Insular Celtic languages
As an island Celtic languages all languages are summarized in linguistics, which go back to one or more originally spoken in the British Isles Celtic languages .
Structure
This language group is divided into two subgroups:
- Britannic languages Nordbritannisch Kumbrisch in northern England, extinct during the Middle Ages, a few words obtained ( number of words, legal terms ). Not definitely clarified the status of the Cumbrian in relation to the Welsh language; in certain theoretical models, the Cumbrian is seen as Welsh dialect and not as a separate language. However, both the geographical distance and the analogy of the divergence of the various other variants of the Britannic point rather to a status as a separate branch.
- Welsh in Wales with around 330,000 native speakers and 280,000 speakers of Welsh as a second language and about 130,000 speakers outside Wales (mostly England).
- Cornish in Cornwall, about 1800 extinct; revived with about 250-300 people, the language fluent ( Neo - Cornish )
- Breton in Brittany, with under 250,000 native speakers. In everyday life, used by about 120,000 people.
- West Goidelic Irish in Ireland with perhaps 20,000 to 50,000 native speakers and many people with Irish as a second language
- Scottish Gaelic in Northwest Scotland, with perhaps 20,000 people who use the language in everyday life (of a total of 50,000 speakers of 2001) Canadian Gaelic in Newfoundland (Canada) with still about 500 to 1000 mainly elderly speakers
The names Nordbritannisch or West and East Goidelic are rarely used. Whether the Pictish and the Shelta also among the insular Celtic languages , is moot. The Pictish is too weak has to be properly classified (some talking points for a membership in the Britannic ), and Shelta is a language with elements of various origins.
History and characteristics
Around the time of island Celtic languages were most likely on the territory of the British Isles speaking (unless the Pictish this one ). Today only Welsh is still very vital, all others are still spoken insular Celtic languages are threatened with extinction and exist as a first or primary language only in marginal areas.
Common to all the insular Celtic languages the word order VSO ( verb-subject - object ), very often with other parts of a sentence are ahead in Breton and in Spätkornischen. Moreover, all these languages beginning mutations, a linguistic feature which hardly or does not occur systematically in the mainland Celtic languages . More typological characteristics of the island Celtic are the existence of conjugated prepositions, which is otherwise typical for Indo-European languages , and the vigesimal system.
The basic differences between the two main groups:
- In the Goidelic languages originally prevails initial emphasis ( on the first syllable ) - in all dialects except in Munster Irish today.
- In the Britannic languages prevails penultimate - stress ( penultimate syllable ). An exception is the Breton dialect Gwenedeg ( französ. Vannetais ) in which emphasis Ultima (last syllable) is the rule and there is a tendency to give up the word stress on the model of French can be observed.
- Only in the Goidelic languages distinguish between palatal and non- palatal consonant, this form there each phoneme pairs. In Manx, this distinction is largely canceled.
- The initial mutations fall within the main groups ( and to a lesser extent in the individual languages ) vary.