Editing Scottish Gaelic (section)

==Phonology==
{{Main|Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography}}

Most varieties of Gaelic show either eight or nine vowel qualities ({{IPA|/i e ɛ a ɔ o u ɤ ɯ/}}) in their inventory of vowel [[phonemes]], which can be either long or short. There are also two [[reduced vowel]]s ({{IPA|[ə ɪ]}}) which occur only in their short versions. Although some vowels are strongly nasal, instances of distinctive [[nasalized vowel|nasality]] are rare. There are about nine [[diphthong]]s and a few [[triphthong]]s.

Most consonants have both [[palatal]] and non-palatal counterparts, including a very rich system of [[liquid consonant|liquid]]s, [[nasal stop|nasal]]s and [[trill consonant|trill]]s (i.e. three contrasting "l" sounds, three contrasting "n" sounds and three contrasting "r" sounds). The historically voiced stops {{IPA|[b d̪ ɡ]}} have lost their voicing, so the phonemic contrast today is between unaspirated {{IPA|[p t̪ k]}} and aspirated {{IPA|[pʰ t̪ʰ kʰ]}}. In many dialects, these stops may however gain voicing through secondary articulation through a preceding nasal, for examples {{lang|gd|doras}} {{IPA|[t̪ɔɾəs̪]}} "door" but {{lang|gd|an doras}} "the door" as {{IPA|[ən̪ˠ d̪ɔɾəs̪]}} or {{IPA|[ə n̪ˠɔɾəs̪]}}.

In some fixed phrases, these changes are shown permanently, as the link with the base words has been lost, as in {{lang|gd|an-dràsta}} "now", from {{lang|gd|an tràth-sa}} "this time/period".

In medial and final position, the aspirated stops are [[preaspiration|preaspirated]] rather than postaspirated.