Exam, The Celts and their languages, autumn 2017

Theory

·        Basic information about Celts, historical and geographical setting

·        Celtic festivals

·        Classification of Celtic languages- Brythonic and Goidelic branches of Celtic languages, P
Celtic and Q Celtic, Insular and Continental, typological features and modern Celtic languages,
modern Celtic languages, historical continental Celtic languages.

·        Brythonic languages (The Picts, the gradual withdrawal of the brythonic languages from
Britain, Cornish, Breton (sort history and the languages and geographical context).

·        Welsh language- origin and short history, Welsh in different historical stages, medieval
literature (Mabinogi), modern Welsh (today`s situation and the welsh speaking areas), important
characters of the Welsh language: William Morgan, Lady Charlotte Guest, Hedd Wyn, George Borrow,
the integration of the Welsh language into British society and its implications, Welsh
pronunciation, mutations (only theory), Welsh dialects.

·        Goidelic languages- history of Irish, Irish medieval literature, Scottish Gaelic and Manx.


Reading:

·        Mabinogi (The first branch of Mabinogi and its index, orientation in the main characters)

·        The Dream of Oengus (the story plot and the main characters)

·        Welsh national anthem and the poem Rhyfel by Hedd Wyn


The main literature sources:

·        The notes from the lectures

·        Fortson Celtic languages

·        Prof. Václav Blažek: Keltské jazyky