Phonology
In pronunciation, Irish most closely resembles its nearest relatives, Scottish Gaelic and Manx. One notable feature is that consonants (except /h/) come in pairs, one "broad" (velarised, pronounced with the back of the tongue pulled back towards the soft palate) and one "slender" (palatalised, pronounced with the middle of the tongue pushed up towards the hard palate). While broad–slender pairs are not unique to Irish (Russian has something similar), they can pose a problem for English speakers.
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Glottal | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labio- velar |
Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | ||||||
| Plosives | pˠ | pʲ | t̪ˠ | tʲ | c | k | |||||||
| bˠ | bʲ | d̪ˠ | dʲ | ɟ | ɡ | ||||||||
| Fricative/ Approximant |
fˠ | fʲ | sˠ | ʃ | ç | x | h | ||||||
| w | vʲ | j | ɣ | ||||||||||
| Nasal | mˠ | mʲ | n̪ˠ | nʲ | ɲ | ŋ | |||||||
| Tap | ɾˠ | ɾʲ | |||||||||||
| Lateral | l̪ˠ | lʲ | |||||||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iː | uː | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Close-mid | eː | oː | |
| Mid | ə |
||
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a | ɑː |
Diphthongs: iə, uə, əi, əu.
Read more about this topic: Irish Language