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
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[2][note 1] Postvelar[3][note 2][note 3]
Sibilant[4] *s
Non-Sibilant *h₁, *h₂, *h₃ *h̩₁, *h̩₂, *h̩₃
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"

Dialectal Developments in Late Proto-Indo-European

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

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

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

Developments in Argument for Italo-Celtic

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Developments in Early Proto-Celtic

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

  • *kw (< *kʲw) > *kʷ
  • *ɡw (< *ɡʲw) > *ɡʷ
  • *ɡʱw (< *ɡʲʱw) > *ɡʷʱ

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

  • *kʷ > *k /_*j
  • *ɡʷ > *ɡ /_*j
  • *ɡʷʱ > *ɡʱ /_*j

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

  • *kʷ > *k /_*n
  • *ɡʷ > *ɡ /_*n
  • *ɡʷʱ > *ɡʱ /_*n

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

  • *kʷ > *k /_*u
  • *ɡʷ > *ɡ /_*u
  • *ɡʷʱ > *ɡʱ /_*u

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

  • *ɡʷ > *b

This removed *ɡʷ from the phonemic inventory.

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

  • *ɡʷʱ > *ɡʷ

This removed *ɡʷʱ and returned *ɡʷ to the phonemic inventory.

There were sporadic cases of devoicing plosives in word initial position:[10]

  • *b, *bʱ > *p /#_
  • *d, *dʱ > *t /#_
  • *ɡ, *ɡʱ > *k /#_
  • *ɡʷ > *kʷ /#_

Lenition: Scenario 1

The remaining murmured plosives merged with their voiced counterparts:[11]

  • *bʱ > *b
  • *dʱ > *d
  • *ɡʱ > *ɡ

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

The voiced plosives, in intervocalic environments, underwent allophonic spirantisation:[11]

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

Lenition: Scenario 2

The murmured plosives underwent spirantisation:[10]

  • *bʱ > *β
  • *dʱ > *ð
  • *ɡʱ > *ɣ

This removed *bʱ, *dʱ and *ɡʱ from, 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:[10]

  • *β > *b /m_
  • *ð > *d /n_

The voiced plosives, in intervocalic environments, underwent allophonic spirantisation, merging with the voiced fricatives:[10]

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

The voiced fricatives, in word initial position, merged with the voiced plosives:[10]

  • *β > *b /#_
  • *ð > *d /#_
  • *ɣ > *ɡ /#_

Then, finally, the voiced fricatives, following liquids, merged with the voiced plosives:[10]

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

This removed *β, *ð and *ɣ from the phonemic inventory, making them allophones of *b, *d and *ɡ.

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

Preceding Monumental Ogam?

  1. *m > *n /_#
  2. *oj, *aj > *iː /_#
  3. *ts, *xs > *sː
  4. *o > *a in final syllables and in composition vowels
  5. *e > *i /ˈC_sV (stressed syllable)
  6. Nasal fronting of *a:
    1. *a > *æ /_nC
    2. *a > *æ /_mC
  7. Nasal raising of *æ:
    1. *ænː > *enː
    2. *æn > *en /_#
  8. *e > *æ /_ɣ except when the following syllable contains *j
  9. *CjV > *CijV
  10. *VC.wV > *VC.βV where C is a single voiced consonant
  11. *ow, *aw > *oː
  12. *i > ∅ /_#


From Primitive Irish to Early Old Irish

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Notes

  1. ↑ *H covers all potential non-syllabic postvelars.
  2. ↑ *H̩ 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.

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. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Stifter 2017, p. 1190
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Stifter 2017, pp. 1189-90
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