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

=== Assistant: 2511131933ET ===
251113_1933ET

===== For native Irish consonants, the practical answer is: =====

: 
* Broad = velarized/backed (ˠ), driven by nearby a, o, u.
* Slender = palatal(ized) (ʲ), driven by nearby e, i.
* This is baked into the spelling system; it’s not optional.

The only clear “neither” case in the normal inventory is:
* h: it’s just /h/ (or zero after lenition), no broad/slender contrast.

Some things that sound neutral to your ear but are still classed as one or the other under the hood:
* bh, mh: can be /v/, /w/, or just lengthening of a vowel; the broad/slender distinction is often weak acoustically, but spelling still fixes one.
* English loans (job, bus, club etc.): speakers often approximate broad/slender in a way that’s not super consistent, but standard spelling tends to force them into the system once “Gaelicized”.

So: for s, t, d, n, l, r, p, b, m, f, c, g, treat them all as broad or slender according to the surrounding vowels. There is no third “plain” category in the native system.

===== This is the real key bit: in Irish, “sh vs s” is just slender vs broad s. =====
* Broad s (with a/o/u) → [s̪ˠ] (dental-ish “s”)
* Slender s (with e/i) → typically [ʃ] (or something very close, e.g. [ɕ])

So the quick rule:

: 

====== 1. Before e or i → usually slender → [ʃ]: ======
* sí “she” → /ʃiː/
* seo “this” → /ʃɔ/
* sin “that” → /ʃɪnʲ/
* seacht “seven” → /ʃaxt̪ˠ/ (here the e is more about slender s; the following a makes ch broad)
# Before a, o, u with no slender vowel nearby → broad → [s̪]:
* salach “dirty” → /ˈs̪ˠal̪ˠəx/
* solas “light” → /ˈs̪ˠɔl̪ˠəsˠ/
* suan “slumber” → /ˈs̪ˠuən̪ˠ/
# Clusters with c, t, p:
* Before e/i, the whole cluster tends to be slenderish → [ʃ]-like: - scéal “story” → /ʃeːl̪ˠ/ - spéir “sky” (in dialects) → often /ʃpeːɾʲ/ - stíobhard “steward” → often /ʃtʲuːəɾˠd̪ˠ/
* Before a/o/u, they stay broad: - scornach “throat” → /ˈs̪ˠkɔɾˠn̪ˠəx/ - sparán “purse” → /s̪ˠpəˈɾˠaːn̪ˠ/
# sh (lenited s) is not [ʃ]; it’s /h/ or zero:
* mo shiopa “my shop” → /mə ˈhɪopə/ or /mɪ ˈopə/ depending on dialect.
* So plain s gives you [s]/[ʃ] via broad/slender; sh is a different animal.

====== You asked earlier about “mixed nearest vowels.” sean is a nice one: ======
* sean “old” → usually [ʃan̪ˠ]
* Spelling: s e a n - s sees e (slender) on its right → slender → [ʃ] - n sees a (broad) → broad → [n̪ˠ]

So you can indeed get slender s → [ʃ] adjacent to broad n in the same word. That’s “mixed” at the word level, but each consonant individually still obeys the broad/slender rule.

===== - For practical purposes, all consonants except h are broad or slender; there isn’t a “neither” class in native Irish. If it looks neutral, it’s usually just your English parser talking. =====
* s is [ʃ] exactly when it’s slender, which you read off the spelling: - closest relevant vowel(s) are e/i → [ʃ] - closest relevant vowel(s) are a/o/u → [s̪]
* Don’t let sh fool you: that’s lenition → /h/ or zero, not the “sh” you know from English.

If you want, next step we can take a mini list (seomra, sean, saor, siúr, sasana, spúnóg, scian, cos, is, leis) and just label each s as broad/slender and [s̪]/[ʃ], and you’ll see the pattern pop right out.