Re: CHAT: Is there a conlang inspired in Old English?

"Thomas R. Wier" wrote:

> I know this may sound vaguely like heresy 8P, but I do
> find the borrowing of initial mutation a little odd. It
> strikes me as the kind of feature a language would borrow
> only under truly *massive* sociolinguistic pressure from
> some other language that has it, and usually that much
> pressure leads to language obsolescence and even language
> death.  (A very cool idea, but still...)
That leads me to the question: what does the group think of the
theory that the insular Celtic languages borrowed mutation from a
substrate language (Pictish, for example)?

There are of course other theories to explain why the insular Celtic
languages use mutation.  I'm not pretending to be qualified enough
to answer my own question, I'm curious to know what others think. :)

Eamon

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