Reload
for another greeting!
The history of the Welsh language begins in Central Europe in the 5th century
B.C., where a new tribe was taking Europe by storm - the Celts. This
tribe was a hospitable
group, placing much importance on family and friends - and widely known for their strength and valor in combat, and strong sense of culture in time of peace. Winning battle after
battle, the Celts eventually conquered most of modern Europe; occupying
lands from the Iberian peninsula in the west, to the Scottish
highlands in the north, spanning Europe to the Black Sea in the East,
and touching as far south as Central Italy. The Roman invasion (1st century A.D.) further split apart the
Celtic languages spoken in Britain, and permanently severed the tribal
bonds that once held the Celts together. Geographic separation also
provided a ripe opportunity for regional dialects of Celtic to develop
into completely different languages. The first recognizable signs of a
distinct Welsh language came between the sixth and seventh centuries,
with evidence of Welsh names in stone inscriptions of that period. The
first inscriptions fully in Welsh can be traced to the seventh century
(most prominently in a church in the town of Tywyn, Wales). From about the eighth century, the Welsh language began a distinct
literary tradition, which remains prominent and uninterrupted to this
day. This strong foundation in literature would later prove to uphold
the language in the face of strong foreign influences. Some of the
most famous examples of early Welsh literature are the Juvencus
Manuscripts (ninth century manuscripts which contains two sets of
brief poems), the Computus Fragment (tenth century prose text
manuscript), Mabinogi (a medieval Welsh legend), and the
writings of Dafydd ap Gwilym. The sixteenth century can be best characterized by an outpouring of
church texts, featuring translations of prayers and Bible passages.
Possibly the most influential text in the history of the Welsh
language is the Bishop William Morgan Bible, published in 1588
- which has served as the first true standard for the Welsh literary
language, thus making it immune from later quarrels over the
linguistic details. When Wales came under English dominion in 1536, the Welsh language,
and her speakers, came under legal discrimination - not regaining
equal status to English until late last century. During the period of
forced regression, no provisions were made for speakers of the Welsh
language; and in fact, further acts were produced which directly
discriminated against those who could not speak English (i.e., those
who could not speak English could not hold public office). However,
the Welsh language was sustained through this period due to its prominent
place in literature and the church. Starting in the mid-twentieth century, Welsh slowly began to become
more accepted within the British legal system - ending in the establishment
of Welsh Language Board (1993) dedicated to promoting the Welsh
language. Today, the Welsh language enjoys equality with English
- having equal prominence (within Wales) on street signs, in legal
documents, and in the media. According to the 1991 census, 508,098
people in Wales could speak Welsh, about 18.7% of the population.
According to the census results, the Welsh speakers are spread throughout
Wales, including areas outside those considered traditionally Welsh
speaking. It is estimated that over 10% of all Welsh speakers in
Wales live within a 25-mile radius of Cardiff.
Welsh has been a compulsory subject for all pupils in Wales at Key
Stages 1, 2 and 3 (up to age 14) since 1990. In 1999, it became
a compulsory subject at key stage 4. This means that every school
pupil will study Welsh (either as a first or second language) for
11 years, from the ages of 5 to 16. In 1997-98, over 25% of children
in Wales were attending Welsh-medium schools. Most of these were
from non-Welsh speaking homes. 51,853 children of primary school
age were receiving most of the education through the medium of Welsh,
with a further 6,535 receiving a proportion of the curriculum through
the medium of Welsh. Such measures insure a strong presence of the
Welsh language in the future.
Celtic languages
are all linguistically similar, and thus share a category within the
chart of Indo-European Languages (can be seen on main page). There are
two major divisions of Celtic languages, separated geographically:
Continental Celtic (those Celtic languages spoken in mainland Europe)
and Insular Celtic (Celtic languages located in the British Isles and
Brittany). Welsh is considered to be Insular Celtic because it is
spoken on mainland Britain. Within Insular
Celtic, there are two more divisions: Goidelic (often called "Gaelic") and Brythonic. Goidelic Gaelic is the first form of
Gaelic to appear in the British Isles and Ireland, being comprised of
Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic. Brythonic (meaning "Britain") is the group of
Celtic languages which evolved from the
Irish/Scottish Gaelic, and is mainly spoken on the west coast of Great Britain.
The Brythonic languages are Welsh, Cornish, Cumbric and Breton.
Another common means of dividing the Insular Celtic languages is by
phonetics. The Goidelic Gaelic languages (Irish and Scottish Gaelic)
frequently employ the /kw-/ sound (they became known as Q-Celtic),
whereas the Brythonic languages (Welsh, Cornish, etc...) evolved this
into a /p-/ sound (thus being called P-Celtic)
Being a
Celtic language, Welsh sentences are organized first by verb
(to loose), then by subject (Thomas), and finally by object (ten
pounds).
Similar to English, the verb is not conjugated in Gaelic. To say
"Thomas lost ten pounds", one would have to re-arrange the sentence
to read "To loose Thomas ten pounds", then proceed with
translation . The Welsh language has 29 letters in their alphabet
(whereas English has 26). Many Welsh letters are actually
comprised of what would be two letters in English. For example,
"Ch" is a separate letter altogether, and is alphabetized
after the "C's". However, in cases like "Ng",
sometimes it is a completely separate letter, and at other times it
truly means "n" followed by "g" (in which case a
period usually goes between "n" and "g" to signify
a separation of letters - "Ban.gor").
Compare
the "Our Father"
prayer in this language with this prayer in other languages (found
on every Mezzofanti language article page). Note the similarities
and/or differences in structure and syntax (vocabulary) between
other languages, especially languages within its own language "family".
[We have decided to use the "Our Father" prayer throughout this site for comparison due to the universality of this prayer throughout the world, the relative maintenance of the prayer from generation to generation, and the general consistency in form throughout varying groups and subgroups of native speakers]. For more information on this language, see the selected links below:
Welsh Learner's
Society - This homepage of the Welsh Learner's Society (CYD) gives
members many great resources on the Welsh language. Welsh
Language Board - A must for all interested in the Welsh
language. As motioned in the Welsh History article above, the Welsh
Language Board was set up in 1993 to promote the use of the Welsh
language in society, and protect the legal rights of all Welsh
speakers. Features many sections on the board itself and the Welsh
language. Gybodiadur
- A general Welsh language links pages that also catalogues Welsh
language computer software. General news and information about the
Welsh language is also featured. Welsh
Alphabet - A basic overview of the Welsh alphabet and pronunciation. Cilmeri.com
Welsh Page - An extensive listing of sites dedicated to the Welsh
language.
Welsh
Searching Lexicon - The most complete Welsh dictionary
online to date, with more than 22,190 words and several thousand more
unique phrases. Requires a browser that can recognize frames. Welsh/German
Dictionary - A simple Welsh --> German and German --> Welsh
dictionary. The main page also features some general information on
the Welsh language. Welsh/English
Meta Dictionary - By the same producers of the "Welsh
Searching Lexicon" (above) comes this unique reference piece.
This dictionary features Welsh inflected forms (not usually found in a
regular dictionary) and tips for finding the translation of a
difficult Welsh word. Welsh
Spell Checker - Again, by the producers of the "Welsh
Searching Lexicon" and the "Welsh/English Meta
Dictionary" comes this useful Welsh language spell checker. Type
in your text in Welsh, and it automatically checks your text for Welsh
spelling mistakes. MELIN
Welsh Dictionary - A simple searchable English/Welsh
dictionary.
A
Welsh Course - A beginner's course in Welsh which covers the essentials including pronunciation and grammar. Includes a lexicon and other language and cultural resources. Catchphrase
2000 - An extremely useful and fun guide to learning the Welsh
language, produced by the BBC Welsh Service. Here you can listen to
more than 20 weeks of Catchphrase 2000 radio programs, print your own
free course material, and eaves-drop on the "Lloyd" family
in Welsh. Cam
Ymlaen - If you're a fairly fluent Welsh learner or an 'A' Level Welsh
student, Cam Ymlaen (A Step Forward) is for you. Also produced by the
BBC, this course should help you build up your vocabulary, get to grips with more
complex sentence structure and introduce you to some Welsh idioms that will help you sound less like a learner and more
like a first-language Welsh speaker. (In Progress) Dyma'r Newyddion
- Also produced by the BBC, this course is a set of resources to help people who've been learning Welsh for a
couple of years to tune into the language used in news stories on radio, TV, the web and in papers. Each week
you'll be able to both read and listen to one of the nine bulletins. There's also a vocabulary-builder and a self-test
associated with each one. Good for experienced Welsh students.
Travlang's
Welsh Lessons - Here you can find more basic phrases for travel in
Wales. Del
Ati - A weekly online bulletin that features a Welsh
word-of-the-day, language lessons, and information for Welsh language
students worldwide.
BBC Wales
- The homepage of the BBC Welsh Service features news stories,
culture, society and events from Wales! From here you can listen to
popular Welsh music (new and traditional), watch the news in Welsh
(direct links below), or learn about what is happening on the popular
Welsh TV show "Pobol y Cym". BBC:
Welsh Radio - Listen to the Welsh language
being spoken in real-time with the BBC Welsh Radio. This live radio
station features culture, music and news from Wales. A recent RealPlayer
is needed to listen to the program. BBC:
Newyddion - Not content with just hearing Welsh news online, but
also want to watch the daily Welsh broadcasts? Then this site is your
answer. "Newyddion" is the daily BBC Welsh TV news program
that covers international news in about a half an hour. This program
is recorded daily at 19:30 UTC (sometimes this program begins with
several minutes of "behind the scenes", if so just advance
clip to the news). A recent RealPlayer
is needed to listen to the program. Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg
- This is a full Welsh language site with many special features,
including Welsh language news.
From the box
below, you can translate any webpage or text from or into Welsh -
instantly! For more language translators, see our translation page (http://www.mezzofanti.org/translation).
Internet Translator (tm) can translate single words, phrases, sentences and entire web pages. (Above flag courtesy of Flags of the World) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
