Celtic Linguistics
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Celtic tongues are of Indo-European origin, and very much obsolescent in today's linguistic environment; Irish is spoken by only 30 000, and the last native speaker of Manx died in 1974. Welsh is still spoken widely on a daily basis, and although Breton is spoken by almost twice as many as its surviving sister (Cornish died out in the late seventeenth century), natives tend often to be ashamed of their tongue, due partly to disapproval from central government, who have successfully convinced speakers that their language is inferior to the mighty French. Such is likewise the case in the Midi, where Provençal is presently sneered at by its almost reluctant users.
Celtic languages are split into two main categories, the first being the Gadelic group (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx) and the second the Brittonic group (Welsh, Breton and Cornish). The most stiking difference in both orthographic and phonemic terms between the two groups is the divergent paths taken by the sound kw; in Gadelic languages the k survived at the expense of the w, whereas in the Brittonic group it was the w which survived, later becoming a v, p or b. The words for four and five across both groups, often called the P and Q groups, offer a good example:
Irish Sc. Gael Manx Welsh Cornish Breton
ceathair ceithir kiare pedwar peswar pevar
cúig coig queig pump pymp pemp
Welsh and Breton are survivors of the tongues used before all British linguistic territory was usurped by the HRE (Holy Roman Empire). Celtic roots live on, however, in the modern names for many rivers, eg Wye, Don, Usk, Exe, Ouse and Avon. Gaelic, like German, has a four-case system and is much older than Breton and Welsh, has more verb conjugations than Latin and more moods than the Scandinavian languages.
One of the most fundamental differences between the Celtic language family and most others is the practice of mutation. Don't panic there now, Celtic speakers are not into butchery, or at least if they are it has nothing to do with how they speak! Mutation is simply a degree of flexibility with the first letter of a word. No great shakes for an average linguist, you may think. Then, when you pick up a dictionary to look up your first word in Celtic, the scope of this somewhat annoying idiosyncrasy hits home. Here's what happens in Welsh to the word for cat:
cat - cath
my cat - fy nghath
his cat - ei gath
her cat - ei chath
The table below covers mutation in Welsh:
| Radical |
Soft |
Nasal |
Spirant (Aspirate) |
| c |
g |
ngh |
ch |
| t |
d |
nh |
th |
| p |
b |
mh |
ph |
| g |
consonant lost |
ng |
|
| d |
dd |
n |
|
| b |
f |
m |
|
| m |
f |
(mh) |
|
| ll |
l |
||
| rh |
r |
||
| n |
(nh) |
There is also a Mixed Mutation form in Welsh, which is a mixture of soft and aspirate variations.
You'll find a few examples of mutation in the Welsh Paternoster, on this site, namely deyrnas r. teyrnas, ddaear r. daear and brofedigaeth r. profedigaeth. The Irish version contains many more: n-Athair radical Athair, dtaga r. taga, ndéantar r. déantar, thoil r. toil, dhéantar r. déantar, n-arán r. arán, bhfiacha r. fiacha, mhaithimid r. maithimid, bhféichiúna r. féichiúna, gcathú r. cathú, chumhacht r. cumhacht, ghlóir r. glóir.
Now let's take a look at mutable consonants in the words for mother across the board:
English Welsh Irish Manx Breton
mother mam mathair moir mamm
the mother y fam mhathair y voir ar vamm
This is where the really bright kid at the front of the class gets agitated, and reaches impatiently for the sky shouting 'Sir, Sir!' Yes, we know both Irish renditions begin with m, but the thing is that the first syllable in mhathair is actually aspirated and pronounced as a v. So there you are, you smart-arsed little runt! If the Irish alphabet is used here, aspiration is shown by the presence of a dot over the consonant. Aspiration can be seen more clearly in the Manx, where English orthography is the rule. In any case, it's the Brittonic (also sometimes called Brythonic) lot which really have you tearing your hair out:
Another variation in initial phonemic structure is called eclipsis, and involves the addition of a prefix which supplants pronunciation of the letter it precedes.
Celtic prepositions tend to be conjugated in the same way as verbs, just like in Classical Latin and (mecum, tecum, secum etc.) and modern Spanish for example (conmigo, contigo, consigo&); compare the Welsh gennyf, gennyt, ganddo and the Breton ganin, ganit, gantañ.
In Manx, adjectives follow the nouns they qualify and are declined with them.