User:Erisceres/Chronological Developments in the Celtic Languages

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This page will detail the chronological developments of the Celtic languages, with a focus on Goidelic (for now).

From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Celtic

Proto-Indo-European

Non-Syllabic Phonemes and Their Syllabic Allophones

PIE Plosives[1]
Non-Syllabic
Labial Coronal Dorsal
Palatal Velar Labiovelar
Tenuis *p *t *kʲ *k *kʷ
Voiced *b *d *ɡʲ *ɡ *ɡʷ
Murmured *bʱ *dʱ *ɡʲʱ *ɡʱ *ɡʷʱ
PIE Fricatives
Non-Syllabic Syllabic
Coronal Postvelar[2][note 1] Postvelar[3][note 2][note 3]
Sibilant[4] *s
Non-Sibilant *h₁, *h₂, *h₃ *ə₁, *ə₂, *ə₃
PIE Sonorants
Non-Syllabic[5] Syllabic
Labial Coronal Dorsal Labial Coronal Short Monophthong[6][note 4]
Palatal Labiovelar Front Unrounded Back Rounded
Lateral *l Lateral[7][note 5] *l̩
Rhotic *r Rhotic[7][note 5] *r̩
Nasal *m *n Nasal[7][note 5] *m̩ *n̩
Semivowel *j *w Close *i *u

Syllabic Phonemes

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Onset Clusters

The following onset clusters[8] are possible in PIE phonotactics:

Plosive Initial

  • plosive + sonorant
    • e.g. *pro "forward"; *pneu- "breath"; *tjegʷ- "revere"; *dlegʱ- "engage oneself"; *dʱwer- "door"; *gʲneh₃- "know"; *kʷrei- "buy"; *gʷjeh₃- "live"
  • voiceless labial plosive + voicless coronal plosive
    • e.g. *pter- "wing"
  • voiceless coronal plosive + voiceless dorsal plosive
    • e.g. *tkʲei- "settle"
  • voiceless labial plosive + sibilant + voiceless coronal plosive
    • e.g. *pster- "sneeze"

Sibilant Initial

  • sibilant + sonorant
    • e.g. *sreu- "flow"; *sjuh- "sew"
  • sibilant + plosive
    • e.g. *spend- "pour a libation"; *skʲeh₂i- "shadow"
  • sibilant + postvelar
    • e.g. *sh₂eh₁-i- "bind"
  • sibilant + plosive + sonorant
    • e.g. *splei- "split"; *streng- "squeeze, tie"

Postvelar Initial

  • postvelar + sonorant
    • e.g. *h₁leudʱ- "go"; *h₁jeh₁- "throw"; *h₂wes- "spend the night"; *h₂ner- "man"; *h₃meigʲʱ- "urinate"; *h₃regʲ- "stretch out the hands"
  • postvelar + plosive
    • e.g. *h₃bʱel- "be of use"
  • postvelar + sibilant
    • e.g. *h₁sih₁- "be" (optative pl. stem)
  • postvelar + sibilant + plosive
    • e.g. *h₂ster- "star"
  • postvelar + sibilant + sonorant
    • e.g. *h₁sjeh₁- "be" (optative sg. stem)

Sonorant Initial

  • labial or labiovelar sonorant + coronal sonorant
    • e.g. *mleuh₂- "speak"; *mregʲʱu- "short"; *mneh₂- "be mindful"; *wleikʷ- "flowing, liquid"; *wreh₂d- "branch, root"

Developments Towards Proto-Celtic

Plosives

The palatal plosives merged with the velar plosives:[9]

  • *kʲ, *k > *k
  • *gʲ, *g > *g
  • *gʲʱ, *gʱ > *gʱ

Following the palatal-velar plosive merger, sequences of palatal plosives followed by labiovelar semivowels would merge to become labiovelar plosives:[9]

  • *kʲw > *kw > *kʷ
  • *gʲw > *gw > *gʷ
  • *gʲʱw> *gʱw > *gʷʱ

The labiovelar plosives, when followed by a palatal semivowel, became velar plosives:[9]

  • *kʷ > *k /_*j
  • *gʷ > *g /_*j
  • *gʷʱ > *gʱ /_*j

The labiovelar plosives, when followed by a coronal nasal, became velar plosives:[9]

  • *kʷ > *k /_*n
  • *gʷ > *g /_*n
  • *gʷʱ > *gʱ /_*n

The labiovelar plosives, when followed by a close back rounded vowel, became velar plosives:[9]

  • *kʷ > *k /_*u
  • *gʷ > *g /_*u
  • *gʷʱ > *gʱ /_*u

Following the above developments, the voiced labiovelar plosive merged with the voiced labial plosive:[9]

  • *gʷ, *b > *b

Then the murmured labiovelar plosive became the Proto-Celtic voiced labiovelar plosive:[9]

  • *gʷʱ > *gʷ

The remaining murmured plosives merged with their voiced counterparts:[10][note 6]

  • *bʱ, *b > *b
  • *dʱ, *d > *d
  • *gʲʱ, *gʲ > *gʲ
  • *gʱ, *g > *g

Developments from Proto-Celtic

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From Proto-Celtic to Gaulish

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From Proto-Celtic to Celtiberian

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From Proto-Celtic to Insular Celtic

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Developments from Insular Celtic

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From Insular Celtic to Common Brittonic

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From Insular Celtic to Primitive Irish

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Developments in Goidelic

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From Primitive Irish to Early Old Irish

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Notes

  1. ↑ *h covers all potential non-syllabic postvelars.
  2. ↑ *ə covers all potential syllabic postvelars.
  3. ↑ The syllabic postvelars are allophonic to their non-syllabic counterparts.
  4. ↑ These vowels are allophonic to their non-syllabic semivowel counterparts.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The syllabic liquids and nasals are allophonic to their non-syllabic counterparts.
  6. ↑ Stifter also offers an alternative, albeit more complex, development at this stage.

Bibliography

  • Fortson IV, B. W. (2009). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
  • McCone, K. (1996). "Towards a relative chronology of ancient and medieval Celtic sound change". Maynooth studies in Celtic linguistics. Maynooth: Department of Old Irish, Saint Patrick’s College.
  • Stifter, David (2006). Sengoídelc: Old Irish for Beginners. Syracuse University Press.
  • Stifter, David (2017). "The phonology of Celtic". Handbook of Comparataive and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.
  • Thurneysen, R. (1946; 2003 reprint). A Grammar of Old Irish: Translated from the German by D.A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, with supplement. School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

References

  1. ↑ Fortson 2009, pp. 53-60.
  2. ↑ Fortson 2009, pp. 62-4
  3. ↑ Fortson 2009, p. 62
  4. ↑ Fortson 2009, p. 60
  5. ↑ Fortson 2009, pp. 60-1
  6. ↑ Fortson 2009, pp. 62, 66
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Fortson 2009, pp. 61-2
  8. ↑ Fortson 2009, pp. 64-6
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Stifter 2017, p. 1189
  10. ↑ Stifter 2017, pp. 1189-90
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