Celtic and English language contact and scholarly attitudes

Abstract

Abstract There are obvious geographical reasons for entertaining the possibility that the Celtic languages have influenced the English language over the centuries since it became established in England and in the areas where Celtic languages have survived to the present day. Yet such influence is often claimed to be quite minimal. Nevertheless, it is also obvious that English differs in a number of ways from the other Germanic languages and that there must be reasons behind such differences. This chapter looks at the history of scholarship into the question and tries to isolate factors that may have contributed to certain scholars adopting their particular views. It is argued that some of these factors are more ideological than purely scholarly, reflecting stances that depend more on national origin and similar criteria than ones based on an objective examination of the facts, and further, that such factors are still behind some present-day judgments.