Editing Primitive Irish

{{Short description|Pre-6th century Goidelic Celtic language of Ireland and Britain}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{distinguish|Old Irish}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Primitive Irish
| altname          = Archaic Irish<br />Proto-Goidelic
| image            = Ogham Stone.jpg
| imagecaption     = Ogham stone from [[Ratass Church]], 6th century AD. It reads: {{sc|[a]nm sillann maq vattillogg}}<br />("[in the] name of Sílán son of Fáithloga")
| map              = Ogham map.png
| mapcaption       = Map of locations where Orthodox [[Ogham]] inscriptions have been found.
| region           = [[Ireland]] and [[Great Britain|Britain]]
| states           = [[Ireland]], [[Isle of Man]], western coast of [[Great Britain|Britain]]
| era              = Evolved into [[Old Irish]] about the 6th century AD
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Celtic languages|Celtic]]
| fam3             = [[Insular Celtic languages|Insular Celtic]]
| fam4             = [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic]]
| iso3             = pgl
| linglist         = pgl
| glotto           = prim1243
| script           = [[Ogham]]
}}

'''Primitive Irish''' or '''Archaic Irish'''<ref>{{cite book|title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |author=Koch, John T. |author-link=John T. Koch |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-85109-440-0 |pages=986–1390 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC}}</ref> ({{langx|ga|Gaeilge Ársa, Gaeilge Chianach}}), also called '''Proto-Goidelic''',<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |url=https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/38484/ |title=The Prosodic Structure of Irish, Scots Gaelic, and Manx |first=Antony Dubach |last=Green |date=15 May 1997 |via=rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu |doi=10.7282/T38W3C3K}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scannell |first=Kevin |date=May 2020 |title=Neural Models for Predicting Celtic Mutations |url=https://aclanthology.org/2020.sltu-1.1/ |journal=Proceedings of the 1st Joint Workshop on Spoken Language Technologies for Under-resourced Languages (SLTU) and Collaboration and Computing for Under-Resourced Languages (CCURL) |language=en-us |pages=1–8 |isbn=9791095546351 |via=ACL Anthology}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/uwp/jcl/2020/00000021/00000001/art00007?crawler=true&mimetype=application/pdf|title=Interarticulatory Timing and Celtic Mutations |first=Joseph F. |last=Eska |date=1 January 2020 |journal=[[Journal of Celtic Linguistics]] |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=235–255 |via=IngentaConnect |doi=10.16922/jcl.21.7 |s2cid=213769085|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dubach Green |first=Antony |date=1996 |title=Some effects of the Weight-to-Stress Principle and grouping harmony in the Goidelic languages |journal=Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory |volume=11 |pages=117–155 |citeseerx=10.1.1.387.8008 }}</ref> is the oldest known form of the [[Goidelic languages]], and the ancestor of all languages within this family.

This phase of the language is known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the [[Ogham]] alphabet in Ireland and western Great Britain between the 4th and the 6th century AD,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stifter |first1=David |editor1-last=Ball |editor1-first=Martin J. |editor2-last=Müller |editor2-first=Nicole |title=The Celtic Languages |date=2009 |publisher=2009 |location=London; New York |isbn=978-0-415-42279-6 |page=55 |edition=2nd |url=https://www.academia.edu/19947896 |chapter=4. Early Irish}}</ref> before the advent of [[Old Irish]]. These inscriptions are referred to as [[Ogham inscription#Orthodox inscriptions|Orthodox Ogham]], although scholastic use of the script continued residually until the early 19th century.<!-- Does the cited source really say that? That would be well in the Old Irish period. FORMER TEXT: from around the 4th to the 7th or 8th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nancy |last=Edwards |title=The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2006 |page=103 |isbn=978-0-415-22000-2}}</ref> -->

== Written records ==
Primitive Irish is the oldest recorded form of the [[Goidelic languages]]. It was written in the [[Ogham]] alphabet, the usage of which can be divided into two phases, [[Ogham inscription#Orthodox inscriptions|Orthodox Ogham]] and [[Ogham inscription#Scholastic inscriptions|Scholastic Ogham]]. 

The former represents the earlier tradition of inscriptions recording an individual's name, optionally with parentage, perhaps as a memorial or indicator of land ownership,<ref>McManus 1991, p. 44</ref> whereas the latter resulted from a tradition of scholarly restoration of the writing system as part of the development of a [[Celtic art|Celtic style]] of [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] art, in parallel with the use of the [[Latin alphabet]] in ordinary writing.<ref>McManus 1991, p. 128</ref> Primitive Irish is known only from Ogham fragments, usually personal names, the earliest being dated by academics to the 4th century, although some estimates for the earliest inscriptions range between the 1st and 5th centuries. Scholars agree that the orthodox written tradition is older than the surviving inscriptions.<ref>Koch 1995, pp. 44-45</ref><ref>Carney 1975, p. 57</ref><ref>Ziegler 1994, p. 25</ref> The latest inscriptions of the orthodox tradition appear to come from the 6th century.<ref>Koch 1995, pp. 45-46</ref> The scholastic use of Ogham continued until the early 19th century, the last inscription being found on the tomb of Mary Dempsey at [[Ahenny]] in [[County Tipperary]], which is written in both Irish and English.<ref>Ziegler 1994, pp. 93-96</ref>

Transcribed [[Ogham inscription]]s, which lack a letter for {{IPA|/p/}}, show Primitive Irish to be similar in [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and [[inflection]]s to [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]], [[Latin]], Classical [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Sanskrit]]. Many of the characteristics of modern (and medieval) Irish, such as initial mutations, distinct "broad" and "slender" consonants and [[consonant cluster]]s, are not yet apparent.

More than 300 ogham inscriptions are known in Ireland, including 121 in [[County Kerry]] and 81 in [[County Cork]], and more than 75 found outside Ireland in western [[Great Britain|Britain]] and the [[Isle of Man]], including more than 40 in [[Wales]], where Irish colonists settled in the 3rd century, and about 30 in [[Scotland]], although some of these are in [[Pictish language|Pictish]]. Many of the British inscriptions are bilingual in Irish and Latin; however, none show any sign of the influence of Christianity or Christian epigraphic tradition, suggesting they date from before 391, when Christianity became the official religion of the [[Roman Empire]]. Only about a dozen of the Irish inscriptions show any such sign.<ref>Nancy 2006, p. 103</ref> There is speculation about the orthodoxy of one inscription in [[Hampshire]] and two in Scotland, but there is no academic consensus on the matter.<ref>McManus 1991, pp. 44-45</ref>

The majority of ogham inscriptions are [[memorial]]s, consisting of the name of the deceased in the [[genitive case]], followed by {{sc|MAQI, MAQQI}}, "[the stone] of the son" ([[Modern Irish]] {{lang|ga|mic}}), and the name of his father, or {{sc|AVI, AVVI}}, "[the stone] of the grandson", (Modern Irish {{lang|ga|uí}}) and the name of his grandfather, e.g. {{sc|DALAGNI MAQI DALI}}, "[the stone] of Dalagnos son of Dalos". Sometimes the phrase {{sc|MAQQI MUCOI}}, "of the son of the tribe", is used to show tribal affiliation. Inscriptions demonstrating additional information are rare, such as {{Sc|QRIMTIR RON[A]NN MAQ COMOGANN}}, "[the stone] of the priest Ronán son of Comgán".<ref name=":0">Stifter 2010, p. 56</ref> Some inscriptions appear to be border markers.<ref>[[Rudolf Thurneysen]], ''A Grammar of Old Irish'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946, pp. 9–11; Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, ''Early Medieval Ireland 400–1200'', Longman, 1995, pp. 33–36, 43; James MacKillop, ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'', Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 309–310</ref>

== Grammar ==
The brevity of most orthodox ogham inscriptions makes it difficult to analyse the archaic Irish language in depth, but it is possible to understand the basis of its phonology and the rudiments of its [[Noun|nominal]] [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Morphology ===
Surviving Ogham inscriptions are written exclusively with nouns. It is possible to deduce some morphological features of Primitive Irish nouns from these inscriptions. With the exception of a few inscriptions in the [[Grammatical number|singular]] [[dative case]], two in the plural [[genitive case]] and one in the singular [[nominative case]], most known inscriptions of nouns in orthodox Ogham are found in the singular genitive, so it is difficult to fully describe their morphology. The German philologist Sabine Ziegler, however, drawing parallels with reconstructions of the [[Proto-Celtic language]]'s morphology (whose nouns are classified according to the vowels that characterize their [[Declension|endings]]), limited the archaic Irish endings of the singular genitive case to {{sc|-i}}, {{sc|-as}}, {{sc|-os}} and {{sc|-ais}}.<ref>Ziegler 1994, p. 53-92</ref>

The first ending, {{sc|-i}}, is found in words equivalent to the so-called Proto-Celtic category of [[Proto-Celtic language#*o-stem nouns|''*o''-stem nouns]]. This category was also recorded in the dative case using {{Sc|-U}}, with an inscription possibly in the nominative case also using {{Sc|-U}}. {{sc|-os}}, in turn, is equivalent to Proto-Celtic [[Proto-Celtic language#*i-stem nouns|''*i''-stems]] and [[Proto-Celtic language#*u-stem nouns|''*u''-stems]], while {{sc|-as}} corresponds to [[Proto-Celtic language#*ā-stem nouns|''*ā''-stems]]. The exact function of {{sc|-ais}} remains unclear.<ref>Ziegler 1994 p.53-92</ref>

Furthermore, according to Damian McManus, Proto-Celtic [[Proto-Celtic language#Nasal stems|nasal]], [[Proto-Celtic language#Velar and dental stems|dental, and velar stems]] also correspond to the Primitive Irish {{sc|-as}} genitive, attested in names such as {{sc|Glasiconas}},<ref>McManus 1991 p.102</ref> {{sc|Cattubuttas}},<ref>McManus 1991 p.108</ref> and {{sc|Lugudeccas}}.<ref>McManus 1991 p.116</ref>

=== Phonology ===
It is possible, through [[Comparative linguistics|comparisons]] with other languages, to [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstruct]] a [[Phoneme|phonemic inventory]] for the properly attested stages of the language using the names used in the scholastic tradition for each letter of the Ogham alphabet, which are recorded in the Latin alphabet in later manuscripts.<ref name=":0" /><ref>McManus 1991 p.38-39</ref>

==== Vowels ====

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! colspan="2" | Monophthongs
! colspan="2" | Diphthongs
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA|i}} {{IPA|i:}}
| {{IPA|u}} {{IPA|u:}}
| 
|
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA|e}} {{IPA|e:}}
| {{IPA|o}} {{IPA|o:}}
| 
| {{IPA|oĭ}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" align="center" | {{IPA|a}} {{IPA|a:}}
| colspan="2" align="center" | {{IPA|aĭ}}
|}
There is a certain amount of obscurity in the [[Vowel|vowel inventory]] of Primitive Irish: while the letters ''Ailm'', ''Onn'' and ''Úr'' are recognized by modern scholars as representing {{IPA|/a(:)/}}, {{IPA|/o(:)/}} and {{IPA|/u(:)/}} respectively, there is some difficulty in reconstructing the values of ''Edad'' and ''Idad''.{{sfnp|McManus|1991|pp=36-38}} They are poorly attested, and scholars believe the distinction between them might be arbitrary, in the same way as the [[runes]] ''peorð'' and ''cweorð'' in the [[Anglo-Saxon runes|Anglo-Saxon alphabet]], but they are transcribed as {{Sc|E}} and {{Sc|O}}, respectively, and probably had the respective pronunciations of {{IPA|/e(:)/}} and {{IPA|/o(:)/}}.{{sfnp|McManus|1988|pp=163-165}}<ref name=":1">{{harvp|Stifter|2010|p=58}}</ref> There were also two diphthongs, transcribed as {{sc|ai}} and {{sc|oi}}.<ref name=":1"/>

In later stages of the language, scholastic Oghamist traditions incorporated five new letters for vowels, called ''forfeda'' (supplementary), corresponding to [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] of the orthodox spelling, but these no longer corresponded to Primitive Irish sounds.{{sfnp|McManus|1991|pp=141-146}}

==== Consonants ====
The [[Consonant|consonant inventory]] of Primitive Irish is reconstructed by [[Celtic studies|Celticist]] Damian McManus as follows:<ref>McManus 1991 pp.36-39</ref><ref name=":1" />
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+caption |Consonants of Primitive Irish in IPA
|-
!
! colspan="2" | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]

! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! colspan="2" | [[Labialized velar consonant|Labiovelar]]{{efn|In Old Irish, these consonants had disappeared. The stops merged with their simple velar counterparts, while /w/ became /f/.}}
|- align=center
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|m}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|n}}
| colspan="2" |

| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
![[Stop consonant|Stop]]
|{{IPA|p}}{{efn|The sound {{IPA|/p/}} was absent in Primitive Irish, but a letter in scholastic ogham was created for the late introduction of this sound, called ''Pín'', ''Ifín'' or ''Iphín'', the only ''forfeda'' with a consonant value, although often used as an equivalent to the digraphs ''io'', ''ía'' and ''ia'' in Latin spelling. In early loanwords, the Latin letter {{sc|P}} was incorporated as {{sc|Q}}, for example Primitive Irish {{sc|QRIMITIR}} from Latin ''presbyter''.}}
|{{IPA|b}}
| {{IPA|t}}
| {{IPA|d}}
| colspan="2" |

| {{IPA|k}}
| {{IPA|ɡ}}
| {{IPA|kʷ}}
| {{IPA|ɡʷ}}
|- align=center
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]{{efn|The fricatives {{IPA|/f, v, θ, ð, x, ɣ, h, and β̃/}} emerged by the 5th century with the advent of phonetic séimhiú (lenition). In turn, their non-lenited counterparts occasionally and inconsistently became geminates.}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|s}}, {{IPA|sᵗ}}{{efn|The sound {{IPA|/s/}} in scholastic ogham was represented by two letters: ''Sail'' and ''Straif'', the latter probably representing a previously distinct sound such as {{IPA|/st/}} or {{IPA|/sw/}} (it was relatively rare and corresponded to Indo-European words containing {{IPA|/sw/}}). However, the two sounds had likely merged by the Old Irish period, except in their respective lenited forms.}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
![[Approximant]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|j}}{{efn|Lost in later stages.}}
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPA|ʍ}}
|w
|- align=center
![[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|l}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|- align=center
![[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|ɾ}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|}

The letters ''Cért'', ''Gétal'' and ''Straif'', [[Transliteration|transliterated]] as {{sc|q}}, {{sc|ng}} (or {{sc|gg}}) and {{sc|z}}, respectively, were known by the ancient scholastic Oghamists as ''foilceasta'' (questions) due to the obsolescence of their original pronunciations: the first two, {{IPA|/kʷ/}} and {{IPA|/ɡʷ/}}, had merged with plain [[Velar consonant|velars]] in Old Irish, and the third, probably {{IPA|/st/}}, merged with {{IPA|/s/}}.<ref>McManus 1991 p.182</ref><ref>Ziegler 1994 pp.11-12</ref> However, evidence of the original distinction between ''straif'' and ''sail'' was still present into the Old Irish period, as the ''séimhiú'' ([[lenition]]) of {{IPA|/s/}} produced {{IPA|/f/}} (< Primitive Irish {{IPA|/w/}}) for lexemes originally represented by ''Straif'' but {{IPA|/h/}} for [[lexeme]]s originally represented by ''Sail''.<ref>Stifler 2006 p.30. The lenited form strengthens the opinion that the basal form had an older, Indo-European derived pronunciation /sw/ that had apparently evolved into /st/ at some point later, but which retained the lenited form */hw/ for some time, which could easily have later evolved into /w/ or /f/.</ref>

The letter ''Úath'' or ''hÚath'' (transliterated as {{sc|h}}), although not counted among the ''foilceasta'', also presented particular difficulties due to apparently being a [[silent letter]]. It was probably pronounced as {{IPA|/j/}} in an early stage of Primitive Irish, disappearing before the transition to Old Irish.<ref>McManus 1991 pp.36-37</ref>

Consonant lenition and palatalisation, which feature heavily in [[History of the Irish language|later stages of the language]], may already have existed in an [[Allophone|allophonic]] form, i.e., they were not [[Phonemic contrast|phonemically contrastive]] yet.

====Internal history====
McManus describes the following sound shifts from [[Proto-Celtic]] as being attested in the earliest Primitive Irish inscriptions:<ref>McManus 1991, pp. 84-5</ref>

* A loss of /n/ before /t/ and /k/, resulting in the gemination of the following sound: ''*nt, *nk > tː, kː''
* Loss of intervocalic *sː ''/s/ > Ø / V _ V''
* Monophthongization of *ouː ''/ou/ > /oː/''
* Unrounding of *o in final unstressed syllables

==Transition to Old Irish==
[[File:Book of Ballymote 170v.jpg|thumb|Folio of [[Auraicept na n-Éces]] contrasting Ogham and Latin scripts.]]
[[Old Irish language|Old Irish]], written in the [[Latin alphabet]], has its earliest recorded texts possibly in the late 6th century; this is the traditional date of composition for the ''Amra Coluim Chille'', a poetic [[elegy]] to [[Columba|St Columba of Iona]] by St Dallán Forgaill, the first identifiable author in the Irish language. This work, however, survives only in heavily annotated manuscripts from a later time, in an old-fashioned form of the Irish language bearing little similarity to formal Old Irish.<ref>Koch 1995, p. 41</ref><ref>Richter 2005, p. 54-55</ref> The first texts which are widely accepted to have been written in Old Irish date from the 7th century, at the inception of a national textual tradition which was cultivated alongside that of [[Latin]] by the [[Catholic Church]] in Ireland, and which supplanted the archaic literary traditions.<ref name=":2">Koch 1995, p. 39-40</ref>

The radical changes that characterize the transition from Primitive Irish to Old Irish are not uncommon in the development of other languages, but appear to have occurred rapidly in the case of Irish. [[John T. Koch]], an American [[Celtic studies|Celticist]], theorized that these changes coincide with the [[History of Christianity in Ireland#Introduction of Christianity|conversion of the island to Christianity]] and the introduction of Latin as a literary language. The Irish language would then have derogated from the formal register of the language used by [[druid]]s in their ceremonies and teachings. Koch believed that with the decline of [[paganism]] and the corresponding loss of influence by the druids, the language of the Irish Christian nobility would have supplanted the ancient Primitive Irish register of the pagan priests, eclipsing it completely in the 7th century. This would give the impression of rapid linguistic development, while actually representing a shift in literature to a vernacular [[Register (sociolinguistics)|register]] which had previously been obscured by the conservative influence of the druidic language.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Koch 2006, p. 989</ref> This new phase of the language shows influence from Latin, the latter having been introduced to [[Protohistory of Ireland|pre-Christian Ireland]], which influence became more pronounced following [[Saint Patrick|St Patrick]]'s ministry.

=== Features ===
Primitive Irish has a [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] similar to other [[Indo-European languages]], however it did not display the most distinctive characteristics of [[History of the Irish language|other phases of the language]] including [[Velarization|velarized]] ("broad") and [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] ("slender") consonants (such consonant alterations may have existed, but they would have been [[Allophone|allophonic]]), [[Irish initial mutations|initial mutations]], some loss of [[Inflection|inflectional endings]], but not of [[Grammatical case|case marking]], and [[consonant cluster]]s.<ref>Koch 2006, pp. 986-988</ref> Old Irish does carry with it these distinctive features, as well as the loss of grammatical [[suffix]]es, the introduction of the letter ''p'' through [[loanword]]s and proper names,<ref>McManus 1991, pp. 37, 40</ref><ref>McManus 1983, p. 48</ref> the simplification of the inflectional system,<ref name=":3">McManus 1991, p. 84</ref> the alteration of some [[Vowel length|short vowels]] through [[vowel harmony]],<ref name=":4">Koch 1995, p. 42</ref> and, most notably, [[Elision|vowel elisions]] which resulted in distinctive consonant clusters.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Koch 2006, p. 986</ref>

This last phenomenon, especially marked in the genesis of Old Irish proper, began with an application of [[secondary stress]] to the third syllable of most words with four or more syllables, and also to the fifth syllable of words with six or more, in addition to the [[Stress (linguistics)|primary stress]], which fell on the first syllable, as is typical of [[Celtic languages]].<ref name=":4" /><ref>Schrijver 2015, pp. 196-197</ref> This caused [[apocope]] of (final) syllables, [[Syncope (phonology)|syncope]] of stressless (internal) syllables, and the shortening of all [[Vowel length|long vowels]] in non-initial syllables, around 500 AD and the middle of the 6th century, respectively.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Jackson 1954, pp. 142-143</ref><ref>McManus 1991, p. 88</ref> This loss of vowels caused consonant clusters to develop.

As an example, a 5th-century [[List of kings of Leinster|king of Leinster]], whose name is recorded in Old Irish king-lists and [[annals]] as ''[[Mac Caírthinn Uí Enechglaiss]]'', is memorialised on an Ogham stone near where he died. This gives the late Primitive Irish version of his name (in the [[genitive case]]), as {{sc|MAQI CAIRATINI AVI INEQAGLAS}}.<ref name="koch">{{Cite web |last=Koch |first=John |title=The Conversion of Ireland and the Emergence of the Old Irish Language, AD 367–637 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7012591}}</ref> Similarly, the [[Corcu Duibne]], a people of [[County Kerry]] known from Old Irish sources, are memorialised on a number of stones in their territory as {{sc|DOVINIAS}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ó Cróinín |first=Dáibhí. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31608471 |title=Early medieval Ireland, 400-1200 |date=1995 |publisher=Longman |isbn=0-582-01566-9 |location=London |pages=44 |oclc=31608471}}</ref> Old Irish {{lang|sga|filed}}, "poet (gen.)", appears in ogham as {{sc|VELITAS}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thurneysen |first=Rudolf |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31459157 |title=A grammar of Old Irish |date=1993 |publisher=School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies |isbn=1-85500-161-6 |edition=Rev. and enl. ed. with suppl |location=[Dublin] |pages=58–59 |oclc=31459157}}</ref> In each case the development of Primitive to Old Irish shows the loss of unstressed syllables and certain consonant changes.

Gradually, the grammaticalization of consonant mutations introduced a new characteristic that Irish would eventually share with all other modern Celtic languages.<ref>Conroy 2008, p. 3</ref> Old Irish phonetic conditions generated different [[Allophone|allophonic]] mutations over time, and with the [[Diachrony and synchrony|diachronic]] loss of the conditions which caused the mutations, those mutations became the only way to distinguish between different grammatical forms. Thus, the mutations became [[Phonemic contrast|differentiated phonemes]] with their own [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphosyntactic]] functions. For example, in the Primitive Irish phrase {{Sc|SINDHI MAQQI}} ("of the son", {{Sc|sindhi}} being a form of the [[Article (grammar)|definite article]]), originally pronounced {{IPA|ˈsɪndiː ˈmakʷiː|lang=pgl}}, the initial {{Sc|M}} would have [[Lenition|lenited]] to {{IPA|/β̃/}} due to the influence of the {{Sc|-i}} ending of the preceding word. The variation in the pronunciation of the word would not have caused a difference in meaning; it would be allophonic. In a later stage of the language, the Primitive Irish word {{Sc|sindhi}} became Old Irish {{lang|sga|in}}, losing the final vowel which caused the lenition. However, in the Old Irish phrase {{lang|sga|in maicc}} ("of the son"), the ''m'' is still lenited, so the pronunciation would be {{IPA|/ɪn β̃ak/}}. The lenition was 'reinterpreted' as being caused by the fact that {{lang|sga|maicc}} follows the definite article {{lang|sga|in}}, a rule of morphosyntax (grammar) rather than [[phonology]]. What was originally a phonological feature of the language therefore became [[Grammaticalization|grammaticalized]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>Conroy 2008, p. 6</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Irish language]]
* [[Early Irish literature]]
* [[Goidelic substrate hypothesis]]
* [[Phonological history of Old Irish]]

== Notes ==
{{wiktionarycat|type=Primitive Irish|category=Primitive Irish language}}
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin|25em}}
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-->
}}
* {{cite thesis
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 |department=Linguistics
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}}
* {{cite book
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}}
* {{cite journal
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<!--  publisher & location not used for established journals ---
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-->
}}
* {{cite journal
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{{refend}}

{{Celtic languages}}
{{Irish linguistics}}
{{Scottish Gaelic linguistics}}
{{Manx linguistics}}

[[Category:History of the Irish language]]
[[Category:Ancient Ireland]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 4th century|Irish, Primitive]]