Irish Pronunciation

[_kyri]

I've been doing research on my own surname (which is Irish), and have found an older version of it. I want to use this version for a character (I work at a renaissance festival), but don't know to pronounce it. The name is O'Dulchaointigh, "which comes from the word dulchaointeach, which refers to a satirist". Can anyone help me with this

Comments

[sclez]

Well if my snotty Dublin Gaelscoil Irish is worth anything I'd pronounce that name as 'Oh dull-kwhayeun-tihh' basically, although commonly the 'kwhaye-un' sound of 'chaoin' and the gentle, trailing 'tihh' or 'tee' would be emphasised. Also, the use of 'Ó' is for masculine use. Do you happen to be male or female? For women, it would be 'Ní Dhulchaointigh' which would be 'Knee Gul-kwhaye-un-tee' basically. It's good to keep in mind that the pronounciation of a name varies from provence to provence! I've only given a standardised Munster variant.

Sorry if this isn't much help but I find it hard to type the required throaty sounds that are needed in Irish into words!

[muckefuck]

Níl aon bharúil agam cé acu seicheamh fuaime atá "kwhayeun" ag cur i gcéill.

Is dóigh liom leis go bhfuil easpa siolla amháin ar "dull-kwhayeun-tihh".

[sclez]

I'd reply in Irish but I'm very self-conscious about my spelling ás Gaeilge, especially now that I haven't spoken it regularly in 2 years. D:

Anyway, I wanted to simplify it as much as I could, but yeah ideally there would be a bit of a break between the 'kwhay' and 'eun' so to speak, atleast in my accent anyway, although I understand that 'kwhayeun' is an awkward approximation of 'chaoin'. Perhaps something similar to the sound of 'queen' would have been more appropriate?

Right, I'll try and flex my Irish muscle a bit:

Ach go n-éirí leis an OP an bhlás ceart a chur ar an ainm sin agus a leithéad! Ní raibh an ainm sin fiú ar eolas agam roibh an 'phost' seo! [Tá fíor brón orm faoi chaighdéan mo chúid Gaeilge tar éis dhá Bhliain a cháitheamh san Ollscoil! Is mór an trua é nach bhfuil seans céart agam an téanga álainn seo a úsáid go mhinic na léitheanta seo.]

[muckefuck]

The problem I with "queen" is that it suggests [k], not [x]. Ch in Irish is a fricative identical to German ch or (Castilian) Spanish j. It's really not a hard sound for an English speaker to produce if they only give it a go. After all, I hear Americans pronounce "Bach" correctly all the time; Irish bachall is simply the the same word with an extra syllable tacked on.

Ní haon chúis náire dhuit an caighdéan do chuid Gaeilge. Níl ann ach mionbhotún thall is abhus (m.s. "bhlás" nó "leithéad"). Ach is aisteach liom go mbíonn tú ag cur dhá shiolla ar "chaoin" agus aon cheann idir "dul" agus "chaoin".

[sclez]

Ah, I suppose I underestimated the OP's ability to make that 'ch' sound unfairly. Sorry about that!

Hmm, bfhéidir tá an deacaireacht atá againn anseo níos bunaithe i mo "litríú fuaime"* ná mo bhlás, ach tá seans mór ann go bhfuil Gaeilge ait agam in aon chuir! :D

* I can't recall in English or in Irish what I might describe as sounding out words and spelling them accordingly. Maybe 'phonetics'? I suppose 'sound spelling' will do as a rudimentary substitute!

[muckefuck]

Is "phonetic transcription/litriú foghraíochta" a churfinne air. Agus measaim go dtabharfadh do bhlas cuid deacrachtaí dhom toisc go dtaispeánann do chuid litrithe neamhchaighdeánaigh ná déanann tú go seasta idirdhealú ar leathan agus caol ná ar fada is gearr.

[sclez]

I mo cheantar is minic a bhíonn 'a' fada ráite san fhocal 'blas', cosúil le 'blaws', go háirthe nuair atá séimhiú cuireadh leis, ach creidim gurbh rud ait áitiúil [no fiú pearsanta] é seo, áfach! Tá brón orm má tá mo litriú ait taréis cur isteach ort no taréis tú a chása. Ní raibh mé ríomh an dalta is fearr sa rang Gaeilge in aon chor!

Ach is dóigh liomsa gurbh fíor an rud é nach bhíonn an méad béim céanna cuireadh ar fuaime fada agus gearr i mblas Baile Átha Cliath is a cuirtear i gConamara, mar shampla.

Fiú agus é sin ráite agam, cheapaim go mbéidís in ann mo bhlas a thuiscint, áfach. :)

[muckefuck]

Níl a fhios agam má tá sí tar éis mo chásadh toisc nach aithnid dom an briathar sin! Tá do chuid Gaeilge soléite ach níl mo chuid tuiscint na cainte go maith agus is mór an mearbhall a chuireann dialltaí measartha miona orm.

[sclez]

[Ah, sorry about that! I used 'cásadh' in that context to mean 'confused'. E.g: I hope I haven't 'twisted' you. It's more of an aesthetic use of the word on my part rather than something technically correct so sorry about that! I was hoping it would make sense in context. As you've probably guessed I have a strange manner of speaking in both languages. :p