Editing Openai/69186d20-2d14-8013-b9c6-c09000f173f6 (section)

=== Assistant: 2511142019ET ===
251114_2019ET

right, my “p is plain /p/” phrasing was sloppy in an Irish context. Let’s clean this up.

===== - For b, c, d, f, g, l, m, n, p, r, s, t (and their lenited forms bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh, th): > =====
* The one real exception in the system is h: - /h/ basically doesn’t participate in broad vs slender. - Orthographic th, sh etc. may be “broad vs slender” in spelling, but the /h/ itself is just /h/ (or ∅).

So when I said “p is plain /p/” in ceapaire, I really meant “broad /pˠ/ without any interesting palatal colour to talk about in that moment.” It was careless wording.

===== Use the vowels in the same syllable (this is “caol le caol, leathan le leathan” made explicit): =====
# Identify the consonant (or digraph) you’re classifying. - E.g. c, bh, l, t, etc.
# Look at the nearest written vowel(s) belonging to the same syllable. - If that vowel is e or i → the consonant is slender. - If it’s a, o, or u → the consonant is broad.
# If there are vowels on both sides (mixed): - For word-initial consonants: the following vowel usually decides. - ceapaire: c before e → slender /cʲ/. - For word-final consonants: the preceding vowel usually decides. - úll: ú before ll → broad /l̪ˠ/. - Medial stuff: often split: - caife: - c before a → broad /kˠ/ - f before e → slender /fʲ/ - fáilte: - l is slender because of i; - t is slender because of e, even though you mostly hear [tʲə].
# “Silent” e/i still count. - Even if you don’t hear a full vowel, i/e that’s only there to mark quality still makes the consonant slender: - sailéad: that i exists to make l slender. - fáilte: i, e are largely “colouring” vowels for l, t, but they do define slenderness.

===== In Irish terms: =====
* “Plain” = “broad”, for almost all consonants.
* The only segment you should think of as neither broad nor slender in your mental model is /h/.

So for ceapaire:
* c = slender /cʲ/ (because of e)
* p = broad /pˠ/ (both sides effectively broad) – I called it “plain” but that’s just broad without anything interesting going on
* r = slender /ɾʲ/ (because of the following i in ceapairí etc.), etc.

If you want, we can go through a dozen concrete words (esp. your Duolingo list) and label every consonant B vs S so you can see the system play out.