s

(Suil, willow-tree) the 16^th letter of the Gaelic alphabet now in use. It has two sounds — 1^st small like sh, in sheet, when in the same syllable it is preceded or followed by i or e, as, bris, break; sèimh, quiet; sniomh, twine; stéidh, foundation. 2^nd broad, like s in sun, this, in all other situations. Exceptions — is, am, (pron. iss); so, this, (pron, sho and accordingly spelt seo in this work); sud, yon, (pron. shoot and accordingly spelt siud in this work). S when aspirated is like h in him, as, shuidh, sat (pron. hooie); shrann, snorted (hrawn — aw as ow in brown). Before l and n, sh is almost, if not altogether silent, as, shlànaich, healed; shniomh, twisted. S, followed by a mute consonant is never aspirated. S, when preceded by the letter t with a hyphen is silent, as an t-sluaigh, of the people (pron. an tlooay). 'S in expressions such as “'s e seo an duine,” is sounded as sh. The slender sound of s heard in Arran in ìseal (ìosal, low) and treise (treasa, stronger), esan, (pron. eisean), piseir (peas), uirsinn (door-post), deis (ready), dìlis (faithful), faileis (shadow). There is no s sound in Arran and Kintyre in the combinations rd and rt, as, bòrd, mart, cairt &c. In rtl, neither s nor l is heard as, ceirtle, fairtlich. An-seo, an-sin, an-siud are sometimes pronounced an t-seo, an t-sin, an t-siud and sometimes ann a-seo, ann a-sin, ann a-siud; and ann an-seo, ann an-sin, ann an-siud. Initial sr has no inserted t, as, srath, sruth (not strath, strath), except strac (to tear) stràc, (to stroke) and strùb (a spout). Some dialects, on the contrary, have strath, stròn &c but srac and srùb. Before l followed by a slender vowel, as, slighe, sleamhuinn, s has its sh sound and not, as in some districts, its broad sound.

Seall an duilleag thùsail / View Original Page