This book showcases the state of the art in the corpus-based linguistics of medieval Celtic languages. Its chapters detail theoretical advances in analysing variation/change in the Celtic languages and computational tools necessary to process/analyse the data. Many contributions situate the Celtic material in the broader field of corpus-based diachronic linguistics. The application of computational methods to Celtic languages is in its infancy and this book is a first in medieval Celtic Studies, which has mainly concentrated on philological endeavours such as editorial and literary work. The Celtic languages represent a new frontier in the development of NLP tools because they pose special challenges, like complicated inflectional morphology with non-straightforward mappings between lemmata and attested forms, irregular orthography, and consonant mutations. With so much data available in non-electronic form and ongoing efforts to convert these data to computer-readable format, there is much room for the developing/testing of new tools. This books provides an overview of this process at a crucial time in the development of the field and aims to the data accessible to computational linguists with an interest in diachronic change.

David Stifter's Sengoidelc (Shan-goy-delth) provides a comprehensive introduction to Old Irish grammar and metrics. Ideally suited for use as a course text and as a guide for the independent learner, this exhaustive handbook is also an invaluable reference work for students of Indo-European philology and historical linguistics. The author's step-by-step presentation in an engaging styles lead the novice through the idiosyncracies of the language, such as initial mutations and the double inflection of verbs. Filled with translation exercises based on selections from Old Irish texts, the book provides a practical introduction to the language and its rich history. Sengoidelc opens the door to the fascinating world of Old Irish literature, famous not only for such gems as the Tain Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cuailgne) or the lyrical nature poetry but also as a major source for the political and legal history of Ireland.

The Celtic World, a new title in the Routledge Critical Concepts in Historical Studies series, brings together canonical and the best cutting-edge scholarship in Celtic Studies, including key journal articles, many of which have been translated into English specifically for this set. Organized into four volumes, it gives an overview of the most important issues in the fields of theory, archaeology, history and linguistics, covering different aspects of Celtic cultures in Central and Western Europe, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. There are several Celtic worlds: some in the past, some in the present, some in archaeology, some in language, some in history. In this collection, several of these worlds are explored in depth. The present discussions in Celtic Studies about how to deal with its subject-and if it exists at all-are examined, as is the debate about where it should turn in the future. The greater part of this set, however, investigates the Celtic pasts and the three main strands that provide us with evidence about it: archaeology, history and linguistics. The first volume deals with Theory in Celtic Studies, from the 'Celticity' debate and the nativism-versus-antinativism controversy to the search for the discipline's future role. Volume 2 covers Celtic archaeology, from the search for 'Celtic origins' via late Hallstatt 'princely' tombs and La Tene culture to Romano-Celtic and 'late Celtic' archaeology of the British Isles. Volume 3 looks at historical sources on Celtic topics, in Antiquity, 'the age of Arthur' and the early Middle Ages. Finally, the fourth volume covers language from the earliest to medieval attestations, examining their typology and language contacts. The collection is completed by an introduction to each volume, newly written by the editors, together with a full index. It is destined to be welcomed by Celtic Studies scholars-and those working in allied disciplines such as archaeology, history and linguistics-as an invaluable reference resource.