The Neo-Celtic Verbal Complex and Earlier Accentual Patterns

Abstract

Celtic inherited from Indo-European a system in which the first word of the sentence was invariably accented and was often followed by an unaccented word. In the evolution towards Gaelic and Brythonic, it became most common for that first word to be either a verb or a preverb. The beginning of the sentence thus became even more clearly defined because, also as an inheritance from Indo-European, verbs and preverbs were unaccented in other positions. Between Proto-Indo-European and the earliest attested Gaelic and Brythonic, the accent moved. As a result, the phonetic effects of the earlier accent became morphophonemic: phonologically stronger forms of verbs and preverbs occur in sentence-initial position in Old Irish and early Brythonic. Information about the shape and function of the clause, formerly conveyed by the accent, came to be conveyed by these morphophonemic contrasts. If the inherited primary/secondary system marking tense still survived then, this new absolute/conjunct opposition clashed with it and displaced it.