Editing Old Irish (section)

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
The [[consonant]] inventory of Old Irish is shown in the chart below. The complexity of Old Irish phonology is from a four-way split of phonemes inherited from Primitive Irish, with both a [[fortis and lenis|fortis–lenis]] and a "broad–slender" ([[velarization|velarised]] vs. [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalised]]) distinction arising from historical changes. The sounds {{IPA|/f v θ ð x ɣ h ṽ n l r/}} are the broad lenis equivalents of broad fortis {{IPA|/p b t d k ɡ s m N L R/}}; likewise for the slender (palatalised) equivalents. (However, most {{IPA|/f fʲ/}} sounds actually derive historically from {{IPA|/w/}}, since {{IPA|/p/}} was relatively rare in Old Irish, being a recent import from other languages such as Latin.)

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[nasal stop|Nasal]]
! {{small|broad}}
| {{IPA|m}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|N&nbsp;&nbsp;n}}
| {{IPA|ŋ}}
|
|-
! {{small|slender}}
| {{IPA|mʲ}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|Nʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;nʲ}}
| {{IPA|ŋʲ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|broad}}
| {{IPA|p&nbsp;&nbsp;b}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|t&nbsp;&nbsp;d}}
| {{IPA|k&nbsp;&nbsp;ɡ}}
|
|-
! {{small|slender}}
| {{IPA|pʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;bʲ}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|tʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;dʲ}}
| {{IPA|kʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;ɡʲ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|broad}}
| {{IPA|f&nbsp;&nbsp;v}}
| {{IPA|θ&nbsp;&nbsp;ð}}
| {{IPA|s}}
| {{IPA|x&nbsp;&nbsp;ɣ}}
| {{IPA|h}}
|-
! {{small|slender}}
| {{IPA|fʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;vʲ}}
| {{IPA|θʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;ðʲ}}
| {{IPA|sʲ}}
| {{IPA|xʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;ɣʲ}}
| {{IPA|hʲ}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Nasalization|Nasalized]] <br/>fricative
! {{small|broad}}
| {{IPA|ṽ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|slender}}
| {{IPA|ṽʲ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
! {{small|broad}}
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|R&nbsp;&nbsp;r}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|slender}}
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|Rʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;rʲ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[lateral consonant|Lateral]]
! {{small|broad}}
|
| colspan="2"| {{IPA|L&nbsp;&nbsp;l}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|slender}}
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|Lʲ&nbsp;&nbsp;lʲ}}
|
|
|}

Some details of Old Irish [[phonetics]] are not known. {{IPA|/sʲ/}} may have been pronounced {{IPA|[ɕ]}} or {{IPA|[ʃ]}}, as in Modern Irish. {{IPA|/hʲ/}} may have been the same sound as {{IPA|/h/}} or {{IPA|/xʲ/}}. The precise articulation of the fortis [[sonorant]]s {{IPA|/N/, /Nʲ/, /L/, /Lʲ/, /R/, /Rʲ/}} is unknown, but they were probably longer, [[tenseness|tenser]] and generally more strongly articulated than their lenis counterparts {{IPA|/n/, /nʲ/, /l/, /lʲ/, /r/, /rʲ/}}, as in the Modern Irish and Scottish dialects that still possess a four-way distinction in the [[coronal consonant|coronal]] [[nasal consonant|nasals]] and [[lateral consonant|laterals]]. {{IPA|/Nʲ/}} and {{IPA|/Lʲ/}} may have been pronounced {{IPA|[ɲ]}} and {{IPA|[ʎ]}} respectively. The difference between {{IPA|/R(ʲ)/}} and {{IPA|/r(ʲ)/}} may have been that the former were [[trill consonant|trills]] while the latter were [[flap consonant|flaps]]. {{IPA|/m(ʲ)/}} and {{IPA|/ṽ(ʲ)/}} were derived from an original fortis–lenis pair.

===Vowels===
Old Irish had distinctive [[vowel length]] in both [[monophthong]]s and [[diphthong]]s. Short diphthongs were [[mora (linguistics)|monomoraic]], taking up the same amount of time as short vowels, while long diphthongs were bimoraic, the same as long vowels. (This is much like the situation in [[Old English]] but different from [[Ancient Greek]] whose shorter and longer diphthongs were bimoraic and trimoraic, respectively: {{IPA|/ai/}} vs. {{IPA|/aːi/}}.) The inventory of Old Irish long vowels changed significantly over the Old Irish period, but the short vowels changed much less.

The following short vowels existed:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! colspan="2" | Monophthongs
! colspan="2" | Diphthongs
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA|i}}
| {{IPA|u}}
| {{IPA|ĭu}}
|
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA|e}}
| {{IPA|o}}
| {{IPA|ĕu}}
| {{IPA|(ŏu)}}<sup>1</sup>
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" align="center" | {{IPA|a}}, ({{IPA|æ ~ œ}}?)
| colspan="2" align="center" | {{IPA|ău}}
|}

<sup>1</sup>The short diphthong {{IPA|ŏu}} likely existed very early in the Old Irish period, but merged with {{IPA|/u/}} later on and in many instances was replaced with {{IPA|/o/}} due to paradigmatic levelling. It is attested once in the phrase {{lang|sga|i r'''ou'''th}} by the ''prima manus'' of the [[Würzburg Glosses]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Diphthongs of Old Irish|author=David Greene|year=1976|journal=Ériu|volume=27|pages=26–45|jstor=30007667}}</ref>

{{IPA|/æ ~ œ/}} arose from the u-infection of stressed {{IPA|/a/}} by a {{IPA|/u/}} that preceded a palatalized consonant. This vowel faced much inconsistency in spelling, often detectable by a word containing it being variably spelled with {{vr|au, ai, e, i, u}} across attestations. {{lang|sga|Tulach}} "hill, mound" is the most commonly cited example of this vowel, with the spelling of its inflections including ''tulach'' itself, ''telaig'', ''telocho'', ''tilchaib'', ''taulich'' and ''tailaig''. This special vowel also ran rampant in many words starting with the stressed prefix {{lang|sga|air-}} (from Proto-Celtic ''*ɸare'').<ref>Stifter, David (1998). "Old Irish ²fén 'bog'?" ''Die Sprache'' '''40'''(2), pp.&nbsp;226-228.</ref><ref>Qiu, Fangzhe (2019). "Old Irish aue 'descendant' and its descendants". ''Indogermanische Forschungen'' '''124'''(1), pp.&nbsp;343–374</ref>

Archaic Old Irish (before about 750) had the following inventory of long vowels:

:{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! colspan="2" | Monophthongs
! colspan="2" | Diphthongs
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA|iː}}
| {{IPA|uː}}
| {{IPA|iu}}
| {{IPA|ui}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA|e₁ː, e₂ː}}<sup>1</sup>
| {{IPA|o₁ː}}, ({{IPA|o₂ː}}?)<sup>2</sup>
| {{IPA|eu}}
| {{IPA|oi}}, ({{IPA|ou}})<sup>3</sup>
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|aː}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|ai, au}}<sup>3</sup>
|}

<sup>1</sup>Both {{IPA|/e₁ː/}} and {{IPA|/e₂ː/}} were normally written {{vr|é}} but must have been pronounced differently because they have different origins and distinct outcomes in later Old Irish. {{IPA|/e₁ː/}} stems from Proto-Celtic *ē (< PIE *ei), or from ''ē'' in words borrowed from Latin. {{IPA|/e₂ː/}} generally stems from [[compensatory lengthening]] of short *e because of loss of the following consonant (in certain clusters) or a directly following vowel in [[hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]]. It is generally thought that {{IPA|/e₁ː/}} was higher than {{IPA|/e₂ː/}}.{{sfn|Kortlandt|2007|p=8}} Perhaps {{IPA|/e₁ː/}} was {{IPA|[eː]}} while {{IPA|/e₂ː/}} was {{IPA|[ɛː]}}. They are clearly distinguished in later Old Irish, in which {{IPA|/e₁ː/}} becomes {{vr|ía}} (but {{vr|é}} before a palatal consonant). {{IPA|/e₂ː/}} becomes {{vr|é}} in all circumstances. Furthermore, {{IPA|/e₂ː/}} is subject to ''u''-affection, becoming {{vr|éu}} or {{vr|íu}}, while {{IPA|/e₁ː/}} is not.

<sup>2</sup>A similar distinction may have existed between {{IPA|/o₁ː/}} and {{IPA|/o₂ː/}}, both written {{vr|ó}}, and stemming respectively from former diphthongs (*eu, *au, *ou) and from compensatory lengthening. However, in later Old Irish both sounds appear usually as {{vr|úa}}, sometimes as {{vr|ó}}, and it is unclear whether {{IPA|/o₂ː/}} existed as a separate sound any time in the Old Irish period.

<sup>3</sup>{{IPA|/ou/}} existed only in early archaic Old Irish ({{circa}}700 or earlier); afterwards it merged into {{IPA|/au/}}. Neither sound occurred before another consonant, and both sounds became {{vr|ó}} in later Old Irish (often {{vr|ú}} or {{vr|u}} before another vowel). The late {{vr|ó}} does not develop into {{vr|úa}}, suggesting that {{vr|áu}} > {{vr|ó}} postdated {{vr|ó}} > {{vr|úa}}.

Later Old Irish had the following inventory of long vowels:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! colspan="2" | Monophthongs
! colspan="2" | Diphthongs
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA|iː}}
| {{IPA|uː}}
| {{IPA|iu, ia}}
| {{IPA|ui, ua}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA|eː}}
| {{IPA|oː}}
| {{IPA|eu}}
| {{IPA|oi?}}<sup>1</sup>
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|aː}}
| colspan="2" |
|}

<sup>1</sup>Early Old Irish {{IPA|/ai/}} and {{IPA|/oi/}} merged in later Old Irish. It is unclear what the resulting sound was, as scribes continued to use both {{vr|aí}} and {{vr|oí}} to indicate the merged sound. The choice of {{IPA|/oi/}} in the table above is somewhat arbitrary.

The distribution of short [[vowel]]s in [[stress (linguistics)|unstressed]] [[syllable]]s is a little complicated. All short vowels may appear in absolutely final position (at the very end of a word) after both broad and slender consonants. The front vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/i/}} are often spelled {{vr|ae}} and {{vr|ai}} after broad consonants, which might indicate a retracted pronunciation here, perhaps something like {{IPA|[ɘ]}} and {{IPA|[ɨ]}}. All ten possibilities are shown in the following examples:

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Old Irish
! Pronunciation
! English
! Annotations
|-
| {{lang|sga|marba}}
| {{IPA|/ˈmarv'''a'''/}}
| kill
| [[Grammatical person|1]] [[grammatical number|sg.]] [[subjunctive mood|subj.]]
|-
| {{lang|sga|léicea}}
| {{IPA|/ˈLʲeːɡʲ'''a'''/}}
| leave
| 1 sg. subj.
|-
| {{lang|sga|marbae}}
| {{IPA|/ˈmarv'''e'''/}} ({{IPA|[ˈmarv'''ɘ''']?}})
| kill
| 2 sg. subj.
|-
| {{lang|sga|léice}}
| {{IPA|/ˈLʲeːɡʲ'''e'''/}}
| leave
| 2 sg. subj.
|-
| {{lang|sga|marbai}}
| {{IPA|/ˈmarv'''i'''/}} ({{IPA|[ˈmarv'''ɨ''']}}?)
| kill
| 2 sg. [[indicative mood|indic.]]
|-
| {{lang|sga|léici}}
| {{IPA|/ˈlʲeːɡʲ'''i'''/}}
| leave
| 2 sg. indic.
|-
| {{lang|sga|súlo}}
| {{IPA|/ˈsuːl'''o'''/}}
| eye
| [[genitive case|gen.]]
|-
| {{lang|sga|doirseo}}
| {{IPA|/ˈdoRʲsʲ'''o'''/}}
| door
| gen.
|-
| {{lang|sga|marbu}}
| {{IPA|/ˈmarv'''u'''/}}
| kill
| 1 sg. indic.
|-
| {{lang|sga|léiciu}}
| {{IPA|/ˈLʲeːɡʲ'''u'''/}}
| leave
| 1 sg. indic.
|}

The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables, other than when absolutely final, was quite restricted. It is usually thought that there were only two allowed phonemes: {{IPA|/ə/}} (written {{vr|a, ai, e, i}} depending on the quality of surrounding consonants) and {{IPA|/u/}} (written {{vr|u}} or {{vr|o}}). The phoneme {{IPA|/u/}} tended to occur when the following syllable contained an *ū in [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] (for example, {{lang|sga|dligud}} {{IPA|/ˈdʲlʲiɣ'''u'''ð/}} "law" (dat.) < PC *''dligedū''), or after a broad [[labial consonant|labial]] (for example, {{lang|sga|lebor}} {{IPA|/ˈLʲev'''u'''r/}} "book"; {{lang|sga|domun}} {{IPA|/ˈdoṽ'''u'''n/}} "world"). The phoneme {{IPA|/ə/}} occurred in other circumstances. The occurrence of the two phonemes was generally unrelated to the nature of the corresponding Proto-Celtic vowel, which could be any monophthong: long or short.

Long vowels also occur in unstressed syllables. However, they rarely reflect Proto-Celtic long vowels, which were shortened prior to the deletion (syncope) of inner syllables. Rather, they originate in one of the following ways:
*from the late resolution of a [[hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]] of two adjacent vowels (usually as a result of loss of *s between vowels);
*from [[compensatory lengthening]] in response to loss of a consonant ({{lang|sga|cenél}} "kindred, gender" < *''cenethl''; {{lang|sga|du·air-chér}} "I have purchased" < *''-chechr'', preterite of {{lang|sga|crenaid}} "buys"{{sfn|Thurneysen|1946|p=79}});
*from assimilation of an unstressed vowel to a corresponding long stressed vowel;
*from late compounding;
*from lengthening of short vowels before unlenited {{IPA|/m, N, L, R/}}, still in progress in Old Irish (compare {{lang|sga|erríndem}} "highest" vs. {{lang|sga|rind}} "peak"{{sfn|Thurneysen|1946|p=32}}).

===Stress===
Stress is generally on the first syllable of a word. However, in verbs it occurs on the second syllable when the first syllable is a [[clitic]] (the verbal prefix {{lang|sga|as-}} in {{lang|sga|as·beir}} {{IPA|/asˈberʲ/}} "he says"). In such cases, the unstressed prefix is indicated in grammatical works with a following [[interpunct|centre dot]] ({{vr|·}}).