Seeing Speech: Teangannan na Gàidhlig

Teangannan na Gàidhlig / Gaelic Tongues

Teangannan na Gàidhlig is an ultrasound tongue imaging resource revealing midsagittal tongue movement during the production of Gaelic and English words and phrases. The data for this project were collected in autumn 2018 by Claire Nance, Department of Linguistics and English language, Lancaster University. Other project members include Sam Kirkham (Lancaster) and the videos were created by Di Wang (Lancaster) with help from Eleanor Lawson (Queen Margaret University). Learn more about ultrasound imaging of the tongue.

We would like to thank BBC Alba, Radio nan Gàidheal, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the Bridge Centre Stornoway, and the Heb Hostel for their help in collecting these data. The project was funded by a Lancaster University Early Career Small Grant, and the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account with support from Marsaili MacLeod, University of the Highlands and Islands

The two speakers here are adults in their 30s who grew up in Gaelic-speaking homes on the Isle of Lewis. They use Gaelic professionally and as part of their daily lives. You will hear slight differences in pronunciation between the two speakers. This is because they grew up in slightly different parts of Lewis, and also due to individual variation. The English sounds are produced by the same bilingual speakers.

In Gaelic, there are three different lateral phonemes (‘l’ sounds), three different rhotic phonemes (‘r’ sounds), and three different nasal phonemes (‘n’ sounds). Each sound has a palatalised, velarised, and plain phoneme. We can show these in the International Phonetic Alphabet as follows: laterals: / l̪ʲ l̪ˠ l /, rhotics: / rʲ rˠ r /, nasals: / n̪ʲ n̪ˠ n /. In these videos you can filter by primary articulation (lateral/rhotic/nasal) and by secondary articulation (palatalised/velarised/plain). There is a lot of variation in how these sounds are realised, in particular in the Gaelic rhotics, where you will hear taps, trills, approximants and fricatives. You will also notice that the Gaelic vowel quality is significantly affected by secondary articulations (palatalisation/velarisation/plain).

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Word	Meaning	Language	Sex	Consonant	Secondary articulation	Syllable position	Vowel
air an latha	on the day	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Initial	a
air an latha	on the day	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Initial	a
ann an Liurbost	in Leurbost	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Initial	u
ann an Liurbost	in Leurbost	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Initial	u
as fheàrr	best	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Final	a
as fheàrr	best	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Final	a
bàir	goal	Gaelic	Female	r	Palatalised	Final	a
bàir	goal	Gaelic	Male	r	Palatalised	Final	a
bar	bar	English	Female	r	NA	Final	a
bar	bar	English	Male	r	NA	Final	a
beer	beer	English	Female	r	NA	Final	i
beer	beer	English	Male	r	NA	Final	i
càil	anything	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Final	a
càil	anything	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Final	a
caill	lose	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Final	a
caill	lose	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Final	a
càl	cabbage	Gaelic	Female	l	Velarised	Final	a
càl	cabbage	Gaelic	Male	l	Velarised	Final	a
ceann	head	Gaelic	Female	n	Velarised	Final	a
ceann	head	Gaelic	Male	n	Velarised	Final	a
cinn	heads	Gaelic	Female	n	Palatalised	Final	i
cinn	heads	Gaelic	Male	n	Palatalised	Final	i
cùl	back	Gaelic	Female	l	Velarised	Final	u
cùl	back	Gaelic	Male	l	Velarised	Final	u
cur	putting	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Final	u
cur	putting	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Final	u
cùrr	corner	Gaelic	Female	r	Velarised	Final	u
cùrr	corner	Gaelic	Male	r	Velarised	Final	u
dàil	delay	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Final	a
dàil	delay	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Final	a
dil	gravel	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Final	i
dil	gravel	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Final	i
dùn	fort	Gaelic	Female	n	Plain	Final	u
dùn	fort	Gaelic	Male	n	Plain	Final	u
far	where	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Final	a
far	where	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Final	a
fìon	wine	Gaelic	Female	n	Plain	Final	i
fìon	wine	Gaelic	Male	n	Plain	Final	i
fìor	really	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Final	i
fìor	really	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Final	i
fir	men	Gaelic	Female	r	Palatalised	Final	i
fir	men	Gaelic	Male	r	Palatalised	Final	i
fuil	blood	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Final	u
fuil	blood	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Final	u
gàir	laugh	Gaelic	Female	r	Palatalised	Final	a
gàir	laugh	Gaelic	Male	r	Palatalised	Final	a
glan	clean	Gaelic	Female	n	Plain	Final	a
glan	clean	Gaelic	Male	n	Plain	Final	a
guin	arrow	Gaelic	Female	n	Palatalised	Final	u
guin	arrow	Gaelic	Male	n	Palatalised	Final	u
lap	lap	English	Female	l	NA	Initial	a
lap	lap	English	Male	l	NA	Initial	a
latha	day	Gaelic	Female	l	Velarised	Initial	a
latha	day	Gaelic	Male	l	Velarised	Initial	a
leabaidh	bed	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Initial	a
leabaidh	bed	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Initial	a
leap	leap	English	Female	l	NA	Initial	i
leap	leap	English	Male	l	NA	Initial	i
linnean	thread	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Initial	i
linnean	thread	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Initial	i
litir	letter	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Initial	i
litir	letter	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Initial	i
Liurbost	Leurbost	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Initial	u
Liurbost	Leurbost	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Initial	u
loop	loop	English	Female	l	NA	Initial	u
loop	loop	English	Male	l	NA	Initial	u
lùb	bend	Gaelic	Female	l	Velarised	Initial	u
lùb	bend	Gaelic	Male	l	Velarised	Initial	u
mil	honey	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Final	i
mil	honey	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Final	i
mo leannan	my darling	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Initial	a
mo leannan	my darling	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Initial	a
mo litir	my letter	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Initial	i
mo litir	my letter	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Initial	i
mo nathair	my snake	Gaelic	Female	n	Plain	Initial	a
mo nathair	my snake	Gaelic	Male	n	Plain	Initial	a
mo nighean	my daughter	Gaelic	Female	n	Plain	Initial	i
mo nighean	my daughter	Gaelic	Male	n	Plain	Initial	i
mo nupair	my spanner	Gaelic	Female	n	Plain	Initial	u
mo nupair	my spanner	Gaelic	Male	n	Plain	Initial	u
mo rabaid	my rabbit	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Initial	a
mo rabaid	my rabbit	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Initial	a
mo rionnag	my star	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Initial	i
mo rionnag	my star	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Initial	i
moor	moor	English	Female	r	NA	Final	u
moor	moor	English	Male	r	NA	Final	u
muir	sea	Gaelic	Female	r	Palatalised	Final	u
muir	sea	Gaelic	Male	r	Palatalised	Final	u
nathair	snake	Gaelic	Female	n	Velarised	Initial	a
nathair	snake	Gaelic	Male	n	Velarised	Initial	a
neach	person	Gaelic	Female	n	Palatalised	Initial	a
neach	person	Gaelic	Male	n	Palatalised	Initial	a
nighean	daughter	Gaelic	Female	n	Palatalised	Initial	i
nighean	daughter	Gaelic	Male	n	Palatalised	Initial	i
niuclasach	nuclear	Gaelic	Female	n	Palatalised	Initial	u
niuclasach	nuclear	Gaelic	Male	n	Palatalised	Initial	u
nuadh	new	Gaelic	Female	n	Velarised	Initial	u
nuadh	new	Gaelic	Male	n	Velarised	Initial	u
pal	pal	English	Female	l	NA	Final	a
pal	pal	English	Male	l	NA	Final	a
peel	peel	English	Female	l	NA	Final	i
peel	peel	English	Male	l	NA	Final	i
piorr	pierce	Gaelic	Female	r	Velarised	Final	i
piorr	pierce	Gaelic	Male	r	Velarised	Final	i
pool	pool	English	Female	l	NA	Final	u
pool	pool	English	Male	l	NA	Final	u
puill	ponds	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Final	u
puill	ponds	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Final	u
rabaid	rabbit	Gaelic	Female	r	Velarised	Initial	a
rabaid	rabbit	Gaelic	Male	r	Velarised	Initial	a
rap	rap	English	Female	r	NA	Initial	a
rap	rap	English	Male	r	NA	Initial	a
reap	reap	English	Female	r	NA	Initial	i
reap	reap	English	Male	r	NA	Initial	i
ri	to	Gaelic	Female	r	Palatalised	Initial	i
ri	to	Gaelic	Male	r	Palatalised	Initial	i
rionnag	star	Gaelic	Female	r	Velarised	Initial	i
rionnag	star	Gaelic	Male	r	Velarised	Initial	i
room	room	English	Female	r	NA	Initial	u
room	room	English	Male	r	NA	Initial	u
rudan	things	Gaelic	Female	r	Velarised	Initial	u
rudan	things	Gaelic	Male	r	Velarised	Initial	u
ruibh	to you	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Initial	u
ruibh	to you	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Initial	u
saill	salt	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Final	a
saill	salt	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Final	a
sìor	eternal	Gaelic	Female	r	Plain	Final	i
sìor	eternal	Gaelic	Male	r	Plain	Final	i
sir	ask	Gaelic	Female	r	Palatalised	Final	i
sir	ask	Gaelic	Male	r	Palatalised	Final	i
sùil	eye	Gaelic	Female	l	Plain	Final	u
sùil	eye	Gaelic	Male	l	Plain	Final	u
sunn	blast	Gaelic	Female	n	Velarised	Final	u
sunn	blast	Gaelic	Male	n	Velarised	Final	u
tàin	cattle	Gaelic	Female	n	Palatalised	Final	a
tàin	cattle	Gaelic	Male	n	Palatalised	Final	a
till	return	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Final	i
till	return	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Final	i
ùill	oil	Gaelic	Female	l	Palatalised	Final	u
ùill	oil	Gaelic	Male	l	Palatalised	Final	u

SEEING SPEECH

Teangannan na Gàidhlig / Gaelic Tongues