Language and Place-names in Wales

(Hardback)

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This wide-ranging study takes the story of Kenneth Jackson's "Language and History in Early Britain" on from the 12th century to the end of the 20th century, mainly by using written and oral recordings of place-names. The main emphasis is on the place-names of Cardiganshire (now Ceredigion) but place-names in other parts of Wales are also considered and they are all discussed in the context of historical dialectology. The author analyses the phonology of Cardiganshire place-names, in their spoken and written forms, particularly looking at changes in the period from the 18th to 20th centuries, although many features are shown to have their roots in earlier periods. His analysis of place-names provides the basis for a detailed discussion of the phonology of Cardiganshire dialects, in which the phonetic development of these dialects in the modern period is traced.

Author Bio

A native of Cardiganshire, Iwan Wmffre is a historian and a linguist whose research is focused on the north-western periphery of Europe. He has held research posts in the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth, and in the Muse de Bretagne, Rennes, Brittany, and has taught Breton at the University of Galway. His publications include articles on Celtic history, sociolinguistics and linguistics as well as translations of texts from Welsh, Breton and Irish. He has published two books, Late Cornish (1998) and Central Breton (1998), in the Lincom Europa series Languages of the World.