Scottish Gaelic orthography has evolved over many centuries and is heavily etymologizing in its modern form. This means the orthography tends to preserve historical components rather than operating on the principles of a phonemic orthography where the graphemes correspond directly to phonemes. This allows the same written form in Scottish Gaelic to result in a multitude of pronunciations, depending on the spoken variant of Scottish Gaelic. For example, the word ('watching') may result in , , , or . Conversely, it allows the sometimes highly divergent phonetic forms to be covered by a single written form, rather than requiring multiple written forms.
Alphabet
The alphabet (Scottish Gaelic: , formerly from the first three letters of the Ogham alphabet) now used for writing Scottish Gaelic consists of the following Latin script letters, whether written in Roman type or Gaelic type:
Vowels may be accented with a grave accent but accented letters are not considered distinct letters. Prior the 1981 Gaelic Orthographic Convention (GOC), Scottish Gaelic traditionally used acute accents on to denote close-mid long vowels, clearly graphemically distinguishing and , and and . However, since the 1981 GOC and its 2005 and 2009 revisions, standard orthography only uses the grave accent. In her review, Ross finds five traditional approaches to the use of diacritics (accent marks) in Scottish Gaelic prior to standardization. Since the 1980s, the acute accent has not been used in Scottish high school examination papers, and many publishers have adopted the Scottish Qualifications Authority's orthographic conventions for their books. First published by the Scottish Certificate of Education Examination Board (SCEEB) in 1981 and revised by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in 2005 and again in 2009. Despite this, traditional spelling is still used by some writers and publishers, although not always intentionally. In the survey (n=103), 48.1% of respondents said they used GOC; 4.7% used "a traditional system"; 16% used a mixture of GOC and traditional orthography in the same text; and 9.4% used a mixture, depending upon context. 18.9% of respondents said they were unsure what orthography they used. Among translators responding, 94.7% used GOC; excluding translators, only 44% consistently used GOC and 23% were unsure what spelling system they used. In Nova Scotia, the 2009 Gaelic language curriculum guidelines follow the 2005 GOC orthography, but do not change the traditional spelling of words and phrases common to Nova Scotia or in pre–spelling-reform literature.
Letter names
The early Medieval treatise ('The Scholars' Primer') describes the origin of alphabets from the Tower of Babel. It assigns plant names and meanings to the Ogham alphabet, to a lesser extent to Norse Younger Futhark runes, and by extension to Latin letters when used to write Gaelic. Robert Graves' book The White Goddess has been a major influence on assigning divinatory meanings to the tree symbolism. (See also Bríatharogam.) Some of the names differ from their modern equivalents (e.g. dair > darach, suil > seileach).
LetterName(s) (meaning)Aa (elm)Bb (silver birch)Cc (hazel)Dd (oak)Ee (aspen)Ff (alder)Gg (ivy)Hh (hawthorn)Ii (yew)Ll (rowan)Mm (vine)Nn (ash)Oo (furze) (spindle)Pp (downy birch)Rr (elder)Ss (willow)Tt (furze)Uu (heather)
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 and "slender" (palatalised) when the nearest vowel letter is one of . A back vowel is one of the following; ; a front vowel is any other kind of vowel.
Letter(s) Phoneme Examples b broad , slender before front vowel, or finally , , before back vowel , , bh between vowels, sometimes , finally, sometimes none , usually broad , slender, before front vowel , slender, before back vowel , see below for when they precede consonants c broad initially, or non-finally after consonant , between vowels , finally after vowel finally after consonant slender initially or after consonant , between vowels , finally after vowel finally after consonant ch broad , slender , chd , cn , d broad , slender , dh in final - none , broad between vowels , elsewhere , , slender between vowels elsewhere , see below for when they precede consonants f broad , slender before front vowel , before back vowel , fh usualnone , exceptionally , , g broad , slender , gh finally, sometimes none* , between vowels * , , elsewhere broad , slender , see below for lengthened when preceding another consonant gn h , l broad , , slender initially, unlenited , initially, lenited , elsewhere , ll broad , slender , m broad , slender before front vowel , before back vowel , mh between vowels, sometimes broad , slender before front vowel , before back vowel , see below for when they precede consonants n broad initially, unlenited , initially, lenited , elsewhere , slender initially, unlenited , initially, lenited , elsewhere, after back vowel , elsewhere, after front vowel , ng broad , slender , nn broad , slender , p broad slender not before back vowel initially or after consonant , , , between vowels , finally after vowel finally after consonant slender before back vowel after consonant, or initially , ph broad , slender before front vowel , before back vowel , r initially, unlenited , initially, lenited , elsewhere broad , slender , rr , -rt, -rd , s broad , slender , sh broad , slender before front vowel , before back vowel , sr, str , t broad initially, or non-finally after consonant , between vowels finally, after vowel finally, after consonant slender initially, or non-finally after consonant , between vowels finally, after vowel finally, after consonant th finally none , , between vowels , , , , initially broad , slender, before front vowel , slender, before back vowel ,
Vowels Many of the rules in this section only apply in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables, the range of vowels is highly restricted, mainly appearing and on occasion . Only certain vowel graphs appear in unstressed syllables: and very infrequently .
Letter(s) Phoneme(s) Examples a unstressed in - in - (when not plural) , , elsewhere , stressed before + vowel or word finally , before + consonant or word finally , , before + consonant or word finally before , elsewhere , , See below for when they precede consonants ai unstressed in - , elsewhere , stressed before + consonant or word finally before + consonant , , before + consonant or word finally before elsewhere , See below for , when they precede consonants à , ài , , ao , aoi before + consonant or word finally , elsewhere , e unstressed , stressed , ea unstressed in - , elsewhere , stressed before finally , before , before + consonant or word finally , before + consonant or word finallybefore , before + vowel, initially , before + vowel, elsewhere , elsewhere , See below for when they precede consonants èa , ei unstressed , stressed before + consonant or word finally , elsewhere , è, èi , , eo , eò, eòi initially , elsewhere , eu before or in literary words , , elsewhere , i unstressed , stressed before + consonant or word finally , elsewhere , ì , ia , , io before + consonant or word finally initially elsewhere , before + vowel , elsewhere , See below for when they precedes consonants ìo , iu initially before , elsewhere , iù, iùi , o before or + vowel , before + consonant or word finally , before + consonant or word finallybefore , elsewhere , , See below for when it comes before consonants oi before or + vowel before + consonant or word finally , elsewhere , , , See below for when they precede consonants ò, òi , , u before + consonant or word finallybefore , , elsewhere , ua, uai before , elsewhere , ui before , before , before + consonant or word finally , before + vowel , elsewhere , See below for when it precedes consonants ù, ùi ,
Vowel-consonant combinations are commonly pronounced as vowels or are deleted if they are followed by a consonant. For example, in the is usually but in the has turned into an vowel, yielding rather than in the first syllable.
Letters Phoneme(s) Examples abh, amh , adh, agh , aidh aigh , eagh eamh , iodh, iogh , ogh , oibh , oigh , oimh , uimh ,
Epenthetic vowels Where an is followed (or in the case of , preceded) by a , an epenthetic vowel is inserted between the two. This is usually a copy of the vowel that preceded the . Examples; , , , , .
If this process would lead to the sound sequence , the epenthetic vowel is an in many dialects, e.g .
Defunct combinations The acute accent is no longer used in standard Scottish Gaelic orthography, although it may be encountered in late 20th century writings, and occasionally in contemporary writings, especially in Canadian Gaelic.
Letter(s) Phoneme(s) Examples á é, éi , ó, ói , ,
Certain spellings have also been regularised where they violate pronunciation rules. "Tigh" in particular can still be encountered in house names and certain place names, notably Tighnabruaich and Eilean Tigh.
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Notes
References
Sources
External links Gaelic Orthographic Conventions (2009), Scottish Qualifications Authority A comprehensive critique of the "New" Gaelic Orthographic Conventions by a fluent speaker, originally published in the Stornoway Gazette