English and the Insular Celtic languages share a troubled history of co-existence in the British Isles, spanning more than one and a half millennia. Normally, such circumstances can be expected to lead to various kinds of linguistic contact effects in both language groups involved in the contact situation. While it is generally accepted that the Celtic languages have absorbed, and continue to absorb, many influences from the neighbouring English, the opposite is not true according to the 'orthodox view'. It holds that English phonology, syntax and lexis display only a minimal amount of contact influences from the Celtic languages. This is mainly explained by the subjugated position of the Celts in the centuries following the arrival of the Germanic tribes in Britain. Apart from a number of names of localities, rivers, mountains and islands, theAnglo-Saxons had no need, as the argument goes, to borrow words or grammar from the Celts.Drawing on the most recent research on this question, the articles contained in this volume challenge the orthodox view from various historical and linguistic perspectives. The contributions provide new insights into both the historical background to the early contacts between speakers of Celtic and Germanic languages and the linguistic outcomes of these contacts in phonology, syntax and lexis. The writers represent a wide variety of expertise in the fields of the history and archaeology ofBritain, Germanic and Celtic studies, general linguistics and language contact studies.ContentsEditors' PrefaceContributorsMarkku Filppula, Juhani Klemola and Heli Pitkänen: Introduction: Early contacts between English and the Celtic languagesPart I: The earliest Anglo-Saxon/British contacts: Historical and linguistic perspectivesNicholas Higham: The Anglo-Saxon/British interface: History and ideologyRichard Coates: The significances of Celtic place-names in EnglandPeter Schrijver: The rise and fall of British Latin: Evidence from English and BrittonicHildegard L.C. Tristram: Attrition of inflections in English and WelshPart II: Linguistic outcomes of Medieval and Early Modern contactsDavid L. White: Explaining the innovations of Middle English: What, where, and whyAndrew Breeze: Seven types of Celtic loanwordStephen Laker: An explanation for the changes kw-, hw- > xw in the English dialectsJuhani Klemola: Periphrastic DO: Dialectal distribution and originsPart III: The early Irish inputPatricia Ronan: Subordinating ocus 'and' in Old IrishErich Poppe: The 'expanded form' in Insular Celtic and English: Some historical and comparative considerations, with special emphasis on MiddleIrishAnders Ahlqvist: Cleft sentences in Irish and other languagesPart IV: Pre-historical perspectivesKalevi Wiik: On the origins of the CeltsTheo Vennemann: Semitic -> Celtic -> English: The transitivity of language contactOrdering information:Place orders toJoensuu University Library / Publication SalesP.O. Box 107, FIN-80101 Joensuu, FinlandTel. +358 (0)13 251 2652Fax +358 (0)13 251 2691E-mail: joepub@joensuu.fiThe order form may be found at the English and Celtic in Contact home page http://www.joensuu.fi/fld/ecc/index.html