Talk:Liathach

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Scotland Mid‑importance

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Definitely my favourite mountain in Scotland.

In case readers can't read the phonetic script, "Liathach" is pronounded "Leah-gach", with the "ch" a gutteral "ch", not the usual English "ch".

The article oversells the central ridge somewhat. An Teallach is far worse! I'd advise walkers to avoid the main by-pass path; it is very scary. Anyway, each pinnacle (except the '30 foot wall') has its own minor by-pass path, but over most there is always an easy route, avoiding the nasty bits. The famed '30 foot wall', near the western end of the pinnacles, is not the least bit daunting going up, but if you are doing it from the west, you will have to descend it 'face in'. Not difficult if you are used to this; frightening if not. My advice is to do it east to west if you are new to this sort of thing.

Anyway, a truly magnificent mountain! Only An Teallach rivals it.

Rosa Lichtenstein (talk) 15:21, 19 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As has been pointed out to me, my observations depend on summer conditions. In winter, Liathach is a lethal mountain if you do not know what you are doing, and are ill-prepared. An Teallach is even worse.

Rosa Lichtenstein (talk) 05:50, 21 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There are now some great videos of Liathach at YouTube. I have collected many together here:

http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?pi=0&ps=20&sf=&sa=0&sq=&dm=0&p=10ECD5AD6750B1A8

Rosa Lichtenstein (talk) 12:51, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've never heard it pronounced Leah-gach, there's certainly no 'g' sound, there isn't really a true 'g' sound in Gaelic anyway, 'g' is usually pronounced more like 'k', as with most Gaelic, there are lots of different spellings for subtle variations in pronunciation, most spellings seem to relate more to the formation of the sound than how it is heard. In the case of 'th' there are a number of options on pronunciation from almost 't' to almost silent 'hh' to simply influencing pronunciation of the following vowel. In the case of Liathach, I noticed yesterday on a sign by the road heading round to Shieldaig the pronunciation listed on this page of Lee-ach. I (from only the next loch north) have always pronounced it Lee-a-tach and have always heard it pronounced that way. I suppose both are valid. Remember there is considerable variation in pronunciation of Gaelic between Skye and mainland West Coast and indeed anywhere else. Also there is often considerable freedom in the case of 'th','bh' and 'mh' as to how they are pronounced. 86.157.198.60 (talk) 01:25, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's what the phonetics on the page say too - you're right, the Leah-gach was just nonsense. Akerbeltz (talk) 08:36, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, if you check out the Munro Show (by Muriel Gray), the Gaelic expert - Sorley Maclean - pronounces this word as I have indicated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFV9nmnsMxw

Rosa Lichtenstein (talk) 14:14, 3 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No he doesn't, he says that a local pronunciation has a velar fricative [ɣ] instead of hiatus [.] or [ʰ]. But as a rule, Wikipedia indicates general pronunciation, not local pronunciations. The problem is that - whatever the language - our ears usually try to map strange sounds to the nearest known equivalant and in your case your ears try to map [ɣ] to [g] :)

I'll try to make some audio for this page when I can steal some time. Akerbeltz (talk) 15:39, 3 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, thanks for that, Akerbeltz, but I was merely responding to the claim that the individual who replied to me had never heard it pronounced that way (and to your claim that it was 'nonsense'). Now, whatever policy Wikipedia adopts concerning pronunciation, or he/she/you have, I personally prefer the local pronunciation.

Finally, it wasn't me who introduced the 'g', Sorley Maclean did. Want to accuse him of 'nonsense'?

Rosa Lichtenstein (talk) 03:36, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I was brought up on the estate between Torridon and Kinlochewe in the 80's, everyone in the area I heard saying it's name, pronounced it with a very distinctive G. To put it into English sounding phonetics English phonetics, it sounded mostly like; lee-uh-guh. Granted, I probably heard it said most by my father who was English, but people in both nearby villages used to say it the same way.

Gav Smith (talk) 21:45, 3 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]