How do you pronounce the lenited s below? Sorry, I don't have my reference materials on me. Thanks!

Shcuab mé

S doesn't ever lenite before c. Cá bhfaca tú seo?

(Message edited by Domhnaillín_Breac_na_dTruslóg on February 19, 2009)

You don't! S doesn't get lenited if it's followed by c, m, p or t. You can remember that "scallions smell spicy in stew."

"S" is only lenited when followed by a vowel, an "l", an "r", or an "n".

So, "I swept" is Scuab mé.

Cá bhfaca tú seo?

Tá sé anseo!

http://www.verbix.com/cache/webverbix/30/scuab.shtml

Sin a tharlaíonn nuair a tugtar cuid de na rialacha do ríomhaire!

Gheobhaidh tú i gceart é ar an bhfoclóir beag

http://www.csis.ul.ie/scripts/focweb/Exe/focloir.exe

Grma, a Aonghus.

Sin a tharlaíonn nuair a tugtar cuid de na rialacha do ríomhaire!

"That's what happens when ... part of the computer rules have a go?" Ní thuigim! As Béarla mas é do thoil é?

"When the rules are only partially working" ?

HINTS:

cuid = some
tugtar = tabhair + autonomous = to give + autonomous = one gives; they give; are given

You lenit initial consonants in Irish, not initial clusters, that's all there is to it. Consonant + l, n, and r let you lenit the first consonant as they are treated liek vowels, so the rule still holds

PS I can't log into my account anymore so this might be the end of my postings for a while...

Having board problems?

Caoimhín

tugtar	are given
cuid de	a portion of
na rialacha	the rules
do ríomhaire	to a computer

Verbix, as I understand it, uses a limited amout of rules to auto generate verb tables. Looks like they missed some of the rules.

Incomplete data in, garbage out!

Remember you don't lenite ''SCallions SMell SPicy in STew''.

Abigail and Trigger,

What about words beginning with "sf" like sféar and sfioncs? I didn't think those were lenitable either. Am I mistaken?

If not, you might need to amend your mnemonic to something to "SCallions SMell SPicy in SFagnum STew". ;-)

I wonder are there any such words in SF that are not transliterations of foreign (greek or latin) words? I can't think of any.

True enough, a Aonghuis. There are only about 14 terms altogether starting with SF in Ó Dónaill and de Bhaldraithe, all loanwords, as you say (and none in Dineen!)

Not worth bothering about, really, but for the record they wouldn't be lenited, is that correct?

I suppose so. I can't think how one would.

Anyway, the rule that says that you don't lenite s when it is followed by m, t, p, c, f has this exception: in some Munster dialects, s may be lenited before m.
See 'Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne' by Ó Sé, p57:

tá sí imithe ó shmacht
sin é an fear a shmachtaigh í
shméid sé air
tá an spéir ag fáil ana-shmeartha

The page does warn that it is a guess based on similar kinds of words. If Verbix doesnt know the verb it conjugates it based on how other similar words have been entered into its verb datebase.

Note on page.
Warning! The verb you entered does not exist in Verbix verb database. The conjugations may not be accurate.

"Having board problems? "

Thanks Caoimhin, not now. For some reason I could not reset. I gave it a few days, and it works now


I recall an exmaple in the O'Quiggin book where natives were contrasting /N'/ and /n'/ in 'sn' clusters, for example, [sN'axt@] vs [sn'axt@'. I don't know the context. My books are all in transit as I moved to a different city today (I hope they all arrive...)