Dear all, this thread came up in an Internet search when I searching for something else, and I decided to register to comment on the R's in Munster Irish. I have written an article on Muskerry Irish pronunciation that I am going to try to get published, and so, despite the solipsism in doing so, I would like to quote from an edited version of my article (although I cannot guarantee if I get it published it will be in this form). IWM means "The Irish of West Muskerry" by Brian Ó Cuív. The numbers are page numbers, not section numbers. Ó Loingsigh is Amhlaoibh Ó Loingsigh. Ó Céileachair is Dónall Bán Ó Céileachair. Sommerfeldt is Alf Sommerfeldt. Ó Súilleabháin is Eóiní Mhaidhí Ó Súilleabháin who I interviewed in Muskerry.
The presentation in IWM (49-50) shows that the broad r at the beginning of a word was a post-alveolar fricative in Ó Loingsigh’s Irish, “formed by raising the tip of the tongue towards the back of the teeth-ridge”, with [ɾ] (the flapped r) occurring elsewhere. I’m unsure of Brian Ó Cuív’s description of the first of these allophones of broad r: he seems to be describing something acoustically similar to the post-alveolar approximant [ɹ] as used in most of England, but one formed with the tip of the tongue.
Quote:
[Footnote: There has been some academic discussion of the nature of the English r. In a blog post, John Wells, a respected retired professor of phonetics at University College London (UCL), pointed out that the English r has been described (e.g. by Daniel Jones, an earlier professor of phonetics at UCL) as being formed with the tip of the tongue, whereas Professor Wells believes he has a “bunched or molar” variant (
http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2010/ ... lar-r.html). The molar variant is not apical at all, and does not appear to be the same sound as the initial broad r described for speakers including Amhlaoibh Ó Loingsigh.]
Sommerfelt described Ó Céileachair’s initial broad r as “strictly speaking not a genuine r-sound, but a sort of voiced spirant. The tip of the tongue is brought towards the arch-rim and the breath escapes over the tip” (“Munster Vowels and Consonants”, 214). I suggest [ɹ̝ˠ] for this. The audio file offered by Foras na Gaeilge for the pronunciation of rí in Munster Irish (
http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/rí) is no doubt by a speaker of Kerry Irish, relatively close geographically to Muskerry, but is indistinguishable from the approximant [ɹ] used in most parts of England and may be by a younger speaker. By contrast, an audio file of Dara Ó Cinnéide’s pronunciation of the same word (
http://www.fuaimeanna.ie/en/Recordings. ... 47&Page=10) shows stronger friction. Ó Cinnéide seems to have [ɹ̝ˠ], but on the same page in raon and roinn he has [ɾ]. This suggests that, as with Ó Cuív's description of Ó Loingsigh's Irish, an apical velarised approximant (not the molar or bunched r found in much of England today) can be used at the beginning of a word, although a flapped r is not wrong there either, but that medially and finally a flapped r must be used.
A slightly crackly audio file (
https://www.doegen.ie/LA_1033d1) of Ó Loingsigh’s Irish held in the Doegen Records project maintained by the Royal Irish Academy appears to show minimal friction for raghad, which is apparently an approximant ([ɹ̝ˠ]), but greater friction in go raibh, where the r of go raibh is essentially intervocalic and thus flapped ([ɾ]). I don’t have any information as to how long either [ɹ̝ˠ] or [ɹ] have been used in Muskerry Irish. However, the post-alveolar approximant was not always used in English either:
Quote:
At some stage in the development of StE it is probable that there was a change in the nature of r from a point-trilled consonant to the PresE post-alveolar fricative, which in acoustic effect is closely allied to the vowel [ə]; but in intervocalic position it commonly remained either a trilled consonant or the PresE ‘flap’ [r]. When the change occurred it is impossible to determined, but the influence of r from the late fourteenth century onwards, and particularly its ModE influence on ĭ, ĕ, and [ʌ] < ME ǔ, suggest that it must have been closely similar to the PresE sound. (English Pronunciation 1500-1700, Vol II, 945-946)
I quote this, because it seems that the development of English has been along similar lines. Interestingly, the audio file of rí for Ulster Irish given by Foras na Gaeilge (see the link above) has [r] (a trill and not a tap). Whatever the history of this, it seems that younger speakers of Irish, are generalising the English r, both initially and elsewhere, and in broad and slender environments. Ó Súilleabháin maintains the correct distinctions between [ɹ̝ˠ] and [ɾ] (allophones of broad r in initial and non-initial environments respectively) and [ɹ̝ʲ], which is the slender r. I here borrow the notation used by Diarmuid Ó Sé in Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne (19) to show a palatalised apical post-alveolar fricative. In addition to this post-alveolar fricative, in IWM, Ó Cuív also identifies a flapped slender r, [ɾʲ], an allophone used only after only palatalised consonants.
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