The phonology of the Irish language varies from dialect to dialect; there is no standard pronunciation of Irish. Therefore, this article focuses on phenomena that pertain generally to most or all dialects, and on the major differences among the dialects. Detailed discussion of the dialects can be found in the specific articles: Ulster Irish, Connacht Irish, and Munster Irish.
Consonants[]
Most dialects of Irish contain at a minimum the consonant phonemes shown in the following chart (see International Phonetic Alphabet for an explanation of the symbols). The consonant /h/ is neither broad nor slender.
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| broad | slender | broad | slender | broad | slender | |||
| Stop | voiceless | pˠ | pʲ | t̪ˠ | tʲ | k | c | |
| voiced | bˠ | bʲ | d̪ˠ | dʲ | ɡ | ɟ | ||
| Fricative/ Approximant |
voiceless | fˠ | fʲ | sˠ | ʃ | x | ç | h |
| voiced | w | vʲ | ɣ | j | ||||
| Nasal | mˠ | mʲ | n̪ˠ | nʲ | ŋ | ɲ | ||
| Tap | ɾˠ | ɾʲ | ||||||
| Lateral | l̪ˠ | lʲ | ||||||
Vowels[]
The vowel sounds vary from dialect to dialect, but in general Connacht and Munster at least agree in having the monophthongs /iː/, /ɪ/, /uː/, /ʊ/, /eː/, /ɛ/, /oː/, /ɔ/, /a/, /aː/, and schwa (/ə/), which is found only in unstressed syllables; and the falling diphthongs /əi/, /əu/, /iə/, and /uə/.