# Help me with pronunciation of velarized and palatalized consonants, like in Irish

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-pronunciation-of-velarized-and-palatalized-consonants-like-in-irish/919390>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 30, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-pronunciation-of-velarized-and-palatalized-consonants-like-in-irish/919390 "2020-08-30T19:01:02Z")\
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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-pronunciation-of-velarized-and-palatalized-consonants-like-in-irish/919390/1 "2020-08-30T19:01:02Z")

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I’ve been trying to learn how to pronounce Irish properly, or as properly as I can. As I have mentioned in other threads, I’m fascinated by the distinction between palatalized and velarized consonants in Irish.

I’ve worked out some of them, but others are difficult. Are there resources that delve into this topic that would help me get it right?

Now, I know from Johanna that in Irish itself, some of the phonemes have drifted, so that the realizations aren’t “truly” or literally the velarized and palatalized consonants, but I want to learn how to do velarization and palatalization accurately, and not take the “easy” way out, such as substituting /ʃ/ for /sʲ/. I’m not just trying to learn Irish pronunciation, but to strengthen my understanding of how these sounds work.

So, here are the ones I think I’ve more or less mastered:

velarized _T_ - [/t̪ˠ/]  
palatalized _T_ - [/tʲ/] (usually taught as /t͡ʃ/)

velarized _D_ - /d̪ˠ/]/ (usually taught as /d/)  
palatalized _D_ - /dʲ/ (usually taught as /d͡ʒ/)  
velarized, lenited _D_ - /ɣ/

velarized, lenited _C_ /x/  
palatalized, lenited _C_ - /ç/

velarized, lenited _G_ - /ɣ/

velarized, lenited _M_ - /w/  
palatalized, lenited _M_ - /βʲ/ (usually taught as /v/)

Ones that I think I’m starting to get, but not quite sure. I often have trouble moving between sounds, especially from one type of consonant to another type:

velarized _P_ - [/pˠ/]  
palatalized _P_ - [/pʲ/]  
velarized, lenited _P_ - [/ɸˠ/] (usually taught as /f/)  
palatalized, lenited _P_ - /ɸʲ/ (usually taught as /f/)

velarized _B_ - [/bˠ/]  
palatalized _B_ - [/bʲ/]  
velarized, lenited _B_ - [/wˠ/] (usually taught as /w/)  
palatalized, lenited _B_ - /βʲ/ (usually taught as /v/)

palatalized, lenited _D_ - /ʝ/

velarized _C_ - /kˠ/  
palatalized _C_ - /kʲ/

velarized _G_ - /gˠ/  
palatalized _G_ - /gʲ/  
palatalized, lenited _G_ - /ʝ/

velarized _F_ - /ɸˠ/ (usually taught as /f/)  
palatalized _F_ - /ɸʲ/ (usually taught as /f/)

velarized _S_ - /sˠ/ (usually taught as /s/)

velarized _N_ - /n̪ˠ/  
palatalized _N_ - /nʲ/

velarized _L_ - /lˠ/ or /ɫ/?  
palatalized _L_ - /lʲ/ (usually taught as /l/)

Ones I’m still having a lot of trouble with. Differing combinations of having trouble figuring out the mouth positioning, having trouble distinguishing the sounds:

velarized _M_ - /mˠ/  
palatalized _M_ - /mʲ/