Lenition

Lenition is an Initial Consonant Mutation which "weakens" (cf. Latin lenis 'weak') the sound of the consonant at the beginning of a word. It is used to mark certain morphological contrasts and to mark inflection. It is also inaccurately known as aspiration (which is the term used for a phonological phenomenon involving a burst of air). We will use the more accurate term lenition here.

Orthographic Changes

For most letters, lenition is indicated by putting an <h> after the first consonant in the word. For example, when the word caora 'sheep' follows the feminine article a' , it is lenited and is written a' chaora.

The consonants written <l, n, r>, when subject to lenition (see below), show no orthographic change.

Phonological Changes

Stops

Radical	Lenited	Example (radical)	Example (lenited)
[pʰ]	[f]	paileat [pʰaiʎəʰt̪] 'a pilot'	aig a' phaileat [ɛg̊ʲ ə faiʎəʰt̪] 'at the pilot'
[b̊]	[v]	bodach [b̊ɔd̪̊ax] 'an old man'	a bhodaich [ə vɔd̪̊ɪç] 'old man (voc.)'
[t̪ʰ]	[h]	tuathanach [t̪ʰuəhənax] 'a farmer'	a thuathanaich [ə huəhənɪç] 'farmer (voc.)'
[tʲʰ]	[h]	teachdaire [tʲʰɛxg̊ɪɾʲə] 'a messenger'	a theachdaire [ə hɛxg̊ɪɾʲə] 'messenger (voc.)'
[d̪̊]	[ɣ]	duine [d̪̊uɲə] 'a man'	a dhuine [ə ɣuɲə] 'man (voc.)'
[d̊ʲ]	[ʝ]	Diùrachh [d̊ʲuːɾax] 'a Jura-man'	a Dhiùraich [ə ʝuːɾɪç] 'Jura-man (voc.)'
[kʰ]	[x]	cailleach [kʰaʎax] 'an old woman'	aig a' chailleach [ɛg̊ʲ ə xaʎax] 'at the old woman'
[kʲʰ]	[ç]	ceannaiche [kʲʰan̪ˠɪçə] 'a salesman'	a cheannaiche [ə çan̪ˠɪçə] 'salesman (voc.)'
[g̊]	[ɣ]	gobha [g̊o.ə] 'a smith'	a ghobha [ə ɣo.ə] 'smith (voc.)'
[g̊ʲ]	[ʝ]	gille [g̊ʲiʎə] boy'	a ghille [ə ʝiʎə] 'boy (voc.)'

Fricatives

Radical	Lenited	Example (radical)	Example (lenited)
[f]	null	Frangach [fɾaŋgax] 'a Frenchman'	a Fhrangaich [ə ɾaŋgɪç] 'Frenchman (voc.)'
[s̪]	[h]	suipear [s̪uʰpəɾ] 'supper'	do shuipear [d̪̊ə huʰpəɾ] 'your (sg.) supper'
[ʃ]	[h]	seòladair [ʃɔːɫ̪əd̪̊ɪɾʲ] 'a sailor'	a sheòladair [ə hɔːɫ̪əd̪̊ɪɾʲ] 'sailor (voc.)'

Sonorants

Radical	Lenited	Example (radical)	Example (lenited)
[m]	[ṽ]	math [ma] 'good (masc.)'	mhath [ṽa] 'good (fem.)'
[n̪ˠ]	[n]	nasg [n̪ˠasg̊] 'a link'	a nasg [ə nasg̊] 'his link'
[ɲ]	[n]	nighean [ɲiː.an] 'a daughter'	a nighean [ə niː.an] 'his daughter'
[ɫ̪]	[l]	latha [ɫ̪a.a] 'a day'	a latha [ə la.a] 'day (voc.)'
[ʎ]	[l]	leabhar [ʎɔːɾ] 'a book'	a leabhair [ə lɔːɾʲ] 'book (voc.)'
[rˠ]	[r]	ruith [rˠuç] 'run (imperative)'	ruith [ɾuç] 'ran'

Restrictions

Initial <sp>, <st>, <sg>, and sometimes <sn> (depending upon the dialect) do not undergo lenition.

Lenition Triggers

Lenition is a pervasive feature of Gaelic morphology, and there is no simple way to characterise the environments in which lenition appears. Nevertheless, it is possible to list the diverse environments that trigger lenition. In the following list, the environments are sorted by the part of speech of the lenited word.

• Lenition on verbs:
  • triggered by the negative particle cha(n)
  • triggered by the negative interrogative/subordinating particle nach
  • triggered by past tense particles (do/null)/(do) dh’
  • triggered by the relative particle a

• Lenition on nouns:
  • triggered by some forms of the definite article an/a’
  • triggered by some possessive agreement markers
  • triggered by some prepositions
  • triggered by the numerals aon ‘one’ and dhà ‘two’
  • realises some number/case inflection on nouns
  • obligatory on right-hand member of some compounds
  • triggered by some derivational prefixes

• Lenition on adjectives:
  • triggered by intensifiers glè ‘very’, ro ‘too’, and fior ‘truly’
  • realises gender/number/case inflection on adjectives

See Also

• Initial Consonant Mutations
• Initial Consonant Mutation (definition)
• Nasalization

References

Cram, David (1975). Grammatical and phonological conditioning of initial mutations in Scottish Gaelic. Leuvense Bijdragen 64: 363-375.

Gillies, William (1993). Scottish Gaelic. In The Celtic Languages (Martin J. Ball and James Fife, eds.): 145-227.

Hamp, Eric P. (1951). Morphophonemes of the Keltic mutations. Language 27: 230-247.

Lieber, Rochelle (1983). New developments in autosegmental morphology: consonant mutation. Proceedings of WCCFL 2: 165-175.

Oftedal, Magne (1962). A morphemic evaluation of the Celtic initial mutations. Lochlann 2: 93-102.

Pyatt, Elizabeth (1997). An Integrated Model of the Phonology and Syntax of Celtic Mutations. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.

Rogers, Henry (1972). The initial mutations in modern Scots Gaelic. Studia Celtica 7: 63-65.

Stewart, Thomas W. (2004). Mutation as Morphology: Bases, Stems, and Shapes in Scottish Gaelic. Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University.