Editing Openai/69186d20-2d14-8013-b9c6-c09000f173f6 (section)

=== Assistant: 2511131813ET ===
251113_1813ET

tl;dr: there’s a reasonably systematic mapping for Caighdeán + Connacht-ish Irish, but short vowels and digraphs get messy. I’ll give you a high-probability learner chart: long vowels are quite regular; short vowels less so; diphthongs mostly ia / ua.

==== Here “main spellings” = most common in stressed syllables. ====

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Heuristic for long vowels:
* Fada = long almost always.
* If there’s no fada but a “weird” digraph in a stressed syllable (eo, ae, ao, ua, ia), assume it probably codes a single long(ish) vowel or diphthong.

==== These are the ones you’re seeing most in your basic phrases. ====

===== Common spellings (stressed): =====
* i before slender consonants: fir /fʲɪɾʲ/, sin /ʃɪnʲ/
* ui in many words: tuig /t̪ˠɪɟ/, uisce /ˈɪʃcə/
* sometimes oi: oileán /ˈɪlʲaːn̪ˠ/ (varies dialectally)

===== - e: ceist /cɛʃtʲ/, leabhair /ˈlʲɛu̯əɾʲ/ (Connacht) =====
* ea in some dialects/words: often /a/ in others; bean /bʲan̪ˠ/ vs other ea-words as /ɛ/
* ei occasionally: leis (dialect variation)

You should treat e/ea/ei before slender consonants as “likely /ɛ/” until a specific word proves otherwise.

===== - a: bainne /ˈbˠanʲə/, maith /mˠah/, fear (dialects /fʲaɾʲ/ or /fʲarˠ/) =====
* ai: often just /a/ in words like maith, bainne; here the i is mainly a slender marker.
* ea: often /a/ in common words: bean /bʲan/, ceann /can̪ˠ/

So: a, ai, ea can all give you /a/ depending on the word.

===== - o in stressed syllables before broad consonants: dorcha /ˈd̪ˠɔɾˠəxə/ =====
* sometimes a + broad environment in certain dialects / historical forms, but for learner purposes: think o before broad = “short o /ɔ/”.

===== - u before broad consonants: dubh /d̪ˠʊvˠ/, dul /d̪ˠʊl̪ˠ/ =====
* sometimes o in specific words, but that’s rarer for beginners.

===== - Practically any vowel letter can spell /ə/ when unstressed: - bainne final e /ˈbˠanʲə/ - maith has no explicit schwa, but maith + endings will show it - agat /ˈaɡət̪ˠ/ – the second a is effectively /ə/ =====

So rule of thumb:

: 

==== In Standard + Connacht-ish it’s safest to treat only a small set as real diphthongs for now; a lot of other written V+V sequences are phonemic monophthongs. ====

===== - ia: fiacail /ˈfʲiəkəlʲ/, ciall /ciəl̪ˠ/ (dialect), riail /ˈɾʲiəlʲ/ =====
* sometimes ío + schwa sequences in some dialects, but ia is the big one.

===== - ua: fuar /fuəɾˠ/, suas /suəsˠ/, buachaill /ˈbuəxəlʲ/ =====

You’ll also see other spellings that may be diphthongal in some dialects, but you can treat them as monophthongs in Standard:
* ao: often /iː ~ eː/ depending on dialect.
* eo, io, ea: often /oː, oː, a/ or /eː/ depending on word/dialect.

For a clean learner system:

: 

==== - Dia /ˈdʲiə/: /iə/ → ia ====
* duit /d̪ˠɪtʲ/: /ɪ/ → ui
* caife /ˈkafʲə/: /a/ → a, final /ə/ → e, i mostly slenderizes f
* bainne /ˈbˠanʲə/: /a/ → ai, final /ə/ → e
* Cáca /ˈkˠaːkə/: /aː/ → á, final /ə/ → a
* go /ɡə/: /ə/ → o (unstressed)
* raibh /ɾʲɛvʲ/: /ɛ/ → ai here
* maith /mˠah/: /a/ → ai (i slenderizes underlying t)
* agat /ˈaɡət̪ˠ/: /a/ → a, /ə/ → a
* Tae /t̪ˠeː/: /eː/ → ae
* siúcra /ˈʃuːkɾˠə/: /uː/ → ú, final /ə/ → a

==== If you want a fast mental model rather than full chaos: ====
* Long vowels: - Fada: í, é, á, ó, ú → /iː, eː, aː, oː, uː/. - ae, eo, ao, ua, ia usually long(ish) single vowels or diphthongs.
* Short stressed (high-prob guesses): - i, ui, oi → /ɪ/ - e, ea, ei (before slender) → /ɛ/ - a, ai, ea → /a/ - o (before broad) → /ɔ/ - u (before broad) → /ʊ/
* Unstressed: - Any vowel letter in an unstressed syllable tends to → /ə/.
* True diphthongs to really care about early: - ia → /iə/, ua → /uə/.

Everything else you treat as “look up this word; orthography is doing history + broad/slender at the same time.”