In general, short vowels in Irish are all reduced to schwa () in unstressed syllables, but there are some exceptions. In Munster Irish, if the third syllable of a word is stressed and the preceding two syllables are short, the first of the two unstressed syllables is not reduced to schwa; instead it receives a secondary stress, e.g. ('scythe-man'). Also in Munster Irish, an unstressed short vowel is not reduced to schwa if the following syllable contains a stressed or , e.g. ('art'), ('gather'). In Ulster Irish, long vowels in unstressed syllables are shortened but are not reduced to schwa, e.g. ('girl'), ('gallon').
