Initial Consonant Mutation (definition)

A phonological phenomena in which the first consonant in a word changes due to its surrounding phonological, morphological, or syntactic environment. In Gaelic, Lenition is the primary initial consonant mutation. It is typically indicated by adding an orthographic h after the first consonant. The phonological effects of lenition are: coronals become debuccalized, stop become fricatives, /f/ deletes, slender sonorants become broad. For example, the adjective mòr /mo:r/ becomes mhòr /vo:r/ after a feminine noun.

See Also

• Lenition
• Eclipsis
• Orthography

External Links

The link below takes you away from the Gaelic Wiki to Wikipedia. Since wikipedia pages can be edited by anyone, they often contain inaccurate information. So be careful!

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant_mutation

References

• Lamb, William (2003) Scottish Gaelic. 2nd edition. Munich: Lingcom Europa