irish initial mutations

Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specific morphological and syntactic conditions. The mutations are an important tool in understanding the relatonship between two words and can differentiate various meanings. Irish uses two mutations on consonants: lenition and eclipsis. (The alternative names, aspiration for lenition and nasalisation for eclipsis, are also used, but the terms are a bit misleading.) Originally these mutations were phonologically governed external sandhi effects: lenition was caused by a consonant between two vowels, and eclipsis by a sequence of nasal consonant + obstruent, also at the beginning of a word. There are also two mutations, t-prothesis and h-prothesis, found on vowel-initial words.

Effects of lenition

1. A stop becomes a fricative. Voicing is retained, as is place of articulation except with the coronals.

p > f
t > h
k > x
b > v
d >
g >

2. m becomes w or v (depending on dialect and secondary articulation) 3. s becomes h; but s + plosive and sm do not mutate 4. f is deleted Lenition is symbolized in the orthography by an h following the consonant in question.

enition in Irish
ormal	Lenited	Gloss
b>peann pa:n	pheann fa:n	'pen'
b>teach tax	theach hax	'house'
b>ceann ka:n	cheann xa:n	'head'
b>bean ban	bhean van	'woman'
b>droim dri:m	dhroim	'back'
b>glin glu:n 'knee'	ghlin	'knee'
b>mthair	mhthair	'mother'
b>sil su:l	shil hu:l	'eye'
b>freagra	fhreagra	'answer'

The other consonants do not change under lenition.

Effects of eclipsis

1. A voiceless stop or f is voiced:

p > b
t > d
k > g
f > w or v depending on dialect and secondary articulation

2. A voiced stop becomes a nasal:

b > m
d > n
g > ŋ

3. A vowel receives a preceding n or n (broad preceding a/o/u, slender preceding e/i) Eclipsis is symbolized in the orthography by placing the letter of the new sound in front of the original letter.

clipsis in Irish
ormal	Eclipsed	Gloss
b>peann pa:n	bpeann ba:n	'pen'
b>teanga	dteanga	'tongue'
b>ceann ka:n	gceann ga:n	'head'
b>bean ban	mbean man	'woman'
b>droim dri:m	ndroim nri:m	'back'
b>glin glu:n'	nglin ŋlu:n	'knee'
b>freagra	bhfreagra	'answer'
b>an e:n	n-an ne:n	'bird'
b>oche	n-oche	'night'

The other consonants do not change under eclipsis.

Environments of lenition

After proclitics

After the definite article

The definite article triggers lenition of:

1. a feminine noun in the nominative singular

an bhean 'the woman'

2. a masculine noun in the genitive singular

an fhir 'of the man'

3. a noun in the dative singular, when the article follows one of the prepositions de 'from', do 'to' or i 'in'

do + an = don: don fhear 'to the man'

de + an = den: den bhean 'from the woman'

i + an = sa(n): sa chrann 'in the tree'; san fhmhar 'in the autumn'

d and t are not lenited after the article:

an deoch 'the drink', although deoch is feminine nominative singular

an ''t 'of the house', although 't''' is masculine genitive singular

s becomes t (rather than h), written ts:

an tsil tu:l] 'the eye' (fem. nom. sg.)

an tsaoil ti:l] 'of the world' (masc. gen. sg.)

After the vocative particle a

a Bhrd 'Brd!'
a Shein 'Sen!'
a chairde 'my friends!'

After possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns that trigger lenition are mo 'my', do 'your (sg.)', a 'his'

mo mhac 'my son'
do theach 'your house'
a pheann 'his pen'

After certain prepositions

de chrann 'out of a tree'
faoi chrann 'under a tree'
mar dhuine 'as a person'
Chorcaigh 'from Cork'
roimh mhaidin 'before morning'
tr shioc agus shneachta 'through frost and snow'
'um Ch''isc 'at Easter'

After the preterite/conditional of the copula

Ba dhuine mr . 'He was a big person.'
Ba dheas uait . 'That was nice of you.'

After the preterite preverbal particles

'Nor mhinteoir'' . 'He was not a teacher.'
'nor th''ug m 'I didn't give'
Ar shagart ? 'Was he a priest?'
Ar thinig s? 'did he come?'

After certain preverbal particles

n thuigim 'I don't understand'
m thagann s 'if he comes'
an fear a thug dom 'the man who gave it to me'

A verb in the preterite, imperfect or conditional

These were originally preceded by the particle do.

bhris m 'I broke'
bhrisinn 'I used to break'
'bh''risfinn 'I would break'

In modifier + head constructions

Lenition is blocked in these constructions if two coronals are adjacent.

After certain numbers

The singular form is used after numbers and is lenited in the following cases:

aon bh amhin 'one cow'
an chad bhliain 'the first year'
dh theach 'two houses'
'beirt fh''ear 'two men'
'tr bh''d 'three boats'
ceithre ''bh'' 'four cows'
cig phunt 'five pounds'
s ''mh'' 'six months'

After preposed adjectives

Constructions of adjective + noun are written as compounds.

seanbhean 'old woman'
drochdhuine 'bad person'
dea-sheirbhs 'good deed'
nuatheanga 'modern language'
tranmhuir 'stormy sea'
forchneas 'true skin'
ardbhr 'high pressure'
gfhear 'young man'

After most prefixes

an-bheag 'very small'
r-bheag 'too small'
aisghabhil 'retake'
athbhliain 'new year'
dobhragnaithe 'undeniable'
fochopn 'saucer'
forbhrste 'overalls'
idirchreidmheach 'interconfessional'
ilphsadh 'polygamy'
leasmhthair 'stepmother'
mshsta 'unhappy'
neamhchodladh 'insomnia'
promhchathair 'capital city'
sobhriste 'fragile'

The second part of a compound

ainmfhocal 'noun' (lit. "name word")
dghorm 'blue-black'
sttfhiach 'national debt'

In head + modifier constructions

In these constructions coronals are lenited even following other coronals.

Genitive nouns in certain circumstances

aimsir bhist 'rainy weather' (lenition after a feminine singular noun)
buidil ''sh'' 'bottles of juice' (lenition after a plural ending in a slender consonant)
teach Shein 'Sen's house' (lenition of a definite noun in the genitive)

Postposed adjectives in certain circumstances

bean mhaith 'a good woman' (lenition after a feminine singular noun)
na fir mhra 'the big men' (lenition after a plural noun ending in a slender consonant)
ainm an fhir bhig 'the name of the small man' (lenition after a masculine singular noun in the genitive)

Environments of eclipsis

After plural possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns that trigger eclipsis are r 'our', bhur 'your (pl.)', a 'their'

r gcairde 'our friends'
bhur bpist 'your (pl.) children'
a mbd 'their boat'

After certain numbers

The numbers that trigger eclipsis (the noun being in the singular) are:

seacht gcapall 'seven horses'
ocht n-asal 'eight donkeys'
naoi gcat 'nine cats'
deich bpeann 'ten pens'

After the preposition i 'in'

Before a vowel in is written instead of i n-.

i dteach 'in a house'
in irinn 'in Ireland'

Dative singular nouns after the definite article

Nouns beginning with a noncoronal consonant are eclipsed after combinations of preposition + article in the singular (except den, don, and sa(n), which trigger lenition)

ag an bhfear 'by the man'
ar an gcrann 'on the tree'

After certain preverbal particles

an poll a dtagann na coinn as 'the hole that the rabbits come out of'
An dtagann s gach l? 'Does he come every day?'
C bhfuil mo spacla? 'Where are my glasses?'
Dirt s go dtiocfadh s. 'He said that he would come.'
d mbeadh a fhios sin agam 'if I had known that'

Changes to vowel-initial words

A vowel-initial word does not change where lenition is expected:

an oche 'the night' (feminine singular nominative noun after definite article)
an uisce 'of the water' (masculine singular genitive noun after definite article)

But where neither eclipsis nor lenition is expected, an initial vowel may acquire an prothetic onset consonant. For example, a vowel-initial masculine singular nominative noun requires a t- after the definite article:

an t-uisce 'the water' (masculine singular nominative)

Otherwise, there is the prothetic onset h, which comes only when both the following conditions are met:

a proclitic causes neither lenition nor eclipsis of consonants
a proclitic itself ends in a vowel

Examples of h-prothesis

a haois 'her age' (after possessive pronoun a 'her')
go hirinn 'to Ireland (after preposition go 'to, towards')
le hAntaine 'with Antaine' (after preposition le 'with')
na hoche 'of the night' (on feminine singular genitive noun after definite article)
na hin 'the birds' (on plural nominative/dative noun after definite article)
chomh hard le caislen 'as high as a castle' (after chomh xo 'as')
go hlainn 'beautifully' (after adverb-forming particle go)
N himigh uaim 'Don't leave me!' (after negative imperative particle n 'don't')
an dara hit 'the second place' (after an ordinal numeral)