IPA with Rob Painter – Online: beginning 19 October 2026

This online evening class will be taught from 19:00 to 20:30 on Monday evenings (six weeks).

Learn the practical skill of using the phonetic alphabet to improve your Gaelic!

The course is an excellent opportunity to study enough phonetics so that students can transcribe and pronounce Gaelic words phonetically. This is a great skill to have in order to learn new Gaelic vocabulary, to notice small differences in pronunciation across Gaelic dialects, and to build confidence in speaking Gaelic.The course will cover a range of topics, such as simple phonetics for language learning; the consonant and vowel sounds of Gaelic and how to transcribe them; common phonetic processes in Gaelic; phonetics of the ‘broad-to-broad, slender-to-slender’ rule (palatalization); stress and intonation in Gaelic. Participants practice phonetic transcription each class and review pronunciation of basic Gaelic words.

This course is open to anyone who is interested in the sounds and pronunciation of Gaelic. Participants are not expected to have any prior knowledge of phonetics or linguistics – this is a course for beginners. At the end of the course, students will have developed practical skills in using the phonetic alphabet to improve their knowledge of Gaelic.

The course is in English, but there are many chances to practice pronouncing Gaelic words and phrases.

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

• write Gaelic words and simple phrases in the International Phonetic Alphabet in a useful, professional way.
• perceive different Gaelic sounds in terms of consonants and vowels.
• notice concepts such as slenderisation, lenition, nasalization, pre-aspiration, and transcribe them.
• be knowledgeable about sounds which are different in words in various dialects.

About Rob Painter

Rob Painter is Professor of Linguistics at Northeastern University in Boston, and often teaches courses on phonetics, morphology, and sociolinguistics at all levels. In another lifetime, he has also taught German and Latin at various schools and colleges. For several summers, in partnership with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Rob has run a study-abroad program in Skye on field techniques for linguists. He is delighted to offer this course for Gaelic learners and native speakers.