Re Welsh Mutations

[Andrew Carnie]

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ReceivedFrom: John Koch <jtkoch at husc.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: Welsh mutations


Off the top of my head and for what it is worth, the verbal noun clearly
mutates "normally" after conjunctions, as in, e.g.

(1) dim ond calon lan all ganu, canu ddydd a chanu nos [showing both soft
and spirant)

and (2) wyt ti am fynd neu beidio? "do you want to go or not?" with two
exx. of soft mutation.

But, I cannot [also off the top of my head] quote an analogue for cerwch neu
baid! or ca^n ddydd a cha^n nos!

One problem in finding examples is the Welsh syntactic strategy whereby a
second conjoined verb in a sentence is the verbal noun rather than a
finite verb: e.g. Canodd Ifan a(c yn) mynd wedyn "John sang and left after
that". Also there is the business of the vestigial use of affirmative
presentential particles, when one gets outside the imperative.

On Mon, 10 Jul 1995, <Andrew Carnie> wrote:

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>
> Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 13:01:05 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Nicholas Kibre <6500njk at ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu>
>
> ---
> Things have been pretty quiet, but your message has reminded me about
> something I meant to bring up...
>
>         Reportedly, mutation in Welsh is unable to cross finite-clause
> boundaries; thus, even though neu, "or" usually causes lenition, (cf bara
> neu gaws<caws, "bread or cheese"), it fails to cause lenition in contexts
> such as:
>
>         can-wch      neu dawnsi-wch/*ddanwsi-wch
>         sing-2pImper or  dance-2pImper
>         "sing or dance"
>
>         However, It's not clear to me whether all mutations are blocked,
> or just neu's.  For example, should "dance and sing!" be "dawnsiwch a
> chanwch" or just "dawnsiwch a canwch"?
>         If anyone out there knows, please tell me!
>
>         Nick Kibre
>
>
> o       -       -       -       -       -       -       -       -       o
> _              Nicholas Kibre --- 6500njk at ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu              _
>         Adran Ieithyddiaeth, Prifysgol Califfornia, Santa Barbara
> o       -       -       -       -       -       -       -       -       o
>
>
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>

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