Welsh Cymraeg
Pronunciation:	[kəmˈrɑːɨɡ]
Spoken in:	Wales, England, Argentina (Chubut), United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
Total speakers:	750,000+: — Wales: 611,000[1] — England: 133,000[2] — Chubut, Argentina: 25,000[3] — Canada: 3,160[4] — USA: 2,655[5] — New Zealand: 1,155[6] — Australia: 1,060[7]
Language family:	Indo-European  Celtic   Insular Celtic    Brythonic     Welsh
Writing system:	Latin alphabet (Welsh variant)
Official status
Official language in:	Wales
Regulated by:	no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	cy
ISO 639-2:	wel (B)	cym (T)
ISO 639-3:	cym
Percentage of Welsh speakers by principal area
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Chubut ( Spanish: Provincia del Chubut Welsh: Talaith Chubut a Province in the southern part of Argentina, that lies between the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Chubut ( Spanish: Provincia del Chubut Welsh: Talaith Chubut a Province in the southern part of Argentina, that lies between the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The United States of America —commonly referred to as the New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. The term Insular Celtic refers to those Celtic languages which originated in the British Isles, in contrast to the Continental Celtic languages of The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. The modern Welsh alphabet ( yr wyddor) contains 28 letters of which eight are digraphs History The earliest samples of written This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages For Local government purposes Wales is divided into 22 Unitary authorities, which are responsible for the provision of all local government services including education In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Welsh (Cymraeg or y Gymraeg, pronounced [kəmˈrɑːɨɡ] and [ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]), is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales (Cymru), in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The Welsh Marches ( Welsh: Y Mers) is an area along the border of England and Wales on the island of Great Britain, in the current The Welsh settlement in Argentina began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut province in the far southern region of Patagonia The Chubut River ( Spanish, Río Chubut) is a river in Patagonia, Southern Argentina. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Llao LLaojpg|thumb|250px| Lake Nahuel Huapi, near Bariloche, Argentina

There are also speakers of Welsh throughout the world, most notably in the rest of Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island

The most recent census figures (2001) presented in "Main Statistics about Welsh"^[8] by the Welsh Language Board, indicate 582,400 (20. 8% of the population of Wales in households or communal establishments) were able to speak Welsh and 457,946 (16. 3%) can speak, read and write it. This compares with 508,100 (18. 7%) for 1991. Increasing use of the English language had led to a decline in the numbers of Welsh speakers. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Since the introduction of the Welsh Language Act 1993, giving Welsh equal status with English in the public sector in Wales, the Welsh language has enjoyed a revival. The Welsh Language Act 1993 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English

The results of the "2004 Welsh Language Use Survey" indicates that there are 611,000 Welsh speakers in Wales (21. 7% of the population living in households, a lower figure of 19. 7% is given in the same paper), 62% claim to speak Welsh daily, and 88% of those fluent in the language speak it daily. ^[8]

The 2004 and 2001 figures both suggest that around 14% of the Welsh population claim to speak Welsh daily. It is notable that the figures are from a survey and so fluency was not tested, however fluency in the 2004 survey (versus a 1992 survey) was only greater in the 3-15 years age group (p.9) and that most of this increase came in the South East (p.10), in all other groups numbers of fluent speakers had declined.

See Welsh English, known as "Wenglish", for the English language as spoken in Wales. Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish (see below refers to the Dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Contents 1 Status 2 History 3 Vocabulary 4 Orthography 5 Grammar 5.1 Phonology 5.2 Morphology 5.3 Other features of Welsh grammar 5.3.1 Possessives as object pronouns 5.3.2 Significant use of auxiliary verbs 5.3.3 Affirmative markers 6 Counting system 7 Dialects 8 Registers 8.1 Examples of sentences in literary and colloquial Welsh 9 Welsh in education 10 Welsh in information technology 11 Welsh in warfare 12 Welsh in popular culture 13 See also 14 Notes 15 References 16 External links 16.1 Statistical data 16.2 About the language 16.3 Dictionaries 16.4 Learning the language

Status

The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey shows 21. 7% of the population of Wales are Welsh speakers. This is an increase from 20. 5% in the 2001 census, and from 18. A nationwide Census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 29 April 2001 5% in 1991. The 2001 census also shows that about 25% of Welsh residents were born outside Wales. The number of Welsh speakers in the rest of Britain is unknown. In 1993, S4C, the Welsh-language TV channel, published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who speak or understand Welsh, and this estimated that there were some 133,000 Welsh-speakers living in England, about 50,000 of them in the Greater London area and border towns and villages in the Welsh Marches such as Oswestry. S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru meaning Channel Four Wales) is a television channel in Wales England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. Oswestry (ˈɒzwəstɹɪ is a town and Civil parish in Shropshire, England, very close to the Welsh border ^[9]

Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh, but monoglot Welsh speakers are now virtually non-existent, at least above school age. Monoglottism ( Greek monos, "alone solitary" + glotta, "tongue language" or more commonly monolingualism or unilingualism Almost without exception, Welsh speakers in Wales also speak English (or Spanish in Chubut Province, Argentina, see Welsh settlement in Argentina). Chubut ( Spanish: Provincia del Chubut Welsh: Talaith Chubut a Province in the southern part of Argentina, that lies between the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The Welsh settlement in Argentina began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut province in the far southern region of Patagonia However, a large number of Welsh speakers are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within a single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching). Discourse (L discursus, "running to and from" means either "written or spoken communication or debate" or "a formal discussion Code-switching is a term in Linguistics referring to using more than one language or variety in conversation

Although Welsh is a minority language, support for the language grew during the second half of the 20th century, along with the rise of organisations such as the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru from 1925 and the Welsh Language Society, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg from 1962. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Welsh nationalism is a political and cultural movement that emerged during the nineteenth century Plaid Cymru (plaɪd ˈkəmri The Party of Wales often referred to simply as Plaid) is a Political party in Wales. Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society often abbreviated to Cymdeithas or Cymdeithas yr Iaith) is a Pressure group in Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Welsh as a first language is largely concentrated in the less urban north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych), Anglesey (Ynys Môn), Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin), north Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro), Ceredigion, parts of west Glamorgan (Morgannwg), north-west and extreme south-west Powys, although first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. History Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th Century when it was conquered and subjugated by England Geography It contains the major settlements of Llandudno, Llandudno Junction, Llanrwst, Betws-y-Coed, Conwy, Colwyn Bay Formation The present principal area was formed on April 1, 1996, under the Local Government (Wales Act 1994, from various parts of the county History There are numerous Megalithic monuments and Menhirs present on Anglesey testifying to the presence of mankind in prehistory Geography The county is bounded to the north by Ceredigion, to the east by Powys, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea, to the south by the Geography Pembrokeshire is a maritime County, bordered by the sea on three sides by Ceredigion (Cardiganshire to the northeast and by Geography List of places in CeredigionCeredigion is a coastal county bordered by Cardigan Bay to the west Gwynedd to the north Powys to the east Glamorgan or Glamorganshire (Morgannwg is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. This article is about the county of Wales For the ancient kingdom see Kingdom of Powys.

Welsh is a living language, used in conversation by thousands and seen throughout Wales. A modern language is any Human Language that is currently in use The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages should be treated equally in the public sector, so far as is reasonable and practicable. The Welsh Language Act 1993 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English This is about the Act that set up the Welsh Assembly For the newer Government of Wales Act 2006, see that article Public bodies are required to prepare for approval a Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates their commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a 3 month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the Welsh Language Board Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg. The Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg) is a statutory body set up by the UK Government as part of the Welsh Language Act 1993. Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under the Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993-1997, by way of Statutory Instrument. A Statutory Instrument ( SI) is the principal form in which delegated or Secondary legislation is made in Great Britain. Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed Statutory Instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar In Law, a Statutory Instrument is a form of delegated or Secondary legislation. Neither 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it cover the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their literature through the medium of Welsh. Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar)

Local councils and the National Assembly for Wales use Welsh as a quasi-official language, issuing their literature and publicity in Welsh versions (e. The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. g. letters to parents from schools, library information, and council information) and most road signs in Wales are in English and Welsh, including the Welsh versions of placenames. However, some references to English destinations are still given in English only.

Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16, and that has had a major effect in stabilising and to some extent reversing the decline in the language. It means, for example, that even the children of English monoglot migrants to Wales grow up with some knowledge of the language. However, the vast majority of people in the main population centres of South Wales do not use the language in daily life.

Although most road signs throughout Wales are bilingual, the wording on money is in English only (This is apart from the legend on Welsh pound coins dated 1985 and 1990, which are valid currency in all parts of the UK: Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad, which means, "True am I to my country"), and derives from the Welsh National Anthem. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history traditions and struggles of its people recognized either by a nation's The new British coinage from 2008 will not bear any Welsh language at all, despite being designed by a resident of North Wales and being minted at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. Although many shops employ bilingual signage, Welsh rarely appears on product packaging or instructions.

The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ( ECRML) is a European Treaty (CETS 148 adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe

The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C (and subsequently S4/C, S4/C2) in November 1982, which broadcasts 70% of Channel4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows^[10] during peak viewing hours. S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru meaning Channel Four Wales) is a television channel in Wales S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru meaning Channel Four Wales) is a television channel in Wales S4C2 (Sianel Pedwar Cymru Dau meaning Channel Four Wales Two) is a Free-to-air British Television station owned by S4C that broadcasts Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Additionally, there is an all-Welsh language digital station available throughout Europe on satellite called S4/C2, in existence since 1998. S4C2 (Sianel Pedwar Cymru Dau meaning Channel Four Wales Two) is a Free-to-air British Television station owned by S4C that broadcasts Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. ^[11] There is also a Welsh language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru, which was launched in 1977. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays

There is, however, no daily newspaper in Welsh, the only national newspaper Y Cymro, being published once a week, although a daily newspaper called Y Byd ("The World") was scheduled to be launched on 3 March 2008 but has been scrapped, owing to insufficient funds being made available from the Welsh Assembly Government. Y Cymro ("The Welshman" is a Welsh language Newspaper, first published in 1932 Y Byd (The World was an attempt to launch the first Welsh language daily newspaper Events 1284 - Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into England 1575 - Indian 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG (Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru LlCC) was firstly an executive body of the National Assembly for Wales, consisting of

Since December 2001 the British Government has planned to ensure that all immigrants know English. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States It remains to be seen if Welsh will be considered a separate case. At present, a knowledge of either Welsh, English or Scottish Gaelic is sufficient for naturalisation purposes and it is believed that this policy will be continued in any proposed changes to the law. Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Naturalization is the acquisition of Citizenship or Nationality by somebody who was not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born

History

Main article: History of the Welsh language

Welsh as a distinct language emerged in the 6th century from Brythonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Cumbric (extinct), Breton, and Cornish. The history of the Welsh language spans over 1400 years encompassing the stages of the language known as Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language, often considered to be a Dialect of Welsh, spoken in Northern England and southern For the Cornish-English dialect see West Country dialects and List of Cornish dialect words.

Like most languages, there are identifiable periods within the history of Welsh, although the boundaries between these are often indistinct.

Vocabulary

Welsh vocabulary draws mainly from original Brythonic words (ŵy, carreg), and loans from Latin (ffenest, gwin) and English (sicr, fideo).

Orthography

Main article: Welsh alphabet

Welsh is written in a version of the Latin alphabet traditionally consisting of 28 letters, of which eight are digraphs treated as single letters for collation:

a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, (j), l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y

The letter "j" is now often included in the alphabet, between "i" and "l", due to its use in several loanwords from English (especially the common surname Jones). The modern Welsh alphabet ( yr wyddor) contains 28 letters of which eight are digraphs History The earliest samples of written A digraph, bigraph, or digram is a pair of characters used to write one Phoneme (distinct sound or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond The letters "k", "v", "x" and "z" are used in some technical terms, like kilogram, volt, xeroser and zero, but in all cases can be, and often are, replaced by Welsh letters: cilogram, folt, seroser and sero. Xerosere is a plant succession which occurs in conditions limited by water availability or the different stages in a xerarch succession ^[12] The letter "k" was in common use until the sixteenth century, but was dropped at the time of the publication of the New Testament in Welsh, William Salesbury responding to critics: "C for K, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth". William Salesbury also Salusbury (c 1520 - c 1584 was the leading Welsh scholar of the Renaissance and the principal translator of the 1567 Welsh This change was not popular at the time^[13]

The most common diacritic is the circumflex, which is used in some cases to mark a long vowel. A diacritic ( also called a diacritic or diacritical mark, point, or sign, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation Pitch The circumflex accent was first used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, where it occurred (subject to certain rules on the accented syllable In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound

Grammar

Phonology

Main article: Welsh phonology

The phonology of Welsh is characterised by a number of sounds that do not occur in English and are typologically rare in European languages, such as the voiceless lateral fricative [ɬ] and voiceless nasal consonants. The Phonology of Welsh is characterised by a number of sounds that do not occur in English and are typologically rare in European languages such as the Phonology ( Greek φωνή (phōnē voice sound + λόγος (lógos word speech subject of discussion is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning Linguistic Typology is an international Peer-reviewed journal in the field of Linguistic typology, founded in 1997 The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet Voice or voicing is a term used in Phonetics and Phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Stress usually falls on the penultimate syllable in polysyllabic words, while the word-final unstressed syllable receives a higher pitch than the stressed syllable. Pitch represents the perceived Fundamental frequency of a sound

Morphology

Main article: Welsh morphology

Welsh morphology has much in common with that of the other modern Insular Celtic languages, such as the use of initial consonant mutations, and the use of so-called "conjugated prepositions" (prepositions that fuse with the personal pronouns that are their object). The morphology of the Welsh language shows many characteristics perhaps unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words The term Insular Celtic refers to those Celtic languages which originated in the British Isles, in contrast to the Continental Celtic languages of Consonant mutation is the phenomenon in which a Consonant in a word is changed according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment In some languages an inflected preposition, or conjugated preposition, is a word formed from the contraction of a Preposition with a Personal pronoun In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. Personal pronouns are Pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common Nouns. An object in Grammar is a Sentence element and part of the sentence predicate. Welsh nouns belong to one of two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, but are not inflected for case. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In Grammar, the case of a Noun or Pronoun indicates its Grammatical function in a greater Phrase or Clause; such as the Welsh has a variety of different endings to indicate the plural, and two endings to indicate the singular of some nouns. Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" In spoken Welsh, verb inflection is indicated primarily by the use of auxiliary verbs, rather than by the inflection of the main verb. In Linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Verb, Noun or Adjective from its Principal parts by Inflection In Linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, helper verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a Verb functioning For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. In literary Welsh, on the other hand, inflection of the main verb is usual.

Other features of Welsh grammar

Possessives as object pronouns

The Welsh for "I like Rhodri" is Rydw i'n hoffi Rhodri ("I am liking [of] Rhodri"), but "I like him" is Rydw i'n ei hoffi — literally, "I am his liking him" —; "I like you" is Rydw i'n dy hoffi di ("I am your liking you"), etc.

Significant use of auxiliary verbs

While English can either use verbs directly (e. g. "I go") or with the aid of an auxiliary verb ("I am going", here using "to be" as the auxiliary), non-literary Welsh inclines very strongly towards the latter use. In Linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, helper verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a Verb functioning In the present tense, all verbs are used with the auxiliary bod (to be), so dw i'n mynd is literally "I am going", but also means simply "I go". Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records. In the past and future tenses, there are inflected forms of all verbs (which are invariably used in the written language), but it is more common nowadays in speech to use the verbal noun (berfenw, loosely equal to the infinitive in English) together with the inflected form of gwneud (to do), so "I went" can be mi es i or mi wnes i fynd and "I will go" can be mi a' i or mi wna i fynd. The past tense is a Verb tense expressing action activity state or being in the past of the current moment (in an Absolute tense system or prior In Grammar, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet but expected to happen in the future (in an Absolute tense For fusion in Word formation, see Compound (linguistics. A fusional language (also called inflecting language) is a A verbal noun is a Noun formed directly as an Inflexion of a Verb or a verb stem, sharing at least in part its constructions In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages There is also a future form using the auxiliary bod, giving fydda i'n mynd (perhaps best translated as "I will be going") and an imperfect tense (a continuous/habitual past tense) also using bod, with roeddwn i'n mynd meaning "I used to go/I was going". The imperfect tense, in the classical grammar of several Indo-European languages, denotes a Past tense with an Imperfective aspect.

Affirmative markers

Mi or fe is often placed before inflected verbs to show that they are declarative. In the present and imperfect of the verb bod (to be), yr is used instead. Mi is mainly restricted to colloquial Northern Welsh, with fe predominating in the South and in the formal or literary register. Such marking of the declarative is, in any case, rather less common in higher registers.

Counting system

Main article: Welsh numerals

The traditional counting system used by the Welsh language is vigesimal, which is to say it is based on twenties, as in standard French numbers 70 (soixante-dix, literally "sixty-ten") through 99 (quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, literally "four twenties nineteen"). The traditional counting system used by the Welsh language is Vigesimal, i The vigesimal or base - numeral system is based on twenty (in the same way in which the ordinary decimal numeral system is based on ten French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people ^[14] Welsh numbers from 11 through 14 are "x on ten", 16 through 19 are "x on fifteen" (though 18 is more usually "two nines"); numbers from 21 through 39 are "1–19 on twenty", 40 is "two twenties", 60 is "three twenties", etc.

There is also a decimal counting system, which appears to be commonly used in Patagonian Welsh, where numbers are "x ten y", e. g. thirty-five in decimal is tri deg pump (three ten five) while in vigesimal it is pymtheg ar hugain (fifteen – itself "five-ten" – on twenty).

While there is only one word for "one" (un), it triggers Soft Mutation Treiglad Meddal of feminine nouns, other than those beginning with ll and rh. Ll / ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural Languages In English In English, ll represents the same sound Rh redirects here For other uses see Rh (disambiguation Rhodium (ˈroʊdiəm is a Chemical element with the symbol There are separate masculine and feminine forms of the numbers "two" (dau and dwy), "three" (tri and tair) and "four" (pedwar and pedair), which must agree with the grammatical gender of the objects being counted. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong

Dialects

Dialectal differences are very pronounced in the spoken and, to a lesser extent, the written language. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of A convenient, if slightly simplistic, classification is into North Walian and South Walian forms (or Gog and Hwntw based on the word for North, gogledd, and the South Walian word for "them over there"). The differences between dialects encompass vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar, although particularly in the last regard they are in fact fairly minor.

An example of the difference between North and South Walian usage would be the question "Do you want a cup (of tea)?" In the north this would typically be Dach chi isio panad? while in the south the question Dych chi moyn dishgled? would be more likely. An example of a pronunciation difference between Northern and Southern Welsh is the tendency in southern dialects to "lisp" the letter "s", e. g. mis (month), would tend to be pronounced [miːs] in the north, and [miːʃ] in the south. This normally occurs next to a high front vowel like /i/, although exceptions include the pronunciation of sut "how" as [ʃʊd] in the south (compared with northern [sɨt]). In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract This is most likely the result of a change in the vowel quality. In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract

Much more fine-grained classifications exist beyond north and south: the book Cymraeg, Cymrâg, Cymrêg: cyflwyno'r tafodieithoedd,^[15] about Welsh dialects was accompanied by a cassette containing recordings of fourteen different speakers demonstrating aspects of different dialects. The book refers to the earlier Linguistic Geography of Wales^[16] as describing six different regions which could be identified as having words specific to those regions. Another dialect is Patagonian Welsh, which has developed since the start of the Welsh settlement in Argentina in 1865; it includes Spanish loanwords and terms for local features, but a survey in the 1970s showed that the language in Patagonia is consistent throughout the lower Chubut valley and in the Andes and is basically the northern Welsh dialect (which is a little surprising as the majority of settlers came from the south, but the northern pronunciation seems to have been preferred — one settler recounted in his memoirs how he was marked down at the eisteddfod as a child for using southern diction). The Welsh settlement in Argentina began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut province in the far southern region of Patagonia The Welsh settlement in Argentina began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut province in the far southern region of Patagonia

Registers

Modern Welsh can be written in two styles — Colloquial Welsh (Cymraeg llafar) or Literary Welsh (Cymraeg llenyddol). The grammar described on this page is that of Colloquial Welsh, which is used for speech and informal writing. Literary Welsh is closer to the form of Welsh used in the 1588 translation of the Bible and is found in official documents and other formal registers, including much literature. In Linguistics, a register is a subset of a Language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting As a standardised form, literary Welsh shows little if any of the dialectal variation found in colloquial Welsh. Some differences include:

Literary Welsh	Colloquial Welsh
Can omit subject pronouns (pro-drop)	Subject pronouns rarely omitted
Extensive use of simple verb forms	Extensive use of periphrastic verb forms
No distinction between simple present and future (e. A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping" is a Language in which certain classes of Pronouns may be omitted when they are in some sense pragmatically g. gwelaf "I see"/"I shall see")	Simple form expresses only future (e. g. gwela i "I'll see")
Subjunctive verb forms	Subjunctive in fixed idioms
3rd. pl ending –nt	3rd. pl ending –n

Amongst the characteristics of the literary, as against the spoken, language are a higher dependence on inflected verb forms, a shift in the usage of some of the tenses, a reduction in the explicit use of pronouns (since the information is usually conveyed in the verb/preposition inflections) and a greatly reduced tendency to substitute English loanwords for native Welsh words. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In addition, more archaic pronouns and forms of mutation may be observed in Literary Welsh.

Examples of sentences in literary and colloquial Welsh

English	Literary Welsh	Colloquial Welsh
I get up early every day.	Codaf yn gynnar bob dydd.	Dwi'n codi'n gynnar bob dydd.
I'll get up early tomorrow.	Codaf yn gynnar yfory.	Coda i'n gynnar fory/Na'i godi'n gynnar fory
He had not stood there long.	Ni safasai yno'n hir. [17]	Doedd o ddim wedi sefyll yno'n hir.
They'll sleep only when there's a need.	Ni chysgant ond pan fo angen.	Byddan nhw ddim ond yn cysgu pan fydd angen.

In fact, the differences between dialects of modern spoken Welsh pale into insignificance compared to the difference between the spoken and literary languages. The latter is considerably more conservative and is the language used in Welsh translations of the Bible, amongst other things (although the Beibl Cymraeg Newydd — New Welsh Bible — is significantly less formal than the traditional 1588 Bible). Parts of the Bible were translated into Welsh before the 15th century but the first complete translation was the manuscript of Celydd Sfan and while no exact date Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Gareth King, author of a Welsh grammar, observes that "The difference between these two is much greater than between the virtually identical colloquial and literary forms of English" and goes so far as to state "that there are good grounds for regarding them as separate languages". He comments that whilst colloquial Welsh is a mother tongue requiring no special learning to acquire, literary Welsh is the mother tongue of no-one, and must be taught to people. ^[18] Although the question "Do you want a cup of tea?" is not likely to occur in literary Welsh usage, if it did it would be along the lines of A oes arnoch eisiau cwpanaid o de? A complete grammar of Literary Welsh can be found in A Grammar of Welsh (1980) by Stephen J. Williams.

Most Welsh writing, especially that found on the Internet or in magazines, is closer to the colloquial form. This is also becoming more common in artistic literature.

Welsh in education

Main article: Welsh medium education

The decade around 1840 was a period of great social upheaval in Wales, manifested in the Chartist movement, which culminated in 20,000 people marching on Newport in 1839 resulting in a riot when 20 people were killed by soldiers defending the Westgate Hotel, and the Rebecca Riots when tollbooths on turnpikes were systematically destroyed. Education delivered through the medium of Welsh language is known as Welsh medium education. For chartism in financial markets see Technical analysis, and for the British socialist journal see Chartist (magazine Chartism was Newport (Casnewydd is a city and principal area in Wales, in the United Kingdom. Riots are a form of Civil disorders characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of Violence, Vandalism or other The Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1844 in South Wales and Mid Wales. A toll road, (also known as a tollway, turnpike, pike, or toll highway, especially if it is constructed to Freeway standards A toll road, (also known as a tollway, turnpike, pike, or toll highway, especially if it is constructed to Freeway standards This unrest brought the state of education in Wales to the attention of the English establishment, as social reformers of the time considered education as a means of dealing with social ills. The Times newspaper was prominent among those who considered that the lack of education of the Welsh people was the root cause of most of the problems, although the population was generally literate in Welsh because of the activities of Sunday Schools and the need to read the Bible. The Times is a daily national Newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. " Sunday school " is the generic name for many different types of Religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations In July 1846, three commissioners, R. R. W. Lingen, Jellynger C. Symons and H. R. Vaughan Johnson, were appointed to inquire into the state of education in Wales; the Commissioners were all Anglicans, and hence unsympathetic to the Non-conformist majority in Wales, and were monoglot English-speakers. Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs

The Commissioners presented their report to the Government on 1 July 1847 in three large blue-bound volumes. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 1847 ( MDCCCXLVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common This report quickly became known as Brad y Llyfrau Gleision (The Treachery of the Blue Books) as, apart from documenting the state of education in Wales, the Commissioners were also free with their comments disparaging the language, Non-conformity, and the morals of the Welsh people in general. The Treachery of the Blue Books or Treason of the Blue Books (Brad y Llyfrau Gleision was the name given in Wales to the Reports of the commissioners of enquiry An immediate effect of the report was for a belief to take root in the minds of ordinary people that the only way for Welsh people to get on in the world was through the medium of English, and an inferiority complex developed about the Welsh language whose effects have not yet been completely eradicated. The historian Professor Kenneth O. Morgan referred to the significance of the report and its consequences as "the Glencoe and the Amritsar of Welsh history". Kenneth Owen Morgan Baron Morgan (born 16 May 1934) is a Welsh historian and author known especially for his writings on Modern British history and politics The Massacre of Glencoe occurred in Glen Coe, Scotland, in the early morning of 13 February 1692, during the era of the "Glorious The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, also known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden in the northern Indian city of Amritsar

In the later 19th century virtually all teaching in the schools of Wales was in English, even in areas where the pupils barely understood English. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Some schools used the Welsh Not, a piece of wood, often bearing the letters "WN", which was hung around the neck of any pupil caught speaking Welsh. The Welsh Not or Welsh Note was a piece of wood inscribed with the letters "WN" that was hung round the necks of children who spoke Welsh in some The pupil could pass it on to any schoolmate heard speaking Welsh, with the pupil wearing it at the end of the day being given a beating.

Many of the Welsh tried in vain to have the rules changed.

One of the most famous Welsh born pioneers of higher education in Wales was Sir Hugh Owen. He made great progress in the cause of education, and more especially the University College of Wales (Aberystwyth), of which he was chief founder. He was responsible for The Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 after which several new Welsh Schools were built, the first of these being Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen in 1894.

Towards the beginning of the 20th century this policy slowly began to change, partly owing to the efforts of Owen Morgan Edwards when he became chief inspector of schools for Wales in 1907. Owen Morgan Edwards ( 26 December 1858 &ndash 15 May 1920) was a Welsh historian educationalist and writer

The Aberystwyth Welsh School (Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth) was founded in 1939 by Sir Ifan ap Owen Edwards, the son of O. Aberystwyth (Mouth of the River Ystwyth ˌæbəˈrɪstwɪθ Dialect: abɛrˈəstɔʏθ is a historic Market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within M. Edwards as the first Welsh Primary School. The headteacher was Norah Isaac. Ysgol Gymraeg is still a very successful school and now there are Welsh language primary schools all over the country. Ysgol Glan Clwyd was established in Rhyl in 1955 as the first Welsh language school to teach to a secondary level. Ysgol Glan Clwyd (or Ysgol Uwchradd Glan Clwyd) is a Welsh medium Secondary school, and was the first of its kind Rhyl ((ə r̥ɨl Welsh Y Rhyl) is a seaside town on the Irish Sea, in the county of Denbighshire (within the preserved

Welsh is now widely used in education. Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency All Welsh universities teach some courses in Welsh (most notably Bangor University and Aberystwyth University), but are primarily English language. Bangor University (Prifysgol Bangor is a university based in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in north Wales. Aberystwyth University (Prifysgol Aberystwyth sometimes called "Aber" or "the College by the Sea" is a university located in Aberystwyth, Wales Under the National Curriculum, schoolchildren in Wales must study Welsh up to the age of 16 and many chose to continue with it in their A levels and college years. The National Curriculum was introduced into England, Wales and Northern Ireland as a nationwide curriculum for primary and secondary Education in Wales differs in certain respects from the systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom. All Local Education Authorities in Wales have schools providing bilingual or Welsh-medium education. ^[19] The remainder study Welsh as a second language in English-medium schools. Specialist teachers of Welsh called Athrawon Bro support the teaching of Welsh in the National Curriculum. Welsh is also taught in adult education classes. The ability to speak Welsh or to have Welsh as a qualification is essential or desirable for certain career choices in Wales, such as teaching or customer service.

Welsh in information technology

Welsh has a substantial presence on the Internet, ranging from formal lists of terminology in a variety of fields^[20] to Welsh language interfaces for parts of Microsoft Windows XP, a variety of Linux distributions, and some online services to blogs kept in Welsh. Windows XP is a family of 32-bit and 64-bit Operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on Personal computers including home and A Linux distribution (also called GNU/Linux by distributions such as Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Mandriva and A blog (a contraction of the term " Web log " is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary descriptions of ^[21]

There is a campaign for a new .cym TLD for Welsh-language websites, and websites that are of Welsh interest. A petition has been set up to gather support for the domain. ^[22]

Welsh in warfare

Secure communications are often difficult to achieve in wartime. Cryptography can be used to protect messages, but codes can be broken. Cryptography (or cryptology; from Greek grc κρυπτός kryptos, "hidden secret" and grc γράφω gráphō, "I write" Therefore, little-known languages are sometimes encoded, so that even if the code is broken, the message is still in a language few people know. For example, Navajo code talkers were used by the United States military during World War II. Navajo or Navaho ( native name: Diné bizaad) is an Athabaskan language (of Na-Dené stock spoken in the southwest United States by The United States Armed Forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Similarly, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, a Welsh regiment serving in Bosnia, used Welsh for emergency communications that needed to be secure. The Royal Welch Fusiliers were a Regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Latin script: Bosna i Hercegovina, Cyrillic script: Босна и Херцеговина is a country on the Balkan ^[23]

Welsh in popular culture

• In Henry IV, part 1, Shakespeare has Owen Glendower (Welsh: Owain Glyndŵr), the Lady Mortimer and some Welsh women all speaking Welsh on stage. Henry IV Part 1 is a History play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597 Owain Glyndŵr (pronounced 'owain glin'dwr or Owain Glyn Dŵr, Anglicised by Shakespeare into Owen Glendower (c The play was written in the sixteenth century and set around 1400.
• The television programme called Bandit and a radio show called C2 are dedicated to playing Welsh language popular music, as are independent internet radio station Radio Amgen and Radio Curiad. This is about the television program Bandit as a general term refers to Outlaw. C2 (pronounced "eck die" is a Welsh language music show on BBC Radio Cymru.
• A number of rock and electronic groups have recorded extensively in Welsh, including Datblygu, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, and Super Furry Animals, whose all-Welsh album Mwng reached no. Datblygu (meaning 'development' was an experimental Welsh rock group in the 1980s and early to mid-1990s now regarded as a catalyst of the new wave of Welsh rock Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a Welsh Alternative rock band formed in Carmarthen, west Wales in 1991 Super Furry Animals (also known as " SFA " the " Furries " and the " Super Furries " are a Welsh Rock band Mwng ( Welsh: Mane) is an album by Super Furry Animals. The album is sung entirely in Welsh and is claimed to be the most 11 in the British charts. Welsh-language albums have been released more recently as solo projects by Gruff Rhys and Euros Childs (members of Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci respectively). Gruff Rhys (grɪf r̥iːs in Welsh born July 18, 1970 in Haverfordwest in South-West Wales) is a musician performing solo and with several Euros Childs (b 1975 is a Welsh musician and song-writer best known as the frontman for the band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.
• A popular Welsh film viewed by many outside the country is "Hedd Wyn'"

See also

• Welsh Language Media
• List of Welsh films
• Association of Welsh Translators and Interpreters
• Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
• Languages in the United Kingdom
• List of Welsh language authors
• List of Welsh language poets (6th century to c.1600)
• List of Welsh people
• List of Welsh principal areas by percentage Welsh language
• Welsh placenames
• Welsh Language Board
• Welsh literature
• Welsh Bible
• Welsh Tract
• Category:Welsh names

Notes

References

• J. W. Aitchison and H. Carter. Language,Economy and Society. The changing fortunes of the Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century. Cardiff. University of Wales Press. 2000.
• J. W. Aitchison and H. Carter. Spreading the Word. The Welsh Language 2001. Y Lolfa. 2004

External links

Statistical data

• link summary for Welsh Language Statistics from the Welsh Assembly Government
• example Census data from the ONS

About the language

• Welsh language at Ethnologue
• History and status of the Welsh language
• Gwybodiadur: a Welsh informationary
• The Story of Welsh: programme details for series from BBC Wales
• The University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies
• The Blue Books of 1847 — National Library of Wales Digital Mirror. Ethnologue Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics a Christian BBC Wales ( BBC Cymru) is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. The National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru is the national Legal deposit library of Wales, located in Aberystwyth.
• A Taste of Welsh Verse
• Welsh Language Act website
• Gwefan Deddf Iaith Newydd
• Welsh Scrabble available (BBC News link)
• Information on pronunciation.
• Speech by North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom to Cymuned, 14 April 2007. Events 43 BC - Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar 's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
• Guardian Unlimited: Llook who's talking — article on the place of Welsh in British culture.
• Last of the Welsh Monoglots — article on the last Welsh monoglot speakers from Rhiw in North-Wales in the late 1960s.
• Entry at Omniglot
• English and Welsh, an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien
• A short English-Welsh-Japanese Phraselist incl. sound file

Dictionaries

• Welsh–English & English-Welsh Dictionary from the University of Wales, Lampeter
• Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru: University of Wales Dictionary of the Welsh Language, a historical dictionary of Welsh (with a second edition in progress, including an embryonic on-line version)

Learning the language

• BBC Learn Welsh
• A Welsh Course by Mark Nodine
• Clwb malu cachu, a website for Welsh learners
• Welsh Dictionaries and Resources All the Welsh Dictionaries, Technical Glossaries and Help on Learning Welsh
• Learn Welsh with S4C
• E-Wlpan, Swansea University
• University of Wales, Bangor - a list of Welsh class venues throughout North West Wales
• Learncymraeg.org
• Learn Welsh Podcast
• Carla Center's database of Less Commonly Taught Languages - Academic programs in the United States
• Welsh Heritage Week - "Summer camp" format in the United States
• Cwrs Cymraeg- "Summer camp" format in the United States

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic