It is well known that the word 'bainne' (milk) is pronounced differently in Lewis than in other Gaelic speaking areas. Perhaps less well known is that a third variation is found in Barra, as the accompanying map illustrates.

 

It can be seen that the 'banye' version has been by far the most widely used version and, as well as in Skye, can be heard on all other islands apart from the above noted.  The Lewis version ('bonye') is also used in Sutherland, apart from on the west coast.  The change from 'a' to 'e', seen in 'math' and also in 'samradh (see medial 'mh'), is used in Islay but does not seem to be linked to the change as in 'bainne'.  Further south, it will be seen that the Barra version, with the 'e' sound was also used in the Loch Tay area of Perthshire, though here, in common with most eastern Gaelic, the second syllable was not pronounced. The Survey shows that in the word 'baile' (town), the same 'e' sound as in 'bainne' is found in Barra, but not in the other 'e' sounding areas, indicating that the Perthshire 'e' is not directly related to the use of 'e' in Barra. The two 'benye' speakers found in Wester Ross in fact used an 'ae' sound - intermediate between 'a' and 'e'. This illustrates the difficulty found in any system of classification, i.e drawing distinctions between different types of a feature - here  pronunciation - where the reality may well be one of gradual merging.

It is possible that, rather than Lewis Gaelic affecting Sutherland Gaelic - or vice versa - both are a result of external influence, perhaps Viking. The intrusion of the 'a' sound in west Sutherland may be a result of contact spreading along the west coast.

 

 

It can be seen that, with 'gheibh' (will get), the 'io' pronunciation was recorded almost totally on the mainland, apart from a few cases  in proximity to Skye, where, along with the outer islands, excluding Lewis, 'iev' was recorded.  An outlier using 'jev' was recorded in Arran and is referred to in the Discussion. This difference between Arran and the rest of the SW Highlands, is to be seen in several other features e.g. in:

'dall' - in Lengthening and Diphthongisation

'Inverness' - in Consonant Change

'gainmheach' - in Medial 'mh'

and to a less extent in:

'Màiri' - in nasal raising

'rich' - in VocabularyVariations