query: vocatives in modern Celtic languages

[Hewitt, Stephen]

Dear all,

That is right for Breton - there is neither a vocative particle nor lenition.

In recherché literary texts, a particle "a" plus lenition has occasionally been used:

A Zoue! "O God!"

but I am fairly certain that this has been done by erudite learners in imitation of Welsh (O Dduw!), and has absolutely no basis in any historical form of 

-----Original Message-----

From: The Celtic Linguistics List

[mailto:CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of Michael Daniel

Sent: jeu. 10 mai 2007 16:01

To: CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG

Subject: query: vocatives in modern Celtic languages

 

Dear all,

I am collecting data on vocative forms and forms of address, 

cross-linguistically, and am especially interested in languages that 

have special vocative morphology, or at least a vocative form that is 

distinct from the nominative. Starting from occasional references 

indicating the existence of the vocative in modern Celtic languages, I 

looked up a few sources. Being no Celtologist at all, I now seem to have 

a vague idea of the general picture now, but different sources are not 

always specific about all relevant points, so I would be very much 

grateful if you could correct me and update the gaps.

There is however quite a bunch of data mentioned and questions asked - 

takes some time to read this email, let alone to answer it. And also - 

you know how it happens, once you start answering one question...

Still, I am very much looking forward to all eventual answers!

Michael Daniel (Moscow)

 

My general understanding of the Modern Celtic vocatives.

Some Modern Celtic languages seem to have a vocative construction / 

morphology. The construction is particle "/a"/ triggering initial 

lenition of the following noun, or, alternatively, initial lenition 

only, with no particle, depending on the language. There are claims that 

vocative morphology (initial lenition) in the absence of the particle 

indicates that the particle has been lost (Ball&Fife 1993: 13), leaving 

lenition as a trace.

Specific languages.

Irish seems to have the "a"-particle-construction with lenition (e.g. 

Siadhail 1989: 149). Ibidem, page 149 he provides a special "vocative" 

form, which is not only lenited, but has a distinct flexion ('man' SgVoc 

/feara/ as opposed to SgNm /fear/; PlVoc/ feara/ as opposed to PlNom 

/fir/). I gather these forms are also only used after the particle a 

(although there is no direct indications at that). Very similar 

observations are made of Scottish Gaelig (Ball&Fife eds.: 1993: 173).

Welsh (King 1993, Ball&Fife eds. 1993) has a vocative lenition without 

the vocative particle. So does Manx (Ball&Fife eds 1993: 237). However, 

(Broderick 1984: 27) indicates that in what he calls 'Late Spoken Manx' 

only isolate vocative forms were used, he counts three nouns with 

attested vocatives in the singular and two in the plural. Some of them 

are exclamations (vuddee 'O poor wench) rather than actual addresses.

Breton (Press 1986) does not seem to preserve any vocative lenition, 

whether triggered by a particle, as in Irish, or independent, as in Welsh.

 

My general questions are the following.

1. First of all, is all the data as interpreted by me and presented 

above correct?

2. Do I understand correctly, that in the languages that have a vocative 

particle the initial lenition of the following noun is not purely 

phonetic / phonological, but morphophonological (i.e. that it is the 

presence of the particle triggers it, not e.g. any element preposed to 

the noun and ending in a vowel).

3. May the vocative particle "a" in these languages be used 

independently (the way "hey" in English is, which can be used both 

independently and with a noun). From the descriptions I understand it 

can not, is that true?

4. Do the languages indeed fall into several clearcut groups - Manx & 

Welsh have no particle but have vocative lenition - Irish and Scottish 

Gaelig have lenition after the vocative particle - Breton has none. Or 

these are trends rather than rules (e.g. Welsh might occasionally use 

the particle, while Irish may sometimes drop preserving the lenition). 

Also, are flectionally distinct vocatives in Irish and Welsh _only_ used 

with the vocative particle? From the descriptions I understand the 

groups are clearcut - is that true?

5. Is the presence of a vocative morphologically distinct from the 

nominative (including e.g. Welsh where there is no particle and the 

lenition is to be considered as a grammatical marking) only 

characteristic of common nouns like 'boy', 'child', 'god' etc., as the 

examples seem to indicate, or are given names or family names also 

included into vocative morphology. (Mind that the example like /a 

Mha/ire/ in Siadhail 1989 is not distinct from the nominative, as far as 

I can understand, except for the lenition triggered by the presence of 

the vocative particle. I would be more interested in given names 

belonging to the 'vocative' declension type in Irish/Scottish Gaelig or 

proper names that lenite in Welsh / Manx). (King 1993: 19) notes for 

instance, that personal names in Modern Welsh are not subject to 

mutation - does that mean that forms of address with given names are 

always identical to the nominative in Welsh (and do they use any 

vocative particle then)? On the other hand, Scottish Gaelig names 

"Seumas" and "Donnchadh" belong to the relevant 'A1' declension type 

(Ball&Fife eds 1993: 173), so they are supposed to have distinct 

vocative forms, though no examples are provided. In general, is that not 

that the Celtic vocative, where available, tends to combine with common 

names rather than proper names such as given names? And what about 

kinship terms (especially 'mother', 'father')? Does it not tend to drift 

into exclamations ("Oh boy!", "Good lord!") from the pure vocative address?

6. Do I understand correctly that the /a /is possible in Irish and 

Scottish Gaelig not only with '1A' declension type nouns (that have a 

distinct vocative form), but also with other nouns used as address. What 

are the semantic constraints on the combinability with /a /in different 

languages - only animates? Only humans?

7. How does the suggestion that the vocative lenition without the 

vocative particle is a trace of the vocative particle now lost combines 

with the fact that in a Manx example (Ball&Fife eds. 1993: 237) both the 

adjective and the head noun lenite? (If /a /is a true particle, it is 

very unlikely to repeat twice in one NP).

9. Finally, I am somewhat puzzled by a small note on Welsh (I understand 

it treats classic Welsh). (Jones 1930: 451) writes that "Some 

interjections are followed by nouns <...> Also, of course, by the 

vocative: /Och Dduw/. I wonder what he means here by 'the vocative'. Is 

it a special vocative morphology? I was unable to find any mentioning of 

the vocatives in his grammar - what he does is that he explicitly 

indicates there are no case left in Welsh nouns.

For those of you who had patience to go through to the end of this 

letter - thank you, whether you think it is worthwhile correcting my 

mistakes and mis-interpretations or not.

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