Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Length and quality in Welsh mid vowels: new evidence from Mid Wales

Rees, Iwan Wyn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5859-3839 2018. Length and quality in Welsh mid vowels: new evidence from Mid Wales. Journal of Celtic Linguistics 19 (1) , pp. 157-208. 10.16922/jcl.19.6

[thumbnail of Length and Quality in Welsh Mid Vowels New Evidence from Mid-Wales - post print.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (945kB) | Preview

Abstract

Previous accounts of the vowel systems of Welsh (e.g. G. E. Jones 1984; Ball and Williams 2001; Awbery 2009; Mayr and Davies 2011; Hannahs 2013) have focused mainly, if not exclusively, on differences of length, i.e. distinctions between long and short vowels, thereby assuming that vowel quality is largely determined by vowel length in Welsh. However, the empirical quantitative results presented in this article will show that the situation is far more complex, at least in two distinctive areas of mid Wales where a substantial degree of variation can be seen in the quality of various vowels. Indeed, it will be clear from the discussion that follows that vowel length is only one factor with which vowel quality varies, and that other linguistic factors appear to be equally as important, e.g. the vowel's position within the word (i.e. the syllabic environment), and the phonetic context (e.g. whether the vowel is followed by a single consonant or a cluster in stressed penultimates). It will therefore be argued that previous assumptions that Welsh vowels of the same length behave uniformly across all contexts do not appear to hold, and that the effects of other relevant linguistic factors have been largely overlooked.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Welsh
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISSN: 0962-1377
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 15 June 2017
Date of Acceptance: 13 June 2017
Last Modified: 06 Nov 2023 23:59
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/101446

Citation Data

Cited 1 time in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics