Am I right in thinking that e: is often diphthongised to eɪ? Listening to the pronunciations of Teanglann, that's what I hear. At first, I thought that was just what happened when é / ae / ao (in some dialects) was followed by a slender consonant but now I'm not so sure.

Also, is this due to the English influence?

Sorry if my question makes no sense.

On a similar note, in Ulster, is e: ever diphongised to ɪa? I know they way we speak English in Ulster gives no or little indication of how Irish would have been spoken here in the past (and we do often diphthongise e: to ɪe, for example, frail is pronounced like fr-ɪe-l) but I read that, in Scottish Gaelic, that happens, which just got me thinking.

I don't know about Ulster, but it is very common in native Munster Irish.

Broad éa often becomes ía:

Féachaint (fíachaint): http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/f%C3%A9achaint

Béal: (bíal): http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/b%C3%A9al

Béarla (bíarla): http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/b%C3%A9arla

Judging from the Ulster examples from the words above, it doesn't seem to be. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens with some words since the dyphthongisation of high-é to ía goes back as far as the 7 century AD.

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

I know a few words in Donegal where éa becomes "ia" but there's no rule, these are rather exceptions:

féacháil (fiacháil) which means "to try" (d'fhiach mé le sin a dhéanamh - I tried to do that)
scéal (scial)

There's no continuum between Scotland and Ulster on that point ; the Scottish areas where "eu" becomes "ia" are far from Ulster ; the closest Scottish regions to Ulster don't break the "eu", if I remember well.
It's funny to see that on this point as well as on a few others, Northwestern Scotland (Hebrides) agrees with Southwestern Ireland (ie. the furthest Irish dialects !) and not with Ulster.
(other example: diphthongation of a, o, i before nn, ll, m..., in both Munster and NW Scotland)

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