Hi,
I recall a post asking about why one can find younger speakers in Connacht and Donegal with 3-way distinctions for n and l, and why not 2, as in Munster.

Well looking at the books, it seems that Irish likes to have at least 2 palatised consonants on duty, but what happens in Muster is that /ŋ/ comes in and does the job of /ɲ/, perhaps due to been nearly home-organic, but a linguist would be better to ask about that.


More Northen
bʷa(i)ŋə

bʷɑ(i)ɲə

Munster
bʷa(i)ŋə

The brakets are for the glide; the little i wont show up on the screen

Coinneall and binne, both with a slender nasal (Ring irish)

I'm not clever enough to understand this but I thought that some of you linguistic sorts might think it was interesting and that Barney might appreciate it being stuck back at the top again.

Thank you for bumping it back up.

Maybe he will have learnt the difference from his laethanta saoire. I dont know if he is still interested, though!