Brithenig

Padraic Brown scripsit:

> I don't think anyone's done any work on early midieval Brithenig.
Not much.  However, Brithenig is not pro-drop, almost the only Romance
language save French that isn't (Rumansh doesn't count, as it has been
mugged by German).  This suggests to me that it passed through a V2
period, as the Germanic languages did (German is still in it, of course),
and Old French did too (doubtless under Germanic influence).  If so,
and if the influence was also Germanic, then undoubtedly it was Old
English that was the culprit.  This may have been followed by a classicizing
"pure Brithenig" period.  There is also a suspicious coincidence
in vowel reduction rules, which are very systematic:  /a/ to [@], /e/ to
[E], i to [I], o to [O], u to [U] in all unstressed (i.e. non-final)
syllables.

In America there has been further convergence, with all languages
including English and Brithenig adopting the uvular r.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
       I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin