I was wondering:

What happens when words like "an" or "i", which are never stressed and pronounced with a schwa, get stressed?
How are they pronounced then?

I think the article "an" is never stressed, nor single prepositions like "i". For me (learnt Donegal Irish), "i" isn't pronounced as a schwa but as [ɪ], or sometimes not heard at all (bhí mé 'nGaillimh, tá mé 'mo chónaí, etc)

"An" is stressed when it is an intensive particle (it isn't the same word as the article then): an-mhaith (stressed on both an and mhaith). The a- is pronounced as a schwa. So you can have schwas in stressed syllables, if that is what you wanted to know ;-)

I think there's a paragraph about that at the very end of an Foclóir Póca (An Gúm).

(Message edited by Lughaidh on December 17, 2005)

"an" or "i" would take the stress in a sentence like "take the preposition i".

Are you sure that stressed schwas are pronounced as schwas?

PS: "an-" = ['a:N] in Learning Irish.

Lughaidh:

schwa = the neutral vowel (for which I use э in this forum)

ash = æ

Are you sure that stressed schwas are pronounced as schwas?

In Ulster Irish at least. Cois Fhairrge Irish has very specific pronounciations for lots of words.

schwa = the neutral vowel (for which I use э in this forum)
ash = æ

I do know what is a schwa...

Insa tsean-am	nsэ t'∫ænαm
ní raibh siad i n-innimh	n'i: ro ∫iэd э N'ïN'ïf'
Sa deireadh anonn i dtrátha an haon o' chlog	sэ d'er'u noN э dræh эn hi:n ò xlog
scairt den chineál seo a fhagháil in am antráthach	sgartэn x'In'αl ∫ò α:l' э Nαm æNtrα:x
thiar i gCúl Chruachlanna	hiэr э gu:l xruэxlэNэ
talamh an-mhaith	taluw ænwαi
Cuireadh isteach i mbád annsin iad	kïr'u ∫d'æh э mα:d n∫in' iэd
bhí sí le hiomradh i n-aghaidh líonta	vi: ∫i: l'è homru э Neijэ L'i:Ntэ

etc.

— Heinrich Wagner, "Gaeilge Theilinn"