The Celtic Languages

This is the first modern scholarly detailed account of the Celtic languagesfound in one volume. The need for such a book has grown in recent years owingto the m... » 

This is the first modern scholarly detailed account of the Celtic languagesfound in one volume. The need for such a book has grown in recent years owingto the marked increase in interest in this important languagefamily on thepart of linguists worldwide.The Celtic languages have various unique features both structural andsociolinguistic both inside and outside the IndoEuropean linguisticsituation that make them especially worthy of study. The languages examinedare Gaulish Irish Scots Gaelic Manx Welsh Breton and Cornish.The Celtic Languages discusses both the structural as well as thesociolinguistic aspect of the study of these languages. On the structural sidefeatures such as initial consonant mutation verbsubjectobject sentences theinflection of prepositions and presentential particles mark this group oflanguages separating it from other IndoEuropean language groups. On thesociolinguistic side the book discusses the unique fact that it is the onlylanguage group to consist solely of minority languages. All other groupscontain at least one major language recognized as an official language of anation state or of an autonomous region.This book discusses the Celtic languages historically structurally andsociolinguistically making it an excellent resource for all students andteachers of cultural studies and the Celtic language as well as students ofgeneral linguistics. The historical sections include the origin and history ofthe Celtic languages their spread and their retreat presentday distributionand a sketch of the extant and recently extinct languages. The structuralsections include phonology mutation morphology syntax dialectology andlexis. The sociolinguistic sections include domains of usage maintenance andprospects for survival. _ «