The Phonology of WelshThis book is an up-to-date, comprehensive, and theoretically coherent account of the phonology of modern Welsh. It begins by describing the history of Welsh, its relation to the other Celtic languages and its phonetic inventory. Six chapters then explore the structures underlying its sound system. The first considers the phonetic background, including segment inventories and the characteristics of the main dialects. The second examines phonological structures including syllables, feet, phonotactics, and stress. The third and fourth analyse phonological alternations in the language, such as vowel mutation and assimilation, and foot-based phenomena such as the behaviour of /h/ and antepenultimate deletion. The fifth examines the phonological representation of initial consonant mutation, one of the best known and least understood characteristics of Celtic phonology in which the initial consonant of a word undergoes a systematic alternation with a consonant that is phonetically different. The concluding chapter summarizes the work's major points and arguments and highlights opportunities for research. S. J. Hannahs approaches the subject from the perspective of generative phonological theory. He couches specific analyses in the constraint-based framework of optimality theory but presents data in as theory-neutral a way as possible to ensure its accessibility to linguists of all theoretical persuasions. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND | 1 |
A SURVEY OF WELSH PHONETICS Phonetics and Segment Inventories | 13 |
WELSH PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURES Prosodic Structure and Phonology | 28 |
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES Welsh Schwa Vowel Mutation Vowel Affection and Assimilation | 52 |
FOOTBASED PHENOMENA Sonority Sequencing Welsh h and Antepenultimate Deletion | 85 |
INITIAL CONSONANT MUTATION | 120 |
REMAINING ISSUES AND FURTHER DIRECTIONS | 150 |
REFERENCES | 161 |
| 173 | |
| 174 | |
| 180 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
absence affection allows alternation analysis appear argue aspects associated assumed avoid barred-i bearing behaviour bisyllabic Celtic Chapter clitics coda clusters compound consider consisting constraint context deletion Despite diachronic dialects difference discussion distinct English epenthesis example fact feet final syllable foot further given Green illustrate initial initial consonant mutation input insertion interesting involving irregular stress kumul language lexical Linguistics minimality monosyllabic morphological mutation reflex nasal mutation non-final nonetheless northern Note observation occur onset Optimality output particular pattern penultimate phonetic phonological pitch accent position proposed prosodic provection question radical refers regular relationship represents requires respect result schwa seen segments short shows single soft mutation sonority sequencing violation southern specific stops stress structure surface synchronic syntactic Theory Thomas triggered trochaic types typically underlying University various voiced voiceless vowel mutation Welsh wordforms words