Difference between revisions of "User:Erisceres/McCone's Relative Chronology"
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(→I.5.2: Phonemic table) |
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=== I.5.2 === | === I.5.2 === | ||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | |||
|+ PIr. Consonants | |||
! colspan="2" | | |||
! Plosive | |||
! Fricative | |||
! Nasal | |||
! Liquid | |||
! Glide | |||
|- | |||
! Labial | |||
! <small>Voiced</small> | |||
| {{IPA|/b/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|b(b)}} ''*b''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/bː/}} {{smallcaps|b(b)}} ''*bb''}} | |||
| | |||
| {{IPA|/m/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|m(m)}} ''*m''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/mː/}} {{smallcaps|m(m)}} ''*mm''}} | |||
| | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
! rowspan="2" | Coronal | |||
! <small>Voiceless</small> | |||
| {{IPA|/t/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|t(t)}} ''*t''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/tː/}} {{smallcaps|t(t)}} ''*tt''}}<br> | |||
| {{IPA|/s/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|s(s)}} ''*s''}} | |||
{{IPA|/sᵗ/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|z(z)}} ''*st''}} | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
! <small>Voiced</small> | |||
| {{IPA|/d/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|d(d)}} ''*d''}}<br> | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/dː/}} {{smallcaps|d(d)}} ''*dd''}} | |||
| | |||
| {{IPA|/n/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|n(n)}} ''*n''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/nː/}} {{smallcaps|n(n)}} ''*nn''}} | |||
| {{IPA|/l/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|l(l)}} ''*l''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/lː/}} {{smallcaps|l(l)}} ''*ll''}}<br> | |||
{{IPA|/r/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|n(n)}} ''*r''}}<br> | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/rː/}} {{smallcaps|n(n)}} ''*rr''}} | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
! rowspan="2" | Dorsal | |||
! <small>Voiceless</small> | |||
| {{IPA|/k/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|k(k)}} ''*k''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/kː/}} {{smallcaps|k(k)}} ''*kk''}} | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
! <small>Voiced</small> | |||
| {{IPA|/ɡ/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|g(g)}} ''*g''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/ɡː/}} {{smallcaps|g(g)}} ''*gg''}} | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| {{IPA|/j/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|h(h)}} ''*y''}} | |||
|- | |||
! rowspan="2" | Labiodorsal | |||
! <small>Voiceless</small> | |||
| {{IPA|/kʷ/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|q(q)}} ''*kw''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/kʷː/}} {{smallcaps|q(q)}} ''*kkw''}} | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
! <small>Voiced</small> | |||
| {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|ng(ng)}} ''*gw''}} | |||
{{color|red|{{IPA|/ɡʷː/}} {{smallcaps|ng(ng)}} ''*ggw''}} | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| {{IPA|/w/}} {{color|red|{{smallcaps|f(f)}} ''*w''}} | |||
|} | |||
== I.6 Old Irish == | == I.6 Old Irish == |
Revision as of 13:04, 5 October 2022
A summary of Goidelic developments chapter by chapter of Kim McCone's Towards a relative chronology of ancient and medieval Celtic sound change (1996).
Details marked in red are additional information not directly sourced from the book.
Chapter One: The Phonology and Orthography of the Attested Celtic Languages
I.1 Introduction
- Irish Ogam inscriptions date to the 5th and 6th CE.
- The Irish manuscript record emerged in the 7th CE.
- Church literacy provided the model for vernacular writing.
- Ogam is almost certainly based on the Roman alphabet.
- Manuscript orthography from the 5th to 12th CE was based on British Latin pronunciation.
- After the 12th CE, the orthography underwent experimental changes.
I.5 Ogam Irish
I.5.1 The Origins of Ogam
Cultural Influences
- The earliest attested method of writing Irish is Ogam.
- It is written on a line formed by the edge of a stone.
- It consists of:
- one to five notches (᚛ᚐ᚜, ᚛ᚑ᚜, ᚛ᚒ᚜, ᚛ᚓ᚜, ᚛ᚔ᚜, transcribed as a, o, u, e, i);
- one to five horizontal strokes to the right (down in the manuscript tradition; ᚛ᚁ᚜, ᚛ᚂ᚜, ᚛ᚃ᚜, ᚛ᚄ᚜, ᚛ᚅ᚜, transcribed as b, l, f, s, n);
- one to five horizontal strokes to the left (up in the manuscript tradition; ᚛ᚆ᚜, ᚛ᚇ᚜, ᚛ᚈ᚜, ᚛ᚉ᚜, ᚛ᚊ᚜, transcribed as h, d, t, c, q);
- one to five diagonal strokes across (᚛ᚋ᚜, ᚛ᚌ᚜, ᚛ᚍ᚜, ᚛ᚎ᚜, ᚛ᚏ᚜, transcribed as m, g, ng, z, r).
- It is almost certainly based on the Roman alphabet.
- Its twenty signs in four groups of five obviously had a numeric basis.
- It was probably devised in the 4th CE.
- There was probably already an established Christian community in the south of Ireland at the time.
- The Latin-based literacy of Christianity possibly influenced its creation.
- Irish colonies were being established in Wales in the 4th CE, providing another possible link to the learning of Latin.
- Archaeological evidence shows a material link between Ireland and Roman-based communities at the time.
- Cultural contact between these communities would have helped provide the environment and influence for its creation.
Innovations
- The alphabetic characters substituted for the Ogam symbols were assigned during the much later manuscript tradition.
- The omission of Latin p, and phonetic pairings of d/t and c/q, show innovation with a practical focus on Primitive Irish phonology.
- These innovations help show the phonemic structure of Irish of the 4th CE.
- The later substitution of alphabetic characters shows deviation from the original phonemic values.
Phonemic Considerations
- Bilingual inscriptions from Wales show the transcription of v instead of the substituted f assigned during the manuscript tradition, considering /f/ was unlikely to have arisen from /w/ during the 4th CE (V.2.2).
- The later reanalysis was probably due to the historical change found in the initial sound of the name of the letter:
- fern “alder” < *wernā.
- The manuscript tradition did seem to recognise a written distinction between c and q even though the latter was lost in speech by the 6th CE (IV.3.4).
- There was an obvious phonetic connection between the initials of the names for the letters but a lack of phonemic distinction between velar and labiovelar counterparts:
- coll “hazel” (< *kollo- < *koslo-) for c;
- cert “apple-tree” (< *kʷerto- < *kʷerxto- < *kʷerkʷ-to- < *perkʷ-; II.1.5b) for q.
- Since the 6th CE merger of /kʷ/ with /k/, a second letter was needed for this written distinction and q was coincidentally chosen for historical /kʷ/.
- Like f, the signs h, ng and z seem unlikely to have been devised to represent the sounds ascribed to them in the manuscript tradition as /h/, /ŋ/ and /z/ were hardly distinct phonemes in 4th or 5th CE Irish.
- Their assignment seems to have been a Latin-based cosmetic choice with their name initials being a contributing factor.
- Their true values may have been /j/, /ɡʷ/ and /sᵗ/ respectively, or something similar, but this cannot be directly tested due to their lack of attestation on available inscriptions.
Phonemic Developments
- For as long as /kʷ/ existed in Irish, so too did /ɡʷ/.
- They first dissimilated to /k/ and /ɡ/ respectively before a following rounded back vowel (i.e. /u(ː)/ or /o(ː)/).
- Consider the attested dego(s) (which predates apocope) rather than *dengo(s) “flame”, “fire” < *degw-i-s.
- The ⟨q⟩ in qunacanos is a hypercorrection since the distinction with ⟨c⟩ became lost in this environment before lowering occurred.
- Cases like tria maqa “(of the) three sons” and ineqaglas “Enechglass” show that this dissimilation was only restricted to back vowels which were rounded.
- The partially Latinised Wroxeter Stone inscription cvnorix macvs maqvi coline “Cunorīx son of Maqqos Colinī” shows how /kʷ/ dissimilated to /k/ first when followed by (rounded) back vowels before it became lost later before front vowels (and all other positions).
- They then rounded a following /a/ and /i/ to /o/ and /u/ respectively (IV.3.4).
- Both finally merged with /k/ and /ɡ/ respectively in the 6th CE (II.1.2) after both raising and lowering (IV.2.1b/c and IV.3.4).
I.5.2
Plosive | Fricative | Nasal | Liquid | Glide | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labial | Voiced | /b/ b(b) *b
/bː/ b(b) *bb |
/m/ m(m) *m
/mː/ m(m) *mm |
|||
Coronal | Voiceless | /t/ t(t) *t
/tː/ t(t) *tt |
/s/ s(s) *s
/sᵗ/ z(z) *st |
|||
Voiced | /d/ d(d) *d /dː/ d(d) *dd |
/n/ n(n) *n
/nː/ n(n) *nn |
/l/ l(l) *l
/lː/ l(l) *ll |
|||
Dorsal | Voiceless | /k/ k(k) *k
/kː/ k(k) *kk |
||||
Voiced | /ɡ/ g(g) *g
/ɡː/ g(g) *gg |
/j/ h(h) *y | ||||
Labiodorsal | Voiceless | /kʷ/ q(q) *kw
/kʷː/ q(q) *kkw |
||||
Voiced | /ɡʷ/ ng(ng) *gw
/ɡʷː/ ng(ng) *ggw |
/w/ f(f) *w |