PRONUNCIATION

Looking at the language itself, we have already observed that the spelling system differs radically from the traditional Gaelic system, and the following examples, in which the Manx and Scottish Gaelic pronunciations approximate quite well to each other, illustrate this clearly:

(Manx) (Scot. Gaelic) (English)

loayrt labhairt speaking
soiaghey suidheachadh settling
gowee gabhaidh will take
dooinney ooasle duin' uasal gentleman
y varnish a' bhanais the wedding
Jeheiney Oi-h-aoine Friday
bwaagh boidheach pretty
dooyrt d'thubhairt said.

The pronunciation of Manx is fully explained in J.J. Kneen "A Grammar of the Manx Language" and "English-Manx Pronouncing Dictionary", to which the student is referred. Its most striking features may, however, be summarised here: -ey, also -y- in words of one syllable, is pronounced like the final -a of 'sofa'; ea, eh, ei, ai are most often pronounced like the stressed vowel of French 'ete' of German 'geben' (i.e. the pure vowel of Scottish 'day') whilst aa is like - ai- in 'fair', or a drawn out version of -e- in 'pen'. When -y follows a vowel it is often silent, and -i after a vowel frequently modifies the consonant following it as well as the vowel accompanying it, so whereas 'fanney' is pronounced 'fanna','fainey' is like 'fain-ye'. A final -e usually serves merely to lengthen the preceding vowel as in English, so 'dhone' sounds like 'dthawn' and 'hene' like 'heen' (or 'heedn' - see below).

Many consonants correspond fairly well to their English counterparts, but these points should be noted: 'ch' sounds as in Scottish 'loch', but may in many words sound as in 'church'; to avoid confusion,'çh' is often used for the latter sound. When in the middle or at the end of a word, 'gh' is also like Scottish 'loch', but at the beginning of a word it resembles the voiced throaty sound as when gargling. A prevalent characteristic of Manx pronunciation is the softening or even complete elision of consonants in the middle of a word, so 'cappan' is pronounced 'cah-van' and 'magher' is 'mahrr'. In recent times, also, there has been a tendency, in words where a stressed final syllable contains a long vowel followed by -m, -n or -ng, to develop an intrusive consonant after the vowel (which is then often shortened), so that 'bane' may become 'bae-dn', 'lheim' is 'l-yibm' and 'lhong' is 'lug-ng'. whilst 'farrane' can be 'fa-radn'. As a rule words are stressed on the first syllable, but the next syllable can take the stress if it contains a long vowel: thus 'cláshtyn' but 'arráne'

In connexion with Manx pronunciation, it is worth mentioning that the system of representing sounds in writing is full of inconsistencies, and there can be no guarantee that words of different meanings but sounding the same will be written similarly; in fact, there seems to have been a policy to ensure that they were not! Thus 'lieh', 'lheh' sound like 'l-yay', 'olley', 'ollay' are both 'awla' and 'leigh': 'leih' represent a sound between 'lay' and 'lie'.