Celtic Languages

I

Introduction

Celtic Languages, subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Celtic peoples were spread across Europe in Greek and Roman times, being first identifiable in south-central Europe in the 6th century bc. They also inhabited Britain and Ireland in ancient times. Whereas the vernacular speech of the Continental Celtic peoples disappeared under the Roman Empire, representatives of the Insular group have survived to the present day. On linguistic grounds the Insular Celtic dialects fall into two groups: the Brythonic (or British), comprising Breton, Cornish, and Welsh; and the Goidelic (or Gaelic), comprising Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Although the Continental Celtic dialects, such as Gaulish, declined under the influence of Latin, they have left some traces in the Romance languages, especially French and Spanish. The Brythonic and Goidelic groups survive in Britain, Ireland, Brittany, and in émigré communities in North and South America.

The Celtic languages are most conspicuously distinguished from other Indo-European linguistic groups by early loss of the initial Indo-European p: compare Early Irish orc “pig” with Latin porcus “pig”, and so on. Within Celtic, an obvious difference between the Goidelic and Brythonic groups is that Goidelic preserved Indo-European kw as a qu sound (later written c), whereas in Brythonic it became a new p sound: Irish ceathair “four” and Welsh pedwar “four” (contrast with Latin quattuor “four”).

The Insular Celtic languages have a very long, written history, achieving written status in the Early Middle Ages and giving rise to extensive and varied literatures.

One of the most striking features of the Celtic languages is the so-called initial mutations, whereby certain word-initial consonants may be altered in regular ways by certain sorts of preceding words. Thus Irish buachaill “lad”, with initial b-, gives mo bhuachaill “my lad”, with initial v; Welsh tad “father”, with initial t, gives i dad “his father”, with initial d.

In grammar and syntax the Celtic languages show most of the regular Indo-European categories, but also some less familiar features, for example, the heavy use of verbal nouns where other Indo-European languages use participles and infinitives. This may reflect the usage of a sub-stratum of non-Indo-European speakers with whom the early Celts came into contact. Again, Celtic seems to have been a verb-subject-object language, as opposed to the subject-verb-object pattern found in most Indo-European groups.

II

Breton

Breton (Brezhoneg) is the native language of Brittany in north-western France. The modern dialects descend from the speech of British immigrants from south-western England in the 5th and 6th centuries ad. Contact between Brittany and Cornwall continued through the Middle Ages, and Breton is perceptibly more similar to Cornish than to Welsh. The earliest Breton literature consists of late medieval poetry and drama on religious themes. By this time Breton had become a demotic language, while French, from which it borrowed many words, was the language of administration and upper-class communication. Since the 19th century, political pressure has favoured French over Breton, and latterly this has caused a serious decline in the number of Breton speakers. However, Breton was recognized as a school subject in 1951, and the Diwan organization supports Breton-medium education on a voluntary basis. While numbers of traditional speakers continue to decline, there is now an intellectual revival movement and literature.

III

Cornish

Cornish (Kernewek) is descended from the speech of the Ancient Britons in what is now south-western England. Passion plays and other mainly religious texts written in Middle Cornish are still in existence from the late Middle Ages (see Cornish Literature). The language survived until at least the 18th century as the vernacular language of Cornwall. In the 20th century, Cornish was revived by enthusiasts, who reconstructed it on the basis of medieval Cornish grammar and syntax, the sound system of modern Cornish English, and reconstructed vocabulary based on comparable Welsh and Breton forms.

In November 2002, the UK government officially recognized Cornish as a language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages. Official recognition means the language is protected and measures will be taken to promote its preservation.

IV

Welsh

Welsh (Cymraeg) is the native language of Wales, and the most flourishing of the modern Celtic languages. It co-exists with English in most parts of the country and has done so for centuries in some parts, especially in north-eastern and south-eastern Wales. It is strongest in rural parts of north-western and south-western Wales, though even here few Welsh-speaking monoglots exist today. The 1991 census reported just over half a million Welsh speakers, or over 18 per cent of the population of Wales. The 2001 census showed an increase in Welsh speakers to a little more than 20 per cent, with around 28 per cent of the population being able to understand Welsh. However, while Welsh speakers are on the increase in urban settings, in some rural areas of the north and west they are declining.

English began to make serious inroads into Wales as far back as the Anglo-Norman period, since when it has enjoyed a privileged official status almost until the present day. On the other hand, Welsh found a stronghold in the Church from the time of the Reformation onwards; and the model of the Welsh Bible (1588) helped a dignified, supra-dialectal, “literary” form of Welsh to emerge. This co-exists to the present day with a scattering of spoken dialects.

Early Welsh literature is contained mostly in manuscripts dating from the 12th to 14th centuries, with a few early items taking the written record back to the 9th century. As to the literature itself, some of it is considerably older than the 12th century. The oldest stratum deals largely with the “Old North”, and according to some scholars was actually composed in North Britain (that is, in what is now southern Scotland) in the 6th century. At all events, a rich medieval manuscript literature of poetry and prose survives. Welsh attained print in the later 16th century in the context of the Reformation, and religious writings have continued to be prominent in publication from then on. In December 2002, after 81 years, the fourth volume of a Welsh dictionary was finally completed.

Identification of the language with national identity, and anxiety at perceived threats to both, received added focus when the 1870 Act of Parliament establishing a universal state education system failed to make provision for education in the Welsh medium. A resistance movement was engendered. In the 1960s, in the face of growing exposure to English culture through various media, this gained a new urgency. Since then, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) and other groups have campaigned with considerable success on behalf of the language. This pressure has led to increased Welsh-medium education, Welsh road-signs, a Language Act (1993), including the requirement that public bodies develop policies with regard to the language, and much enhanced Welsh-language broadcasting—especially through the television channel Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C).