> I have a few more questions if you can take the time:
>
> #1 When responding with "sure" or "certainly" I've heard both
> cinnte and go deimhin. What is the difference, and how would I use
> them appropriately ?
Use Cinnte the same way you would use sure or certainly in English - one
word in response to someone's request: Ba mhaith liom cuppa tae -- Cinnte
(I'd like a cup of tea -- certainly), or in two words in response to a
comment with which you agree: Tá lá breá inniu -- Tá, cinnte (It's a fine
day, today -- Yes, certainly).
> #3 My two language courses pronounce 'pint' (pionta) quite
> differently. One course, which is supposed to be Connacht pronounces
> it 'pinta'. My Munster course says something like 'feeont'. Is that
> possibly correct?
Yes, depending on context. The Ulster course has it pronounced punta or
funta. The differences are which vowel the speaker chooses to pronounce
(the
i or the o) and the context. The dialectical pronunciations are common in
other languages, like American English, where Ice Cream (Ayss Kreem) can
also be pronounced Ahss Kree-um, or barrow cane be either BARE-oh or
BAR-uh.
Pinta, peeont or punta is used when there is only one of them, finta,
feeont
or funta if there are 2 to 5 of them, and (brace yourself) binta beeont or
bunta for six to ten of them. The numbers 2 thru 5 cause lenition, numbers
six thru ten cause eclipsis. These initial mutations are common throughout
the language and are quite disturbing to us scholars of Romance languages
wherein the letters and their pronunciations don't change much, if at all.
Slán tamall
Liam
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