Hello, I am new here and would like to know if somone could help me out with this pronunciation. The first word is: "Gealach" The second word" "Leanbh"

From what I have learned so far these two words together would mean: "Moonchild" Is that correct?

Thank you, Brian

I don't know IPA or anything but I can give it a shot.

GAH-lach LAHnv

With an AH as in the english word "ban" or "man" and a neutral vowel sound in the "lach" part.

Also, I believe it would be "leanbh gealach", although I do not know the genitive case of "gealach" so another person will have to tell us that.

Thank you for you reply Drochfhuaimniú. Can someone clarify if it should be "leanbh gealach", or "gealach leanbh"?

Thank you

Moonchild.

If there's only one sole "moon child", as in there was only one "elephant man", then the term "moonchild" would be definite, and hence you would have:

Leanbh na Gealaí
Is ise Leanbh na Gealaí.
She is the moon child.

But if there were a whole colony of moon children and you were simply identifying one of them as being a moon child, then you'd have:

Leanbh Gealaí
Is leanbh gealaí í.
She is a moon child.

Yeah Brian, "Gealach leanbh" would mean "childrenmoon" or the Moon of Children". Don't forget that word order isn't the same in Irish and English.

The pronounciation that Drochfhuaimniú has given is too English-like. There is an important difference in Irish between broad and slender consonants.

Donegal pronounciation of leanbh gealaí (should be the same in Connemara as well):

LYAH-noo GYAH-lee.

Munster pronounciation:

LAH-nuv GYAH-lee.

Gealach
/g'al@x/ never mind about the tiny/non existant glide as it is difficult to distinguish due the palatal g /g'/

Leanbh
/L'(i:)@n@v'/ is the easier, tho slightly artifical way to say it

Leanbh na Gealaí /L(i)@n~@~g'@Li:/ with ~ meaning nasalisation, and with sandhi the word been effectivly 'lean(-)nagealaí' with the 'na' bit also nasalised.

Is ise Leanbh na Gealaí. /isis'@ L(i)@n~@~g'@li:/

One might spell child 'lian~'

or 'lianaibh' or 'lianiv'

there are issues with transcription as a process called sandhi operates in irish to change words internally and externally, and i ahve yet to map them out.

I expect the world awaits with abated breath for my conclusions

"The pronounciation that Drochfhuaimniú has given is too English-like. There is an important difference in Irish between broad and slender consonants."

:(

>Gealach
>/g'al@x/ never mind about the tiny/non existant glide >as it is difficult to distinguish due the palatal >g /g'/

It is not difficult to pronounce nor to hear. It's a bit like the difference between "dew" and "do" in English. Quite not the same pronounciation...


>Leanbh
>/L'(i:)@n@v'/ is the easier, tho slightly artifical way >to say it

>Leanbh na Gealaí /L(i)@n~@~g'@Li:/ with ~ meaning >nasalisation, and with sandhi the word been >effectivly 'lean(-)nagealaí' with the 'na' bit also >nasalised.

>Is ise Leanbh na Gealaí. /isis'@ L(i)@n~@~g'@li:/

>One might spell child 'lian~'

>or 'lianaibh' or 'lianiv'

Where is it pronounced like that? Never heard such.


>"The pronounciation that Drochfhuaimniú has given is >too English-like. There is an important difference in >Irish between broad and slender consonants."

>:(

Sorry... but that's how it is.

"or 'lianaibh' or 'lianiv'
Where is it pronounced like that? Never heard such."

No you have not, but i have: in schools. The /v/ is not pronounced like it should, so I thought i'd use the stronger form /v'/ like in the schools as it is easier to enunciate for beginners...(I know it goes agin good purity...)

">Gealach
>/g'al@x/ never mind about the tiny/non existant glide >as it is difficult to distinguish due the palatal >g /g'/

It is not difficult to pronounce nor to hear. It's a bit like the difference between "dew" and "do" in English. Quite not the same pronounciation... "

Well, /g'/ and /j/ are nearly the same, tongue positon wise, in the system I am basing my transcription on. Yes, there is some off-glide. I compounded the spelling and glide sound, as the tongue goes from /g'/ to a very retracted /e/ to /a/. I still am of the opinion that according to how I were to proununce the spelling above, that the glide is very slight. If one were to choose a very open back vowel, as often used in Conemara, one would get a more pronounced glide (/g'(o)aL@x/)

Perhaps, the Donegal /g'/ phoneme differs to the one I used. Could you give a transcription of how you enunciate it? /g'(e)lax/ ?

I am not satisfied with the sandhi sequecne above tho, as i have yet to define them , so have to listen to them and make a guess.

>Well, /g'/ and /j/ are nearly the same,

As Irish c and ch are nearly the same! But they actually are very different.

>Perhaps, the Donegal /g'/ phoneme differs to the one I used.

as far as I know, the /g’/ phoneme is pronounced the same way in all Irish dialects. It’s a sound symbolised by an upside down f, in the IPA.

>Could you give a transcription of how you enunciate >it? /g'(e)lax/ ?

In NW Donegal we say /g’alah/ (final ch are very weak in NW Donegal, in some dialects they are sometimes silent).

"As Irish c and ch are nearly the same! But they actually are very different."

I never said that /g'/ and /j/ were the same! Or even implied it. There is an obvious distinction.

I make a mistake by confusing the distinction between allophone of /j/ (that occurs more forward, and lower about /i/ or /e/ positions), and the glide.

So something like /g'(j)al@x/ is then what you get. But I got confused by the options and plumped for ignoring it, even when I heard the difference myself.

I made a mistake, rather

Such a completely different language for my mind to get a grasp of. The more I look into my Irish heritage, the deeper I have to peer. It is like the onion peel.

Thank you for helping me with this task!

Regards, Leanbh Gealach (Brian)

>> Regards, Leanbh Gealach (Brian)

Somehow the message didn't get through. "Leanbh Gealach" is a nonsense phrase, not good Irish.

Actually, it means:

Child of Moons
Moon's Child

Just for reference's sake:

nominative singular: gealach
nominative plural: gealacha

genitive singular: gealaí
genitive plural: gealach

> Actually, it means:
>
> Child of Moons
> Moon's Child

Aargh. Ná cuir mearbhall ar do dhuine. Sa chéad dul amach, ní hionann "child of moons" agus "moon's child". Is féidir a rá go bhfuil ciall le "leanbh gealach" mar "moons' child" (féach mar a bhfuil an uaschamóg), ach tá sé sin chomh haisteach céanna i mBéarla agus atá "leanbh gealach" i nGaeilge.

I misplaced that apostraphe -- should've written:

Child of Moons
Moons' Child

To be technical, there's nothing wrong with "Leanbh Gealach", just as there's nothing wrong with "Child of Moons".

You could also have:

Leanbh na nGealach

>Donegal pronounciation of leanbh gealaí (should be the >same in Connemara as well):

>LYAH-noo GYAH-lee.

I'd say it's more common to pronounce leanbh - rather exceptionally though - as LYAH-nah [L'æ:n@] in Connemara.

Regards, Peter

So it looks as though it Would be "Leanbh Gealai" for the phrase "Moon Child" and "Leanbh Gealach" would be "Moon's Child" of "Child of Moons" Is that correct? For it is to be a name for the Zodiac sign Cancer which is also my sign and wanted the name Moon Child as a craft name.

Regards, Brian

"Moon Child" as a craft name would be: Leanbh Gealaí

Thank you for clearing this up for me, it is very much appreciated.

Regards, Brian