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The Cornish language separated from the southwestern dialect of Common Brittonic at some point between 600 and 1000 AD. The phonological similarity of the Cornish, Welsh, and Breton languages during this period is reflected in their writing systems, and in some cases it is not possible to distinguish these languages orthographically.[1] However, by the time it had ceased to be spoken as a community language around 1800[2] the Cornish language had undergone significant phonological changes, resulting in a number of unique features which distinguish it from the other neo-Brittonic languages.
Research history
The emergence of a language that can be described as specifically Cornish, rather than a dialect of late Common Brittonic, has not been conclusively dated and may have been a process lasting several hundred years. According to Kenneth Jackson, the Common Brittonic period ended around 600 AD due to the loss of direct land communications between western and southwestern Britain following the Anglo-Saxon incursions.[3][4] Kim McCone, however, assumes a later date, around the turn of the first millennium, citing continuing maritime connections and the various shared phonological developments during this period, such as the accent shift and internal i-affection.[4] Only minor differences, such as the sporadic (orthographic) denasalisation of Common Brittonic *m, can distinguish Cornish from Breton during this period, and no single phonological feature distinguishes Cornish from both Welsh and Breton until the beginning of the assibilation of dental stops, which is not found before the second half of the eleventh century.[5]
Ken George divides the history of the Cornish language into four periods:[2]
- Primitive Cornish, before the earliest written records.
- Old Cornish, c. 800 – 1200
- Middle Cornish, c. 1200–1575
- Late Cornish, c. 1575–1800
These dates are broadly accepted, though Talat Chaudhri uses slightly different dates, based upon the estimated dates of the surviving texts.[6]
As with other languages known only from written records, the phonological system of Cornish has to be inferred through analysis of the orthography used in the extant manuscripts, using the methods of historical linguistics such as internal reconstruction and the comparative method.[7] This task is hampered by a relative paucity of surviving texts,[8] but the existence of a number of documents written in rhyme, as well as the work of Edward Lhuyd, who visited Cornwall for three months in the early 1700s and recorded what he heard in an approximately phonetic orthography, have allowed linguists to reconstruct various stages of the phonology of the Cornish language.
Explanation of symbols
Most symbols below correspond with their expected IPA values. Some non-standard symbols used in the literature are explained below:
- *μ - a fully nasalized sound
- *ī, *ū, etc. - Proto-Celtic and early Brittonic long vowels
- *ĭ, *ŭ etc. - Proto-Celtic and early Brittonic short vowels
- â, ê etc. - Late Cornish long vowels
- *ʉ (= *ü in Schrijver's notation) - an i-affected *ŭ
- *ɵ (= *ö in Schrijver's notation) an i-affected *ŏ
- *e̝ = "raised e", eg. from i-affected *ă or *ĕ
- *ō̜, *o̜ = "open o" - from Proto-Celtic *ā (and *au, according to Schrijver)
- *o̝ - "raised o"
- *Σ used by Jackson to represent a sound between and , perhaps similar to a strongly aspirated [9]
Main features and issues
Stress
Stress in polysyllables was originally on the final syllable in the earliest Cornish,[10][11] which then shifted to the penultimate syllable at some point in the eleventh century.[12] Monosyllables were usually stressed, apart from the definite article, possessive adjectives, verbal particles, conjunctions and prepositions.[13] According to Ken George, Middle Cornish verse suggests that the pitch-accent remained on the final syllable.[13]
Rules for vowel length
From around 600 AD, the earlier Brittonic system of phonemic vowel length was replaced by a New Quantity System, in which vowel length is allophonic, determined by the position of the stress and the structure of the syllable.[14][15] After the Old Cornish accent shift to the penultimate syllable, probably in the 11th century, the rules were as follows:
- vowels in unstressed syllables are short
- vowels in stressed syllables, followed by two or more consonants (including the long fortis or geminate consonants *mm, *nn, *ll, and *rr) are short
- vowels in stressed syllables, followed by a single consonant (or in hiatus) in polysyllabic words were half-long
- vowels in stressed syllables in monosyllabic words were long
- vowels in irregularly-stressed final syllables of polysyllabic words were long
The date of the breakdown of these quantity rules, due to the influx of English loan-words not conforming to the original system, is disputed. Nicholas Williams dates it to before the earliest Middle Cornish texts,[18] whereas Ken George states that this change did not occur until 1600.[19] According to this analysis, Cornish at some point returned to a system of phonemic vowel length as in early Brittonic after this so-called "prosodic shift", and most vowels in polysyllables became or remained short.
The "prosodic shift"
The suggestion that Cornish phonology underwent systematic changes in its vocalic system first appears in Ken George's A Phonological History of Cornish, who dated it to around 1600.[20] Nicholas Williams, however, later suggested that this Prosodic Shift occurred some centuries earlier, either in the early thirteenth century[18] or the twelfth century. According to Williams, the consequences of the prosodic shift are:[21][22]
- Vowel length becomes phonemic
- Half-long vowels become short
- All long or geminate consonants are reduced to short or single consonants
- Vowels in unstressed syllables tend to be reduced to schwa
- Vocalic alternation
- All nuclei in diphthongs are now short
Williams's theory has been criticised by several linguists. Chaudhri points out that "there is no incontrovertible evidence as yet to show that any such Prosodic Shift ever occurred" at any time, especially not as early as postulated by Williams; he further argues that "the observed results of pre-occlusion in the sixteenth century would have been impossible if the inherited quantity system had been radically re-shaped centuries before."[23] and states that George is "quite correct in his rejection of Williams's evidence for the Prosodic Shift at a date before the Middle Cornish period"[24] He also rejects George's use of Late Cornish spellings to support a shift c. 1600.[24] Albert Bock and Ben Bruch argue that Williams's claim that all diphthongs were short from the thirteenth century at the latest "does not withstand even a cursory glance at Edward Lhuyd's transcription of Late Cornish diphthongs", which were collected in the early 1700s.[25]
Vocalic alternation
Nicholas Williams points out that the reflex of Common Brittonic *ī and *ĭ in the Middle Cornish texts is usually written as ⟨y⟩ in monosyllables, but is often written as ⟨e⟩ in polysyllables.[26] This phenomenon is known as 'vocalic alternation'.
This written alternation does not appear in all of the Middle Cornish texts,[27] and there is disagreement on how this alternation should be interpreted. Both Ken George and Nicholas Williams interpret this as a purely orthographic phenomenon. According to Williams, the continued writing of ⟨y⟩ and ⟨i⟩ in monosyllables is an archaism and a reflection of orthographic conservatism which does not represent the contemporary pronunciation of the scribes.[26] According to George, the scribes who wrote ⟨y⟩ were describing the quality of the vowel, whereas those who wrote ⟨e⟩ were describing the reduced quantity of a half-long vowel in a polysyllable.[28] Both of these interpretations are questioned by Bock and Bruch, who argue that the use of ⟨y⟩ and ⟨e⟩ in the texts reflects the phonetic reality of the language at around the time the manuscripts were written. According to their analysis, the graph used by the scribes is determined by the quality of the vowel (rather than the quantity), and vocalic alternation is a consequence of the lowering of Old Cornish *ɪ to *e. They further state that vocalic alternation "cannot therefore be the result of a general shortening of vowels, unless one accepts Williams's assertion that 'by the Late Cornish period, vowels in stressed monosyllables had again lengthened.'"[29]
Assibilation and palatalization of dental plosives
- Assibilation and palatalization of Old Cornish *t and *d:
- According to George, the groups *lt and *nt, except when followed by a vowel plus a liquid or a nasal, were assibilated to *ls and *ns respectively, c. 1275.[30]
- Also according to George, medial and final *d, including in the groups *ld, *nd and *dw, became assibilated to *z in similar phonetic environments, c. 1325. This sound change also does not occur when *d is followed by a vowel plus a liquid or a nasal.[31]
- Chaudhri argues that these phonemes in this environment were first assibilated (apart from a few early cases of palatalization), then palatalized to *dʒ later, perhaps with *ʒ as an intermediate step.[32]
- George now argues that assibilation occurred first, followed by palatalization, but states that the change to *dʒ did not take hold in the Powder hundred.[33]
- Nicholas Williams proposes the following schema for the evolution of Old Cornish *t and *d:[34]
- In medial and final position *t in the groups *lt and *nt was affricated to *ts before the twelfth century.
- Intervocalic *t was affricated to in some words.
- Around 1100, *d was affricated to finally, and medially before certain vowels and *w
- Before a stressed front vowel, or before *j followed by a stressed vowel initial *d was affricated to in some words following a final *n
- Medially after *l and *n, was voiced to
- Before stressed front vowels and *j followed by a vowel, was palatalised to *dʒ, and * became
- Some dialects of Cornish tended to more regularly palatalise to *dʒ, and to *tʃ, even when not followed by a high front vowel.
- In dialects in which this did not happen, was simplified to *z and ts was simplified to *s
Summary of developments from Proto-Celtic to Late Cornishedit
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| Proto-Celtic | British Latin | Late SW Brittonic | Old Cornish | Middle Cornish | Late Cornish | Example | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Celtic | British Latin | Late Brittonic | Old Cornish | Middle Cornish | Late Cornish | ||||||
| Short vowels | |||||||||||
| ĭ | ɪ[35] | ɪ | ɪ | e | bitus 'world' | bɪd | bɪd | bɪz | bêz | ||
| e[a][36][37] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | ɸlikkā 'flat stone' | lɛx | lɛx | lɛx | lêx | |||
| ĕ | e[35] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | ekʷos 'horse' | ɛbo̜l 'foal' | ɛbœl | ɛbɛl | ɛbɛl | ||
| ɪ[b][38] | ɪ | ɪ | ɛ | ɸare kʷennū 'in front of the head' | ɛrbɪnn | ɛrbɪnn | ɛrbɪnn | war bɛᵈn[39] | |||
| ɪ[c][40][41] | ɪ | ɛ | ɛ | melinos 'yellow' | mɪlɪn | mɪlɪn | mɛlɪn | mɛlɪn | |||
| ă | a[35][42] | a | a | a | bakkos 'hook' | bax | bax | bax | bâh | ||
| e̝[b][43] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | markoi 'horses' | me̝rx | mɛrx | mɛrx | mɛrx | |||
| e̝[c][38] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | klamito-'sickness' | kle̝μɪd | klɛβɪd | klɛvɪz | klɛvɛz | |||
| ŏ | o[35] | o | o | o | rotos 'wheel' | rod | roz | roz | rôz | ||
| ɵ[b][44][38] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | kornī 'horns' | kɵrn | kɛrn | kɛrn | kɛrn | |||
| ɵ[c][38] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | olīnā 'elbow' | ɵlin | ɛlin | ɛlin | ɛlin | |||
| ŭ | u[35] | o | o | o | bukkos 'buck' | bux | box | box | bôh | ||
| o[a][36][45] | o | o | o | butā 'hut, dwelling' | bod | bod | boz | bôz | |||
| ʉ[b][38] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | tullī 'holes' | tʉll | tɛll | tɛll | tɛll | |||
| ɵ[c][44][38] | ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | gulbīno 'beak' | gɵlβin | gɛlβin | gɛlvin | gɛlvin | |||
| Long vowels and diphthongs | |||||||||||
| ī[46] | i | i | i | i | līw- 'colour' | liw | liw | liw | lîw | ||
| ū[46] | kūlos 'back' | kil | kil | kil | kîl | ||||||
| ī (< ē)[46] | wīros 'true' | gwir | gwir | gwir | gwîr | ||||||
| eu[46] | y | y | y | i | teutā 'people' | tyd | tyd | tyz | tîz | ||
| ou[46] | roudos 'red' | ryð | ryð | ryð | rîð | ||||||
| oi[46] | oinos 'one' | yn | yn | ynn | ɪᵈn | ||||||
| ei[46] | ui | ui | o̝ | u | skeitom 'shield' | skuid | skuid | sko̝z | skuz | ||
| ai[46] | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Cornish_phonology|||||||||||