fish"
[ɑː] leán [ʎɑ̃ːn] "rock", caisleán [ˈkʰɯ̯͡æʃlɑ̃ːn] "castle"
eái [æː] leáigh [ʎæːʝ] "it melted"
[oː] meón [mjõːn] "middle"
éoa [eːə] béoabh [ˈbjeːəv] "living beings (obl.)"
í [iː] [ʎiː] "beauty", tígheabha [ˈt͡ʃʰi͡ːu̯və] "we go"
ío píos [pʰiːs] "piece", síosacht [ˈʃiːsəxt] "spirit world"
ía [iːə] bía [ˈbiːə] "living things", remhía [ɾəˈvĩːə] "he measured"
[uː] ciún [kʰæ̯͡ũːn] "quiet", siúlas [ˈʃuːləs] "he walks"
iúi ciúinse [ˈkʰæ̯͡ũ͜ːʉ̯nʃə] "quiets, obediences", Tiúibhe [ˈt͡ʃʰu͜ːʉ̯vjə] "Lhedwin (obl.)"
ó [oː] ór [oːə̯] "gold", [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 one word liubhar [ʎɔːə̯] "book"
[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: souillN "eye", dá souillL "two eyes", in thrí souilleH "the three eyes". In speech the dual tends to replace or be replaced by the plural: dá souilleH or in thrí souillL. 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: ágháigh. 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: taigheL "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 "king", rarely written rígh, is given below:

N2M Singular Plural
Direct H rígheH
Oblique L 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 "cow", which declines as follows; note the two variants for the oblique singular:

NFI Singular Plural
Direct L 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

Adjectives also possess three additional grades which are only used predicatively. The comparative is formed with slenderisation or lenition and a suffix -e: gráiche "more usual". The superlative is formed by slenderisation or lenition and a suffix -eabh: gráicheabh "most usual". Finally the equative is formed with a suffix -(a)ír with no changes to the stem: gráchaír "as usual". Irregular adjectives only regularly form the equative: maich "good" → fér "better", deach "best", maichír "as good".

These forms can be used predicatively in the following constructions:

  • Ghas in rí maich. [ɣas ɪn riː maç] "The king is good."
  • Ghas in ríghean fér ná h-in rí. [ɣas ɪn ˈriːʝən fjeːɐ̯ naː hɪn riː] "The queen is better than the king."
  • Ghas éasa dheach deneabh rígheabh. [ɣas ˈeːsə ʝɛx d͡ʒenəv riːʝəv] "He is the best of the kings."
  • Ghas in rí có-maichír us in ríghean. [ɣas ɪn riː koːˈmaçiːr ʊs ɪn ˈriːʝən] "The king is as good as the queen."

To use these forms attributively, qualifying particles must be used. In this case, the morphological grades are not used; instead the particle is used with the appropriate plain form of the adjective:

  • In maich rí [ɪn maç riː] "The good king"
  • In línN maich rí [ɪn ʎiːn maç riː] "The better king"
  • In och maich rí [ɪn ɔx maç riː] "The best king"
  • In rí gcobhH maich (na) [ɪn riː goː maç (nə)] "The as good (as...) king"

There are some adjectives which do not decline to agree with their head. These adjectives typically occur at the start of an adjective phrase (but after articles) and include numerals and demonstratives: ún mhaich mben [uːn vaç mjɛn] "one good woman"; in thall maich mben [ɪn xau̯ɫ maç mjɛn] "that good woman".

Definite article

Cuirpthean has no indefinite, but has a definite article ("the"). Whereas all other declining words only mark direct and oblique case, 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 in most forms. There are only three distinct independent forms of the article: in, a and na; however, various cases cause distinct mutations to occur.

Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative in inL aN inL naN
Accusative inN naH
Genitive inL naH inL naN
Dative -n -nabh, -neabh

After a preposition, the definite article takes on the given bound clitic forms, with no distinction of gender and lenition matching that caused by the preposition. For example, with the preposition caNJ "to, until": gham mé a' téach can siúla [ɣam mjeː əˈt͡ʃeːx kən ˈʒuːlə] "I am going to the school".

Verbs

The simplifications which have occurred since Old Maíreidh are perhaps no more apparent then in the Cuirpthean verbal system. The extremely complex and irregular verbs have been collapsed to two regular conjugations, with two subgroups in the first conjugational paradigm. In the spoken languages, the changes are even more sweeping, with many synthetic verb forms being abandoned in favour of analytic constructions. However, in the literary language, as well as in more formal spoken registers, the full array of synthetic forms are in use.

The first conjugation derives from type-A verbs in Old Maíreidh, with the two subgroups reflecting AI and AII. The second conjugation derives from type-B verbs. Deponents have been eliminated entirely, and stem changes have been largely eliminated outside perhaps one or two forms, such as the irregular verbal noun breach from the root ber- "carry".

Verbs inflect to show two tenses (present and past), three moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative), three persons and two numbers. Analytic constructions involve using the irregular verb buich "be" with a verbal noun. In the written language, this makes a specifically imperfective aspect verb, but is usual in speech.

The indicative forms of the type AI verb móra "feed" follow. Note that for every verb the first person plural form may be replaced by the second/third person plural form:

Present Past
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person móram mórbha móras mórsabh
2nd person móra mórda mórsad
3rd person móras mór

AII verbs differ from these forms only in the past tense, where the /s/-affix is slender. The conjugation of lége "accept" follows:

Present Past
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person légem léagbha léges légseabh
2nd person lége léaghda légsead
3rd person légeas lég

Subjunctive forms always occur in conjunction with a subordinating particle such as ca. When no other particle occurs, the verb takes the prefix ga- or ge-. Since this is predictable only the plain forms are given below for móra:

Present Past
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person mórasa mórdaine mórdasa mórbhaine
2nd person mórdaise mórbhaise
3rd person

There is no difference in the conjugation of AII verbs, but the subjunctive of lége is given below regardless:

Present Past
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person légeasa léaghdaine léaghdasa léagbhaine
2nd person léaghdaise léagbhaise
3rd person

The two imperative forms are as follows:

móra lége
Singular mór! lég!
Plural móra! lége!

The verbal nouns of regular first conjugation verbs are formed with a suffix -a or -e and are thus identical to the plural imperative form. The present analytic conjugation of móra is given below; other forms are obtained by substituting for another form of buich:

Singular Plural
1st person gham a' móra ghabha (t-)a' móra
2nd person ghá (t-)a' móra ghada (t-)a' móra
3rd person ghas a' móra

The second conjugation has a number of differences to the first, particularly in the past tense where the prefix ra- or re- is mandatory. This conjugation also has numerous alternations between broad and slender stem-final consonants. The present conjugation of breach "carry" follows; this verb is regular except for the verbal noun. Verbal nouns in the second declension are highly unpredictable:

Indicative Subjunctive
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person berem bearbha bereasa beardaine
2nd person bere bered beardaise
3rd person beir

Forms with a zero ending (ie. the third person singular present indicative and singular imperative) may experience spelling and pronunciation differences. With breach the pronunciation is regular, with the only change being the use of <ei> instead of <e>. However, a more irregular form is that of fóllan "learn"; the appropriate form of this verb is foll [fuːɫ].

In the past tense, a prefix occurs on the verb. Formerly this was written with a dash as ra- but the prescribed spelling now is ra- or re- in accordance with the usual spelling rules. This prefix causes lenition of the verb. In very informal contexts, the prefix may be dropped, but lenition still occurs on the verb. The past forms of breach follow:

Indicative Subjunctive
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person rebheard rebheardam rebheardasa rebhearbhaine
2nd person rebheird rebheardad rebhearbhaise
3rd person

When the past prefix coöccurs with the subjunctive prefix it merges with the verb root, causing eclipsis: gembeard "I might have carried" etc. Before a vowel, the prefix is simply r-: ích "he/she eats" → richd "he/she ate".

The imperatives of breach are identical to the first declension: beir!, bere!

Second conjugation verbal nouns possess multiple endings, and the appropriate ending is rarely predictable. Some common endings are -ch (as in breach or téach "go"), -a or -e (as in the first conjugation; as in gabha "hold" or iche "eat"), -n (as in fóllan "learn" or bubhaín "win") and zero ending (as in seinn "play (a stringed instrument)" or glá "persuade"). The third person singular present indicative forms of each of these verbs follow to exemplify:

Verbal noun 3s.pres.ind
breach [brɛx] beir [bjɛɐ̯]
téach [t͡ʃeːx] tí [t͡ʃiː]
gabha [ˈgavə] gaibh [gav]
iche [ˈiçə] ích [iːç]
fóllan [ˈfoːɫən] foll [fuːɫ]
bubhaín [ˈbuiːn] bubhaí [ˈbuiː]
seinn [ʃɛɲ]
glá [gɫaː]

The verb buich "be" is highly irregular. The present tense appears to have formed out of a hybridisation of the Old Maíreidh absolute and conjunct forms, as they are attested with initial dh- in historic sources. Compare the relativiser da from ata. Both the present and past forms have lenition throughout. The indicative conjugation follows:

Present Past
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person gham ghabha bhasa bhubha
2nd person ghá ghada bhada
3rd person ghas bhá

The present tense of buich is exceptional also in having an irregular set of negative forms. These are given below:

Singular Plural
1st person nída nídan
2nd person nídad
3rd person

The past tense however is regular: ní bhasa etc.

The highly irregular subjunctive forms now follow; note the exceptional forms with /x/ in the past tense:

Present Past
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st person bhá bhann bhinn bhime
2nd person bhaigh chá chís
3rd person bhí

The imperative forms of buich are singular ba! and plural bé!

The Old Maíreidh distinction between copular "be" and substantive "be" has been lost outside the present indicative tense, where the forms bía and bigheát exist as defective forms: Bía lam tóide "I have an idea" ← "there is an idea to me".

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 sní mese snine
2nd person 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 pranL túigheachN Lthráigh "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
dau two
trí trí three
céir cethair four
cóig cóic five
six
siacht seacht seven
acht ocht eight
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