Brezhoneg, Kentel 1

1 Writing and spelling / Skrivan ha distagan

Version 1.1 (7-apr-95), by A. Cedelle, cedelle@irisa.fr
Revised by G. Hamel, gweltaz@cats.ucsc.edu
Contents of the lesson mostly extracted from "Geriadur Divyezhek", Hor Yezh 93

1.1 The alphabet

Breton uses the following letters: A B CH C'H D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z Accented letters are : ñ, which marks a nasalized vowel. ù, which marks plural form (où).

1.2 Vowels

Many vowels have a corresponding nasalized form. Vowels may be long, mostly in stressed syllables. They are short in other cases. When they exist, equivalent English (British) or French spellings are given: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ simple: | corresponding nasalized vowel: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a As in English bat, or add : tal | (añ): bremañ (Fr: flan) e - As the French é : per (Fr: été) | (en) : den - (Fr/Eng:ai - lait,said): penn,laezh | (eñ): peñse (Fr: pain,vin) i (Eng: pig ) : hir | (iñ): riñsan o - (Fr: pot,beau) rod - (Eng: lot, toll) klorz,kaol | (on): don (Fr: son) eu - meuleudi (Fr: peu) - meurzh (Fr: peur) | (euñ) : bleuñv (Fr: un) u - (Fr: mou, Eng: tool [put]) dour | pounner - (Fr: lune) tu | (un) : dilun ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.3 Semi consonants

i,y [j] (Eng: yet, youth) yen, bleunIou u [uj] (Fr: puis) kuit w,o,v [w] (Eng wall, quite) gWastell, c'hOar, ataV

1.4 Consonants

h (Eng: hat) hir m (Eng: mat) merenn n (Eng: pan) bihanik gn (Fr: paGNe ) kiGNan n [nj] (Eng: link) frankiz l (Eng: lad) liñsel lh (like spanish ll: caballo) dilhad r (Fr: roue) rodeal v (Eng: vat) aval

1.5 Voiced and non-voiced consonants

There are two other groups of consonants, namely voiced and non-voiced consonants. The voiced consonants involve more "vibrating" sound from vocal cords, like the sound of B D G, whereas non-voiced consonants are only breathed and made with the tongue: P T K. In fact, this distinction is quite important for the language since most of the mutation system deals with these oppositions: P/B T/D K/G . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ non-voiced | voiced p penn (Eng: pig) | b bara t ti | d dorn k korn | g genou f frikan | f ifern s start | z louzou ch bruched | j dañjer c'h mac'h (German: nach) | c'h ac'hann ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.6 The stress rule

The stress is important in Breton. In general, it is placed it on the second last syllable, like in Welsh, but there are many exceptions.

SMO 1995-04-07 CPD