Let go of the past!Loan phonology of Bangor Welsh

Linguistics Beyond and Within

Lublin, November, 6th-7th

Tomas CzerniakThe John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

czerniakto@gmail.com

Loanwords vs. Phonological rules

• Adapting the inventory (Wells 2008)

• Loch Ness [lox nes]

• Van Gogh [vn xox]

• Grand Prix [gr pri]

• Preserving the inventory (Wells 2008)

• Loch Ness [lok nes]

• Van Gogh [vn gof] / [vn goU]

• Grand Prix [grAn pri]

• Adapting the phonotactics (Wells 2008)

• Schlep [Slep] (carry sth heavy (Yiddish))

• Schlieren [Slirn] (trails on magma(German))

• Sri Lanka [Sri lNk]~[sri lNk] (Tamil)

• Preserving the phonotactics (Wells 2008; author’s perception)

• (Pl.) Gdaosk [gdnsk] *[gd]

• (Georg.) Tbilisi [tblisi] *[tb]

• (Lat.) Nomine [nUmIneI]

• (Lat.) Patre [ptreI]

• (Sp.) Bésame mucho [besmeI mutSU]

Loanwords vs. Phonological rules

Do loanwords violate nativephonological rules or do

they introduce grammaticalchanges?

Violations in Welsh

1. *-finalSchwa cannot appear in a final syllable

2. *long-ptkVowels cannot be long before [p, t, k]

3. *affricateAffricates are not a part of consonant inventory

Sweet (1884), Strachan (1909), Fynes-Clinton (1913), Morris-Jones(1913), Griffen (1974, 1979, 1989, 1997), Awbery (1984, 1986, 2010),Jones (1984), Wood (1988), Williams (1989), Ball and Müller (1992),Thomas (1992), Bosch (1996), McCone (1996), Buczek (1998), Ball andWilliams (2001), Willis (2010), Bednarska (2011), Iosad (2012), Hannahs(2013)

*-finaledrAX edrych to lookdrXA edrycha to look fut.efAT effaith effect

efiTjA effaithiau effect pl.err eryr eagle

errod eryrod eagle pl.fASun ffasiwn fashionfASnA ffasiynau fashion pl.

CVCC# CVCVC#

*edrX*efiT*err*fASn

*-final

CC# CVC#

*dD*dn*drg*drs

dD dŷdd daydDjA dyddau day pl.dn dŷn man

dnjon dynion man pl.drug drwg baddrgA drygau evil pl.drus drŵs doordrsA drysau door pl.

*-final• Stress vs. pitch (Griffen 1992, Bosch 1996, McCone 1996, Willis 2010,

Iosad 2012)

• Schwa is a reduced vowel• A stressed syllable is weak enough to host schwa

(penultimate)• A pitch syllable is too strong to host schwa (final)

STRESSED:CVCVdrXA

PITCH:CVCV*fASnfASun

MONOSYLLABLE:CVC* dD

CVCV CVCV ?????Old Welsh Middle Welsh Modern Welsh

*-final ?

fr ffyr furnrs nyrs nursesr syr sir

Ball and Williams (2001: 86), Hannahs (2013: 38)

CC# OK in loanwords

*-final ?

givr geifr goat.plgist geist bitch.plgnid gwneud to do

Fynes-Clinton (1913: sub voce)

CwC# and CjC# OK in loanwordsCjC# OK in native words

grud growd crowdgun gŵn gownkUnt cownt accountkurt cwrt Yard (court?)kir ceirr cars

*-final: Conclusion// is NOT a reduced vowel though it happens to have a

formant structure similar to that of English ‘better’

// is not sensitive to positional factors (anymore)

//’s prevalence in non-final syllables stems fromhistorical factors

Loanwords adapted from English show tollerance for // in final syllables

Native words show tollerance for // in final diphthongs

*long-ptk

• Long vowels in Bangor Welsh must be

– stressed (e.g. [pArhAi] parhau ‘to last’)

– in final syllable (e.g. [pob] pob ‘every’)

– followed by no more than 1 consonant(e.g. [kig] cig ‘meat’)

– that consonant cannot be [p, t, k]

*long-ptkdA da gooddeg dêg tendled dlêd debtdol dôl meadow

drAXt dracht draughtdvn dwfn deepfrind ffrind friendgArD gardd gardengAvr gafr goat

*long-ptk

kut cwt tailAk llac slack

gwep gwep faceknAp cnap a lumpstrok stroc a stone under a wheel

*long-ptk

Wood (1988), Buczek (1998), Bednarska (2011), Hannahs (2013)

1) CVVCC CVVCC CVCCgArD gArD gardd ‘garden’

2) CVVTV CVVF*kAt kAT cath ‘cat’

3) CVT CV(T)T CVTslAk Ak *Ak llac ‘slack’

*long-ptk?

gAt gât gategrAt grât gratekot côt coatpAp Pâp a Roman Catholicsnek snêc sneakkset cynsêt consentswit swît pleasantstrok strôc stroke

*long-ptk?mor môr seamor mor asmAn mân smallmAn man birth-markmAg mâg fry (of fish)mAg mag halfpennyeX llêch slateeX llech sneakkl cûl narrowkl clul knell

kod côd stomachkod cod codklos clôs clothesklos clos closekAn cân songkAn can hundredglAn glân cleanglAn glan shore

*long-ptk: Conclusionlong vowels do not appear before (MdnW) clusters

They appear before ALL single consonants (to a varying degree)

Depending on the vowel length in the sourcelanguage, vowels may be long before p, t, k in loans

There ARE minimal pairs as far as vowel quantity isconcerned

Vowel length is not entirelly context-dependent

It may be lexical

*affricate

• Affricates are rare

• They don’t have uniform spellingrepresentation (tsch, si, j, thi, etc)

• They are not found in native vocabulary

*affricate?

• [d]+[j] [dZ][dZAul]-[djAul] diaul ‘devil’[dZolX]-[djolX] diolch ‘thank you’

• Borrowings introduce affricates in variouspositions (next slide: Fynes-Clinton 1913)

• Word-Initial affricates undergo mutations (nextslide: Griffen 1974, 1997, Hannahs 2013)

*affricate?dZel jêl prison

indZAn injan enginesosidZ sosej sausagekrAtSAn cratsian to creak SGkotS coits coach

kAbAtS cabets cabbage

Radical Soft NasaltSokled i dZokled v nSokledtSAn i dZAn v nSAntSok i dZok v nSokdZAm --- v nZAm

*affricate: ConclusionAffricates are rare

They can be found in initial, medial and finalposition

The main sources of affricates are borrowings and palatalisation (affrication)

They participate in morpho-phonological processes

Loan phonology: Conclusion The appearance of schwa in the final position, the

inability of long vowels to appear before voicelessstops and the lack of affricates used to be explainedby reference to the ancestor languages

The synchrinic phonology of Bangor Welsh testifiesto the ill-formedness of *-final, *long-ptk, *affricate

Welsh is in need of a thorough synchronic analysisthat would explain the current state of affairswithout resorting to (ancient) processes of doubtfulapplicability (e.g. Old Welsh Stress Shift, SecondBritish Lenition)

Thank you!

References

AWBERY, GWENLLIAN M. 1984. “PHONOTACTIC CONSTRAINTS IN WELSH.” IN WELSH PHONOLOGY. SELECTED READINGS, EDITED BY MARTIN J. BALL AND GLYN E. JONES, 65-104. CARDIFF: UNIVERSITY OF

WALES PRESS.------ . PEMBROKESHIRE WELSH. A PHONOLOGICAL STUDY. LLANDYSUL: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES.------ . 2010. “WELSH” IN THE CELTIC LANGUAGES, EDITED BY MARTIN J. BALL AND NICOLE MÜLLER, 359-

426. LONDON AND NEW YORK: ROUTLEDGE.BALL, MARTIN J. AND NICOLE MÜLLER. 1992. MUTATION IN WELSH. LONDON AND NEW YORK:

ROUTLEDGE. BALL, MARTIN J. AND BRIONY WILLIAMS. 2001. WELSH PHONETICS. NEW YORK: EDWIN MELLEN PRESS.BEDNARSKA, KATARZYNA. 2011. “QUANTITY ISSUES IN WELSH.” IN FORMAL AND HISTORICAL APPROACHES

TO CELTIC LANGUAGES, EDITED BY KRZYSZTOF JASKUŁA, 35-51. LUBLIN: WYDAWNICTWO KUL.BOSCH, ANNA. 1996. “PROMINENCE AT TWO LEVELS: STRESS VERSUS PITCH PROMINENCE IN NORTH

WELSH.” JOURNAL OF CELTIC LINGUISTICS 5: 121-165.Buczek, Anita. 1998. “THE VOWEL THAT CANNOT BE LONG. THE HISTORY OF THE WELSH CENTRAL

VOWEL [].” IN STRUCTURE AND INTERPRETATION. STUDIES IN PHONOLOGY, EDITED BY EUGENIUSZ CYRAN, 55-64. LUBLIN: FOLIUM.

FYNES-CLINTON, OSBERT HENRY. 1913 [1995]. THE VOCABULARY OF THE BANGOR DISTRICT. FELINFACH: LLANERCH PUBLISHERS.

GRIFFEN, TOBY D. 1974. “THE DEVELOPMENT OF WELSH AFFRICATES: A CHANGE THROUGH BORROWING.” LINGUA 34: 148-165.

------ . 1979. “ON PHONOLOGICAL STRESS IN WELSH.” BULLETIN OF THE BOARD OF CELTIC STUDIES 28: 106-112.

------ . 1989. “THE DYNAMICS OF VOWEL QUANTITY IN WELSH.” WORD 40: 335-347.------ . 1997. “WELSH ALVEOPALATALS: FUNCTIONAL PATTERN ATTRACTION.” WORD 48: 353-366.HANNAHS, S. J. 2013. THE PHONOLOGY OF WELSH. OXFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.IOSAD, PAVEL. 2012. “REPRESENTATION AND VARIATION IN SUBSTANCE-FREE PHONOLOGY. A CASE STUDY

IN CELTIC.” PHD DISS., UNIVERSITY OF TROMSØ.JONES, GLYN E. 1984. “THE DISTINCTIVE VOWELS AND CONSONANTS OF WELSH.” IN WELSH PHONOLOGY.

SELECTED READINGS, EDITED BY MARTIN J. BALL AND GLYN E. JONES, 41-64. CARDIFF: UNIVERSITY OF

WALES PRESS.MCCONE, KIM. 1996. TOWARDS A RELATIVE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL CELTIC SOUND

CHANGE. MAYNOOTH: ST. PATRICK’S COLLEGE.MORRIS-JONES, JOHN. 1913. A WELSH GRAMMAR. HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE. OXFORD: CLARENDON

PRESS.STRACHAN, JOHN. 1909. AN INTRODUCTION TO EARLY WELSH. MANCHESTER: MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY

PRESS.SWEET, HENRY. 1884. “SPOKEN NORTH WELSH.” TRANSACTIONS OF PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY 19: 409-484.THOMAS, ALAN R. 1992. “THE WELSH LANGUAGE.” IN THE CELTIC LANGUAGES, EDITED BY DONALD

MACAULAY, 251-345. CAMBRIDGE: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.WILLIAMS, BRIONY J. 1989. STRESS IN MODERN WELSH. BLOOMINGTON: INDIANA UNIVERSITY LINGUISTICS

CLUB PUBLICATIONS. WILLIS, DAVID. 2010. “OLD AND MIDDLE WELSH.” IN THE CELTIC LANGUAGES, EDITED BY MARTIN J. BALL

AND NICOLE MÜLLER, 117-160. LONDON AND NEW YORK: ROUTLEDGE.