A Chairde:

With the broad "ch" does a "T" as in aíocht, aíochta effect the "ch" in the sense of hardening it to a "kh" sound?

I am also think of bru/cht, which I believe is pronounced something like brookh in some dialects, at least that's what irish-speaking friends in clare/galway area have mentioned when I showed them the old Brooklyn slang for a massive hangover or DTs Bru/cht lionn baitheas.

Also in the phrase...

éiteachas aíocht

éiteachas aíochta?

Does the "T" have any effect on the broad "ch?" Is it silent in speech.

go raibh maith agaibh

danny c

In central and northern Tír Chonaill, -cht is commonly pronounced more or less like -rt. Everywhere else it is pronounced as the spelling implies: -cht [xt]. In all the Irish dialects, -ch- is always broad in the cluster -cht, even when the -t is slender:

fear bocht [f´ar boxt]
bás an fhir bhoicht [ba:s эN´ ir´ woxt´]
an fear is boichte [э f´ar эs boxt´э]

The -i- in such words means only that the -t is slender; it has nothing to do with the pronunciation of the -ch- nor of the vowel preceding the cluster:
bhoicht — bhoch-t´
boichte — boch-te

(Message edited by Peadar_Ó_Gríofa on May 02, 2005)

In North-Eastern Donegal (Ros Goill), the -ch before t is almost not heard, but it makes the preceding vowel long, so they pronounced bocht as bót, aíochta as aíota etc.

A chairde:
I am very grateful for your help with my long search for the sanas of the dread "86" (being denied service in a saloon) and the equally dreaded "Brooklyn Boys," which is what the DTs were called in the old lingo of the NYC saol luim.

Go raibh mi/le maith agaibh.


Dan Cassidy