grammar of irish.pdf - Cryptm.org

CHAP. II.]LETTER CHANGES. 136. The following rule is usually given with therules for eclipsis :—When a word begins with a vowel, the letterin all cases where an11 is generally prefixedinitial consonant (except p) would be eclipsed;asa n-apdn, their bread ;loc no n-€an, the lake ofthe birds.*v. Caollecaol agup leacan le leacan, or slenderWITH SLENDER AND BROAD WITH BROAD.f1. If a consonant or any combination of consonantscomes between two vowels, they must beeither both slender or both broad ;thus in polap,light, the o and the a are both broad vowels and in;cinneap, sickness, the 1 and the e are both slendervowels. But such combinations as polip andcmnap are not allowable, because the o and, the 1in the first case, and the 1 and the a in the secondcase, are one of them broad and the other slender.2. In compliance with this rule, when two words, or aword and a syllable, are joined together, so that in the resultingword a consonant or consonantal combination would fallbetween two vowels, one of them broad and the other slender,then either the broad vowel must be made slender or theslender one broad, to bring them to an agreement.3. Sometimes the broad vowel is changed to make it agreowith the slender vowel ;sometimes the slender vowel is madebroad to agree with the broad vowel; sometimes it is thevowel before the consonant that ischanged sometimes the;change is made in the vowel after the consonant. A prefixis generally changed to suit the word it is joined to, not thereverse ;thus when c6rii is prefixed to pear-aril, standing, theword is c6irhpeararh, competition, not c^rhpaparii.*For a very detailed and clear statement of the laws ofaspiration and eclipsis, see the Second Irish Book by theSociety for the preservation of the Irish Language.j-'lhis rule is very generally, but not universally, followedin the Irish language.