There are four chapters in Part I. This chapter sketches the approach to the phonology and explains some terms such as ‘underlying form’, ‘derivation’, ‘surface form’ and the distinction between ‘major’ and ‘minor’ rules. In Chapter 2 there is a brief general account of the syllable, how it may be arranged and how the accent is distributed. Chapter 3 deals with vowels and their development in certain circumstances and Chapter 4 discusses the treatment of semi-vowels and consonants.

The approach

While Part I deals with the sounds of Irish and how they change and are affected by their environment, there are inevitably innumerable minor differences from locality to locality in the actual phonetic realization of particular sounds. The account, however, is concerned with a more abstract level in order to attempt to describe the relationship within the underlying sound system and in doing so to specify the outstanding differences between the major dialects. (For a distinctive feature analysis of the Irish sound system see Ó Siadhail and Wigger 1975:14.)

The approach to the various phonological rules is a dynamic one and hence naturally the order in which they apply can be of importance. This means that the ordering of these rules is often adverted to in the course of the discussion. The distribution or the order in which a particular rule applies is often what constitutes a difference between the major dialects.