Brythonic ‘second lenition’ revisited

September 15, 2006

Second Colloquium of Societas Celto-Slavica, Moscow State University & Institute of Linguistics (Russian Academy of Sciences), Moscow, Russia

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Categories:  Celtic Laryngeal phonology Historical phonology

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In this talk I evaluate the arguments for two competing reconstructions regarding the laryngeal phonology of Proto-Brythonic. I defend the ‘new’ interpretation which underplays the role of a ‘fortis’ contrast and instead relies on two separate lenition processes (due to authors such as David Greene and Patrick Sims-Williams), against the ‘classical’ one due to Kenneth Jackson and defended by John Koch and Graham Isaac, which emphasizes the rôle of aspiration in Proto-Brythonic ‘voiceless’ stops. In many respects this talk does not really represent my current thinking, but some of the arguments seem to me to retain some value.



About me

I’m Pavel Iosad, and I’m a Senior Lecturer in the department of Linguistics and English Language at the University of Edinburgh. ¶ You can always go to the start page to learn more.

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