Bibliography

Joseph F. (Joseph Francis)
Eska
s. xx–xxi

44 publications between 1988 and 2022 indexed
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Works edited

Henley, Georgia, Paul Russell, and Joseph F. Eska (eds), Rhetoric and reality in medieval Celtic literature: studies in honor of Daniel F. Melia, CSANA Yearbook, 11-12, Hamilton, NY: Colgate University Press, 2014.
Eska, Joseph F. (ed.), Narrative in Celtic tradition: essays in honor of Edgar M. Slotkin, CSANA Yearbook, 8, 9, New York: Colgate University Press, 2011.
Eska, Joseph F. (ed.), Law, literature and society, CSANA Yearbook, 7, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008.
Eska, Joseph F., R. Geraint Gruffydd, and Nicolas Jacobs (eds), Hispano-Gallo-Brittonica: essays in honour of professor D. Ellis Evans on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1995.

Contributions to journals

Eska, Charlene M., and Joseph F. Eska, “Epigraphic and linguistic observations on the inscription at the so-called Mur d’Hannibal (Liddes, Valais)”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 69 (2022): 159–182.  
abstract:

This paper argues that the inscription engraved in the Alphabet of Lugano in sinistrograde ductus at the so-called Mur d’Hannibal (Liddes, Valais, Switzerland) should be read as Poenino

abstract:

This paper argues that the inscription engraved in the Alphabet of Lugano in sinistrograde ductus at the so-called Mur d’Hannibal (Liddes, Valais, Switzerland) should be read as Poenino

Eska, Joseph F., and Benjamin Bruch, “The Late Cornish syntax of William Bodinar”, Études Celtiques 47 (2021): 197–218.
Eska, Joseph F., and Benjamin Bruch, “Remarks on pragmatic fronting and poetic overdetermination in Middle Cornish”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 5:2 (Autumn, 2021): 131–193.  
abstract:

As a verb-second language, one expects Middle Cornish to allow only a single argument/complement to appear in the left periphery of affirmative root clauses. Object personal pronouns never occur in the left periphery, but a full non-adjunct XP and subject personal pronoun do, in fact, coöccur in 329 clauses in our corpus—in that order, in all but a single token—, presumably owing to poetic overdetermination, which alters the morphosyntax and surface configuration in order to enable the required syllable-count or end-rhyme in the verse line. George 1990 & 1991, based upon an analysis of Beunans Meriasek, finds five tokens of full object DP and subject personal pronoun which coöccur in the left periphery, which, he states, are not motivated by poetic overdetermination. He concludes, on that basis, that the construction is generated by the grammar. In this paper, we collect all of the tokens of this construction in the verse corpus of Middle Cornish and propose that they are all, ultimately, motivated by poetic overdetermination, not only in order to enable the required syllable-count or end-rhyme, but sometimes also to encode pragmatic information.

abstract:

As a verb-second language, one expects Middle Cornish to allow only a single argument/complement to appear in the left periphery of affirmative root clauses. Object personal pronouns never occur in the left periphery, but a full non-adjunct XP and subject personal pronoun do, in fact, coöccur in 329 clauses in our corpus—in that order, in all but a single token—, presumably owing to poetic overdetermination, which alters the morphosyntax and surface configuration in order to enable the required syllable-count or end-rhyme in the verse line. George 1990 & 1991, based upon an analysis of Beunans Meriasek, finds five tokens of full object DP and subject personal pronoun which coöccur in the left periphery, which, he states, are not motivated by poetic overdetermination. He concludes, on that basis, that the construction is generated by the grammar. In this paper, we collect all of the tokens of this construction in the verse corpus of Middle Cornish and propose that they are all, ultimately, motivated by poetic overdetermination, not only in order to enable the required syllable-count or end-rhyme, but sometimes also to encode pragmatic information.

Eska, Joseph F., “Interarticulatory timing and Celtic mutations”, Journal of Celtic Linguistics 21 (2020): 235–255.  
abstract:
After providing an analysis of Celtic phonology as per the approach to phonology known as Laryngeal Realism, this paper addresses the differing realizations of the two mutations common to Goidelic and Brittonic, the first lenition and nasalization. It is proposed that differences in interarticulatory timing between consecutive segments led to the attested differing realizations of these mutations. Some attention is also paid to the differing realizations of nasalization between Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
abstract:
After providing an analysis of Celtic phonology as per the approach to phonology known as Laryngeal Realism, this paper addresses the differing realizations of the two mutations common to Goidelic and Brittonic, the first lenition and nasalization. It is proposed that differences in interarticulatory timing between consecutive segments led to the attested differing realizations of these mutations. Some attention is also paid to the differing realizations of nasalization between Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
Eska, Joseph F., “Grounding Celtic diachronic phonology I”, Die Sprache 53:1 (2018–2019): 17–32.
Eska, Joseph F., “Laryngeal realism and early Insular Celtic orthography”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 3:1 (2019): 1–17.
– Issue 1: <link> – Issue 2: <link>
Eska, Joseph F., “The evolution of proto-Brit. *-/lth/ in Welsh”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 66 (2019): 75–82.  
abstract:
This paper argues that the evolution of proto-Brittonic final *-/lth/ > -/lθ/ > -/ɬt/ in Welsh is the result of the metathesis of the feature [spread glottis] from the final coronal fricative to the lateral approximant with well known concomitant phonetic changes that devoiced and fricated the lateral approximant while occluding the coronal fricative.
abstract:
This paper argues that the evolution of proto-Brittonic final *-/lth/ > -/lθ/ > -/ɬt/ in Welsh is the result of the metathesis of the feature [spread glottis] from the final coronal fricative to the lateral approximant with well known concomitant phonetic changes that devoiced and fricated the lateral approximant while occluding the coronal fricative.
Eska, Joseph F., “Laryngeal realism and the prehistory of Celtic”, Transactions of the Philological Society 116:3 (November, 2018): 320–331.  
abstract:

This paper examines the proto‐Celtic plosive system through the lens of Laryngeal Realism. Drawing upon phonetic data from contemporary Celtic languages and philological data from medieval Insular Celtic and ancient Continental Celtic languages, it concludes that the active Laryngeal feature in these languages is not [voice], but [spread glottis], and that this feature should be projected back to proto‐Celtic. Such an analysis allows for a much more straightforward analysis of the evolution of the early Celtic plosive system, and, in particular, allows for a non‐stipulative analysis of perhaps the best known of Celtic sound changes, the loss of proto‐IE */p/, in simple aerodynamic terms. It is demonstrated, furthermore, that the loss of proto‐IE */p/ cannot be explained by contact with pre‐Basque or Iberian, but, instead, was, in all likelihood, a natural development.

abstract:

This paper examines the proto‐Celtic plosive system through the lens of Laryngeal Realism. Drawing upon phonetic data from contemporary Celtic languages and philological data from medieval Insular Celtic and ancient Continental Celtic languages, it concludes that the active Laryngeal feature in these languages is not [voice], but [spread glottis], and that this feature should be projected back to proto‐Celtic. Such an analysis allows for a much more straightforward analysis of the evolution of the early Celtic plosive system, and, in particular, allows for a non‐stipulative analysis of perhaps the best known of Celtic sound changes, the loss of proto‐IE */p/, in simple aerodynamic terms. It is demonstrated, furthermore, that the loss of proto‐IE */p/ cannot be explained by contact with pre‐Basque or Iberian, but, instead, was, in all likelihood, a natural development.

Eska, Joseph F., “Phonological contrasts and character reduction in the alphabet of Lugano”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 64 (2017): 59–80.
Eska, Joseph F., and Charlene M. Eska, “In defence of KuiTos leKaTos”, Études Celtiques 43 (2017): 81–94.  
abstract:
[FR] En faveur de la lecture KuiTos leKaTos. M. J. Estaran Tolosa écrit, dans Études celtiques, XLI-2015, p. 95-109, que la forme traditionnellement lue KuiTos dans l’inscription de San Bernardino di Briona (Novara) doit être lue KuiToi et forme un syntagme avec la forme précédente TanoTaliKnoi. Notre article soutient que le caractère final de cette forme est différent de tout autre signe de < i > dans l’inscription : en effet, c’est précisément l’image inverse d’un exemple de < s > en l. A1 de l’inscription. De même, l’analyse linguistique est décidément en faveur de la lecture traditionnelle.

[EN] M. J. Estaran Tolosa proposes in Études celtiques, XLI-2015, p. 95-109, that the form traditionally read as KuiTos in the inscription of S. Bernardino di Briona (Novara) is, instead, to be read as KuiToi and forms a syntagm with the preceding form TanoTaliKnoi. This paper argues that the final character of this form is unlike any other token of < i > in the inscription, and, indeed, it is precisely the inverse image of a token of < s > in l. A1 of the inscription. Linguistic analysis, likewise, is decidedly in favour of the traditional reading.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 43, 2017: <link>
abstract:
[FR] En faveur de la lecture KuiTos leKaTos. M. J. Estaran Tolosa écrit, dans Études celtiques, XLI-2015, p. 95-109, que la forme traditionnellement lue KuiTos dans l’inscription de San Bernardino di Briona (Novara) doit être lue KuiToi et forme un syntagme avec la forme précédente TanoTaliKnoi. Notre article soutient que le caractère final de cette forme est différent de tout autre signe de < i > dans l’inscription : en effet, c’est précisément l’image inverse d’un exemple de < s > en l. A1 de l’inscription. De même, l’analyse linguistique est décidément en faveur de la lecture traditionnelle.

[EN] M. J. Estaran Tolosa proposes in Études celtiques, XLI-2015, p. 95-109, that the form traditionally read as KuiTos in the inscription of S. Bernardino di Briona (Novara) is, instead, to be read as KuiToi and forms a syntagm with the preceding form TanoTaliKnoi. This paper argues that the final character of this form is unlike any other token of < i > in the inscription, and, indeed, it is precisely the inverse image of a token of < s > in l. A1 of the inscription. Linguistic analysis, likewise, is decidedly in favour of the traditional reading.
Eska, Joseph F., “Comments on John T. Koch’s Tartessian-as-Celtic enterprise”, Journal of Indo-European Studies 42:3–4 (2014): 428–438.
Eska, Joseph F., “Against absolute and conjunct at Rezé (Loire-Atlantique)”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 34 (2014): 52–66.
Eska, Joseph F., “Where have all the object pronouns gone? The growth of object agreement in earlier Celtic”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 57 (2009–2010): 25–47.
Joseph F. Eska, “[Review of: Juan Luis García Alonso (ed.), Celtic and other languages in ancient Europe (2008)]”, in: Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 57 (2009–2010): 212–214.
Eska, Joseph F., “Remarks on the 3. plural preterite in -us in Continental Celtic”, Die Sprache 47:1 (2007/2008, 2009): 108–119.
Eska, Joseph F., “The genitive plural desinence in Celtic and dialect geography”, Die Sprache 46 (2006, 2008): 229–235.
Eska, Joseph F., “Grammars in conflict. Phonological aspects of the Bergin’s rule construction”, Keltische Forschungen 3 (2008): 45–62.
Eska, Joseph F., “On valency and related matters at Séraucourt à Bourges (Cher)”, Studia Celtica 37 (2003): 1–15.
Eska, Joseph F., “Further to Vercelli śo=”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 52 (2001): 134–136.
Eska, Joseph F., “Resyllabification and epenthesis in Hispano-Celtic”, Journal of Celtic Linguistics 5 (June 1996, 1998): 71–89.
Eska, Joseph F., “Allophony, Chamalières eđđic, and related matters”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 49–50 (1997): 170–178.
Eska, Joseph F., “More on Gaulish siöxt=i”, Études Celtiques 30 (1994): 205–210.  
abstract:
[FR] Encore le gaulois siöxt=i.
L'auteur analyse le rapport traditionnel entre gaul. sioxti et viri, siächt et le trouve déficient aux niveaux phonologique et sémantique. A la place il propose une nouvelle interprétation basée sur la racine *seg- «attacher, toucher». Il en profite aussi pour corriger une erreur dans son ancienne analyse syntactique de l'inscription où se trouvait la forme sioxti.

[EN] The author examines the traditional equation of Gaul, sioxti OIr. si cht and finds it wanting, both on phonological and semantic grounds. In its place, he proposes a new interpretation founded on the base *seg- attach, touch’. He also takes the opportunity to correct an error in his previous syntactic analysis of the inscription in which the form sioxti occurs.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 30, 1994: <link>
abstract:
[FR] Encore le gaulois siöxt=i.
L'auteur analyse le rapport traditionnel entre gaul. sioxti et viri, siächt et le trouve déficient aux niveaux phonologique et sémantique. A la place il propose une nouvelle interprétation basée sur la racine *seg- «attacher, toucher». Il en profite aussi pour corriger une erreur dans son ancienne analyse syntactique de l'inscription où se trouvait la forme sioxti.

[EN] The author examines the traditional equation of Gaul, sioxti OIr. si cht and finds it wanting, both on phonological and semantic grounds. In its place, he proposes a new interpretation founded on the base *seg- attach, touch’. He also takes the opportunity to correct an error in his previous syntactic analysis of the inscription in which the form sioxti occurs.
Eska, Joseph F., “On the crossroads of phonology and syntax: remarks on the origin of Vendryes’s restriction and related matters”, Studia Celtica 28 (1994): 39–62.
Eska, Joseph F., “Syntactic ways to etymology: the case of Gaulish etic and eddic”, Studia Celtica 26–27 (1991–1992): 21–33.
Eska, Joseph F., “Further to ανδοουνναβο”, Journal of Celtic Linguistics 1 (1992): 119–126.
Eska, Joseph F., “A propos de Gaulish σονεμετος”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 45 (1992): 96–101.
Eska, Joseph F., “The demonstrative stem *isto- in Continental Celtic”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 44 (1991): 70–73.
Eska, Joseph F., “Two notes on Continental Celtic”, Études Celtiques 27 (1990): 191–195.  
abstract:
[FR] Joseph F. Eska, Deux notes de celtique continental
I. Dernière phrase de l’inscription celtibère de Botorrita : le verbe ŕusimus, 1re p. du pl., serait un «nous de majesté», le sujet étant un individu unique dénommé par plusieurs mots, dont ComPalCo-reś, «roi du Sénat» ; II. Le verbe TośoKoTe dans l’inscription gauloise cisalpine de Verceil comporte un pron. infixe *so- plutôt que *sto-.

[EN] Two notes on Continental Celtic
I. In the last sentence of the Hispano-Celtic inscription from Botorrita, the verb ŕusimus (1st pl.) is probably a “plurale maiestatis”, the subject being a single person named with different words (particularly ComPalCo-reś “king of the Senate”). II. In the Gaulish Cisalpine inscription from Vercelli the verb TośoKoTe includes an infixed pronoun *so- rather than *sto-.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 27, 1990: <link>
abstract:
[FR] Joseph F. Eska, Deux notes de celtique continental
I. Dernière phrase de l’inscription celtibère de Botorrita : le verbe ŕusimus, 1re p. du pl., serait un «nous de majesté», le sujet étant un individu unique dénommé par plusieurs mots, dont ComPalCo-reś, «roi du Sénat» ; II. Le verbe TośoKoTe dans l’inscription gauloise cisalpine de Verceil comporte un pron. infixe *so- plutôt que *sto-.

[EN] Two notes on Continental Celtic
I. In the last sentence of the Hispano-Celtic inscription from Botorrita, the verb ŕusimus (1st pl.) is probably a “plurale maiestatis”, the subject being a single person named with different words (particularly ComPalCo-reś “king of the Senate”). II. In the Gaulish Cisalpine inscription from Vercelli the verb TośoKoTe includes an infixed pronoun *so- rather than *sto-.
Eska, Joseph F., “The deictic pronominal *ḱey in Celtic”, Celtica 21 (1990): 156–172.
Eska, Joseph F., “[Miscellaneous:] Interpreting the Gaulish inscription of Voltino”, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 36 (1989): 106–107.
Eska, Joseph F., “The verbal desinence -Tus in the Hispano-Celtic inscription of Botorrita”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 43 (1989): 214–222.
Eska, Joseph F., “The origin of the Hispano-Celtic o-stem genitive singular in -o and related matters”, Études Celtiques 25 (1988): 117–122.  
abstract:
Hypothèse nouvelle sur le génitif singulier des thèmes thématiques en celtibère : la différenciation des genres masculin et neutre au nominatif a pu se produire aussi au génitif en donnant deux désinences distinctes, masc. -o et neutre -os.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 25, 1988: <link>
abstract:
Hypothèse nouvelle sur le génitif singulier des thèmes thématiques en celtibère : la différenciation des genres masculin et neutre au nominatif a pu se produire aussi au génitif en donnant deux désinences distinctes, masc. -o et neutre -os.

Contributions to edited collections or authored works

Eska, Joseph F., and Benjamin Bruch, “Prolegomena to the diachrony of Cornish syntax”, in: Elliott Lash, Fangzhe Qiu, and David Stifter (eds), Morphosyntactic variation in medieval Celtic languages: corpus-based approaches, 346, Berlin, Online: De Gruyter Mouton, 2020. 313–338.
Eska, Joseph F., “In defense of Celtic /φ/”, in: Adam I. Cooper, Jeremy Rau, and Michael Weiss (eds), Multi nominis grammaticus: studies in classical and Indo-European linguistics in honor of Alan J. Nussbaum on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, Ann Arbor: Beachstave Press, 2013. 32–43.
Eska, Joseph F., “The emergence of the Celtic languages”, in: Martin J. Ball, and Nicole Müller (eds), The Celtic languages, 2nd ed., London, New York: Routledge, 2009. 22–27.
Eska, Joseph F., and D. Ellis Evans, “Continental Celtic”, in: Martin J. Ball, and Nicole Müller (eds), The Celtic languages, 2nd ed., London, New York: Routledge, 2009. 28–54.
Eska, Joseph F., “On basic configuration and movement within the Gaulish clause”, in: Pierre-Yves Lambert, and Georges-Jean Pinault (eds), Gaulois et celtique continental, Geneve: Droz, 2007. 215–229.
Eska, Joseph F., “Observations on the thematic genitive singular in Lepontic and Hispano-Celtic”, in: Joseph F. Eska, R. Geraint Gruffydd, and Nicolas Jacobs (eds), Hispano-Gallo-Brittonica: essays in honour of professor D. Ellis Evans on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1995. 33–46.
Eska, Joseph F., “Some proleptic pronouns in Gaulish”, in: Ann T. E. Matonis, and Daniel F. Melia (eds), Celtic language, Celtic culture: a festschrift for Eric P. Hamp, Van Nuys, California: Ford & Bailie, 1990. 1–12.