Initial consonant mutation


Initial consonant mutation - Definition

Initial consonant mutation is the phenomenon in which the first consonant of a word is changed according to a certain grammatical environment.

Mutation plays a crucial role in all Celtic languages. Because of these mutations, it becomes extremely difficult to use a Celtic language dictionary without knowledge of mutation patterns.

Contents

1 Welsh

2 Breton and Cornish

3 Irish and Scottish Gaelic

4 Sindarin

5 See also

Welsh

Welsh has three mutation types, all affecting the initial consonant of a word:

Lenition or softening, in which voiceless stops become voiced, voiced stops become fricatives, and <ll> and <rh> become <l> and <r>.
Nasal, in which sounds become their corresponding nasal, thus, for example, p>mh, b>m, g>ng (mh is an aspirated nasal, optionally voiceless).
Aspirate mutation, in which voiceless stops become fricatives.

Consonant Mutation in Welsh
Unmutated Consonant	Soft Mutation	Nasal Mutation	Aspirate Mutation
p	b	mh	ph
t	d	nh	th
c	g	ngh	ch
b	f	m
d	dd	n
g	disappears	ng
m	f
ll	l
rh	r

Breton and Cornish

Breton has four mutations: though it lacks the nasal mutation of Welsh, it also has a 'hard' mutation, in which voiced stops become voiceless, and a 'mixed' mutation, which is a mixture of hard and soft mutations. These mutations are shared by Cornish, which describes them in terms of 'states': the unmutated consonant is described as being in the 'first state'; a consonant affected by soft mutation in the 'second state'; by spirant mutation in the third; hard mutation in the fourth; and mixed mutation in the fifth.

Consonant Mutation in Cornish (Kernwek Kemmyn)
Unmutated Consonant	Soft Mutation	Aspirate Mutation	Hard Mutation	Mixed Mutation
p	b	f
t	d	th
k	g	h
b	v		p	f
d	dh		t	t
g¹	disappears		k	h
g²	w		k	hw
gw	w		kw	hw
m	v			f
ch	j

¹Before unrounded vowels, l, and r(providing it is followed by an unrounded vowel).
²Before rounded vowels, and r(providing it is followed by a rounded vowel).

Irish and Scottish Gaelic

Irish and Scottish Gaelic both exibit two mutations, known as 'lenition' and 'eclipsis'. Lenition transforms stops into fricatives, as well as affecting two fricatives (turning /s/ into /h/ and silencing /f/). Eclipsis, on the other hand, turns voiced stops into nasals, and voiceless stops into voiced ones, as well as voicing /f/. Unlike Welsh, Breton and Cornish, these languages show the mutated forms differently according to their source. For instance Cork is Corcaigh in Irish, but 'in Cork' is 'i gCorcaigh'. This differentiates a mutated from from an unmutated 'g'. As another example, 'bh', 'mh', and 'bhf' all sound identical, however, they all have different sources: the first is derived from /b/ through lenition; the second from /m/ through lenition; and the third from /f/ through eclipsis (although the former two may represent medial /v/).

Sindarin

The Sindarin language created by J. R. R. Tolkien has mutation patterns inspired by those of Welsh. The first letter of a noun usually undergoes mutation when the noun follows a closely associated word such as an article or preposition. Thus, we get certh, rune, and i gerth, the rune. Also, second elements of compounds and direct objects of verbs undergo mutation.