Lesson 3: Initial Mutations

Initial mutations are changes of sound that occur to the beginning of words caused by a preceding word, such as an article or a preposition. Since Irish is a Celtic language, it shares this characteristic with other Celtic languages (such as Scottish Gaelic or Welsh). These mutations are (1) lenition (or aspiration) , (2) eclipsis and (3) prefixing. Lenition and eclipsis are two important ways in which grammatical relations are shown in Irish. The situations when such initial changes occur will be discussed in the lessons to follow, in each particular case.

(1) Lenition (Aspiration) / Séimhiú

Lenition is rendered by the addition of an h‑ after the lenited consonant. Such combinations of consonants with ‘h’ are pronounced as in the following examples (with broad and slender versions in each case). In the system of transcription adopted here (see Lesson 1), lenition is rendered by a [´] sign placed after the cosonant.

• bhád [wa:d]
• bhí [v´i:]
• chat [xat]
• cheol [x´o:l]
• dhoras [γorās]
• dhíol [γ´i:l]
• fhíon [i:n]
• fhón [o:n]
• ghrá [γra:]
• gheansaí [γ´ansi:]
• mháthair [wa:hār´]
• mhí [v´i:]
• phunt [funt]
• phíosa [fi:sā]
• shonas [honās]
• shioc [h´ik]
• thábla [ha:blā]
• theach [h´iāh]

Remarks. (1) The pairs of combinations ‘bh’ - ‘mh’, ‘dh’ - ‘gh’ and ‘sh’ - ‘th’ share the same pronunciation. (2) The combination ‘fh’ is always silent.

Lenition does not happen in the case of non‑aspirable consonants (l, n, r), naturally, but also when a pair of the letters d, l, n, t, s (easily remembered as the consonants in ‘d-e-n-t-a-l‑s’) come together, as in:

bean deas
an tír

(2) Eclipsis / Urú

Irish also has another set of consonant combinations at the beginning of words that result from an initial mutation called eclipsis. When eclipsed, voiceless consonants are voiced and voiced ones are nasalised. Practically, in every case of eclipsis, the first consonant is pronounced whereas the second one is ignored. Such combinatuions of consonants are pronounced as in the following examples (with broad and slender versions in each case):

• na mbán [nā ma:n]
• i gcarr [ā ga:r]
• i ndán [ā na:n]
• an bhfuil [ā wil´]
• a bhfile [āv´il´ā]
• i ngairdín [ā ηa:rd´i:n´]
• na bplátaí [nā bla:ti:]
• i dteach [ā d´ax]

Vowels are eclipsed by n‑, as in n‑áit [na:t´], or n‑éan [n´e:n], etc.

(3) Prefixing

Besides lenition and eclipsis, another initial change of a word is prefixing. In Irish there are two prefixes: prefix h- and prefix t-. An h‑ is used to break up a sequence of two vowels occurring between two words. Prefix t- is added to a noun when preceded by an article.

(4) Spelling of initial mutations

When the word begins with a vowel, the eclipse n‑, and the prefix t‑ are separated from the word by a hyphen: ceol na n‑éan (the song of the bird), an t‑am (the time).

The prefix h‑ is directly added to the word: ní hé (it isn’t), a dhá hiníon (her two daughters).

When the words are capitalised, or even when fully written in capitals, the letters of the eclipse and of the prefixes will not be capitalised and will no longer have a hyphen: i gCorcaigh or gCORCAIGH (in Cork), ár nAthair (our Father), an tEarrach (the spring), Dé hAnoine (on Friday)