Liorish Fiona McArdle as Adrian Pilgrim.
DO NOT LET LENITION CAUSE STRESS!
When you speak, rather than write, it does not matter much if you forget from time
to time. Some like "Oie vie" become habit without you realising it!
LENITION
Radical = the original first letter in the word, lenition = the changed first letter.
RAD LEN 1 LEN 2
p ph ph
b v v
m v v
c, k ch ch
g gh gh
gu wh wh
f drop f drop f
(silent) (silent)
t, th h no change
d gh no change
ch h no change
j y no change
s h t
sl l cl
sh h çh
see below for notes
Notes for Lenition 1 and 2
Note 1 bw; boo / mw; moo may change to w in Lenition 2
E.g. booa (f) y wooa mwyllin ayns y wyllin
Note 2 Ghi is pronounced as, and sometimes written as yi in Lenition 1 and 2.
E.g. giat er y yiat (or ghiat)
Note 3 str may be found as hr in Lenition 1 and is found as tr in Lenition 2.
(Lenition 1) (Lenition 2)
E.g. straid my hraid y traid
Certain blocks do not mutate
SC, SK, SM, SN, SP, ST.
but 'sniaghtey'
"kirree fo niaghtey" [set phrase]
LENITION 1
This is by far the commonest type, so the list of rules is long.
Never mind - lenition 2 should be a pleasant surprise!
1. In Noun after possessives my; dty; e (masculine) (my; your; his)
kayt cat my chayt my cat
claasagh harp dty chlaasagh your harp
mheddyr pail e vheddyryn his pails
2. After ro - (too)
creen ripe ro chreen too ripe
dowin deep ro ghowin too deep
3. After ry - (to) before a verbal noun
fakin seeing ry akin to be seen
creck selling ry chreck to be sold
4. After dyn / gyn - (without) in fixed expressions only
bree gyn vree without energy
fys gyn yss (da) unaware (of)
but gyn shugyr without sugar Ý
5. After fo - (under) in fixed expressions only
thalloo fo halloo underground
slieau fo lieau under (at the foot of) a mountain
but fo boayrd under a table
6. After dy - (of, to) or y - (to) before a verbal noun
soo punt dy hoo a pound of jam
mess palchey dy vess plenty of fruit
Doolish goll dy Ghoolish going to Douglas
a). cur shilley er - visit (put a sight on)
hemmayd roin dy chur shilley orroo
b). kionnaghey buy
nee shiu gleayshtan share y chionnaghey dy gerrid.
Can also be nee shiu kionnaghey gleayshtan noa dy gerrid.
7.. After daa - (two) and ordinal numbers from nah (2nd) up, including trass (3rd).
joarree daa yoarree two strangers (note sing. after daa)
troggal yn nah hroggal the second building
fastyr yn trass astyr the third afternoon
8. (Indefinite) feminine singular noun followed by an adjective - the adjective lenites.
ben verchagh a rich woman
awin ghowin a deep river
eddin waagh a pretty face
9. (Indefinite) feminine noun followed by a genitive as an adjective
ben-varrey a mermaid (a woman of the sea)
blein-vishee a leap year (a year of increase)
10. A plural adjective or a genitive of a plural noun formed by attenuation a plural
formed by changing the word internally NOT by adding an ending.
E.g. in English, mouse - mice.
stuill veggey small chairs
cabbil vooarey big horses
buird vaney white tables
11. Vocative noun, singular or plural (speaking or writing directly to)
Juan Yuan
Moirrrey Voirrey
mraane as deiney seyrey vraane as gheiney seyrey
caarjyn chaarjyn
12. Vocative singular adjective
Voirrey veen dear Mary
ghooinney chreeney wise man
Vannin veg veen dear little Mannin
13. Adjective describing a plural noun ending in ee
kellee rangagh (from frangagh) turkey stags
loayrtee heear western (Manx) speakers
Manninee ghooie native Manxmen
14. A plural adjective after a singular noun, lenited by the number two (2).
Both genders. Also plural adjective after a collective noun.
daa inneen veggey two little girls
daa ghuilley vooarey two big boys
yn vooinjer veggey the little people
15. In genitive singular of personal and place names.
In place names only where the word is a proper name, but there are some exceptions
in old names, e.g. Skylley Maghal, where the name element is masculine.
traie Ghoolish Douglas shore
straiddyn Valleycashtal Castletown's streets
gleayshtan Yamys James' car
thie Vreeshey Breeshey's house
16. After dy chooilley but NOT after dagh or gagh.
dy chooilley pheiagh everyone dagh peiagh
dy chooilley ghooinney every man dagh dooinney
17. A prefix (especially if ending in a vowel) lenites the next letter.
aa - meaning 're'
shilley sight aahilley (second sight)
troggal build aahroggal rebuild
an - a negative or intensive
dowin deep anghowin shallow (not deep)
coodaghey cover anchoodaghey uncover
co - accompany
cruinnaght cochruinnaght gathering, assembly
lhiass - (vice, sub, step)
moir lhiass-voir stepmother
mac lhiass-vac stepson
mee - unfavourable, a negative
maynrey meevaynrey unhappy
cordailys meechordailys disagreement
neu - a negative
cadjin neuchadjin uncommon
sheelt neuheelt inebriated (not sober)
Many ADJECTIVES preceding a noun lenite the noun.
drogh - bad
mraane drogh-vraane bad women
taghyrt drogh-haghyrt bad happening (accident)
lieh - half
kiarkyl lieh-chiarkyl semi-circle
baiht lieh-vaiht half drowned
trome - heavy
cadlagh trome-chadlagh sleepy
18. With a masculine singular subject, using verb "to be" followed by ny (in his [its]
state of), or after my or dty using the same method.
gaaue t'eh ny ghaaue he's a blacksmith
fer-ynsee v'eh ny er-ynsee he was a teacher
moddey bee eh ny voddey mooar it will be a big dog
paitchey tra va mee my phaitchey when I was a child
dooinney bee oo dty ghooinney berchagh you will be a rich man
19. In the passive (where formed by the verb "to be" + er ny + an auxiliary) when
the subject is masculine singular as follows: (or with my or dty)
fakin t'eh er ny akin it is seen
clashtyn v'eh er ny chlashtyn he was heard
creck bee yn thie er ny chreck the house will be sold
molley va mee er my volley I was deceived
greimmey row uss er dty ghreimmey? were you bitten?
20. The inflected (no auxiliaries) Past, Independent Conditional and Future Relative
tenses of regular verbs
VERBAL NOUN STEM PAST IND COND. FUT.REL.
creck creck chreck chreckagh chreckys
toiggal toig hoig hoiggagh hoiggys
bannaghtyn bannee vannee vanneeagh vanneeys
freayll freill dreill reillagh reillys
After er with regular verbal nouns in perfect tenses.
(but can alternate with nasalisation)
briaght
ta mee er vriaght jeh I have enquired of him
greddey
vel oo er ghreddey yn arran? have you toasted the bread?
brishey
row eh er vrishey yn cappan? had he broken the cup?
These are certainly enough for lenition 1, at least until you are writing Manx fluently!
Some combinations of letters at the END of one word and the BEGINNING of the next
may prevent lenition from happening.
-d d-
-t t-
-s çh-
-sh j-
-l s-
-n sh-
-r
E.g.
ben-çhiarn lady
fer-toshee first in a procession, leader
un dooinney one man
yn chied thie the first house
feer sheeoil very peaceful
Common words to think about are: chied (first), un (one), ard (chief), myn (diminutive
prefix), shenn (old), lane (quite), and feer [with an adjective] or eer [with
a noun] (very).
All of these come before a noun or adjective. Consonants p, b, c, k, g, qu, f
are still free to lenite!
S0ME EXAMPLES OF LENITION 2
Lenition 2 occurs only after y or yn
1. Where y, yn means 'of the' before a SINGULAR NOUN
Note: a few feminine nouns use ny for 'of the'
E.g. Purt ny hInshey. Others use the above rule.
dorrys jough yn dorrys last orders
shamyr mean y chamyr the middle of the room
billey banglane y villey the branch of the tree
2. Where y, yn means the before a FEMININE SINGULAR NOUN
ben yn ven woman
grian yn ghrian sun
sooill yn tooill eye
thooilley yn thooilley flood, torrent
keeill yn cheeill church
3. Where y, yn follows a PREPOSITION E.g. er, ayns, ec before ANY SINGULAR NOUN
shapp ayns y chapp shop
guilley marish y ghuilley boy
çhiollagh ec y çhiollagh hearth
4. Where shenn - (old) comes after y, yn AND describes a FEMININE noun
sh becomes ch.
ben shenn ven yn çhenn ven
a woman an old woman the old woman
lioar shenn lioar yn çhenn lioar
a book an old book the old book
5. Where ordinal numbers are preceded by y, yn.
yn chied 1st yn çheyoo 6th
yn nah 2nd yn chiaghtoo 7th
yn trass 3rd yn hoghtoo 8th
yn chiarroo 4th yn nuyoo 9th
yn wheiggoo 5th yn jeihoo 10th
yn trass 'er the third one (man)
yn chiarroo voghrey the fourth morning
yn çheyoo hie the sixth house
yn 'eedoo ven the twentieth woman
BUT WATCH!
yn chied dooinney the first man (lenition 1 prevented by d - d,) Ý
but lenition 2 still operates after yn + the ordinal number).
MUTATION
Nasalisation
RADICAL ECLIPSIS 1 ECLIPSIS 2
p b b
b m
c, k g g
g n'gh, gh*
qu gu gu
f v v
t, (th) d d
d gh, (n)*
çh j j
j n'y, y
sl
sh
Nasalisation notes
* n'gh, gh (Nasalisation of g) Pronunciation as in sing but spelling is usually
gh.
* gh (n) (Nasalisation of d) Pronunciation is "n" but spelling is usually
gh.
Nasalisation 1
1 After nyn (any time)
thie nyn dhie, thieyn nyn dhieyn
paitçhey nyn baitçhey, paitçhyn nyn baitçhyn
baatey nyn maatey, baatyn nyn maatyn
jalloo nyn yalloo, jallooghyn nyn yallooghyn
kayt nyn gayt, kiyt nyn giyt
queeyl nyn gueeyl, queeylyn nyn gueeylyn
2 After dyn when it refers to the object pronoun.
This is a literary construction.
Ta shin dyn vreayll (ad) - We keep them
(Ta shin freayll ad.)
Ta mee dyn droggal (ad) - I lift them.
(Ta mee troggal ad.)
T'eh dyn vaagail (shin) - He is leaving us.
(T'eh faagail shin.)
3 After cha, nagh in copula verbal phrases (i.e. she, nee) and in question forms
- present and future.
Dreisht lhiat? Do you hope?
Nagh gooin lesh? Doesn't he remember?
Cha dreih lhiam. I'm not sorry.
4 Verbal nouns after er in perfect tense (usually in older language - irregular
verbs).
Cha nel mee er vakin shen. I haven't seen that.
Ta mee er n'yannoo eh hannah. I've done it already.
T'eh er jeet dys shoh. He has come here.
5 Place names and very old phrases after ny - 'of the' + genitive plural.
Giat ny Geyrragh Gate of the Sheep
Nasalisation 2 (Voiceless consonants)
1. Following cha, nagh, dy, in future and conditional tenses only and in future and
conditional questions.
Gionnee oo? Will you buy?
gionneeagh oo? Would you buy?
cha dannee eh. He will not wait.
cha dannagh eh. He would not wait.
Nagh vaag ad? Will they not leave?
Nagh vaagagh ad? Would they not leave?
Prefix "h" to VOWEL
1 After e - her
aalyn forks e haalyn her forks
inneen daughter e hinneen her daughter
ooyl apple e hooyl her apple
oohyn eggs e hoohyn her eggs
ushtey water e hushtey her water
2 In passive when the sentence subject is feminine singular + er ny following.
v'ee er ny haarlaghey - it was prepared
ta Moirrey er ny hoonlaghey - Mary is washed
va'n cheyrrey er ny hoanluckey - the sheep was buried
3 After ny with a feminine singular subject
t'ee ny hAlbinagh - she is Scots
ta Maria ny hItaliaanagh - Maria is Italian
v'ee ny hinneen veg vitçhooragh - she was a naughty little girl
4 After ny followed by a feminine singular genitive noun
Purt ny hInshey - port of the island [Peel]
Bayr ny hAyrey - road of the Ayre
Bayr ny hAlbey - Albany Road [Peel]
ben-rein ny hoie - queen of the night [sailors' term for the moon]
Purt ny hAwiney - port of the river [Portnahaven in Islay]
5 After ny before a Plural noun - pronounced but not always written
ny [h]ushagyn - the birds
ny [h]aileyn - the fires
ny [h]ennaghtyn - the feelings
blass ny [h]ooylyn - the taste of the apples
Jannoo ny [h]Ostyllyn - the Acts of the Apostles
BUT ny eeanlee or ny eeastyn is pronounced as if y were before the ee
as ny yeeanlee, ny yeeastyn
6 After dy forming an adverb [not always written]
ard dy [h]ard high[ly]
onnoragh dy [h]onnoragh honourable[ly]
oney dy [h]oney innocent[ly]
Prefix "n" to VOWEL
1 After er in perfect tenses before a verbal noun with a vowel sound
t'eh er nynsaghey Gaelg - he has learned Manx
v'ee er naarlaghey brishey-trostey - she had prepared breakfast
veagh Kirree er naagail - Kathleen would have left
(OR vaagail)
2 In nasalisation 1 and 2, where preceding word which causes the following word
to nasalise does NOT already end in "n" - then insert "n" as follows.
cha niuin shen. - I would not drink that.
nagh neeagh oo dty yinnair? - Would you not eat your dinner?
Dooyrt mee dy naarleein cappan dy hey.
- I said that I would make [prepare] a cup of tea.
[An] n'olk lhiat? - Do you regret? Is it bad with you? [lit.]
* An actually does not appear in the sentence, it's understood only.
[An is used in Irish and Scots Gaelic but only survives in Manx in this construction.]