Ok, to avoid sounding like an idiot in case I ever talk so someone who knows anything about whistles, am I pronouncing these right? This is what they look like to me:
Feadog FEE-dog
Susato soo-SAH-toe
Ok, to avoid sounding like an idiot in case I ever talk so someone who knows anything about whistles, am I pronouncing these right? This is what they look like to me:
Feadog FEE-dog
Susato soo-SAH-toe
feadog = fay-DOG
Susato = Hrrnnngg
FA-dogue (as in cat, rogue).
Neener, Bloo. ![]()
Disclaimer, while I have done a small amount of studying the irish language, I still consistantly mess up this pronounciation, and even had people in Ireland laugh at my attempts. One girl in Clare even asked me to say it again, still laughing. sigh
However, I believe that feadóg (the irish word for ‘whistle’) is pronounced something like “FAH-dohg” with the emphasis on the first part, soft “a” sounds (like when you’re supposed to say ahh for the doctor), and the g very faint and soft…
I’d appreciate it if some native speaker would send us all a sound clip though, as I’ve probably got it completely wrong. I’d be happy to host a file.
Nano has it just about right, though the “d” is pronounced like the “th” of “the” in US pronunciation. To avoid confusion about the different ways in which “a” is pronounced in the US, it’s best to point out that it’s closer to the “a” of “far” than some pronunciations of “cat” which come close to “ket”.
There are some regional variations in pronunciation, but the “o” should be regarded as an unstressed but slightly longer vowel. Think of the rhythm of pronunciation as a bar (measure?) with the first syllable represented by an eighth note and the second by a dotted eighth or even a quarter note (hope I’ve got the US terminology right!), i.e. the stressed syllable is shorter than the unstressed one.
Sorry to correct you, Bloomers, but we don’t do mincing dogs.
interesting topic…
I always thought Feadog must sound like…well, /fi:dog/…
now the mystery solved!
Roger, I just started (…an attempt at…) learning on “Teach Yourself Irish” book for about two days now and it says something about “slender and broad” consonants.
Fea-dog
Here d is sandwitched between broad vowels, so I guess this d is a broad consonant as well…so in this case this d is NOT supposed to sound like an ordinary /d/ but like American “th” or somewhat close to Arabic "d. "(the centre of your tongue lowered)?
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You’ll admit though, that fay-dogs sound much more interesting than fa-thogues.
(And I think if jen f goes into a music store, she’ll be well advised to ask for a faydog… ).
Yup, it’s like the Daad character in Arabic. Irish shares with several languages (including Russian and to some extent German - e.g. ich/ach) the feature that consonants and the adjoining vowels influence each other.
In fact, if Irish hadn’t been taught in such a self-ghettoised fashion for generations, people could have been much better at speaking other languages by building on what they learnt in Irish. The complexities of the grammar seem daunting for an English-speaker, but once you’ve mastered them you’re set up to make a fair go of the grammar of any Indo-European language - and it also works the other way. Trouble is, even talking about grammar shows me up as an old fogey.
Better add this to list with bodhran, uilleann for universal mispronunciation.
Because on this list, when you actually say it correctly, people say “Huh??” If you mispronounce, they get it right away.
Ill stick with Improved.
The best thing to do, if you’re asking for these in a music store, is to ask, “Do you carry any tin whistles (or pennywhistles, or Irish whistles)?” and then look at the items they show you, and make your selection.
Since any pronunciation of “Feadog” is likely not to be shared between any two (non-Irish speaking) people, and since even the apparently easy “Susato” has been rendered variously as “soo-sah-toe”, “sow-sah-toe”, and “sah-soo-toe” in my presence, you’re probably better off just reading the labels of whatever instruments they dig up.
Good luck in your search. Please don’t play the Susato anywhere near San Francisco . . .
Bodhrán (note the fada) = Bow-rawn (N.B. bow rhymes with cow)
Uilleann = ill-un or ill-ee-un (depending where you live)
improved = O’Briain ![]()
O’Briain = Oh-bree-ann
BTW, we say Faa-dogue when we sell that whistle and Keynote (who make it) say faa-dogue when we buy it from them - although I agree that the ‘th’ sound is more accurate than the D sound.
Steve
Somehow my post got lost?
When the Irish and the Scots came to America and moved down the Shenandoah valley and into the hills the language changed quite a bit. Jed Clampet of the Beverly Hill Billies provided the definitive appalachian pronunciation, “Whee Doggies”.
Ron