Gaelic Orthographic Conventions - Scottish Qualifications Authority

4
3 Consonant groups
a
b
c
The letters sg should be used in all positions in place of sc:
basgaid, cosg, pasgan, Sgalpaigh, sgian
The letters sp should be used in all positions in place of sb:
cuspair, cuspann, speal, uspag
However, because of their frequency and familiarity, the spelling of the words deasbad,
easbaig, susbaint and taisbeanadh should be left unchanged.
The letters st should be used in all positions in place of sd:
aosta, a-rithist, èist, furasta, gasta, pòsta, staidhre, tuarastal, tubaist
An exception would arise in a compound place name where the final element is dal or dail, eg
Gramasdal, Lacasdal, Loch Baghasdail
Exceptions may also be found in the case of established forms of personal names and
nomenclature on signage, eg
Alasdair, Colaisde, Fionnlasdan, Taigh-òsda, Ùisdean
Likewise, Crìosd(a), Crìosdaidh etc.
The prefix formerly written as comh- should be written as co- where it does not take
stress, eg
co-chomann, co-chòrdadh, co-labhairt, co-ogha
Where it bears stress but does not have nasalisation, words should be written as in the
examples below:
coileanta, coitheanal, coluadar
Where it bears stress and does have nasalisation, the form comh/còmh without a hyphen
should be used:
comhaois (person of similar age), còmhdhail (congress, transport), còmhradh (speech)
Consonant groups should be simplified in:
cudrom (cuideam also acceptable), cudromach, meòraich and meòrachan