Re: General RFI

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

On Wed, 13 May 1998, Geoff Eddy wrote:

> 1. Is there somewhere a Great Master Page about Brithenig which provides
> information about the language (such as sound-changes) and its
> althistory which "The Page of Brithenig" doesn't? If there is one, I
> look forward to reading it.
>
The Great Master Page exists, but only on a very worn page.  I did once
type it up and e-mailed it to Peter.  I don't know if he still has it
though.  It's heavily based on the book _Sounds and History of Welsh_, the
correct title of which is in the Bibliography of the Brithenig Homepage.
If necessary I can type it up again.
 
> 2. How much of the evolution of Brithenig would (or should?) also affect
> Breathanach? (e.g.: I haven't come up with decent 3rd-person pronouns
> yet; would they just be borrowed from Brithenig?)
>
I would consider that a matter of personal judgement.  Brithenig preserves
*ipso, *ipsa as nominative pronouns because I wanted to make them distinct
from the articles.
 
> 3. (technical question) In Brithenig, when exactly do medial consonants
> undergo lenition? There are at least six possibilities wrt stress: 1.
> always; 2. only before stressed vowels; 3. only after stressed vowels;
> 4. always except before stressed vowels; 5. always except after stressed
> vowels; 6. something else more complicated.
>
always.
 
> 4. (ditto) What do Brithenig long vowels and diphthongs evolve from?
>
All vowels become tense when stressed but remain lax when unstressed.
Diphthongs are mostly caused by change in vowels: the loss of k before a
dental creates a rising diphthong; VL e: becomes NBri ui; VL o: merges
with NBri u; latin v is a semi-vowel in Brithenig and reintroduces the
diphthong /au/ after latin au -> o; o and u -> ew in nearly all cases
before a vowel that survive; aw -> ew before (C)i.

Hope that helps.

> And two general list-related question: > 
> 1. Since the majority of the postings on this list have been concerned
> with Brithenig, is the private Brithenig list now effectively part of
> this one? I ask because my postings to celticonlang have turned up in
> the Sessiwn archives.
>
Some messages have been cross posted to the Sessiwn, unless John has
started keeping the celticonlong archives as well.  The majority of llo
*sessur agreed to maintain the Brithenig Distribution List as a private
mailing list.  This has not stopped Brithenig discussion effectively
hijacking this list, which concerns me.  Interested people are welcome to
join the Sessiwn.
 
> Much better than the Esp&r@n* Ghefo, my reaction to which is
> unprintable.
> 
Oh, Ghefo is your name in Espaar'n*!  It's not a particularly friendly
transliteration, I thought it was a typo or something!

What's IPA for *, I'm trying to figure out how to pronounce Esp&r@n*?

- 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