Welsh language

Grammar

Phonology

Consonants

Welsh has the following consonant phonemes:

Related Topics:
Consonant - Phoneme

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Vowels

The vowels {{IPA|/??/}} and {{IPA|/??/}} occur only in Northern dialects; in Southern dialects they are replaced by {{IPA|/?/}} and {{IPA|/i?/}} respectively. In Southern dialects, the contrast between long and short vowels is found in stressed syllables only; in Northern dialects, the contrast is found only in stressed word-final syllables (including monosyllabic words).

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The vowel {{IPA|/?/}} does not occur in the final syllable of words.

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The diphthongs containing {{IPA|/?/}} occur only in Northern dialects; in Southern dialects {{IPA|/??/}} is replaced by {{IPA|/?i/}}, {{IPA|/?u, ??, ??/}} are merged with {{IPA|/?u, ?i, ?i/}}, and {{IPA|/a?, ???/}} are merged with {{IPA|/ai/}}.

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Stress

Stress in polysyllabic words occurs most commonly on the penultimate syllable, more rarely on the final syllable.

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The positioning of the stress means that related words or concepts (or even plurals) can sound quite different, as syllables are added to the end of a word and the stress moves correspondingly, e.g.:

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• Ysgrif ? {{IPA|/??sgriv/}} - an article or essay
• Ysgrifen ? {{IPA|/?s?griven/}} - writing
• Ysgrifennydd ? {{IPA|/?sgri?ven?ð/}} - a secretary
• Ysgrifenyddes ? {{IPA|/?sgrive?n?ðes/}} - a female secretary

(Note also how adding a syllable to ysgrifennydd to form ysgrifenyddes changes the pronunciation of the second "y". This is because the pronunciation of "y" depends on whether or not it is in the final syllable.)

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The connection between the Welsh word ysgrif and the Latin scribo 'I write', from which it is derived, is fairly clear, taking diachronic sound shifts into account.

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Orthography

Alphabet

• h indicates voicelessness in mh, nh, and ngh.
• ph occurs occasionally in words derived from Greek (e.g. phenol) but more commonly as a result of aspirate mutation (e.g. ei phen-ôl)
• y indicates {{IPA|/?/}} in unstressed monosyllabic words (e.g. y "the", fy "my") or non-final syllables, but {{IPA|/??, ??/}} (N) or {{IPA|/?, i?/}} (S) everywhere else.
• The digraphs (letters consisting of two characters) are treated as a single letter (with the collation order as listed above), although the same combinations of characters can sometimes also arise as a juxtaposition of two separate letters. For example, the digraph ng representing {{IPA|/?/}} is alphabetised between g and h (alphabetical order llegach, lleng, lleiaf), but when ng is two letters representing {{IPA|/?g/}} it is alphabetised between nf and nh (alphabetical order danfon, dangos, danheddog).
• si indicates {{IPA|/?/}} when followed by a vowel
• di and ti sometimes indicate {{IPA|/d?/}} and {{IPA|/t?/}} respectively when followed by a vowel. Otherwise {{IPA|/d?/}} and {{IPA|/t?/}} are spelled j and ts, but only in loanwords like j?g "jug" and wats "watch".

Spelling the diphthongs

Diacritics

Welsh makes use of a number of diacritics.

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The circumflex is used to mark long vowels (although not all long vowels are marked with a circumflex). Thus â, ê, î, ô, û, ?, ? are always long, but a, e, i, o, u, w, y are not necessarily short.

Related Topics:
Circumflex - Long vowels

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The grave accent is sometimes to mark vowels that should be short, when a long vowel would normally be expected, e.g. pas {{IPA|/pa?s/}} "a cough", pàs {{IPA|/pas/}} "a pass/permit"; mwg {{IPA|/mu?g/}} "smoke", m?g {{IPA|/m?g/}} 'a mug' http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=35d8b6b4.955440%40news.portal.ca.

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The acute accent is sometimes used to mark a stressed final syllable in a polysyllabic word. Thus the words gwacáu "to empty" and dicléin "decline" have final stress. However, not all polysyllabic words with final stress are marked with the acute accent.

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The diaeresis indicates that a vowel letter is to be pronounced fully, not as a semivowel, e.g. copïo (to copy) - pronounced {{IPA|/k??pi??/}}, not *{{IPA|/?k?pj?/}}.

Related Topics:
Diaeresis - Semivowel

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Predicting vowel length from orthography

As mentioned above, vowels marked with the circumflex are always long, and those marked with the grave accent are always short. If a vowel is not marked with a diacritic, its length must be determined by its environment.

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An unmarked vowel is long:

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• in a stressed monosyllabic word when no consonant follows, e.g. da {{IPA|/d??/}} "good"
• before b, ch, d, dd, g, f, ff, s, th, e.g. mab {{IPA|/m??b/}} "son", hoff {{IPA|/ho?f/}} "favourite", peth {{IPA|/pe??/}} "thing"
• before l, n, r (in the case of i, u), e.g. sgil {{IPA|/sgi?l/}} "behind", llun {{IPA|/???n/}} "picture", hir {{IPA|/hi?r/}} "long"
• in Northern dialects, before clusters of two consonants when the first one is ll or s, e.g. gwallt {{IPA|/gw???t/}} "hair", tyst {{IPA|/t??st/}} "witness"

An unmarked vowel is short:

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• in an unstressed (proclitic) word, e.g. a {{IPA|/a/}} "and"
• before p, t, c, m, ng, e.g. cam {{IPA|/kam/}} "step", llong {{IPA|/???/}} "ship"
• before l, n, r (in the case of a, e, o, w, y), e.g. tal {{IPA|/tal/}} "tall", llen {{IPA|/??n/}} "curtain", ffwr {{IPA|/f?r/}} "fur"
• in Southern dialects, before clusters of two consonants, e.g. sant {{IPA|/sant/}} "saint", gwallt {{IPA|/gwa?t/}} "hair", tyst {{IPA|/t?st/}} "witness"
• in Northern dialects, before clusters of two consonants when the first one is n or r, e.g. sant {{IPA|/sant/}} "saint", perth {{IPA|/p?r?/}} "hedge"
• in Northern dialects, in any syllable that is not both stressed and word-final
• in Southern dialects, in any unstressed syllable

Morphology

Welsh morphology has much in common with that of the other modern Insular Celtic languages, such 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). Welsh nouns belong to one of two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, but are not inflected for case. Welsh has a variety of different endings to indicate the plural, and two endings to indicate the singular of some nouns. In spoken Welsh, verb inflection is indicated primarily by the use of auxiliary verbs, rather than by the inflection of the main verb. In literary Welsh, on the other hand, inflection of the main verb is usual.

Related Topics:
Morphology - Insular Celtic languages - Consonant mutation - Preposition - Pronoun - Object - Noun - Grammatical gender - Case - Plural - Singular - Verb - Auxiliary verb

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Other features of Welsh grammar

• Possessives as object pronouns. The Welsh for "I like Rhodri" is "Dw i'n hoffi Rhodri" ("I am liking Rhodri"), but "I like him" is "dw i'n ei hoffi fe" ? literally, "I am his liking him"; "I like you" is "dw 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), Welsh inclines very strongly towards the latter use. In the present tense, all verbs are used with the auxiliary bod (to be), so dwi'n mynd is literally I am going, but also means simply I go. In the past and future tenses, there are inflected forms of all verbs, but it is more common 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 â i or mi wna i fynd. 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.
• Affirmative markers. Mi (mainly North) and Fe (mainly South) are often placed before inflected verbs to show that they are declarative. This is mainly a colloquial formation and is not often seen in Written Welsh or more formal language.