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The phonology of the Irish language varies from dialect to dialect; there is no standard pronunciation of Irish. Therefore, this article focuses on phenomena that pertain generally to most or all dialects, and on the major differences among the dialects. Detailed discussion of the dialects can be found in the specific articles: Ulster Irish, Connacht Irish, and Munster Irish. Irish phonology has been studied as a discipline since the late 19th century, with numerous researchers publishing descriptive accounts of dialects from all regions where the language is spoken. More recently, Irish phonology has been the focus of theoretical linguists, who have produced a number of books, articles, and doctoral theses on the topic. One of the most important aspects of Irish phonology is that almost all consonants come in pairs, with one having a "broad" pronunciation and the other a "slender" one. Broad consonants are velarized, that is, the back of the tongue is pulled back and slightly up in the direction of the soft palate while the consonant is being articulated. Slender consonants are palatalized, which means the tongue is pushed up toward the hard palate during the articulation. The contrast between broad and slender consonants is crucial in Irish, because the meaning of a word can change if a broad consonant is substituted for a slender consonant or vice versa. For example, the only difference in pronunciation between the words ('cow') and ('alive') is that is pronounced with a broad ''b'' sound, while is pronounced with a slender ''b'' sound. The contrast between broad and slender consonants plays a critical role not only in distinguishing the individual consonants themselves, but also in the pronunciation of the surrounding vowels, in the determination of which consonants can stand next to which other consonants, and in the behavior of words that begin with a vowel. This broad/slender distinction is similar to the hard/soft one of several Slavic languages, like Russian. The Irish language shares a number of phonological characteristics with its nearest linguistic relatives, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, as well as with Hiberno-English, the language with which it is most closely in contact. ==History of the discipline== Until the end of the nineteenth century, linguistic discussions of Irish focused either on the traditional grammar of the language (issues like the inflection of nouns, verbs and adjectives) or on the historical development of sounds from Proto-Indo-European through Proto-Celtic to Old Irish. The first descriptive analysis of the phonology of an Irish dialect was , which was based on the author's fieldwork in the Aran Islands. This was followed by , a phonetic description of the dialect of Meenawannia near Glenties, County Donegal. is predominantly a historical account, but has some description of modern dialects as well. Alf Sommerfelt published early descriptions of both Ulster and Munster varieties ( and for the village of Torr in Gweedore, for Munster, and for the now extinct dialect of South Armagh). The dialect of Dunquin on the Dingle Peninsula was described by . From 1944 to 1968 the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies published a series of monographs, each describing the phonology of one local dialect: for West Muskerry in County Cork (Ballyvourney, Coolea and vicinity), (first published 1945) for Cois Fhairrge in County Galway (Barna, Spiddal, Inverin and vicinity), for Ring, County Waterford, for Tourmakeady in County Mayo, for Teelin, County Donegal, for Erris in County Mayo. More recent descriptive phonology has been published by for Rosguill in northern Donegal, for Tangaveane and Commeen (also near Glenties), for Iorras Aithneach in Connemara (Kilkieran and vicinity), and for the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. Research into the theoretical phonology of Irish began with , which follows the principles and practices of ''The Sound Pattern of English'' and which formed the basis of the phonology sections of . Dissertations examining Irish phonology from a theoretical point of view include , in optimality theory, and and in government phonology. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Irish phonology」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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