Phonology
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
- vowels:
- short: a, e, i, o u
- long: ā, ē, ī, (ō), ū
- diphthongs: ai, ei, oi, au, eu, ou
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | |
| Affricate | ts | |||
| Fricative | s | (x)1 | ||
| Approximant | j | w | ||
| Liquid | r, l |
- is an allophone of /k/ before /t/.
- occlusives:
- voiceless: p, t, k
- voiced: b, d, g
- resonants
- nasals: m, n
- liquids r, l
- sibilant: s
- affricate: ts
- semi-vowels: w, y
The diphthongs all transformed over the course of the historical period. Ai and oi collapsed into long ī; eu merged with ou, both becoming long ō. Ei became long ē early, probably prior to the attestation of Gaulish. In general, long diphthongs became short diphthongs and then collapsed into long vowels. Long vowels shortened before nasals in Auslaut.
Other transformations include the transformation of unstressed i into e. Ln became ll, a stop + s became ss, and a nasal + velar became /ng/ + velar.
The occlusives also seem to have been both lenis, unlike Latin, which distinguished voiced occlusives with a lenis realization from voiceless occlusives with a fortis realization, hence confusions like Glanum for Clanum, vergobretos for vercobreto, Britannia for Pritannia.
Read more about this topic: Gaulish Language