Book I:
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exercise XXI
§ 142. The digraphs when obscure.
In simple words of two syllables (that is, words not formed from others by adding a termination) the first syllable is the one accented, as we have seen already; as, capall (kop'- ăl), a horse. The vowel sound of the last syllable is then usually obscure (compare sound of ai in Britain), as we have already seen, and this is true when that vowel sound is represented by any of the digraphs given in §132.
Thus—
| the word | meaning | is not sounded | but |
| carraig | rock | kor'-ag | kor'-ĕg |
| Conaill | of Conall | kŭn'-al | kŭn'-ĕl |
| fosgail | open (thou) | fŭsk-al | fŭsk-ĕl |
| obair | work | ŭb'-ar | ŭb'-ĕr |
To a reader of English the real sound of these words would be fairly well represented by spelling them korrig, fuskil, ubbir, etc.
§ 143 words
| duine | (dhin'-ĕ), a person (man or woman) |
| druid | (dhrid), close, shut (Conn and Ulster) |
| O Conaill | (ō kŭn'ĕl), O'Connell |
| O Floinn | (ō flĕn), O'Flynn |
| ag obair | at work, working |
note that
phonetic
symbols
are
not
necessarily
pronounced
as in English
s i m p l e l e s s o n s i n i r i s h - o ' g r o w n e y 1 8 9 4