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

PIE Plosives

	Non-Syllabic
	Labial	Coronal	Dorsal
			Palatovelar	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		Postvelar
Sibilant	*s
Non-Sibilant		*h₁, *h₂, *h₃		*h̩₁, *h̩₂, *h̩₃

PIE Sonorants

	Non-Syllabic						Syllabic
	Labial	Coronal	Dorsal				Labial	Coronal	Short Monophthong
			Palatal	Labiovelar					Front Unrounded	Back Rounded
Lateral		*l				Lateral		*l̩
Rhotic		*r				Rhotic		*r̩
Nasal	*m	*n				Nasal	*m̩	*n̩
Semivowel			*j	*w		Close			*i	*u

Syllabic Phonemes

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Onset Clusters

The following onset clusters 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 palatovelar plosives merged with the velar plosives:

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

This removed *kʲ, *gʲ and *gʲʱ from the phonemic inventory.

Following the palatovelar-velar plosive merger, sequences of palatovelar plosives followed by labiovelar semivowels would merge to become labiovelar plosives:

• *kw (< *kʲw) > *kʷ
• *gw (< *gʲw) > *gʷ
• *gʱw (< *gʲʱw) > *gʷʱ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• *gʷ, *b > *b

This removed *gʷ from the phonemic inventory.

Then the murmured labiovelar plosive became the Proto-Celtic voiced labiovelar plosive:

• *gʷʱ > *gʷ

This removed *gʷʱ and returned *gʷ to the phonemic inventory.

Lenition: Scenario 1

The remaining murmured plosives merged with their voiced counterparts:

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

This removed *bʱ, *dʱ and *gʱ from the phonemic inventory.

The voiced plosives, in intervocalic environments, underwent allophonic spirantisation:

• *b > *β /V_V
• *d > *ð /V_V
• *g > *ɣ /V_V

Lenition: Scenario 2

The murmured plosives underwent spirantisation:

• *bʱ > *β
• *dʱ > *ð
• *gʱ > *ɣ

This removed *bʱ, *dʱ and *gʱ, and added *β, *ð and *ɣ to the phonemic inventory.

These voiced fricatives would then undergo homorganic post-nasal fortition, merging with a voiced plosive:

• *β, *b > *b /m_
• *ð, *d > *d /n_

The voiced plosives, in intervocalic environments, underwent allophonic spirantisation, merging with the voiced fricatives:

• *b, *β > *β /V_V
• *d, *ð > *ð /V_V
• *g, *ɣ > *ɣ /V_V

The voiced plosives, in word initial position, merged with the voiced fricatives:

• *b, *β > *β /#_
• *d, *ð > *ð /#_
• *g, *ɣ > *ɣ /#_

Then, finally, the voiced plosives, following liquids, merged with the voiced fricatives:

• *b, *β > *β /{l, r}_
• *d, *ð > *ð /{l, r}_
• *g, *ɣ > *ɣ /{l, r}_

This removed *b, *d and *g from the phonemic inventory.

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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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.