Let’s learn how to pronounce a famous Irish historical motto. This phrase is often used by promoters of the Irish language to this very day.
The phrase is Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam /cheer gon chon-ga, cheer gon on-um/, which means “A country without a language is a country without a soul.”
Tír /cheer/ means country.
Gan /gon/ means without.
Teanga /chon-ga/ means language, tongue (including the body part).
Anam /on-um/ means soul.
This phrase is usually attributed to Pádraig Mac Piarais, the gaelicised version of his name, also known as Patrick Pearse. He was an educator, barrister, poet, writer, and Irish nationalist revolutionary who was executed following the 1916 Easter Rising. This motto, however, may be older than that.
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