Year: 1965
Type: article
Abstract: CELTIC CULTURES and languages of the Atlantic fringe of Europe have been in a state of constant decline for several centuries.The Celtic languages of Cornwall and the Isle of Man are practically extinct, the Gaelic of Scotland is spoken by some 75,500 persons, mainly in the Western Isles, while in Ireland, in spite of government encouragement, only some 500,000 claim to speak Gaelic, most of them, however, not using it in everyday life.In Wales the language has been more tenacious and around 656,000 people listen to their own Welsh radio and television programs and read their own Welsh newspapers and novels.The greatest number still speaking a Celtic language, however, are the Bretons and, in spite of no encouragement and even opposition from the French government, about one million of the inhabitants of Western Brittany still speak the language that they brought with them from Britain between the fifth and ninth centuries.The Celtic languages are divided into two main groups, the Goidelic or Gaelic and the Brythonic.The former includes Irish, Scottish and Manx Gaelic; the latter Welsh, Cornish and Breton.These two groups are called the Q and P dialects respectively because of the different development in each of the P.I.E.labio-velar stops.In the Gaelic group P.I.E.* k u remains a velar stop (c/q), but becomes a voiceless labial stop (p) in the Brythonic group.Thus the Irish Gaelic word for five is cuig, the Scottish coig, and the Manx queig, whereas the Welsh is pump, the Cornish pymp, and the Breton pemp.Compare also Irish and Scottish ceann, Manx kione, with Welsh and Cornish pen, Breton penn "head."Another phonetic feature distinguishing the two groups is the development of an original s to an h in the Brythonic group, but its retention as s in Gaelic; e.g.Scottish sean, but Welsh hen "old."The orthography of the Celtic languages presents some problems for non-linguists.Both Scottish and Irish Gaelic have a complex
Source: Names
Author: Ian M. Matley
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2025937919