Scottish Gaelic orthography

Scottish Gaelic orthography has evolved over many centuries. Scottish Gaelic spelling is mainly based on etymological considerations.

Due to the etymological nature of the writing system, the same written form may result in a multitude of pronunciations depending on the spoken variant. For example the word coimhead "watching" may result in [kʰõ.ət̪], [kʰɔ̃jət̪], [kʰʷi.ət̪], or [kʰɛ̃.ət̪].

Alphabet

A sample of traditional Gaelic type.

The alphabet now used for writing the Scottish Gaelic language consists of the following letters of the Latin alphabet, whether written in Roman type or Gaelic type:

a à b c d e è f g h i ì l m n o ò p r s t u ù;

Modern loanwords also make use of j k q v w x y z.

From a language internal perspective, the following digraphs are considered single letters:

bh ch dh fh gh ll mh ng nn ph rr sh th

Older manuscripts made use of the acute accent over vowels, but these are no longer used in standard orthography.

Stress

Stress always falls on the first syllable of the word, unless there is mid-word capitalisation or a hyphen in play. Many of the rules in the Vowels section below only apply therefore in the first syllables of words, since the vowels in question take simpler values in unstressed syllables.

Only certain vowel graphs exist in unstressed syllables; a, ai, e, ea, ei and i and very infrequently o, oi, u and ui.

Consonants

The consonant letters generally correspond to the consonant phonemes as shown in this table. See Scottish Gaelic phonology for an explanation of the symbols used. Consonants are "broad" (velarised) when the nearest vowel letter is one of a, o, u and "slender" (palatalised) when the nearest vowel letter is one of e, i. A "back vowel" is one of the following; o(ː), ɔ(ː), ɤ(ː), u(ː), ɯ(ː), a(ː), au; a "front vowel" is any other kind of vowel.

Vowels

Abbreviations used in this table;

• AV = another vowel
• AVON = another vowel or no letter
• ACON = a consonant or no letter

The vowels/consonants in rules relying on the above abbreviations include epenthetic vowels that are not visible in a first glance at the word; see their section below.

Vowel-consonant combinations

Lenited bh, dh, gh, mh are commonly pronounced as vowels or are deleted if they are followed by a consonant. For example, in cabhag the bh is usually /v/ but in cabhlach the bh has turned into an /u/ vowel, yielding /au/ rather than /av/ in the first syllable.

Epenthetic vowels

Where an l, n or r is followed (or in the case of m, preceded) by a b, bh, ch, g, gh, m or mh, an epenthetic vowel is inserted between the two. This is usually a copy of the vowel that preceded the l/n/r. Examples; Alba /aɫ̪apə/, marbh /maɾav/, tilg /tʰʲilikʲ/, arm /aɾam/, iomradh /imiɾəɣ/.

If this process would lead to the sound sequence /ɛɾɛ/, the epenthetic vowel is an /a/ in many dialects. Example; dearg /tʲɛɾak/.

Defunct combinations

The acute accent is no longer used in standard Scottish Gaelic orthography, although it may be encountered in late twentieth century writings, and occasionally in contemporary writings, especially in Canadian Gaelic.

Certain spellings have also been regularised where they violate pronunciation rules. "Tigh" in particular can still be encountered in housenames and certain placenames, notably Tighnabruaich and Eilean Tigh.

• So -> Seo
• Sud -> Siud
• Tigh -> Taigh

Source

• Bauer, Michael Blas na Gàidhlig - The Practical Guide to Gaelic Pronunciation (2011) Akerbeltz ISBN 978-1-907165-00-9

See also

A comprehensive critique of the "New" Gaelic Orthographic Conventions by a fluent speaker, originally published in the Stornoway Gazette