Re: Keneidelakh (was: Gaelic thing)

On Tuesday, July 9, 2002, at 08:54 , Pavel Iosad wrote:

> Hello,
>
>> On Tue, 9 Jul 2002 19:21:40 +0000 Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>
>> writes:
>>> CENEDL   HEB     IAITH,         CENEDL   HEB    GALON
>>> A nation without a language [is]A nation without a heart.
>> -
>>
>> Is that actually supposed to be "CENEDL", or was there a
>> transmission-problem somewhere?
No transmission problem.

> Yes. Though in practice it's almost _always_ pronounced [kEnEdEl], or
> else [kEnEd]
Well, ['kEned] normally in colloquial pronunciation in the south.  North
Walians, I believe, are more likely to say ['kEnedl=], which a south Walian
would also say if s/he were being formal.   But the final /l/ becomes
pronounced both formally and colloquially when suffixes are added, e.g.
cenhedloeth [kEn'he:dlo1T] (north) or [kEn'he:dlo:T] (south) = nations.

(Yes, the {h} after _cen_ is correct - but that's another story  :)

In words where two or more syllables precede the final postconsonantal
  -l or -r, the final is usually dropped in the south, thus:
ffenestr (window) ['fEnEst].
But _ffenestri_ (windows) [fE'nEstri].

If, however, only one syllable precedes, the final -l or -r is always
pronounced
and southerners normally preceded, as Pavel shows, by an epenthetic vowel,
e.g.
pobl ['po:bol] "people" but _poblogi_ [po'blo;gi] "to populate"
llestr ['KEster] "vessel" but _llestri_ ['KEstri] "vessels"

Ray.

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