A New Irish Language Spelling System

April 3, 2005

One of the nice things about the Irish language is that its spelling is very regular. However for non-Irish speakers some of the pronunciation rules can be confusing.

This is particularly true of some of the lengthened consonants which in the modern spelling are indicated by adding an “h”:

“th” and ”sh” (pronounced /h/)

“bh” and ”mh” (pronounced /w/ or /v/ depending on context)

dh” and ”gh” (pronounced /y/ or a /g/, /h/ mixture depending on context)

“fh” (silent)

I propose that we adopt a new spelling system that is more accessible to non-Irish speakers.

Consonant	Lengthened, In Standard Spelling	Lengthened, In New Spelling	Example
p	ph	f̃	Gaiṽ mo f̃ardún.
t	th	ĥ	Go raiṽ maiĥ agat.
c	ch	k̃	Óik̃e w̃aiĥ.
b (+aou)	bha bho bhu	ŵa ŵo ŵu	An laŵarann tú ...?
b (+ei)	bhe bhi	ṽe ṽi	Sa ṽliain 2005 ...
d (+aou)	dha dho dhu	ĥa ĥo ĥu	Dia ĥuit.
d (+ei)	dhe dhi	ŷe ŷi	rud a ŷéanfaí
g (+aou)	gha gho ghu	ĥa ĥo ĥu	Cuireaĥ ĥá ~oclóir
g (+ei)	ghe ghi	ỹe ỹi	k̃uir an taiỹde seo
m (+aou)	mha mho mhu	w̃a w̃o w̃u	Tá fáilte row̃at.
m (+ei)	mhe mhi	ṽe ṽi	teanga a ṽíniú
s	sh	ĥ	míle bliain ó ĥin
f	fh	~	K̃un treorak̃a a ~áil