Bretonese

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Bretonese
breçoneix
Pronunciation[breˈθoneʃ]
Created byTardigrade
Native toSpain, Portugal
Early form

Bretonese (breçoneix) /breˈθoneʃ/ is a Brittonic Celtic tongue spoken in the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias and in northern Portugal. It is spoken by 30% of the population in these areas. Of these, 75% are in Spain and the remainder in Portugal and in diaspora communities.

Phonology and Orthography

Bretonese Consonants

The consonant inventory for Bretonese is as follows:

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨ñ⟩ ŋ ⟨ng, ngu⟩
Plosive voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ t͡ʃ ⟨ch⟩ k ⟨c, qu⟩
voiced b~β ⟨b⟩ d~ð ⟨d⟩ d͡ʒ~ʒ ⟨g, j⟩ ɡ~ɣ ⟨g, gu⟩
Fricative voiced v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩
voiceless f ⟨f⟩ θ ⟨ç⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨x⟩ x ⟨h⟩
Approximant central j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨u⟩
lateral l ⟨l⟩ ʎ ⟨ll⟩
Trill r ⟨rr⟩
Tap ɾ ⟨r⟩

Vowels & Diphthongs

The monophthongs are represented by the following inventory:

Front Central Back
Close /i/ 〈i, í〉 /u/ 〈u, ú〉
Close-mid /e/ 〈e, é〉 /o/ 〈o, ó〉
Open-mid /ɛ/ 〈e, è〉 /ɔ/ 〈o, ò〉
Open /a/ 〈a, á〉

All of Bretonese's true diphthongs are falling and consist of a vowel + either /i̯/ or /u̯/.

+ i̯ + u̯
Near-close ɪu̯
Mid əi̯
Open-mid ɛi̯    ɔi̯ ɛu̯    ɔu̯
Open au̯

Sound Changes

Consonant Mutations

As with all modern Celtic languages, Bretonese makes extensive use of initial consonant mutations to help signal grammatical and syntactic information. Bretonese has three main mutations: lenis (meyel), spirant (cravel) and nasal (truinel).

The changes caused by the mutations are summarised in the following table.

Radical Nasal Lenis Spirant
p /p/ b /b/ f /f/
t /t/ d /d/ ç /θ/
c, qu /k/ g, gu /g/ h /x/
ch /t͡ʃ/ j, g /d͡ʒ/ x /ʃ/
b /b/ m /m/ v /v/
d /d/ n /n/
z /z/ ñ /ɲ/ y /j/
g, gu /ɡ/ ng, ngu /ŋ/
gu, gü /ɡw/ ngu, ngü /ŋw/ v /v/
j, g /d͡ʒ/ ñ /ɲ/ y /j/
ll /ʎ/ l /l/
m /m/ v /ṽ/
ñ /ɲ/ n /n/
rr /r/ r /ɾ/

Lenited g becomes v before words in go-, gu-, e.g. gou "smith" → i vou "his smith", gur "man, husband" → i vur "his husband".

Examples:

  • Lenition: i beñ "his head", di dad "your dad", i gi "his dog", a reg "the woman", de Varselen "to Barcelona".
  • Spirantisation: i feñ "her head", tri çad "three dads", ter haç "three cats".
  • Nasalisation: no ngreg "nine women", i Marselen "in Barcelona"