Tringa wrote:From travelling quite a few times on ferries to and from Mallaig the pronunciation definitely has the stress on the first syllable but omits any suggestion of a letter, 'a', and is MAL-ig
Dave
Gaelic has broad and slender vowels. A,o,u are broad and I and e are slender.
Gaelic spelling conventions dictate that whatever class of vowel comes before a consonant (or pair of cosonants) must always come after the consonant.
So Mallig wouldn't be allowed as you would have a broad - consonant - slender pattern.
What this means is sometimes vowels are ornamental or there to provide balance rather than being integral to pronunciation.
Leathann ri leathann is caol ri caol
Mar sin a h-uile rud anns an t-saoghal
Broad to broad and slender to slender
So goes everything in the world.