The aspirate h is not included in any of these divisions[[4]].
OF THE SOUNDS OF THE VOWELS[[5]].
All the vowels are sometimes long, sometimes short. A long vowel is often marked with an accent, especially when the quantity of the vowel determines the meaning of the word; as, bàs death, sàil the heel, càraid a pair, rìs again, mò more, lòn a marsh; which are distinguished by the accent alone from bas the palm of the hand, sail a beam, caraid a friend, ris to, lon the elk.
All the vowels, but especially the broad ones, have somewhat of a nasal sound when preceded or followed by m, mh, n, nn. No vowels are doubled in the same syllable like ee, oo, in English.
In almost all polysyllables, excepting some words compounded with a preposition, the accent falls on the first syllable[[6]]. The other syllables are short and unaccented, and the vowels in that situation have in general the same short obscure sound. Hence it happens that the broad vowels in these syllables are often used indiscriminately.
There are no quiescent final vowels.
A.
A has three sounds.
1. The first is both long and short; long, like a in the English words far, star; as, àr slaughter, àth a ford, gràdh,