ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GROUP -rt IN SCOTTISH GAELIC

T HE consonant systems of the Scottish Gaelic dialects, 1 on account of the manner in which they have evolved, often present interesting contrasts to those of Irish dialects, most notably with regard to the plosive consonants. A recent article by MM airt n O Murchh u (l985:195{ 8) demonstrated how the origins of one particular sound change may sometimes be usefully looked for in the eeects of another, apparently unrelated, change, the instance discussed by him being the possible connection of pre-aspiration with the loss of an historical distinction between inherited fortis and lenis stops in particular dialects. There is no reason to suppose that unusual developments which only aaect consonants when they are members of particular clusters may not likewise be connected with, and indeed, in certain cases, nd their origins in, other sound changes having a more general application in the language. In the case presented below the evolution of the so-calledìntrusive s ' in the historical group-rt is discussed and an origin proposed for this in the context of the historical sound change referred to as pre-aspiration. The appearance of a pre-plosive sibilant in the cluster in question is itself quite widespread in modern dialects of Scottish Gaelic (O Baoill 1978:53{4) and, as a sound change of general application, is quite unknown in Irish dialects, unlike the intrusive-t in sr clusters which is found, but with a diiering distribution pattern, in dialects of northern Irish. 2 From accounts given of the modern realizations of pre-aspiration in the various dialects of Scottish Gaelic it is clear that this may take the form of either`true pre-aspiration' (Borgstrrm l940:21) 3 or else of a consonantal phoneme which has developed between the vowel and the following plosive. This phoneme may appear as a /h/, /x/ or, before a palatal stop, // c/. A parallel development clearly took place where-r-or-l-preceded the plosive, i.e. in the case wherètrue pre-aspiration' existed in a dialect the lateral or vibrant in question would be devoiced as a result, cf. Lewis fL }t] falt (Oftedal 1956:138); in other dialects, however, a fricative consonant could arise between the lateral or vibrant and the following plosive, cf. Barra k 0h rxk] cearc, =Lxk] olc, Nul 0 ck 0 ] an uilc (Borgstrrm l940:168). Where a lateral preceded a dental plosive a fricative consonant would not normally arise, as the lateral would carry 1 I am grateful to David …