Southwestern Brythonic is one of two dialects into which the Brythonic language split following the Battle of Deorham in A.D. 577, the other being Western Brythonic, which later evolved into Welsh and Cumbric. Celtic languages are the languages spoken by the ancient Celts and their modern descendants, the Gaels, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. ... Proto-Celtic language, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... The Continental Celtic languages are those Celtic languages that are neither Goidelic nor Brythonic. ... The Celtiberians dwelt in the Iberian Peninsula and spoke a Celtic language. ... Gaulish is the name given to the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Vulgar Latin of the late Roman Empire became dominant in Roman Gaul. ... Lepontic is an extinct Celtic language that was once spoken in Northern Italy between 700 BCE and 400 BCE. The language is only known from a few inscriptions discovered that were written in a variety of the Northern Italic alphabet, which was related to the Old Italic alphabet. ... Galatian is an extinct Celtic language once spoken in Galatia in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) up to the fourth century. ... The Insular Celtic language hypothesis groups the Goidelic languages, which include Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic, together with the Brythonic languages, of which the modern ones are Breton, Cornish and Welsh. ... The Goidelic languages are one of two major divisions of modern-day Celtic languages (the other being the Brythonic languages). ... Primitive Irish is the oldest known form of the Irish language, known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the Ogham alphabet in Ireland and western Britain up to about the 4th century. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... Irish (Gaeilge in Irish), a Goidelic language spoken in Ireland, the UK, and the USA, is constitutionally recognised as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. ... Scottish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, or just Gaelic (Gàidhlig; IPA: ), is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Evolution and Extinction Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in much of Cumbria, Northern Northumbria, and parts of lowland Scotland until about the 11th century. ... Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany in France. ... The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic. ... The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family. ... The Battle of Deorham occurred in 577 between the West Saxons and the Celts. ... Events The Anglo-Saxons under Ceawlin of Wessex defeat the British (Welsh) at the Battle of Deorham. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Evolution and Extinction Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in much of Cumbria, Northern Northumbria, and parts of lowland Scotland until about the 11th century. ...

It is the common ancestor of Cornish and Breton, which in the opinion of some (such as Schrijver) did not become distinct before the 12th century, the terms "Old Cornish" and "Old Breton" being geographical rather than linguistic. The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic. ... Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany in France. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ...

Some of the sound changes that distinguish Southwestern Brythonic from Welsh include:

• the raising of */(g)wo-/ to /(g)wu-/ in a pretonic syllable (in Welsh there was no raising)
• the fronting of */ɔː/ to /œː/ (in Welsh it diphthongized to /aw/)
• the fronting of */a/ to */e/ before */iː/ or */j/ in an old final syllable (in Welsh it diphthongized to /ei/)

Other significant differences are found in Welsh innovations that Southwestern Brythonic did not participate in, such as the development of the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /ɬ/. The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ...

There has been some recent interest in the language, particularly in Devon, and this has included study of a booklet entitled A Handbook of West Country Brythonic: The Forgotten Celtic Tongue of South West England C.700 A.D. (Old Devonian) self published by Joseph Biddulph. Biddulph's work has been subject to some criticism for not being sufficiently academic and for being effectively a constructed language rather than a reconstruction based on the comparative method. Devon is a county in South West England, bordering on Cornwall to the west, Dorset and Somerset to the east. ... An artificial or constructed language (known colloquially as a conlang among aficionados), is a language whose phonology, grammar and vocabulary are specifically devised by an individual or small group, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture as with natural languages. ... The comparative method (in linguistics) is a method used to detect genetic relationships between languages and to establish a consistent relationship hypothesis by reconstructing: the common ancestor of the languages in question, a plausible sequence of regular changes by which the historically known languages can be derived from that common...

External links

• Celtic language family tree

References

• Jackson, Kenneth (1953). Language and History in Early Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. .
• Schrijver, Peter (1995). Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology. Amsterdam: Rodopi. ISBN 90-5183-820-4.