Breton Mutations
Mutations are one of the typical features of celtic languages. They are called Kemmadur in Breton. Mutations are consonant changes at the beginning of a word that are initiated by the word in front of the word that does the mutation.
There are four types of mutations in breton: soft mutation (kemmadurioù dre vlotaat), hard mutation (kemmadurioù dre galetaat), spirant mutation (kemmadurioù c'hwezhadenniñ) and mixed mutation (kemmadurioù mesket).
So now the big question is when do we use these mutations.
The soft mutation is the most common mutation. It is used with: -many prepositions: da, dre, a, war, dindan, eme, en ur -the question word pe -the articles al, ar, an, ul, ur, un before feminine singular nouns and masculine plural nouns that denote a people (the French, the Breton...) -the possessive pronouns da and e -the verbal particles a, ne, na, ez, ra -the numerals daou and div -the conjunctions pa, pe, tra -the adverb re -the pronouns holl, re, hini -adjectives following feminine singular nouns and masculine plural nouns that denote a people
The spirant mutation is used with: -the possessive pronouns he, o, ma -the numerals tri, teir, pevar, peder, nav
The hard mutation is used for: -the possessive pronoun ho
The mixed mutation is used with: -the verbal particles e and o -the conjunction ma
Learning the mutations: Ideally you learn the table of the sound changes and then when you learn a word that introduces a mutation you learn which change it introduces with the word. When making flashcards write the mutation with the word.
This is an overview to breton mutations, it is not intended to contain all the information there is about the subject but to give an overview. Please note that I myself am a learner and not a fluent or native speaker.