A Welsh history synopsis by David fortin
A Guide to the Welsh Language of CymraegThe language of Wales, more properly called Cymraeg in preference to Welsh (A Germanic word denoting "foreigner"), belongs to a branch of Celtic, an Indo-European language. The Welsh themselves are descendants of the Galatians, to whom Paul wrote his famous letter. Their language is a distant cousin to Irish and Scots Gaelic and a close brother to Breton. Welsh is still used by about half a million people within Wales and possibly another few hundred thousand in England and other areas overseas.
In most heavily populated areas of Wales, such as the Southeast (containing the large urban centers of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea), the normal language of everyday life is English, but there are other areas, notably in the Western and Northern regions, (Gwynedd and Dyfed particularly) where the Welsh language remains strong and highly visible. The Welsh word for their country is Cymru (Kumree), the land of the Comrades; the people are known as Cymry (Kumree) and the language as Cymraeg (Kumrige). Regional differences in spoken Welsh do not make speakers in one area unintelligible to those in another (as is so often claimed), standard Welsh is understood by Welsh speakers everywhere.
Despite its formidable appearance to the uninitiated, Welsh is a language whose spelling is entirely regular and phonetic, so that once you know the rules, you can learn to read it and pronounce it without too much difficulty. For young children learning to read, Welsh provides far fewer difficulties than does English, as the latter's many inconsistencies in spelling are not found in Welsh, in which all letters are pronounced.
THE WELSH ALPHABET: (28 letters)A, B ,C ,Ch, D, Dd, E, F, Ff, G, Ng, H, I, L Ll, M, N, O, P, Ph, R, Rh, S, T, Th, U, W, Y
(Note that Welsh does not possess the letters J, K, Q, V, X or Z, though you will often come across "borrowings" from English, such as John, Jones, Jam and Jiwbil (Jubilee); Wrexham (Wrecsam); Zw (Zoo).
THE VOWELS: (A, E, I, U, O, W, Y)
A as in man. Welsh words: am, ac Pronounced the same as in English)
E as in bet or echo. Welsh words: gest (guest); enaid (enide)
I as in pin or queen. Welsh words: ni (nee); mi (me); lili (lily); min (meen)
U as in pita: Welsh words: ganu (ganee); cu (key); Cymru (Kumree); tu (tee); un (een)
O as in lot or moe. Welsh words: o'r (0re); don (don); dod (dode); bob (bobe)
W as in Zoo or bus. Welsh words: cwm (koom), bws (bus); yw (you); galw (galoo)
Y has two distinct sounds: the final sound in happy or the vowel sound in myrrh Welsh words: Y (uh); Yr (ur); yn (un); fry (vree); byd (beed)
All the vowels can be lengthened by the addition of a circumflex (ä), known in Welsh as "to bach" (little roof). Welsh words: Tän (taan), län (laan)
THE DIPHTHONGS:
Ae, Ai and Au are pronounced as English "eye": ninnau (nineye); mae (my); henaid (henide); main (mine); craig (crige)
Eu and Ei are pronounced the same way as the English ay in pray. Welsh words: deisiau (dayshy), or in some dialects (deeshuh); deil (dale or dile); teulu (taylee or tyelee)
Ew is more difficult to describe. It can be approximated as eh-oo or perhaps as in the word mount. The nearest English sound is found in English midland dialect words such as the Birmingham pronunciation of "you" (yew). Welsh words: mewn (meh-oon or moun); tew (teh-oo)
I'w and Y'w sound almost identical to the English "Ee-you." or "Yew" or "You": Welsh words: clyw (clee-oo); byw (bee-you or b'you); menyw (menee-you or menyou)
Oe is similar to the English Oy or Oi. Welsh words: croeso (croyso); troed (troid); oen (oin)
Ow is pronounced as in the English tow, or low: Welsh word: Rhown (rhone); rho (hrow)
Wy as in English wi in win or oo-ee: Welsh words: Wy (oo-ee); wyn (win); mwyn (mooin)
Ywy is pronounced as in English Howie. Welsh words: bywyd (bowid); tywyll (towith)
Aw as in the English cow. Welsh words: mawr (mour); prynhawn (prinhown); lawr (lour)
THE CONSONANTS:
For the most part b, d, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, and t are pronounced the same as their English equivalents (h is always pronounced, never silent). Those that differ are as follows:
C always as in cat; never as in since. Welsh words: canu (Kanee); cwm (come); cael (kile); and of course, Cymru (Kumree)
Ch as in the Scottish loch or the German ach or noch. The sound is never as in church, but as in loch or Docherty. Welsh words: edrychwn (edrych oon); uwch (youch ), chwi (Chee)
Dd is pronounced like the English th in the words seethe or them. Welsh words: bydd (beethe); sydd (seethe); ddofon (thovon); ffyddlon (futh lon)
Th is like the English th in words such as think, forth, thank. Welsh words: gwaith (gwithe); byth (beeth)
F as in the English V. Welsh words: afon (avon); fi (vee); fydd (veethe); hyfryd (huvrid); fawr (vowr), fach (vach)
Ff as in the English f. Welsh words: ffynnon (funon); ffyrdd (furth); ffaith (fithe)
G always as in English goat, gore. Welsh words: ganu (ganee); ganaf (ganav); angau (angeye); gem (game)
Ng as in English finger or Long Island. Ng usually occurs with an h following as a mutation of c. Welsh words Yng Nghaerdydd (in Cardiff: pronounced ung hire deethe) or Yng Nghymru (in Wales: pronounced ung Humree)
Ll is an aspirated L. That means you form your lips and tongue to pronounce L, but then you blow air gently around the sides of the tongue instead of saying anything. Got it? The nearest you can get to this sound in English is to pronounce it as an l with a th in front of it. Welsh words: llan (thlan); llawr (thlour); llwyd (thlooid)
Rh sounds as if the h come before the r. There is a slight blowing out of air before the r is pronounces. Welsh words: rhengau (hrengye); rhag (hrag); rhy (hree)
The most common expressions that Welsh-Americans come across are Cymanfa Ganu (Kumanva Ganee); Eisteddfod (Aye-steth-vod); and Noson Lawen (Nosson Lowen)
PRACTICE
Read the following, written using the Welsh alphabet:
Gwd lwc. Ai hop ddat yw can ryd ddys and ddat yt meiks sens tw yw. Iff yw can ryd ddys, dden yw ar dwing ffaen and wil haf no problems at ol yn lyrnyng awr ffaen Welsh alffabet.
Good luck: I hope that you can read this, and that it makes sense to you. If you can read this, then you are doing fine and will have no problems at all in learning our fine Welsh alphabet.
From David Walter Fortin Welsh History Part 4: Sun, 6 Jul 1997
Sources, Land, Pronunciation
Hello All,
Before marching forward into the Middle Ages, I feel it is necessary to discuss the sources from which we derive our knowledge of the period, as well as discussing the land forms which play such an important role in Welsh history. Along the way, I'll touch on some aspects of Welsh society for this time period. Before starting all of this, I would like to take a few moments and offer a pronunciation guide for Welsh which might help some of you to get your tongues around such words as "Perfeddwlad".
(I just finished typing the pronunciation guide and decided to break this post into three parts).
This is taken from "The Earliest Welsh Poetry", by Joseph Clancy
(London: St. Martin's Press, 1970), pp 19-20, with some of my own additions.
The Welsh alphabet uses 28 letters:
a,b,c,ch,d,dd,e,f,ff,g,ng,h,i,l,ll,m,n,o,p,ph,r,rh,s,t,u,w,y.
In general, the consonants represent the same sound values as in English spelling, with these exceptions:
c: always the 'k' sound, never the 's' sound.
ch: as in the Scottish 'loch'
dd: the sound represented by 'th' in 'breathe'; Welsh uses 'th' only for the sound in 'breath' (the dd=th is a longer sound).
f: equals the 'v' sound (as in 'of')
ff: English 'f' sound, as in 'off'
g: always the hard 'g' of 'guard'
ll: no English equivalent, sort of a 'tl' sound
ph: as in 'physics'
r: always trilled (which I can never do)
rh: the trilled 'r' followed by an aspiration (imagine a Spanish speaker
rolling the 'r' followed very closely by 'hh', so Rheged is
pronounced 'Rrrrhheged')
s: always the sound of 'sea'. The letter combination 'si' is used for
the 'sh' sound in English, so the English 'shop' would be 'siop' in
Welsh.
Welsh letters stand always for pure vowel sounds, never as in English for
dipthongs. As in English, vowel sounds can either be long or short.
a: as in 'father' (long) and 'hot' (short)
e: as in 'pale' (long) and 'pet' (short)
i: as in 'green' (long) and 'grin' (short); also the consonant sound
represented by 'y' in English (like 'yard') is represented by the
letter 'i' in Welsh (yard would be 'iard').
o: as in 'roll' (long) and 'cot' (short)
u: pronounced like the Welsh 'i' as explained above (think of the Welsh
name 'Gruffudd'='Griffith' in English)
w: used as either a vowel or a consonant. As a consonant, it is like its
English equivalent (like Owain); as a vowel, it takes the sound of
'oo', as in 'took' or 'tool' (think of 'Owain Glyn Dwr' = Owain
Glendower)
y: in most monosyllables, like the Welsh 'i' (short), otherwise it's like
the sound in English 'up'. However, when it stands alone (like the
poem title "Y Gododdin"), it also sounds like the 'u' in 'up'(so 'Y
Gododdin'= 'U Godothin'.
The following are the Welsh dipthongs. The chief vowel comes first:
ae, ai, au: like English 'write'
ei, eu, ey: equals 'uh-ee'
aw: as in English 'prowl'
ew: the short Welsh 'e' followed by 'oo'
iw, yw: 'ee-oo'
wy: 'oo-ee', like calling a pig 'Soo-eee' (with the stress on the
'soo')
oe, oi, ou: like the English sound in 'oil'
IMPORTANT: The accent in Welsh is almost always placed on the second-to-last (penult) syllable (the stress is on the 'y' in Llywarch (lli wark) and the 'e' in Llywelyn (lli wel un)).
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