Re: Hello!

[Andrew Smith <hobbit@mail.earthlight.co.nz>]

On Wed, 29 Apr 1998, Geoff Eddy wrote:

> I actually borrowed this very book from the public library some time ago
> and am now trying to find it in a bookshop! The only times I've seen it
> I had less than the 21 pounds it cost :-( Speaking of books, what's the
> book "From Latin to Romance in sound-charts", referred to in your
> Brithenig page, like? I've never seen it.
>
I went and got the Introduction to Celtic Languages out of the library
yesterday and started researching.  The first thing I noticed was initial
stress!  Considering the stress stress is causing me at the moment I love
it already!

I also recommend The Romance Languages published by Faber and Faber.  The
first edition was written by Elcock; a second edition exists, I haven't
seen it and I can't vouch for it.  It is the Romance Conlanger's Bible as
far as I am concerned.  I deduced Brithenig's paradigms from that work and
then ran them throw the Teach Yourself [Romance Lx] for my homepage.  It's
a perennial work that I am constantly refere back to. 

Padraic has already mentioned "From Latin to Romance in sound-charts".
It is very helpful for a quick overview of soundchanges.

> There are actually some rather complex problems with this which I'll
> happily indulge myself in if requested... Also, P-Celtic-influenced
> Q-Celtic, or vice versa, could get quite interesting. Excuse my
> ignorance of the Brithenig alternate universe, but what languages are
> spoken in the alternate equivalents of the various parts of Scotland and
> Ireland?
>
The Chomro first came to Ireland in 1055 and finally withdrew in 1922.
Although the Irish and the Chomro share the same religion throughout that
period (Cambriese Uniate Catholicism) a Brithenig speaking aristocracy
displaced the local government except in the north, Uladd, where it
survived mostly intact.  The hundred years before the withdrawal Ireland
became increasingly autonomous culminating in the declaration of a
republic a generation after the withdrawal.  While the Chomro dominated
Ireland politically and economically they appeared to have made no attempt
to replace the language.  Irish Gaelic is more widely spoken *there* than
Scots Gaelic is.  Brithenig in Ireland has retreated to language
communities around Dublin and Cork.  Its position is probably similar to
Swedish speakers in Finland.

> Ask away! Have a look at my (incomplete) website,
> http://www.cix.co.uk/~morven/liotan.html if you like - it says some nice
> things about Brithenig (grovel!). Replace "liotan" with "l_intro" if you
> don't like frames.
> 
I did a quick skim of your website after Sally Caves mentioned it on
Conlang.  I confess to being a little vain about the number of nice things
said about Brithenig over the net, actually I confess to being a little
vain..  But I really should return the compliment by linking Liotan to
Brithenig.

- andrew.

Andrew Smith                                  <hobbit@earthlight.co.nz>

MAN, despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many
accomplishments; still owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil
and the fact that it rains.
							   - Anonymous