"Tìoraidh an-dràsta, Fhearghais."

Translation: Bye just now, Fergus.

[MeredithMc350484]

Why in this instance is there not an "a" in there? "Tìoraidh an-dràsta, a Fhearghais."

[PatriciaJH]

So the vocative "a" causes lenition, but when you lenite Fearghas it becomes Fhearghais, but the Fh is silent, so it's pronounced 'ear[e]ghais but that's a vowel sound, and you can't have two of those together, so there's no "a".

Same as there's no vocative "a" before ollaim or athair, sort of. HTH.

[Dorothy146333]

I'm confused too...

[ffaammtt]

Still sounds like Erraroosh, no matter how many times I play it.

[joannejoanne12]

The fh is silent, and there is an a sound between the r and the gh. So you're hearing it correctly :)

[silmeth]

And to add a bit of International Phonetic Alphabet to this, Am Faclair Beag gives the pronunciations of Fearghas as /fɛrɛɣəs/ (the vowel /ɛ/ is a bit more open /e/, that is it’s closer to /a/ but not as close as /æ/ eg. in English cat – but the exact vowel might depend on dialect) – since fh is silent and Fhearghais has slenderized ending the expected pronunciation would be /ɛrɛɣəʃ ~ ɛrɛɣɪʃ/ – which is exactly the transcription for the surname MacFhearghais. :)

[ffaammtt]

Thanks joannejoanne and silmeth. And the gh, phonetically ɣ as silmeth transcribes, should sound like an r? Or?

[silmeth]

If you know the sound ch /x/ (eg. in loch – both in Gaelic and in Scots/English with Scottish pronunciation) – then gh /ɣ/ is the same but voiced.

It’s pronounced with the tongue in the same position as with /ɡ/ but it is a fricative and not a stop – instead of blocking the airflow entirely as in /ɡ/ you let it through with just a bit of friction to say /ɣ/. The same way ch /x/ is just a fricative with the same place of articulation as /k/.

It is kinda similar to French R [ʁ] (also used in German) but not entirely the same – as in [ɣ] the tongue touches soft palate (it is a velar consonant) while in [ʁ] the tongue touches uvula farther back in the throat (it’s uvular).

[ffaammtt]

Ah thanks, yes I get the sound now, a voiced fricative, and can even hear it in what she says. I remember hearing this on a video but it sounded harder. Between the 2 vowels I suppose it softens a bit. I heard it as 2 'r's because it sort of flicks from a Scottish 'r' towards almost a French one.

[Raibeart5]

I thought the accent was supposed to fall on the first syllable of Gaelic words, as in FHEARghais, but this speaker sounds like he's accenting the second syllable. Does the location of the accent vary depending on the dialect?

[FiferWD]

If anyone sees this post, please reply. I think that I am having a problem with Duo and cant find help.

[silmeth]

I do see your post and I have gotten a notification about it, so everything seems fine. :)

[FiferWD]

Thanks VERY much Silmeth, I guess they just don't show up for a while. this has been driving me nuts. Even our coffee pot timer has been gaining 4 hours a day! 8~)

I'm really enjoying this course. I feel that, in addition to learning the language, I am also learning so much about language.
Yrs,
Bill Deutermann

[ChrisJMac]

"By just now" is not something anyone would say in English, so this is a pretty weird translation. "By for now" is pretty standard. Is "by just now" some kind of regional expression?