Hello, Everyone!

I have a quick question today for anyone who may know!

For so long, I’ve been uncertain of the pronunciation of “oi” / “io” in Ulster Irish.

Based on different sources (e.g. Abair.ie, Teanglann.ie, Fuaimeanna.ie, wicktionary),
“oi” can either sound like uh/ ĭh / ī / aw / or even ʊ (as in b”oo”k)

…I’ve noticed little patterns, e.g., “oi” before “ch” seems to sound like ī … so “foiche” (wasp) would be pronounced FĪ•hyĭh, I’m assuming? Most other “oi” words seem to be one of the other sounds (or somewhere in between) and I can’t seem to nail it down or trust what I’m hearing/reading. [And, btw, “coinín”(rabbit) seems to randomly be pronounced Kʊ•neen, for some reason, which doesn’t fit the rest of what I’m hearing ]

I’m having similar trouble with “io,” but not as much…I think I’ve got it down to either an ĭh or an uh, but I can’t figure when to use which.

Can anyone familiar with Ulster pronunciation please help me with this? Thank you so much!

One thing to keep in mind (for any dialect) is that the "o" or (especially) the "i" may be there simply for reasons of orthography, that is, to indicate that the adjoining consonant is "slender" (caol) or broad (leathan), and wouldn't be pronounced.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Ah! Thanks, I’d completely forgotten about the orthography part of it. That helps a bit, thanks!