This comprehensive volume describes in depth all the Celtic languages from historical, structural and sociolinguistic perspectives, with individual chapters on Irish, Scottish, Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Breton and Cornish. Organized for ease of reference, The Celtic Languages is arranged in four parts. The first, Historical Aspects, covers the origin and history of the Celtic languages, their spread and retreat, present-day distribution and a sketch of the extant and recently extant languages. Parts II and III describe the structural detail of each language, including phonology, mutation, morphology, syntax, dialectology and lexis. The final part provides wide-ranging sociolinguistic detail, such as areas of usage (in government, church, media, education, business), maintenance (institutional support offered), and prospects for survival (examination of demographic changes and how they affect these languages). Special Features: * Presents the first modern, comprehensive linguistic description of this important language family * Provides a full discussion of the likely progress of Irish, Welsh and Breton * Includes the most recent research on newly discovered Continental Celtic inscriptions

This text provides a single-volume, single-author general introduction to the Celtic languages. The first half of the book considers the historical background of the language group as a whole. There follows a discussion of the two main sub-groups of Celtic, Goidelic (comprising Irish, Scottish, Gaelic and Manx) and Brittonic (Welsh, Cornish and Breton) together with a detailed survey of one representative from each group, Irish and Welsh. The second half considers a range of linguistic features which are often regarded as characteristic of Celtic: spelling systems, mutations, verbal nouns and word order.

• Arthur in the Celtic Languages is a reliable up-to-date introduction to the field. • It is the only book covering Arthurian literature and traditions in the Celtic languages (Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Irish, Scottish Gaelic) • This book covers medieval and modern literatures. • It also discusses folklore, ballads and other popular traditions as well as place-names.

The only modern account to describe all surviving Celtic languages in detail.

This collection of papers on the Brythonic languages of the Celtic group is divided into four parts: Welsh linguistics, Breton and Cornish linguistics, literary linguistics, and historical linguistics. This has resulted in a book providing a thorough and comprehensive coverage of this branch of Celtic studies prepared by leading scholars in the field.

This study of linguistic and cultural conflict in Wales, Scotland and Ireland shows how their forms of Gaelic retreated before the advance of the English language in the British Isles from the Reformation to the 20th century.

Leading researchers examine the Celtic languages in comparative perspective, making reference to European and Arabic languages; they use the insights of principles-and-parameters theory. A substantial introduction makes the volume accessible to theoreticians unfamiliar with the Celtic languages and to specialists. The book makes a strong contribution to linguistic theory and to our understanding of the Celtic languages.