Here are some quirks of pronunciation. Because there such little audio available to me, the very finest details of pronunciation are impossible to know just yet. This is by no means comprehensive but just a few distinctive features to remember.
The slender r varies across Gaelic dialects but Ossory is unique in having [ʒ] for /r´/. This sound is essentially the same as the g in beige or j in the French word je. This same sound is also found in the dialects of Oileán Chléire and East Galway as an eclipsed/urú form of slender s /s´/. I should also say that this is incredibly similar to the slender r found in speakers particularly from the Dún Chaocháin peninsula in Erris, Co. Mayo.
From the snippet of a recording that I posted earlier, I would say that this sound is produced with the blade of the tongue pressed flatly on the alveolar ridge behind the teeth.
-Slender NN as NG
Just like in Ring, Co. Waterford, slender fortis n /N´/ merged with /ŋ´/ rather than /n´/. This is seen in the words Rinn, linn, tinn or éinne which are pronounced with /ŋ´/ and are often spelled Ring, ling, etc.
-Raised vowels
Many vowels are raised in the presence of a nasal consonant. This is a common shift in many languages. /o:/ often becomes /u:/ such as in the words mór, feirmeoir, tóin etc.
The shift from /a:/ (or /ɑ:/) to /o:/ beside nasals was not something either Pádraig de Paor or 'W'* had but Matthew Byrne did have it such as in the words amháin /ə'vo:n´/, lámh /lɔ:/ and lán /lɔ:n/. Remember that Wagner's transcription is much narrower. This shift was also found in Clare/Thomond.
-ai to aoi
Where the diphthong -ai- is written the vowel is often /i:/ such as in the words caint, crainn, saill, strainséir etc. These words were frequently written with the vowel as -aoi- so caoint /ki:n´t´/, craoing*2 /kri:ŋ´/, saoill /si:l´/, straoinséir /stri:n´s´e:r´/.
-Stress
Stress is generally strong on the final syllable.
-Word final -amh
Final -amh and -(a)bh varies generally and could be either /ə/ and /əv/. Pádraig de Paor had both of these and spelling evidence suggests both too with it likely varying from speaker to speaker and region to region. tala, cúna and leana are attested forms of talamh, cúna and leanbh.
-Word final -th and -ch
When th comes at the end of a word, it is often pronounced /x/ and written ch such as in the words blách for bláth /bla:x/, leach for leath /l´ax/ etc. Sometimes the opposite is done where ch at the end of a word becomes /h/ or is elided. This is seen with gach aon which was /ga he:n/. This is used today in Ring and often spelled ga haon.
-Devoicing of final consonant
Like in Connacht and Ulster, the final consonant is often devoiced. This is mainly found in words ending in a g changing to c in those two provinces however this is done more liberally in Kilkenny with words such as eilic /el´ik´/ for uilig etc. This is never seen with Gaeilig /ge:l´ig´/ which seems to always retains its voiced g.
*Of the three informants referenced in Wagner's Kilkenny material for points 6 and 6a in LASID, there's Matthew Byrne from Tallowbran (point 6), Pádraig de Paor (6a) and a mysterious third informant listed only as 'W' (also 6a).
*2 This spelling is unattested but the pronunciation is taken from LASID Vol. I, page 248. This also works as an example of the second pronunciation feature.
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