Quantity in Breton and Welsh

Abstract

The paper takes up the problem of quantity in Breton and Welsh. It deals with consonantal length and its influence on the quantity of the surrounding vowels. Long stressed vowels in Breton may appear only before lenis (or, roughly speaking, voiced) consonants. Fortis (or voiceless) consonants may be preceded only by short vowels. In Welsh the situation is very similar, though there are also some differences in the distribution of vocalic quantity. In particular, Welsh long stressed vowels can appear both before voiced and voiceless obstruents with the exception of the fricatives [Ò] and [s]. It is suggested that Breton fortis objects and Welsh two fricatives be represented as a special type of geminates.