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Irish initial mutations
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{{Short description|Word initial consonantal sound changes in Irish}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{more citations needed| date=April 2017}} {{IPA-ga notice}} [[File:Castle Street signs, Strabane, January 2010.JPG|thumb|An Irish language sign which displays an inflected form of the word {{Lang|ga|Caisleán}} "castle" with a mutated {{vr|c}}.]] [[Irish language|Irish]], like all modern [[Celtic languages]], is characterised by its initial [[consonant mutation]]s.<ref name=conroy-thesis>{{Cite thesis|type=B.A.|author=Kevin M. Conroy|publisher=[[Boston College]]|title=Celtic initial consonant mutations - nghath and bhfuil?|url=https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:102094/datastream/PDF/view|date=April 2008|access-date=April 4, 2017}}</ref> These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specific [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] and [[syntax|syntactic]] conditions. The mutations are an important tool in understanding the relationship between two words and can differentiate various meanings. Irish, like [[Scottish Gaelic]] and [[Manx language|Manx]], features two initial consonant mutations: [[lenition]] ({{Langx|ga|séimhiú}} {{IPA|ga|ˈʃeːvʲuː|}}) and [[Wiktionary:eclipsis|eclipsis]] ({{Lang|ga|urú}} {{IPA|ga|ˈʊɾˠuː|}}) (the alternative names, ''[[aspiration (linguistics)|aspiration]]'' for lenition and ''[[nasalisation]]'' for eclipsis, are also used, but those terms are misleading). Originally these mutations were phonologically governed external [[sandhi]] effects: lenition was caused by a consonant being between two vowels, and eclipsis when a [[nasal consonant|nasal]] preceded an [[obstruent]], including at the beginning of a word. Irish also features t-[[prothesis (linguistics)|prothesis]] and h-prothesis, related phenomena which affect vowel-initial words. See [[Irish phonology]] for a discussion of the symbols used on this page. {{TOC limit|4}}
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