ABSTRACT
Branch of Indo-European, formerly spread over large parts of Europe and Asia Minor, but today found only in northwestern Europe. Geographically, Celtic falls into two groups. (a) Continental Celtic, which is extinct today and attested only in inscriptions, borrowings and place-names; to this group belong Celtiberian (or Hispano-Celtic), Gaulish, Lepontic (sometimes subsumed under Gaulish), and Galatian. In the last two decades, there have been some important finds of longer texts, such as the tablets in Botorrita (Celtiberian) and Larzac (Gaulish). (b) Insular Celtic. under which fall the two groups Gaelic (or Goidelic). with the subdivisions Irish (approx. 500,000 speakers). Scots-Gaelic (approx. 90.000 speakers) and the recently extinct Manx (on the Isle of Man), on the one hand. and Brythonic. with the branches Welsh (approx. 400.000 speakers. attested since the eighth century). Breton (approx. 1.2 million speakers in the French province of Brittany, where speakers emigrated to from Britain some 1.400 years ago). and Cornish (extinct since the eighteenth century, but currently experiencing a revival). on the other hand. It is still under debate whether the division into Continental and Insular Celtic also constitutes a genetic grouping. For there is a further division that exists between the Celtic languages which does not coincide with the former grouping. i.e. that into the so-called pand q-Celtic languages depending on the fate of IE . which in the q-Celtic languages remained a velar sound (Celtiberian, Irish, and some Gaulish dialects). whereas in the p-Celtic languages it became p (the Brythonic languages and Gaulish along with Lepontic). The exact genetic relationship between these groups remains controversial to date.
