User:Erisceres/Chronological Developments in the Celtic Languages
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
| 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 |
| 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 | ||
| 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]
- *kw (< *kʲw) > *kʷ
- *gw (< *gʲw) > *gʷ
- *gʱw (< *gʲʱw) > *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
- *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
- ↑ *h covers all potential non-syllabic postvelars.
- ↑ *ə covers all potential syllabic postvelars.
- ↑ The syllabic postvelars are allophonic to their non-syllabic counterparts.
- ↑ These vowels are allophonic to their non-syllabic semivowel counterparts.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The syllabic liquids and nasals are allophonic to their non-syllabic counterparts.
- ↑ 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.
