breton language

{{see also|Linguistic boundary of Brittany}}

Breton is spoken in Lower Brittany ({{langx|br|Breizh-Izel}}), roughly to the west of a line linking Plouha (west of Saint-Brieuc) and La Roche-Bernard (east of Vannes). It comes from a Brittonic language community that once extended from Great Britain to Armorica (present-day Brittany) and had even established a toehold in Galicia (in present-day Spain). Old Breton is attested from the 9th century.Benjamin W. Fortson IV, Indo European Language and Culture, chapter 14 paragraph 63. It was the language of the upper classes until the 12th century, after which it became the language of commoners in Lower Brittany. The nobility, followed by the bourgeoisie, adopted French. The written language of the Duchy of Brittany was Latin, switching to French in the 15th century. There exists a limited tradition of Breton literature. Some philosophical and scientific terms in Modern Breton come from Old Breton. The recognized stages of the Breton language are: Old Breton – {{Circa|800}} to {{Circa|1100}}, Middle Breton – {{Circa|1100}} to {{Circa|1650}}, Modern Breton – {{Circa|1650}} to present.{{Cite book |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |last=Koch |first=John T. |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |location=Santa Barbara, California |oclc=62381207}}

The French monarchy was not concerned with the minority languages of France, spoken by the lower classes, and required the use of French for government business as part of its policy of national unity. During the French Revolution, the government introduced policies favouring French over the regional languages, which it pejoratively referred to as {{lang|fr|patois}}. The revolutionaries assumed that reactionary and monarchist forces preferred regional languages to try to keep the peasant masses under-informed. In 1794, Bertrand Barère submitted his "report on the {{lang|fr|patois}}" to the Committee of Public Safety in which he said that "federalism and superstition speak Breton".

Since the 19th century, under the Third, Fourth and now Fifth Republics, the French government has attempted to stamp out minority languages—including Breton—in state schools, in an effort to build a national culture. Teachers humiliated students for using their regional languages, and such practices prevailed until the late 1960s.{{Cite web |url=http://www.breizh.net/icdbl/saozg/endangered.htm#Image%2520No.%25202:%2520Breton%2520is%2520a%2520hindrance%2520to%2520good%2520citizenship |title=Breton – An Endangered Language of Europe |last=Kuter |first=Lois |date=May 2004 |website=breizh.net}}

In the early 21st century, due to the political centralization of France, the influence of the media, and the increasing mobility of people, only about 200,000 people are active speakers of Breton, a dramatic decline from more than 1 million in 1950. The majority of today's speakers are more than 60 years old, and Breton is now classified as an endangered language.

At the beginning of the 20th century, half of the population of Lower Brittany knew only Breton; the other half were bilingual. By 1950, there were only 100,000 monolingual Bretons, and this rapid decline has continued, with likely no monolingual speakers left today. A statistical survey in 1997 found around 300,000 speakers in Lower Brittany, of whom about 190,000 were aged 60 or older. Few 15- to 19-year-olds spoke Breton.{{Cite book |title=Qui parle breton aujourd'hui? Qui le parlera demain? |last=Broudic |first=Fañch |publisher=Brud Nevez |year=1999 |location=Brest |language=fr}} In 1993, parents were finally legally allowed to give their children Breton names.{{Cite web|date=2012|title=Breton|url=https://elalliance.org/languages/breton/|url-status=live|website=Endangered Language Alliance|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721002750/https://www.elalliance.org/languages/breton |archive-date=2021-07-21 }}

File:Affiche Charrue Huard.jpg

In 1925, Professor Roparz Hemon founded the Breton-language review {{lang|br|Gwalarn}}. During its 19-year run, {{lang|br|Gwalarn}} tried to raise the language to the level of a great international language.Francis Favereau, "Anthologie de la littérature bretonne au XXe siècle : 1919–1944", "Tome 2 : Breiz Atao et les autres en littérature", Skol Vreizh, 2003, {{ISBN|2-911447-94-8}}. Its publication encouraged the creation of original literature in all genres, and proposed Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works. In 1946, {{lang|br|Al Liamm}} replaced {{lang|br|Gwalarn}}. Other Breton-language periodicals have been published, which established a fairly large body of literature for a minority language.{{Cite book |title=Minority Literatures and Modernism: Scots, Breton, and Occitan, 1920–1990 |last=Calin |first=William |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780802083654}}

In 1977, Diwan schools were founded to teach Breton by immersion. Since their establishment, Diwan schools have provided fully immersive primary school and partially immersive secondary school instruction in Breton for thousands of students across Brittany. This has directly contributed to the growing numbers of school-age speakers of Breton.

The Asterix comic series has been translated into Breton. According to the comic, the Gaulish village where Asterix lives is in the Armorica peninsula, which is now Brittany. Some other popular comics have also been translated into Breton, including The Adventures of Tintin, {{lang|fr|Spirou}}, Titeuf, Hägar the Horrible, Peanuts and Yakari.

Some original media are created in Breton. The sitcom, {{lang|br|Ken Tuch}}, is in Breton.{{cite AV media |last1= an Henaff |first1= Goulwena |last2= Strubel |first2= Etienne |year= 2008 |title= Ken Tuch' |medium= Web videos |language= br |url= http://www.breizhvod.com/video/product/ken-tuch-l-integrale.html |access-date= 25 February 2015 |location= An Oriant, Breizh |publisher= Dizale |archive-date= 11 October 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171011022330/http://www.breizhvod.com/video/product/ken-tuch-l-integrale.html |url-status= dead }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Adkins | first1 = Madeleine | last2 = Davis | first2 = Jenny L. | title = The naïf, the sophisticate, and the party girl: Regional and gender stereotypes in Breton language web videos | journal = Gender and Language | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 291–308 | doi = 10.1558/genl.v6i2.291 | date = September 2012 }} [https://www.academia.edu/1927936/The_na%C3%AFf_the_sophisticate_and_the_party_girl_Regional_and_gender_stereotypes_in_Breton_language_web_videos Pdf.] Radio Kerne, broadcasting from Finistère, has exclusively Breton programming. Some movies (Lancelot du Lac, Shakespeare in Love, Marion du Faouet, Sezneg) and TV series (Columbo, Perry Mason) have also been translated and broadcast in Breton. Poets, singers, linguists, and writers who have written in Breton, including Yann-Ber Kallocʼh, Roparz Hemon, Añjela Duval, Xavier de Langlais, Pêr-Jakez Helias, Youenn Gwernig, Glenmor, Vefa de Saint-Pierre and Alan Stivell are now known internationally.

Today, Breton is the only living Celtic language that is not recognized by a national government as an official or regional language.

The first Breton dictionary, the Catholicon, was also the first French dictionary. Edited by Jehan Lagadec in 1464,{{Cite book |last=Booton |first=Diane E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=URdWDwAAQBAJ |title=Publishing Networks in France in the Early Era of Print |date=2018-04-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-77805-3}} it was a trilingual work containing Breton, French and Latin. Today bilingual dictionaries have been published for Breton and languages including English, Dutch, German, Spanish and Welsh. A monolingual dictionary, {{lang|br|Geriadur Brezhoneg an Here}} was published in 1995. The first edition contained about 10,000 words, and the second edition of 2001 contains 20,000 words.

In the early 21st century, the {{lang|br|Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg}} ("Public Office for the Breton language") began a campaign to encourage daily use of Breton in the region by both businesses and local communes. Efforts include installing bilingual signs and posters for regional events, as well as encouraging the use of the Spilhennig to let speakers identify each other. The office also started an Internationalization and localization policy asking Google, Firefox{{Cite web|url=http://www.drouizig.org/index.php/br/troidigezh-br/kenrouedad-br/231-firefox-ha-thunderbird|title=Firefox ha Thunderbird|website=drouizig.org}} and SPIP to develop their interfaces in Breton. In 2004, the Breton Wikipedia started, which counts more than 85,000 articles as of August 2024. In March 2007, the {{lang|br|Ofis ar Brezhoneg}} signed a tripartite agreement with Regional Council of Brittany and Microsoft{{Cite web|url=http://www.agencebretagnepresse.com/article.php?id=6519|title=Microsoft au secours des langues celtiques y compris du breton|website=agencebretagnepresse.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019204103/http://www.agencebretagnepresse.com/article.php?id=6519|archive-date=2014-10-19}} for the consideration of the Breton language in Microsoft products. In October 2014, Facebook added Breton as one of its 121 languages{{Cite web|url=http://www.ouest-france.fr/facebook-et-maintenant-une-version-en-breton-2873502|title=Facebook. Et maintenant une version en breton|date=2 October 2014 }} after three years of talks between the {{lang|br|Ofis}} and Facebook.

France has twice chosen to enter the Eurovision Song Contest with songs in Breton; once in 1996 in Oslo with "{{lang|br|Diwanit bugale}}" by Dan Ar Braz and the fifty piece band Héritage des Celtes, and most recently in 2022 in Turin with "{{lang|br|Fulenn}}" by Alvan Morvan Rosius and vocal trio Ahez. These are two of five times France has chosen songs in one of its minority languages for the contest, the others being in 1992 (bilingual French and Antillean Creole), 1993 (bilingual French and Corsican), and 2011 (Corsican).

File:Breton dialectes-en.svg

Breton is spoken mainly in Lower Brittany, but also in a more dispersed way in Upper Brittany (where it is spoken alongside Gallo and French), and in areas around the world that have Breton emigrants.

The four traditional dialects of Breton correspond to medieval bishoprics rather than to linguistic divisions. They are {{lang|br|leoneg}} ({{lang|fr|léonard}}, of the county of Léon), {{lang|br|tregerieg}} ({{lang|fr|trégorrois}}, of Trégor), {{lang|br|kerneveg}} ({{lang|fr|cornouaillais}}, of {{lang|fr|Cornouaille}}), and {{lang|br|gwenedeg}} ({{lang|fr|vannetais}}, of Vannes).{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Celtic-languages#toc74852|title=Celtic languages|work=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2017-09-18}} {{lang|fr|Guérandais}} was spoken up to the beginning of the 20th century in the region of Guérande and Batz-sur-Mer. There are no clear boundaries between the dialects because they form a dialect continuum, varying only slightly from one village to the next.{{Cite book|title=Breton Orthographies and Dialects: The Twentieth-century, Vol. 2|last=Wmffre|first=Iwan|publisher=Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften|year=2008|isbn=978-3039113651|pages=3}} {{lang|br|Gwenedeg}}, however, requires a little study to be intelligible with most of the other dialects.Kergoat, Lukian. [https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA250 "Breton Dialects" in Celtic Culture, pp. 250 ff]. ABC-CLIO (Sta. Barbara), 2006.

File:Municipal_electronic_information_sign_in_Breton_in_Carhaix.jpg]]

{{see also|Language policy of France}}

File:Ofis ar Brezhoneg vehicle.jpg}}, the Breton language agency, was set up in 1999 by the Brittany region to promote and develop the use of Breton.]]

French is the sole official language of France. Supporters of Breton and other minority languages continue to argue for their recognition, and for their place in education, public schools, and public life.{{cite news|title=France a 'rogue state' on regional languages|author=Simon Hooper|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=30 March 2012|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/03/201232943156736852.html |date=30 March 2012 }}

In July 2008, the legislature amended the French Constitution, adding article 75-1: {{lang|fr|les langues régionales appartiennent au patrimoine de la France}} (the regional languages belong to the heritage of France).

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which obliges signatory states to recognize minority and regional languages, was signed by France in 1999 but has not been ratified. On 27 October 2015, the Senate rejected a draft constitutional law ratifying the charter.{{Cite news |url=http://www.franceinfo.fr/actu/politique/article/le-senat-rejette-le-projet-de-loi-de-ratification-de-la-charte-europeenne-des-langues-regionales-741405 |title=Le Sénat dit non à la Charte européenne des langues régionales |date=27 October 2015 |access-date=1 November 2015 |work=France Info |language=fr |trans-title=The Senate says no to the European Charter for Regional Languages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151206221013/http://www.franceinfo.fr/actu/politique/article/le-senat-rejette-le-projet-de-loi-de-ratification-de-la-charte-europeenne-des-langues-regionales-741405 |archive-date= 2015-12-06}}

File:Bilingual sin in Gwened.jpg/Vannes]]

Regional and departmental authorities use Breton to a very limited extent. Some bilingual signage has also been installed, such as street name signs in Breton towns.

Under the French law known as Toubon, it is illegal for commercial signage to be in Breton alone. Signs must be bilingual or French only. Since commercial signage usually has limited physical space, most businesses have signs only in French.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

{{lang|br|Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg}}, the Breton language agency, was set up in 1999 by the Brittany region to promote and develop the daily use of Breton.{{cite web |url=http://www.ofis-bzh.org |title=Ofis ar Brezhoneg |publisher=Ofis-bzh.org |access-date=2010-10-03}} It helped to create the {{lang|br|Ya d'ar brezhoneg}} campaign, to encourage enterprises, organisations and communes to promote the use of Breton, for example by installing bilingual signage or translating their websites into Breton.{{cite web |title=La charte "Ya d'ar Brezhoneg" / Ar garta "Ya d'ar Brezhoneg" {{!}} KLEG INFOS |url=https://cleguerec.fr/la-charte-ya-dar-brezhoneg-ar-garta-ya-dar-brezhoneg/ |language=fr-FR}}

File:Breton school sign in Rennes.jpg

In the late 20th century, the French government considered incorporating the independent Breton-language immersion schools (called {{lang|br|Diwan}}) into the state education system. This action was blocked by the French Constitutional Council based on the 1994 amendment to the Constitution that establishes French as the language of the republic. Therefore, no other language may be used as a language of instruction in state schools. The Toubon Law implemented the amendment, asserting that French is the language of public education.{{Cite thesis |last=Devine |first=Mary Catherine |title=La Loi Toubon: Language Policy and Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in France |date=2017 |degree=Thesis |publisher=Carnegie Mellon University |url=https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pstorage-cmu-348901238291901/14491631/Devine.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pstorage-cmu-348901238291901/14491631/Devine.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}

The Diwan schools were founded in Brittany in 1977 to teach Breton by immersion. Since their establishment, Diwan schools have provided fully immersive primary school and partially immersive secondary school instruction in Breton for thousands of students across Brittany. This has directly contributed to the growing numbers of school-age speakers of Breton. The schools have also gained fame from their high level of results in school exams, including those on French language and literature.{{in lang|fr}} [http://www.diwanbreizh.org/sections.php4?op=viewarticle&artid=6 Diwan FAQ, #6]. Breton-language schools do not receive funding from the national government, though the Brittany Region may fund them.{{Cite web|url=http://carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/vol8/Feb2005_guest_diwan.html|title=The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA):Articulation of Language Instruction|website=carla.umn.edu|access-date=2017-09-18}}

Another teaching method is a bilingual approach by {{lang|br|Div Yezh}}{{cite web|url=http://div-yezh.org/|title=Actualités|first=Yannick /|last=Rostrenn|publisher=div-yezh.org|language=fr}} ("Two Languages") in the State schools, created in 1979. {{lang|br|Dihun}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dihun.com/|title=Dihun – Dihun Language|access-date=9 July 2008|archive-date=15 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615055340/http://www.dihun.com/|url-status=dead}} ("Awakening") was created in 1990 for bilingual education in the Catholic schools.

In 2018, 18,337 pupils (about 2% of all students in Brittany) attended {{lang|br|Diwan}}, {{lang|br|Div Yezh}} and {{lang|br|Dihun}} schools, and their number has increased yearly. This was short of the goal of Jean-Yves Le Drian (president of the Regional Council), who aimed to have 20,000 students in bilingual schools by 2010, and of "their recognition" for "their place in education, public schools, and public life"; nevertheless he describes being encouraged by the growth of the movement.{{cite web|url=http://www.agencebretagnepresse.com/fetch.php?id=11436|title=Interview with Jean-Yves Le Drian, the president of the Region Council|publisher=angencebretagnepresse.com}}

In 2007, some 4,500 to 5,000 adults followed an evening or correspondence one Breton-language course.{{Vague|reason = A course distributed by mail? Student writing as unmonitored practice? Perhaps with consistent feedback? With feedback based in formal standards?...from screened speakers? etc.|date=January 2020}} The transmission{{vague| reason = within families?|date=June 2020}} of Breton in 1999 was estimated to be 3 percent.

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In addition to bilingual education (including Breton-medium education) the region has introduced the Breton language in primary education, mainly in the department of Finistère. These "initiation" sessions are generally one to three hours per week, and consist of songs and games.

Schools in secondary education ({{lang|fr|collèges}} and {{lang|br|lycées}}) offer some courses in Breton. In 2010, nearly 5,000 students in Brittany were reported to be taking this option.{{Cite web |url=http://studi.canalblog.com/archives/2010/06/20/18372084.html |title=L'option de breton: que faire?|date=2010-06-20 |website=Studi: enseigner le breton et en breton}} Additionally, the University of Rennes 2 has a Breton language department offering courses in the language along with a master's degree in Breton and Celtic Studies.

Vowels in Breton may be short or long. All unstressed vowels are short; stressed vowels can be short or long (vowel lengths are not noted in usual orthographies as they are implicit in the phonology of particular dialects, and not all dialects pronounce stressed vowels as long). An emergence of a schwa sound occurs as a result of vowel neutralization in post-tonic position, among different dialects.

All vowels can also be nasalized,{{cite book |last1=Hemon |first1=Roparz |author-link1=Roparz Hemon |last2=Everson |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Everson |title=Breton Grammar |edition=2 |year=2007 |publisher=Evertype/Al Liamm |isbn=978-1-904808-11-4}} which is noted by appending an 'n' letter after the base vowel, or by adding a combining tilde above the vowel (most commonly and easily done for a and o due to the Portuguese letters), or more commonly by non-ambiguously appending an {{Angle bracket|ñ}} letter after the base vowel (this depends on the orthographic variant).

Diphthongs are {{IPA|/ai, ei, ou/}}.

• The pronunciation of the letter {{angbr|r}} varies nowadays: {{IPA|[ʁ]}} is used in the French-influenced standard language and, generally speaking, in the central parts of Lower Brittany (including the south of Trégor, the west of Vannetais and virtually all parts of Cornouaille) whereas {{IPA|[r]}} is the common realisation in Léon and often in the Haut-Vannetais dialect of central Morbihan (in and around the city of Vannes and the Pays de Pontivy), though in rapid speech mostly a tapped {{IPA|[ɾ]}} occurs. In the other regions of Trégor {{IPA|[ɾ]}} or even {{IPA|[ɹ]}} may be found.
• The voiced dental fricative ({{IPAslink|ð}}) is a conservative realisation of the lenition (or the "spirant mutation" in cases where the phenomenon originates from the mutation of {{IPA|/t~θ/}}, respectively) of the consonants {{IPA|/d/}} and {{IPA|/t/}} which is to be found in certain varieties of Haut-Vannetais. Most of the Breton dialects do not inherit the sound and thus it is mostly not orthographically fixed. The Peurunvan, for instance, uses {{angbr|z}} for both mutations, which are regularly and more prominently pronounced {{IPA|[z]}} in Léonais, Cornouaillais, Trégorrois and Bas-Vannetais. In traditional literature written in the Vannetais dialect, two different graphemes are employed for representing the dental fricative, depending on the scripture's historical period. There once was a time when {{angbr|d}} was used to transcribe the sound, but today mostly the regular {{angbr|z}} is instead used, and this practice can be traced back to at least the end of the 17th century.{{Cite book|title=Christmas Hymns in the Vannes Dialect of Breton|publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies|year=1956|editor-last=Hemon|editor-first=Roparz|location=Dublin|pages=x, xxvi}} The area this phenomenon has been found to be evident in encompasses the towns of Pontivy and Baud and surrounding smaller villages like Cléguérec, Noyal-Pontivy, Pluméliau, St. Allouestre, St. Barthélemy, Pluvigner and also parts of Belle-Île. The only known place where the mutation occurs outside of the Vannes country is the Île de Sein, an island located off Finistère's coast. Some scholars also used {{IPA|[ẓ]}} as the symbol for the sound to indicate that it was rather an "infra-dental" consonant than a clear interdental, which is the sound the symbol {{IPA|/ð/}} is usually describes. Other linguists, however, did not draw that distinction, either because they identified the sound to actually be an interdental fricative (such as Roparz Hemon in his phonetic transcription of the dialect used in Pluméliau or Joseph Loth in his material about the dialect of Sauzon in Belle-Île) or due to the fact that they attached no importance to it and ascertained that their descriptions were not in need of a further clarification of the sound's phonetic realisation as it was a clearly distinguishable phoneme.{{Cite book |title=A Historical Phonology of Breton|last=Jackson|first=Kenneth H.|publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies|year=1968|location=Dublin|pages=661 ff}}{{Cite book|title = A Historical Morphology and Syntax of Breton|last = Hemon|first = Roparz|publisher = Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies|year = 1975|isbn = 978-0901282637|location = Dublin|pages = 5}}
• The digraph zh represents a variable sound that may exhibit as {{IPA|/s/}}, {{IPA|/z/}}, or {{IPA|/h/}}, and descends from a now-extinct sound {{IPA|/θ/}}, which is still extant in Welsh as th.

{{main|Breton grammar}}

Breton nouns are marked for gender and number. While Breton gender is fairly typical of gender systems across western Europe (with the exception of Basque and modern English), Breton number markers demonstrate rarer behaviors.

Breton has two genders: masculine ({{lang|br|gourel}}) and feminine ({{lang|br|gwregel}}), having largely lost its historic neuter ({{lang|br|nepreizh}}) as has also occurred in the other Celtic languages as well as across the Romance languages. Certain suffixes (-ach/-aj, -(a)dur, -er, -lecʼh, -our, -ti, -va) are masculine, while others (-enti, -er, -ez, -ezh, -ezon, -i, -eg, -ell, and the singulative -enn) are feminine.{{Cite book|last=Stephens|first=Janig|title=The Celtic Languages|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=041528080X|editor-last=Ball|editor-first=Martin|series=Routledge Language Family Descriptions|location=London|pages=379|chapter=Breton|editor-last2=Fife|editor-first2=James}} The suffix -eg can be masculine or feminine.

There are certain non-determinant factors that influence gender assignment. Biological sex is applied for animate referents. Metals, time divisions (except for {{lang|br|eur}} "hour", {{lang|br|noz}} "night" and {{lang|br|sizhun}} "week") and mountains tend to be masculine, while rivers, cities and countries tend to be feminine.{{cite book|author=Martin J. Ball|title=The Celtic Languages|page=364|year=1993}}

However, gender assignment to certain words often varies between dialects.

Number in Breton is primarily based on an opposition between singular and plural.{{cite book|author=Martin J. Ball|title=The Celtic Languages|pages=365–369|year=1993}} However, the system is full of complexities in how this distinction is realized.

Although modern Breton has lost its ancestral dual number marker, relics of its use are preserved in various nouns pertaining to body parts, including the words for eyes, ears, cheeks, legs, armpits, arms, hands, knees, thighs, and wings. This is seen in a prefix (formed in {{lang|br|daou}}, {{lang|br|di}} or {{lang|br|div}}) that is etymologically derived from the prefixation of the number two. The dual is no longer productive, and has merely been lexicalized in these cases rather than remaining a part of Breton grammar. The (etymologically) already dual words for eyes ({{lang|br|daoulagad}}) and ears ({{lang|br|divskouarn}}) can be pluralized "again" to form {{lang|br|daoulagadoù}} and {{lang|br|diskouarnoù}}.

Like other Brythonic languages, Breton has a singulative suffix that is used to form singulars out of collective nouns, for which the morphologically less complex form is the plural. Thus, the singulative of the collective {{lang|br|logod}} "mice" is {{lang|br|logodenn}} "mouse". However, Breton goes beyond Welsh in the complications of this system. Collectives can be pluralized to make forms which are different in meaning from the normal collective-- {{lang|br|pesk}} "fish" (singular) is pluralized to {{lang|br|pesked}}, singulativized to {{lang|br|peskedenn}}, referring to a single fish out of a school of fish, and this singulative of the plural can then be pluralized again to make {{lang|br|peskedennoù}} "fishes".

On top of this, the formation of plurals is complicated by two different pluralizing functions. The "default" plural formation is contrasted with another formation which is said to "emphasize variety or diversity" – thus two semantically different plurals can be formed out of {{lang|br|park}}: {{lang|br|parkoù}} "parks" and {{lang|br|parkeier}} "various different parks". Ball reports that the latter pluralizer is used only for inanimate nouns. Certain formations have been lexicalized to have meanings other than that which might be predicted solely from the morphology: {{lang|br|dour}} "water" pluralized forms {{lang|br|dourioù}} which means not "waters" but instead "rivers", while {{lang|br|doureier}} now has come to mean "running waters after a storm". Certain forms have lost the singular from their paradigm: {{lang|br|keloù}} means "news" and {{lang|br|*kel}} is not used, while {{lang|br|keleier}} has become the regular plural, 'different news items'.

Meanwhile, certain nouns can form doubly marked plurals with lexicalized meanings – {{lang|br|bugel}} "child" is pluralized once into {{lang|br|bugale}} "children" and then pluralized a second time to make {{lang|br|bugaleoù}} "groups of children".

The diminutive suffix {{lang|br|-ig}} also has the somewhat unusual property of triggering double marking of the plural: {{lang|br|bugelig}} means "little child", but the doubly pluralized {{lang|br|bugaleigoù}} means "little children"; {{lang|br|bag}} boat has a singular diminutive {{lang|br|bagig}} and a simple plural {{lang|br|bagoù}}, thus its diminutive plural is the doubly pluralized {{lang|br|bagoùigoù}}.

As seen elsewhere in many Celtic languages, the formation of the plural can be hard to predict, being determined by a mix of semantic, morphological and lexical factors.

The most common plural marker is {{lang|br|-où}}, with its variant {{lang|br|-ioù}}; most nouns that use this marker are inanimates but collectives of both inanimate and animate nouns always use it as well.

Most animate nouns, including trees, take a plural in {{lang|br|-ed}}. However, in some dialects the use of this affix has become rare. Various masculine nouns including occupations as well as the word {{lang|br|Saoz}} ("Englishman", plural {{lang|br|Saozon}}) take the suffix {{lang|br|-ien}}, with a range of variants including {{lang|br|-on}}, {{lang|br|-ion}}, {{lang|br|-an}} and {{lang|br|-ian}}.

The rare pluralizing suffixes {{lang|br|-er}}/{{lang|br|-ier}} and {{lang|br|-i}} are used for a few nouns. When they are appended, they also trigger a change in the vowel of the root: {{lang|br|-i}} triggers a vowel harmony effect whereby some or all preceding vowels are changed to {{lang|br|i}} ({{lang|br|kenderv}} "cousin" → {{lang|br|kindirvi}} "cousins"; {{lang|br|bran}} "crow" → {{lang|br|brini}} "crows"; {{lang|br|klujur}} "partridge" → {{lang|br|klujiri}} "partridges"); the changes associated with {{lang|br|-er}}/{{lang|br|-ier}} are less predictable.

Various nouns instead form their plural merely with ablaut: {{lang|br|a}} or {{lang|br|o}} in the stem being changed to {{lang|br|e}}: {{lang|br|askell}} "wing" → {{lang|br|eskell}} "wings"; {{lang|br|dant}} "tooth" → {{lang|br|dent}} "teeth"; {{lang|br|kordenn}} "rope" → {{lang|br|kerdenn}} "ropes".

Another set of nouns have lexicalized plurals that bear little if any resemblance to their singulars. These include {{lang|br|placʼh}} "girl" → {{lang|br|mercʼhed}}, {{lang|br|porcʼhell}} "pig" → {{lang|br|mocʼh}}, {{lang|br|buocʼh}} "cow" → {{lang|br|saout}}, and {{lang|br|ki}} "dog" → {{lang|br|chas}}.

In compound nouns, the head noun, which usually comes first, is pluralized.

As in other Celtic languages as well as English, a variety of verbal constructions is available to express grammatical aspect, for example: showing a distinction between progressive and habitual actions:

As in other modern Celtic languages, Breton pronouns are fused into preceding prepositions to produce a sort of inflected preposition. Below are some examples in Breton, Cornish, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx, along with English translations.

| {{lang|kw|yma lyver genev}}

| {{lang|cy|mae llyfr gennyf}}

| {{lang|ga|tá leabhar agam}}

| {{lang|gd|tha leabhar agam}}

| {{lang|gv|ta lioar aym}}

| I have a book

|-

| {{interlinear|lang=br|un died zo ganit|a drink is with-you.SG|}}

| {{lang|kw|yma diwes genes}}

| {{lang|cy|mae diod gennyt}}

| {{lang|ga|tá deoch agat}}

| {{lang|gd|tha deoch agad}}

| {{lang|gv|ta jough ayd}}

| you have a drink

|-

| {{interlinear|lang=br|un urzhiataer zo gantañ|a computer is with-him|}}

| {{lang|kw|yma jynn-amontya ganso}}

| {{lang|cy|mae cyfrifiadur ganddo}}

| {{lang|ga|tá ríomhaire aige}}

| {{lang|gd|tha coimpiutair aige}}

| {{lang|gv|ta co-earrooder echey}}

| he has a computer

|-

| {{interlinear|lang=br|ur bugel zo ganti|a child is with-her|}}

| {{lang|kw|yma flogh gensi}}

| {{lang|cy|mae plentyn ganddi}}

| {{lang|ga|tá leanbh aici}}

| {{lang|gd|tha leanabh aice}}

| {{lang|gv|ta lhiannoo eck}}

| she has a child

|-

| {{interlinear|lang=br|ur cʼharr zo ganimp|c1=(or '{{lang|br|ganeomp}}')|a car is with-us|}}

| {{lang|kw|yma karr genen}}

| {{lang|cy|mae car gennym}}

| {{lang|ga|tá gluaisteán / carr againn}}

| {{lang|gd|tha càr againn}}

| {{lang|gv|ta gleashtan / carr ain}}

| we have a car

|-

| {{interlinear|lang=br|un ti zo ganeocʼh|a house is with-you.PL|}}

| {{lang|kw|yma chi genowgh}}

| {{lang|cy|mae tŷ gennych}}

| {{lang|ga|tá teach agaibh}}

| {{lang|gd|tha taigh agaibh}}

| {{lang|gv|ta thie eu}}

| you have a house

|-

| {{interlinear|lang=br|arcʼhant zo ganto|c1=(or '{{lang|br|gante}}')|money is with-them|}}

| {{lang|kw|yma mona gansa}}

| {{lang|cy|mae arian ganddynt}}

| {{lang|ga|tá airgead acu}}

| {{lang|gd|tha airgead aca}}

| {{lang|gv|ta argid oc}}

| they have money

|}

In the examples above the Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx) use the preposition meaning at to show possession, whereas the Brittonic languages use with. The Goidelic languages, however, do use the preposition with to express "belong to" (Irish {{lang|ga|is liom an leabhar}}, Scottish {{lang|gd|is leam an leabhar}}, Manx {{lang|gv|s'lhiams yn lioar}}, The book belongs to me).

The Welsh examples are in literary Welsh. The order and preposition may differ slightly in colloquial Welsh (Formal {{lang|cy|mae car gennym}}, North Wales {{lang|cy|mae gynnon ni gar}}, South Wales {{lang|cy|mae car gyda ni}}).

{{Main|Breton mutations}}

Breton has four initial consonant mutations: though modern Breton lost the nasal mutation of Welsh (but for rare words such the word "door": "dor" "an nor"), it also has a "hard" mutation, in which voiced stops become voiceless, and a "mixed" mutation, which is a mixture of hard and soft mutations.

{{expand section|V2 word order|date=May 2022}}

Normal word order, like the other Insular Celtic languages, is at its core VSO (verb-subject-object), which is most apparent in embedded clauses. However, Breton finite verbs in main clauses are additionally subject to V2 word order in which the finite main clause verb is typically the second element in the sentence.{{cite journal | last=Kennard | first=Holly J. | title=Non-Negative Word Order in Breton: Maintaining Verb-Second | journal=Transactions of the Philological Society | publisher=Wiley | volume=116 | issue=2 | date=12 January 2018 | issn=0079-1636 | doi=10.1111/1467-968x.12119 | pages=153–178| s2cid=148910543 | url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9131b11a-3eff-43b1-9055-b6c9f19b413b}} That makes it perfectly possible to put the subject or the object at the beginning of the sentence, largely depending on the focus of the speaker. The following options are possible (all with a little difference in meaning):

• the first places the verbal infinitive in initial position (as in (1)), followed by the auxiliary {{lang|br|ober}} 'to do'.
• the second places the Auxiliary verb {{lang|br|bezañ}} 'to be' in initial position (as in (2)), followed the Subject, and the construction {{lang|br|o(cʼh)}} + infinitive. At the end comes the Object. This construction is an exception to verb-second.
• the third places the construction {{lang|br|o(cʼh)}} + infinitive in the initial position (as in (3)), followed by the Auxiliary verb {{lang|br|bezañ}}, the Subject, and the Object.
• the fourth option places the Object in initial position (as in (4)), followed by an inflected verb, followed by the Subject.
• the fifth, and originally least common, places the Subject in initial position (as in (5)), followed by an inflected verb, followed by the Object, just like in English (SVO).

{{interlinear|number=(1)

| Lenn a ra brezhoneg

| read PRT do.3SG Breton

| 'He/she reads Breton.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(2)

| Ema Yann {o lenn} brezhoneg

| be.3SG Yann reading Breton

| 'Yann is reading Breton.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(3)

| {O lenn} ema Yann brezhoneg

| reading be.3SG Yann Breton

| 'Yann is reading Breton.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(4)

| Mad eo an istor

| good be.3SG the story

| 'The story is good.'}}

{{interlinear|number=(5)

| An istor zo mad

| the story be.3SG good

| 'The story is good.'}}

Breton uses much more borrowed vocabulary than its relatives further north; by some estimates a full 40% of its core vocabulary consists of loans from French.Fortson, Benjamin W. 2005. Indo-European Language and Culture. Page 295: "Breton has also borrowed much more heavily from French throughout its history than any of the other British Celtic languages ever have from English, to the extent that two-fifths of the ordinary vocabulary is of French origin, according to some extents".

The first extant Breton texts, contained in the Leyde manuscript, were written at the end of the 8th century: 50 years prior to the Strasbourg Oaths, considered to be the earliest example of French. Like many medieval orthographies, Old- and Middle Breton orthography was at first not standardised, and the spelling of a particular word varied at authors' discretion. In 1499, however, the Catholicon, was published; as the first dictionary written for both French and Breton, it became a point of reference on how to transcribe the language. The orthography presented in the Catholicon was largely similar to that of French, in particular with respect to the representation of vowels, as well as the use of both the Latinate digraph {{vr|qu}}—a remnant of the sound change {{IPA|/kʷ/}} > {{IPA|/k/}} in Latin—and Brittonic {{vr|cou-}} or {{vr|cu-}} to represent {{IPA|/k/}} before front vowels.

As phonetic and phonological differences between the dialects began to magnify, many regions, particularly the Vannes country, began to devise their own orthographies. Many of these orthographies were more closely related to the French model, albeit with some modifications. Examples of these modifications include the replacement of Old Breton -{{vr|z}} with -{{vr|h}} to denote word-final {{IPA|/x~h/}} (an evolution of Old Breton {{IPA|/θ/}} in the Vannes dialect) and use of -{{vr|h}} to denote the initial mutation of {{IPA|/k/}} (today this mutation is written {{vr|cʼh}}).{{Cite book|title=A Historical Morphology and Syntax of Breton|last=Hemon|first=Roparz|publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies|year=1975|location=Dublin|pages=5}} and thus needed another transcription.

In the 1830s Jean-François Le Gonidec created a modern phonetic system for the language.

During the early years of the 20th century, a group of writers known as {{lang|br|Emglev ar Skrivanerien}} elaborated and reformed Le Gonidec's system. They made it more suitable as a super-dialectal representation of the dialects of Cornouaille, Leon and Trégor (known as from {{lang|br|Kernev}}, {{lang|br|Leon}} and {{lang|br|Treger}} in Breton). This KLT orthography was established in 1911. At the same time writers of the more divergent Vannetais dialect developed a phonetic system also based on that of Le Gonidec.

Following proposals made during the 1920s, the KLT and Vannetais orthographies were merged in 1941 to create an orthographic system to represent all four dialects. This {{lang|br|Peurunvan}} ("wholly unified") orthography was significant for the inclusion of the digraph {{vr|zh}}, which represents a {{IPA|/h/}} in Vannetais and corresponds to a {{IPA|/z/}} in the KLT dialects.

In 1955 François Falcʼhun and the group {{ill|Emgleo Breiz|fr|Emgleo Breiz|br|Emgleo Breiz}} proposed a new orthography. It was designed to use a set of graphemes closer to the conventions of French. This {{lang|fr|Orthographe universitaire}} ("University Orthography", known in Breton as {{lang|br|Skolveurieg}}) was given official recognition by the French authorities as the "official orthography of Breton in French education." It was opposed in the region and today is used only by the magazine {{lang|br|Brud Nevez}} and the publishing house Emgléo Breiz.

In the 1970s, a new standard orthography was devised – the {{lang|br|etrerannyezhel}} or {{lang|fr|interdialectale}}. This system is based on the derivation of the words.{{Cite web|last=Hewitt|first=Steve|title=Background information on Breton|url=https://www.academia.edu/2157237}}

Today the majority of writers continue to use the Peurunvan orthography, and it is the version taught in most Breton-language schools.

Breton is written in the Latin script. Peurunvan, the most commonly used orthography, consists of the following letters:

: a, b, ch, cʼh, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, w, y, z

The circumflex, grave accent, trema and tilde appear on some letters. These diacritics are used in the following way:

: â, ê, î, ô, û, ù, ü, ñ

Both orthographies use the above alphabet, although {{vr|é}} is used only in {{lang|br|Skolveurieg}}.

Differences between the two systems are particularly noticeable in word endings. In Peurunvan, final obstruents, which are devoiced in absolute final position and voiced in sandhi before voiced sounds, are represented by a grapheme that indicates a voiceless sound. In OU they are written as voiced but represented as voiceless before suffixes: {{lang|br|braz}} "big", {{lang|br|brasocʼh}} "bigger".

In addition, Peurunvan maintains the KLT convention, which distinguishes noun/adjective pairs by nouns written with a final voiced consonant and adjectives with a voiceless one. No distinction is made in pronunciation, e.g. {{lang|br|brezhoneg}} "Breton language" vs. {{lang|br|brezhonek}} "Breton (adj)".

Notes:

1. {{Note|Pron-1}} Vocative particle: {{lang|br|â Vreizh}} / {{lang|br|â Vreith}} "O Brittany".
2. {{Note|Pron-2}} Word-initially.
3. {{Note|Pron-3}} Word-finally.
4. {{Note|Pron-4}} Unwritten lenition of {{vr|ch, cʼh, f, s}} and spirantization of {{vr|p}} > {{vr|f}} {{IPA|[v]}}.
5. {{Note|Pron-5}} Unstressed {{vr|e, eu, o}} represent {{IPA|[ɛ, œ, ɔ]}} in Leoneg but {{IPA|[e, ø, o]}} in the other dialects. The realisations {{IPA|[ɛ̞, œ̞, ɔ̞]}} appear mainly before {{vr|rr}} (also less often before {{vr|cʼh}}), semivowels {{IPA|[j, w]}}, consonant clusters beginning with {{vr|r}} or {{vr|l}}. Stressed long {{vr|e, eu, o}} represent {{IPA|[eː, øː, oː]}}.
6. {{Note|Pron-6}} In Gwenedeg velars are palatalized before {{vr|e}} and {{vr|i}}, i.e. {{vr|k}}, {{vr|g}}, {{vr|kw/kou}}, {{vr|cʼhw/cʼhou}}, {{vr|gw/gou}}, {{vr|w/ou}}, {{vr|sk}} represent {{IPA|[c~tʃ, ɟ~dʒ, cɥ, hɥ, ɟɥ, ɥ, sc~ʃc]}}. In the case of word-final {{vr|g}} and {{vr|k}} palatalization to {{IPA|[c]}} also occurs after {{vr|i}}.
7. {{Note|Pron-7}} Before a vowel other than {{vr|i}} the digraph {{vr|ni}} is written instead of {{vr|gn}}, e.g. {{lang|br|bleniañ}} "to drive", radical {{lang|br|blegn}}, 1PS preterite {{lang|br|blegnis}}, 3PS preterite {{lang|br|blenias}}.
8. {{Note|Pron-8}} Silent in words such as {{lang|br|ha(g)}}, {{lang|br|he(cʼh)}}, {{lang|br|ho(cʼh)}}, {{lang|br|holl}}, {{lang|br|hon}}, {{lang|br|hor}} and {{lang|br|hol}}. Always silent in Gwenedeg and Leoneg.
9. {{Note|Pron-9}} {{vr|i}} is realized as {{IPA|[j]}} when it precedes or follows a vowel (or when between vowels), but in words such as {{lang|br|lien}}, {{lang|br|liorzh}}, {{lang|br|rakdiazezañ}} it represents {{IPA|[iː]}} (in orthography {{vr|ï}} may be used: {{lang|br|lïen}}, {{lang|br|lïorzh}}, {{lang|br|rakdïazezañ}}).
10. {{Note|Pron-10}} {{vr|ilh}} represents {{IPA|[ʎ]}} when it follows a vowel, after a consonant it represents {{IPA|[iʎ]}}. But before a vowel other than {{vr|i}}, {{vr|li}} is written instead of {{vr|ilh}}, e.g. {{lang|br|heuliañ}} "to follow", radical {{lang|br|heuilh}}, 1PS preterite {{lang|br|heuilhis}}, 3PS preterite {{lang|br|heulias}}. In some regions {{IPA|[j]}} may be heard instead of {{IPA|[ʎ]}}.
11. {{Note|Pron-11}} Word-finally after a cluster of unvoiced consonants.
12. {{Note|Pron-12}} In front of {{vr|k, g}}.
13. {{Note|Pron-13}} The digraph {{vr|ou}} is realized like {{vr|w}} when preceded or followed by a vowel (or when between vowels), but in words such as {{lang|br|Doue}}, {{lang|br|douar}}, {{lang|br|gouarn}} it represents {{IPA|[uː]}}.
14. {{Note|Pron-14}} The digraph {{vr|où}} represents plural endings. Its pronunciation varies by dialect: {{IPA|[u, o, ø, ow, aw, aɥ, ɔɥ]}} rating geographically from Northwest Leon to Southeast Gwened.
15. {{Note|Pron-15}} {{vr|v}} usually represents {{IPA|[v]}}, but word-finally (except in word-final {{vr|ñv}}) it represents {{IPA|[w]}} in KLT, {{IPA|[ɥ]}} in Gwenedeg and {{IPA|[f]}} in Goëlo. The pronunciation {{IPA|[v]}} is retained word-finally in verbs. In words {{lang|br|bliv}}, {{lang|br|Gwiskriv}}, {{lang|br|gwiv}}, {{lang|br|liv}}, {{lang|br|piv}}, {{lang|br|riv}} it represents {{IPA|[u]}} in KLT, {{IPA|[ɥ]}} in Gwenedeg and {{IPA|[f]}} in Goëlo. Word-finally following {{vr|r, l, n, z}} it represents {{IPA|[o]}}.
16. {{Note|Pron-16}} But silent in words such as {{lang|br|gouez}}, {{lang|br|bloaz}}, {{lang|br|goaz}}, {{lang|br|ruziañ}}, {{lang|br|kleiz}}, {{lang|br|rakdïazezañ}}, {{lang|br|bezañ}}, {{lang|br|Roazhon}}, {{lang|br|dezhañ}}, {{lang|br|kouezhañ}}, '{{lang|br|z}}, {{lang|br|az}}, {{lang|br|ez}}, {{lang|br|da'}}{{lang|br|z}}, {{lang|br|gwirionez}}, {{lang|br|enep(g)wirionez}}, {{lang|br|moneiz}}, {{lang|br|falsvoneiz}}, {{lang|br|karantez}}, {{lang|br|kengarantez}}, {{lang|br|nevez}}, {{lang|br|nevezcʼhanet}}, {{lang|br|nadozioù}}, {{lang|br|abardaez}}, {{lang|br|gwez}}, {{lang|br|bemdez}}, {{lang|br|kriz}}, {{lang|br|bleiz}}, {{lang|br|morvleiz}}, {{lang|br|dezhi}}. {{vr|z}} is generally silent in Kerneweg, Tregerieg and Gwenedeg, but in Leoneg {{vr|z(h)}} is always pronounced.
17. {{Note|Pron-17}} Used to distinguish words such as {{lang|br|stêr}} "river", {{lang|br|hêr}} "heir", {{lang|br|kêr}} "town" (also written {{lang|br|kaer}}) from {{lang|br|ster}} "sense", {{lang|br|her}} "bold", {{lang|br|ker}} "dear".
18. {{Note|Pron-18}} Used to distinguish {{lang|br|trôad}} "circuit/tour" from {{lang|br|troad}} "foot".
19. {{Note|Pron-19}} In northern dialects (mainly in Leoneg), there is a tendency to voice {{vr|cʼh}} between vowels. {{IPA|[ɣ]}} also appears as the lenition of {{vr|g, cʼh}} and mixed mutation of {{vr|g}}.
20. {{Note|Pron-20}} The lenition of {{vr|d}} and the spirantization of {{vr|t}} are both represented by {{vr|z}} is mainly pronounced {{IPA|[z]}} although in certain regions {{IPA|[s]}} (especially for the spirantization of {{vr|t}} in Cornouaille) and {{IPA|[ð]}} (in some Haut-Vannetais varieties){{Ref|Pron-31|31}} also occur.
21. {{Note|Pron-21}} The pronunciation of {{vr|r}} varies by dialect, nowadays uvular {{IPA|[ʀ]}} (or {{IPA|[ʁ]}}) is standard; {{IPA|[r]}} occurs in Leoneg, {{IPA|[ɾ]}} or {{IPA|[ɹ]}} in Tregerieg, and {{IPA|[ʀ], [ʁ], [r], and [ɾ]}} in Gwenedeg.
22. {{Note|Pron-22}} In Gwenedeg an unstressed {{vr|e}} often represents {{IPA|[ə]}}.
23. {{Note|Pron-23}} Lenited varieties of {{vr|r, l, n}} may appear word-initially in case of soft mutation.
24. {{Note|Pron-24}} In Leoneg {{IPA|[u(ː)]}} in front of a nasal.
25. {{Note|Pron-25}} In Leoneg {{vr|w}} represents {{IPA|[v]}} before {{vr|e, i}}.
26. {{Note|Pron-26}} In Leoneg {{vr|z(h)}} represents {{IPA|[ʃ]}} or {{IPA|[ʒ]}} before {{vr|i}}.
27. {{Note|Pron-27}} In Leoneg {{vr|gwr}} represents {{IPA|[ɡr]}}.
28. {{Note|Pron-28}} Before a vowel.
29. {{Note|Pron-29}} Forms of the indefinite article.
30. {{Note|Pron-30}} A conservative realisation of the initial mutation of {{vr|d}} and {{vr|t}}, used in certain parts of the Vannes country.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

: Hon Tad,

: cʼhwi hag a zo en Neñv,

: ra vo santelaet hocʼh anv.

: Ra zeuio ho Rouantelezh.

: Ra vo graet ho youl war an douar evel en neñv.

: Roit dimp hiziv bara hor bevañs.

: Distaolit dimp hon dleoù

: evel m'hor bo ivez distaolet d'hon dleourion.

: Ha n'hon lezit ket da vont gant an temptadur,

: met hon dieubit eus an Droug.

File:Road signs bilingual Breton in Quimper.jpg. Note the use of the word ti in the Breton for police station and tourist office, plus {{lang|br|da bep lecʼh}} for all directions.]]

Visitors to Brittany may encounter words and phrases (especially on signs and posters) such as the following:

The English words {{lang|en|dolmen}} and {{lang|en|menhir}} have been borrowed from French, which took them from Breton. However, this is uncertain: for instance, {{lang|en|menhir}} is {{lang|br|peulvan}} or {{lang|br|maen hir}} ("long stone"), {{lang|br|maen sav}} ("straight stone") (two words: noun + adjective) in Breton. Dolmen is a misconstructed word (it should be {{lang|br|taol-vaen}}). Some studies state{{Cite book|last=Strang|first=Barbara M. H|title=A History of English|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=978-1317421917|pages=94}} that these words were borrowed from Cornish. {{lang|cy|Maen hir}} can be directly translated from Welsh as "long stone" (which is exactly what a {{lang|en|menhir}} or {{lang|br|maen hir}} is). The Cornish surnames Mennear, Minear and Manhire all derive from the Cornish {{lang|kw|men}} {{lang|kw|hyr}} ("long stone"), as does {{lang|kw|Tremenheere}} "settlement by the long stone".

The French word {{lang|fr|baragouiner}} ("to jabber in a foreign language") is derived from Breton {{lang|br|bara}} ("bread") and {{lang|br|gwin}} ("wine"). The French word {{lang|fr|goéland}} ("large seagull") is derived from Breton {{lang|br|gwelan}}, which shares the same root as English "gull" (Welsh {{lang|cy|gwylan}}, Cornish {{lang|kw|goelann}}).

.bzh is an approved Internet generic top-level domains intended for Brittany and the Breton culture and languages.{{cite web|url=http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/delegated-strings|title=Delegated Strings|work=icann.org|accessdate=23 May 2015}} In 2023, the Breton internet extension .bzh had more than 12,000 registrations. Alongside the promotion of the .bzh internet extension, the www.bzh association promotes other services to develop Brittany's image on the web: campaign for a Breton flag emoji (File:Flag of Brittany (Gwenn ha du).svg),{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/02/15/the-struggle-to-give-brittany-its-own-emoji|title=The struggle to give Brittany its own emoji|newspaper=The Economist|accessdate=6 February 2022}} and email service.{{cite web|url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/postel-bzh-la-messagerie-creee-pour-les-bretons-c274fbe8-19fa-11ec-af4b-bea41043e391|title=Postel.bzh, la messagerie créée par des Bretons, pour les Bretons|work=Ouest-France|date=21 September 2021 |language=French|accessdate=6 February 2022}}

• Armoricani
• Gaelic revival, Irish language revival
• Julian Maunoir, 17th-century Breton language orthographer
• List of Celtic-language media
• {{lang|br|Stourm ar Brezhoneg}} an association promoting the language

Notes

{{reflist}}

Further reading

;Overviews

• {{Cite book|title=The Celtic languages, 2nd Edition|last=Press|first=Ian|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|location=Abingdon; New York|pages=427–487|chapter=Breton|editor-last=Ball|editor-first=Martin J.|editor-last2=Fife|editor-first2=James}}
• {{Cite book|title = The Celtic languages|last = Stephens|first = Janig|publisher = Routledge|year = 1993|isbn = 978-0415280808|location = Abingdon; New York|pages = 349–409|chapter = Breton|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BP9QCJ2FQzYC&q=%22the%20celtic%20languages%22&pg=PA349|editor-last = Ball|editor-first = Martin J.|editor-last2 = Fife|editor-first2 = James|series = Routledge language family descriptions}}
• {{Cite book|title = The Celtic languages|last = Ternes|first = Elmar|publisher = Cambridge University Press|year = 1992|isbn = 978-0521231275|location = Cambridge; New York; Oakleigh|pages = 371–452|chapter = The Breton language|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y3kIq1DYAkMC&q=%22the%20celtic%20languages%22&pg=PA371|editor-last = MacAulay|editor-first = Donald|series = Cambridge language surveys}}

;Historical development

• Hemon, Roparz. A Historical Morphology and Syntax of Breton. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975.
• {{Cite book|title = A historical phonology of Breton|last = Jackson|first = Kenneth H.|publisher = Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies|year = 1967|isbn = 978-0-901282-53-8|location = Dublin}}
• {{Cite book|title = Brythonic Celtic – Britannisches Keltisch: From medieval British to modern Breton|last = Schrijver|first = Peter|publisher = Hempen Verlag|year = 2011|isbn = 9783934106802|location = Bremen|pages = 359–430|editor-last = Ternes|editor-first = Elmar|chapter = Middle and early modern Breton}}
• {{Cite book|title = Brythonic Celtic – Britannisches Keltisch: From medieval British to modern Breton|last = Schrijver|first = Peter|publisher = Hempen Verlag|year = 2011|isbn = 9783934106802|location = Bremen|pages = 1–84|editor-last = Ternes|editor-first = Elmar|chapter = Old British}}
• {{Cite book|title = Brythonic Celtic – Britannisches Keltisch: From medieval British to modern Breton|last = Ternes|first = Elmar|publisher = Hempen Verlag|year = 2011|isbn = 9783934106802|location = Bremen|pages = 431–530|editor-last = Ternes|editor-first = Elmar|chapter = Neubretonisch}}

;Grammars and handbooks

• {{cite book| first = Yann |last = Desbordes | title = Petite grammaire du breton moderne | location = Lesneven | publisher = Mouladurioù Hor Yezh | date = 1990 |isbn = 978-2868630520}}
• {{cite book| first = François | last = Falcʼhun | author-link = François Falcʼhun | title = Le système consonantique du breton avec une étude comparative de phonétique expérimentale | location = Rennes | publisher = Plihon | date = 1951}}
• Favereau, Francis. Grammaire du breton contemporain. Morlaix: Skol Vreizh, 1997.
• Hemon, Roparz. Breton Grammar, 3rd edn. Trans. & rev'd by Michael Everson. Westport: Evertype, 2011.
• {{cite book| first = Frañsez |last = Kervella | title = Yezhadur bras ar brezhoneg | location = Brest | publisher = Al Liamm | date = 1947}}
• McKenna, Malachy. A handbook of modern spoken Breton. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1988 (repr. 2015).
• {{cite book| first = Ian |last = Press | title = A grammar of modern Breton | location = Berlin | publisher = Mouton de Gruyter | date = 1986}} (repr. 2011).
• Press, Ian & Hervé Le Bihan. Colloquial Breton: the complete course for beginners. London: Routledge, 2004 (repr. 2007, 2015).

{{Commons category|Breton language}}

{{InterWiki|code=br}}

{{WikisourceWiki|code=br}}

{{Wikiquote|code=br}}

{{wikibooks|Breton|Breton}}

{{sister project|project=Wikiversity

|text=Wikiversity offers lessons in the Breton language}}

{{Wiktionary category|type=Breton|category=Breton language}}

• Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg [http://www.ofis-bzh.org/ official website].
• {{Citation | url = http://www.france3breizh.fr/ | title = France 3 breizh}}, the public Breton TV channel.
• {{Citation | url = http://www.breizh.net/icdbl/saozg/endangered.htm | title = Endangered | publisher = Breizh net}}: an essay about the situation of the Breton language.
• {{Citation | url = http://www.breizh.net/saozneg/mahtmls.php | title = 100 Breton Internet-related words | publisher = Breizh | access-date = 2005-10-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071212162707/http://www.breizh.net/saozneg/mahtmls.php | archive-date = 2007-12-12 | url-status = dead }}
• {{Citation | url = http://www.agencebretagnepresse.com/index.php?langue=bzh/ | title = Amsez Wask Breizh | publisher = Agence bretagne presse}}: news in Breton.
• {{Citation | url = http://blog.breizh.bz/ | format = blog | title = Blog Breizh |website=blog.breizh.bz | access-date = 2006-07-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110612022201/http://blog.breizh.bz/ | archive-date = 2011-06-12 | url-status = dead }}: Brittany information, articles about Breton.
• {{Citation | url = http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/celticlanguage/labara6.html | title = Labara 6: a taste of Breton verse |first1=Meredith |last1=Richard |website=Ogmios Project | publisher = Summerlands}}.
• {{Citation | url = http://www.omniglot.com/writing/breton.htm | title = Breton | publisher = Omniglot | access-date = 2008-01-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080215210058/http://www.omniglot.com/writing/breton.htm | archive-date = 2008-02-15 | url-status = dead }}.

Dictionaries

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120120125126/http://www.etymos.de/us/languages/breton/index.htm English online dictionary and grammar for Breton]
• [http://www.langtolang.com/ A multilingual dictionary containing many Breton words alongside those of other languages]

Learning

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140704082247/http://www.kervarker.org/index.php?newlang=english%2F Breton site including online lessons]
• [http://www.linguashop.com/breton-language/ Audio CD, workbooks, software in English to learn Breton]
• Breton site with learners' forum and lessons (mostly in French with some English)
• Jouitteau, M. [http://arbres.iker.cnrs.fr/index.php/Grammaire_du_breton Grammaire du breton], (extensive Breton grammar in French, with glossed examples and typological comparisons), IKER, CNRS, 2009 > 2017].

Bible

• [https://www.bible.com/en-GB/versions/1799-jen1897-ar-bibl-santel-jenkins-1897?ret=1 Ar Bibl Santel (Jenkins) 1897 (JEN1897). History of Bible translation in Breton and Breton Bible]

{{Celtic languages}}

{{Languages of France}}

{{Celts|state=autocollapse}}

{{Languages of Europe}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breton Language}}

Category:Languages attested from the 9th century

Category:Southwestern Brittonic languages

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Category:History of Brittany

Category:Endangered Celtic languages

Category:Languages of France

Category:Verb–subject–object languages

Category:Severely endangered languages