The Celtic Languages

by Ball; Martin J.

• ISBN13: 9780415280808
• ISBN10: 041528080X
• Edition: Bilingual
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2002-07-05
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This is the first modern, scholarly, detailed account of the Celtic languages found in one volume. The need for such a book has grown in recent years owing to the marked increase in interest in this important language-family on the part of linguists worldwide. The Celtic languages have various unique features, both structural and sociolinguistic, both inside and outside the Indo-European linguistic situation, that make them especially worthy of study. The languages examined are Gaulish, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Breton, and Cornish. The Celtic Languages discusses both the structural as well as the sociolinguistic aspect of the study of these languages. On the structural side, features such as initial consonant mutation, verb-subject-object sentences, the inflection of prepositions, and pre-sentential particles mark this group of languages, separating it from other Indo-European language groups. On the sociolinguistic side, the book discusses the unique fact that it is the onlylanguage group to consist solely of 'minority languages'. All other groups contain at least one major language recognized as an official language of a nation state or of an autonomous region. This book discusses the Celtic languages historically, structurally and sociolinguistically, making it an excellent resource for all students and teachers of cultural studies and the Celtic language, as well as students of general linguistics. The historical sections include the origin and history of the Celtic languages, their spread and their retreat, present-day distribution, and a sketch of the extant and recently extinct languages. The structural sections include lexis. The sociolinguistic sections include domains of and usage, maintenance, and prospects for survival. _

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	vii
Preface	ix
List of Contributors	xi
Part 1 Historical Aspects	1	(99)
Introduction	3	(23)
James Fife
Continental Celtic	26	(38)
Joseph F. Eska
D. Ellis Evans
Insular Celtic P- and Q-Celtic	64	(36)
Karl Horst Schmidt
Part 2 The Goidelic Languages	100	(187)
Irish	101	(44)
Gearoid Mac Eoin
Scottish Gaelic	145	(83)
William Gillies
Manx	228	(59)
George Broderick
Part 3 The Brythonic Languages	287	(182)
Welsh	289	(60)
T. Arwyn Watkins
Breton	349	(61)
Janig Stephens
Cornish	410	(59)
Ken George
Part 4 The Sociolinguistics of the Celtic Languages	469	(196)
Aspects of the societal status of Modern Irish	471	(20)
Mairtin O Murchu
Scottish Gaelic today: Social history and contemporary status	491	(45)
Kenneth Mackinnon
The sociolinguistics of Welsh	536	(70)
Robert Owen Jones
The Breton language: its present position and historical background	606	(38)
Humphrey Lloyd Humphreys
The Revived languages: Modern Cornish and Modern Manx	644	(21)
Ken George
George Broderick
Index	665