ABSTRACT
In the introduction to this book, we mentioned that initial mutations are a feature which is common to all Celtic languages. This chapter aims to add a comparative as well as an historical perspective to the discussion of the system of initial mutations in Modern Welsh. In the first part (section 3.1), we will give a short description of the mutation systems in the other Celtic languages. We will concentrate on the description of the phonological changes themselves, rather than provide lists of the environments triggering mutations. Contrastive emphasis will therefore be on the different grouping, in the different Celtic languages, of similar phonological changes.
