Ball M.J. , Jones G.E. Welsh Phonology: Selected Readings. -
University of Wales Press, 1984. - 283 p.
Students of the Welsh language, more than those of any of the other surviving Celtic languages, have suffered much from a lack of a good range of detailed textbooks on various aspects of the analysis of the language. This is all the more regrettable because so much good work has already been completed but still remains unpublished.
The volume of readings now edited by Mr M. J. Ball and Mr Glyn E. Jones brings together a number of valuable contributions on Welsh phonology reflecting recent study of a wide range of topics in this field. Much of the strength of this exciting book derives from the fact that the editors have been able to include in it discussion of related subjects by scholars whose interests, training and approach vary a great deal. Critics may carp at the failure to pay more attention to some topics (e.g. processes of language change and language 'death', which are so imperfectly understood). But there is here a wealth of basic information and stimulating pioneer discussion of several aspects of the study of phonology. A good balance has been maintained between data-orientation and theory-orientation, between the more purely descriptive approach and concentration on the delicacy of language variation. It is well known that English-orientated linguistic analysis can be a blight on inteational linguistic research in general. These readings fortunately do not suffer from it.
The work throughout reflects well the ferment that is clearly evident in the study of many aspects of the structure of the Welsh language today. It is heartening to find that so much good work is being done on the language in so many centres of leaing. Several of the contributors to this volume bemoan what one of them describes as 'quite serious gaps in the available information'. I sincerely hope that this book of readings will encourage other workers to fill many of those gaps and will help to inspire gifted linguists to produce detailed and thorough-going studies of a number of neglected aspects of the structure of Welsh. Too many people fail to understand that linguistic analysis, properly controlled, is a supremely humane discipline. We are deeply grateful to the scholars.
The growing interest in Welsh linguistic studies has manifested itself in recent years in the increasing number of published papers that have appeared and in the research work being undertaken in the field (see Awbery 1981b, 1982). The last decade has also seen the publication of books on the syntax of Welsh. However, there has been no volume devoted to the phonology of Welsh.
Those discussions and studies relating to Welsh phonology that have appeared are not readily available, being scattered in published and unpublished sources, the latter being usually dissertations for higher degrees. Whilst this general lack of ready availability of the materials is a hindrance to Welsh linguists, it is a severe handicap to students of Welsh linguistics. For linguists at large and for students of linguistics in general, it has meant only very limited access to information on the phonology of Welsh.
This book was conceived of and arose out of the need to fill this void: it seeks to make available a selection of studies falling within the field of Welsh phonology conveniently collected together. All the contributions except one have been specially written for this volume. Whilst the subject matter will be of interest to students of Welsh linguistics in particular, it will also be of interest to a wider audience of linguists interested in the Celtic languages. No such comprehensive collection of studies in the phonology of any other Celtic language is available. It is with this wider public in view, some of whom may be unfamiliar with the language and with details of its status, and to whom the apparent concentration on 'localized' varieties of the language (arising simply from the lack of a codified standard spoken variety) may seem obsessive, a chapter has been appended surveying briefly the development of Welsh as a literary, standard and official language.
The general principles underlying this collection of readings then, have been to make available basic information and details about the phonology of Welsh and also to reflect, in part at least, the nature and scope of the research undertaken on Welsh phonology. To this end the studies fall into two parts: those discussions which are broadly descriptive, examining various aspects of the phonology of Welsh phonetic details, segmental phonemes, phonotactic constraints, vowel alteations and intonation; and those discussions whose central conce is variation. Two views of variation are represented that of the traditional dialectologist and that of the sociolinguist. The former, conceed with the geographical distribution of variation, and specifically in these readings, with the correlation of dialect features and earlier administrative boundaries; the latter, conceed with the covariance of linguistic variation and independent variables such as age, sex, education, acculturation and language use.
Many other topics of relevance to Welsh, such as bilingualism, minority language status, linguistic interference and language death, whilst not directly dealt with in these readings are nevertheless discussed in certain of these contributions.
Students of the Welsh language, more than those of any of the other surviving Celtic languages, have suffered much from a lack of a good range of detailed textbooks on various aspects of the analysis of the language. This is all the more regrettable because so much good work has already been completed but still remains unpublished.
The volume of readings now edited by Mr M. J. Ball and Mr Glyn E. Jones brings together a number of valuable contributions on Welsh phonology reflecting recent study of a wide range of topics in this field. Much of the strength of this exciting book derives from the fact that the editors have been able to include in it discussion of related subjects by scholars whose interests, training and approach vary a great deal. Critics may carp at the failure to pay more attention to some topics (e.g. processes of language change and language 'death', which are so imperfectly understood). But there is here a wealth of basic information and stimulating pioneer discussion of several aspects of the study of phonology. A good balance has been maintained between data-orientation and theory-orientation, between the more purely descriptive approach and concentration on the delicacy of language variation. It is well known that English-orientated linguistic analysis can be a blight on inteational linguistic research in general. These readings fortunately do not suffer from it.
The work throughout reflects well the ferment that is clearly evident in the study of many aspects of the structure of the Welsh language today. It is heartening to find that so much good work is being done on the language in so many centres of leaing. Several of the contributors to this volume bemoan what one of them describes as 'quite serious gaps in the available information'. I sincerely hope that this book of readings will encourage other workers to fill many of those gaps and will help to inspire gifted linguists to produce detailed and thorough-going studies of a number of neglected aspects of the structure of Welsh. Too many people fail to understand that linguistic analysis, properly controlled, is a supremely humane discipline. We are deeply grateful to the scholars.
The growing interest in Welsh linguistic studies has manifested itself in recent years in the increasing number of published papers that have appeared and in the research work being undertaken in the field (see Awbery 1981b, 1982). The last decade has also seen the publication of books on the syntax of Welsh. However, there has been no volume devoted to the phonology of Welsh.
Those discussions and studies relating to Welsh phonology that have appeared are not readily available, being scattered in published and unpublished sources, the latter being usually dissertations for higher degrees. Whilst this general lack of ready availability of the materials is a hindrance to Welsh linguists, it is a severe handicap to students of Welsh linguistics. For linguists at large and for students of linguistics in general, it has meant only very limited access to information on the phonology of Welsh.
This book was conceived of and arose out of the need to fill this void: it seeks to make available a selection of studies falling within the field of Welsh phonology conveniently collected together. All the contributions except one have been specially written for this volume. Whilst the subject matter will be of interest to students of Welsh linguistics in particular, it will also be of interest to a wider audience of linguists interested in the Celtic languages. No such comprehensive collection of studies in the phonology of any other Celtic language is available. It is with this wider public in view, some of whom may be unfamiliar with the language and with details of its status, and to whom the apparent concentration on 'localized' varieties of the language (arising simply from the lack of a codified standard spoken variety) may seem obsessive, a chapter has been appended surveying briefly the development of Welsh as a literary, standard and official language.
The general principles underlying this collection of readings then, have been to make available basic information and details about the phonology of Welsh and also to reflect, in part at least, the nature and scope of the research undertaken on Welsh phonology. To this end the studies fall into two parts: those discussions which are broadly descriptive, examining various aspects of the phonology of Welsh phonetic details, segmental phonemes, phonotactic constraints, vowel alteations and intonation; and those discussions whose central conce is variation. Two views of variation are represented that of the traditional dialectologist and that of the sociolinguist. The former, conceed with the geographical distribution of variation, and specifically in these readings, with the correlation of dialect features and earlier administrative boundaries; the latter, conceed with the covariance of linguistic variation and independent variables such as age, sex, education, acculturation and language use.
Many other topics of relevance to Welsh, such as bilingualism, minority language status, linguistic interference and language death, whilst not directly dealt with in these readings are nevertheless discussed in certain of these contributions.