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Carnie, Andrew, Diane Ohala, Dee Hunter, Samantha Prins, Michael Hammond  (2025) Foundational Approaches to Celtic Linguistics. Language Science Press 

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Description

This book showcases the latest research from the world’s leading experts on Celtic linguistics. The 15 chapters span a variety of linguistic subdisciplines as well as theoretical and methodological perspectives. Together, these articles highlight critical aspects of contemporary inquiry into the linguistic systems of Breton, Cornish, Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and their ancestor languages. The volume is organized around four key sub-areas: (1) Syntax and Semantics, (2) Phonology and Phonetics, (3) Language Change, Historical Linguistics and Grammaticalization, and (4) Sociolinguistics and Language Documentation. The volume's papers offer detailed investigations of current theoretical issues in Celtic syntax, semantics, phonology, and phonetics, as well as of language policy and ideology, language weaponization, and diachronic and synchronic language change. These state-of-the-art contributions represent the impressive diversity of the field of Celtic linguistics and emphasize the wide body of work being conducted in the language communities of the six Celtic nations.

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Open Access Link:​

 

Table of Contents

 

Preface and Acknowledgments (The editors)

Part 1: Papers in Syntax, Morphosyntax and Semantics
  • Polarity sensitivity and fragments in Irish (James McCloskey)

  • When linearization triggers embedded V2: Evidence from Breton (Melanie Jouitteau)

  • Deriving VSO in Scottish Gaelic (Gillian Catriona Ramchand)

  • Reassessing Oehrle effects: Evidence from Scottish Gaelic (Gary Thoms) 

  • Some complexities and idiosyncrasies of Welsh consonantal mutation (Maggie Tallerman)

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Part 2: Papers in Phonology, Morphophonology and Phonetics
  • Phonology of the Celtic languages (Mike Hammond)

  • Hebrides English in the 1980s and now (Ian Clayton, Cynthia Shuken)

  • Gestural timing and contrast: An Irish case study (Ryan Bennett, Jaye Padgett, Grant McGuire, Máire Ní Chiosáin, Jennifer Bellik)

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​Part 3: Language Change, historical linguistics and grammaticalization. 

  • Comparing the syntactic complexity of Gaeltacht and urban Irish-Language broadcasters (Brian Ó Broin)

  • Bunadas: A network database of cognate words, with emphasis on Celtic (Caoimhín P. Ó Donnaíle)

  • Laryngeal contrast in the Celtic languages: Variation, typology, and history (Pavel Iosad)

  • Syntactic reconstruction in Celtic (Marieke Meelen)

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​Part 4: Sociolinguistics and Language Revitalization.

  • The “Island Voice” of Norman Maclean (Gordon Wells)

  • White supremacists’ weaponization of Celtic heritage languages and language revitalization (John Powell)

  • France’s war on Breton diacritics: An incomprehensible obstinacy (Stefan Moal)

References

Index

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