Syllable and diphthong classification in the medieval Welsh bardic grammars

Abstract

ABSTRACT The medieval Welsh bardic grammars, known as ‘Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid,’ include an extensive system of classification to describe syllable and diphthong types. While much of the rest of the linguistic description in the bardic grammars is heavily Latinate, this section is apparently innovative and oriented towards the demands of bardic composition. The syllables and diphthongs section is extensively revised over the course of its transmission, and either expanded or contracted depending on the aims and purposes of its editors. This article examines the two earliest revisions, found in Peniarth MS 20 (c.1330) and Bangor MS 1 (mid-fifteenth century) as evidence of the changing function of the grammars over the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A case is made for the increasing use of the grammars as practical pedagogical documents from the mid-fifteenth century.