Slenderisation

We have seen that for most consonants, there is a broad and slender form, each one representing a separate sound in the language. For any consonant, broad or slender forms frequently alternate at the end of words e.g. cat a cat and cait cats. We say that t in cait is the slenderised form of t in cat; or to put it another way, cait is the slenderised form of cat. A word is slenderised by inserting an i before the last consonant or group of consonants. The i before a final consonant tells us that the letter is to be pronounced differently i.e. as a slender consonant. The change of broad t to slender t is called slenderisation. It is important to note that the process of slenderisation only occurs at the end of words. Slenderisation is used to form the plural form of some nouns. Listen to the difference between:

Basic form	Address form
[ʃeːməs]	Seumas	James/Hamish	[ə heːmɪʃ]	a Sheumais!	James/Hamish!
[dõː.əL]	Dòmhnall	Donald	[ə ɣõː.ɪLʲ]	a Dhòmhnaill!	Donald!
[tɔrɔməd]	Tormod	Norman	[ə hɔrɔmɪdʲ]	a Thormoid!	Norman!