Latin grammatical categories in the vernacular
The case of declension in welsh
The grammatical category ‘declension’ cannot be applied to Welsh substantive nouns since they have one form only for the singular and the plural respectively. But some Welsh grammarians of the 16th and 17th centuries tried to use this category to classify substantive nouns by proposing new definitions, based on the system of plural formation (Robert 1567) or on the system of initial mutations (Rhys 1592; Salesbury 1593). The latter approach formed a short-lived ‘paradigm’ in Welsh grammaticography with a dynamism of its own. It became divorced from the classification of nouns only and was applied to all words which undergo initial mutations (Davies 1621). The history of the definitions of declension in Welsh grammaticography is thus an instructive example of the changes grammatical categories can undergo when applied to a specific vernacular and of the creativity of the vernacular grammarians.
References
Davies, John
1621 Antiquœ lingvœ Britannicœ, nunc communiter dictœ Cambro-Britannicae, à suis Cymraecae vel Cambricae, ab alijs Wallicœ, rvdimenta. Londini: Billivm. (Microfiche-facs., Menston: Scholar Press 1968.)
Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid
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Gruffydd, R. Geraint
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A Guide to Welsh Literature, Vol. II1, ed. by
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Morris Jones, John
1913 A Welsh Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Repr. 1955.)
Parry, Thomas
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Rhys, Siôn Dafydd
1592 Cambrobrytannicœ Cymraecœve linguœ institutions et rudimenta. Londini: Orwinus.
Robert, Gruffydd
1939 [1567] Gramadeg Cymraeg. Yn ôl yr argraffiad y deuchreuwyd ei gyhoeddi ym Milan yn 1567, ed. by
Griffith John Williams. Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru.
Salesbury, Henry
1593 Grammatica Britannica in usum ejus linguœ studiosorum succinctâ methodo & perspicuitate facili conscripta. Londini: Salesburius. (Microfiche-facs., Menston: Scholar Press 1969.)
Watkins, T. Arwyn
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Williams, J. E. Caerwyn
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Williams, Stephen J.
1980 A Welsh Grammar. Cardiff: Univ. of Wales Press.
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Alastair Minnis & Ian Johnson
2005.
The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism,
Williams, Gruffydd Aled
2005.
Later literary criticism in Wales. In
The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism,
► pp. 549 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.