Synopses & Reviews
Six modern Celtic languages are described in this volume. Four of these, Modern Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton, are living community languages. The other two, Manx and Cornish, survived into the modern period, but are no longer extant as community languages, though they are the subject of enthusiastic revivals. The Celtic Languages sets them briefly in their Indo-European context, and states their general relationships within the broader Celtic language family. Individual linguistic studies are first placed in their sociolinguistic and sociohistorical context. A detailed synchronic account of each language then follows, including syntax, morphology, phonology, morphophonology, dialect variation and distribution. Each description is based on a common plan, thus facilitating comparison among the different languages. This latest volume in the Cambridge Language Surveys will be welcomed by all scholars of the Celtic languages, but has also been designed to be accessible to any reader with only a basic knowledge of linguistics.
Review
"The Celtic Languages is an admirable book, providing clear and detailed analyses of these six languages. It should prove to be an excellent introduction to new students, as well as a solid reference work for the more experienced linguist." Language Quarterly
Synopsis
The only modern account to describe all surviving Celtic languages in detail.
Synopsis
This volume describes the six modern Celtic languages. Four of these, Modern Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton, are living community languages. The other two, Manx and Cornish, survived into the modern period, but are no longer extant as community languages, though they are the subject of enthusiastic revivals. The Celtic Languages briefly discusses their origins and shows how they relate to each other as a language family. Synchronic studies of the individual languages follow, describing syntax, morphology, phonology, morphophonology, dialect variation and distribution, and also the social and historical context. This is the only modern account to deal with all surviving Celtic languages in this detail.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction; 2. The Celtic languages: an overview; Part I. The Gaelic Languages: 3. The Irish language; 4. The Manx language; 5. The Scottish Gaelic language; Part II. The Brittonic Languages: 6. The Welsh language; 7. The Cornish language; 8. The Breton language.