It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially inNova Scotia). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British",[9] "Cambrian",[10] "Cambric"[11] and "Cymric".[12]
TheWelsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave the Welsh language official status in Wales.[13] Welsh and English arede jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, theSenedd,[14] with Welsh being the onlyde jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merelyde facto official.[15]
According to the2021 census, theWelsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of the population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills.[16] Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024.[17] Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount.[18] 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly.[18] Year upon year since 1951, the number of Welsh speakers in Wales has increased, though the percentage of those speakers within the population of Wales has decreased every decade apart from numbers reported via the 1991 and 2001 UK Census.
TheWelsh Government plans to increase the number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attendingWelsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased.[19] Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language byUNESCO.[20]
The language of the Welsh developed from the language ofBritons.[21] The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead, the shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the9th century, with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguistKenneth H. Jackson, theBattle of Dyrham, a military battle between theWest Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD,[22] which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh.
Four periods are identified in the history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh,[22] followed by theOld Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century.[22] TheMiddle Welsh period is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when theModern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh.
The wordWelsh is a descendant, via Old Englishwealh, wielisc, of theProto-Germanic word*Walhaz, which was derived from the name of theCeltic people known to the Romans asVolcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to the people of theWestern Roman Empire. InOld English the term went throughsemantic narrowing, coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves.[23] The plural formWēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales.[24]
Welsh evolved fromCommon Brittonic, the Celtic language spoken by the ancientCeltic Britons. Classified asInsular Celtic, the British language probably arrived inBritain during theBronze Age orIron Age and was probably spoken throughout the island south of theFirth of Forth.[27] During theEarly Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct.[22][28][29]
LinguistKenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution insyllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh".[30] This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and theHen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southernScotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor ofCumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time.[22]
The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to theCynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in theHen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed.[22] This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription inTywyn shows the language already droppinginflections in the declension of nouns.[31]
Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; inThe Welsh Language: A History, she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic:*bardos 'poet' becamebardd, and*abona 'river' becameafon.[28] Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for the creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language asLingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether.
The next main period isOld Welsh (Hen Gymraeg, 9th to 11th centuries);poetry from both Wales andScotland has been preserved in this form of the language. AsGermanic andGaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would becomeCornish, so the languages diverged. Both the works ofAneirin (Canu Aneirin,c. 600) and theBook of Taliesin (Canu Taliesin) were written during this era.
Middle Welsh (Cymraeg Canol) is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of theMabinogion, although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existingWelsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker.
Welsh Bible of 1620, inLlanwnda church, rescued from the hands of French invaders in 1797[32]
TheBible translations into Welsh helped maintain the use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. TheNew Testament was translated byWilliam Salesbury in 1567,[33] and the complete Bible byWilliam Morgan in 1588.[34] Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh.[35] Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century,[36] and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from the Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it.
During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to the decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys.[37] Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education.[38]
For Welsh speaking population figures, see§ Status.
The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh
Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population.[39] While this decline continued over the following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in2021 at 17.8 per cent.[40] By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase inWelsh-medium education.[41][42]
The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of the population of Wales spoke Welsh,[43] compared with 20.8 per cent in the2001 census, and 18.5 per cent in the1991 census. Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms.[44][40] The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in the Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent inCeredigion andCarmarthenshire for the first time.[45] However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh.[46]
TheAnnual Population Survey (APS) by theOffice for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of the population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language.[17] Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by the census.[47]
In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of the population not being able to speak it.[17]
The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability.[48]
Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh.[49] Over the course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census.[50] Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many[quantify] Welsh-speaking people 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 singlediscourse (known in linguistics ascode-switching).[51]
Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into the modern period across the border in England.Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time ofElizabeth I for theBishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and theBook of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860.[53]Alexander John Ellis in the 1880s identified a small part ofShropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing fromLlanymynech throughOswestry toChirk.[54]
The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channelS4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in the Greater London area.[55] TheWelsh Language Board, on the basis of an analysis of theOffice for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland.[56]
In the2011 census, 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?"[57] The Office for National Statistics subsequently published a census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself).[58][59] The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were theLiverpool wards ofCentral andGreenbank; and Oswestry South inShropshire.[57] The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had the highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language.
The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of theregions of England, North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language.[60] According to the2021 census, 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language".[61]
In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home.[62]
In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in the2016 Australian census, 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh.[64]
Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political partyPlaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of theWelsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise ofWelsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has the highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered byUNESCO.
TheWelsh Language Act 1993 and theGovernment of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval a Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunctWelsh Language Board (Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg). 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 to 1997, by way ofstatutory instrument. Subsequent to the forming of theNational 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. Neither the 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh.[72][73]
On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales.[74][75] On 9 February 2011 this measure, theWelsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure:
confirmed the official status of the Welsh language
created a new system of placing duties on bodies to provide services through the medium of Welsh
created a Welsh Language Commissioner with strong enforcement powers to protect the rights of Welsh-speaking people to access services through the medium of Welsh
established a Welsh Language Tribunal
gave individuals and bodies the right to appeal decisions made in relation to the provision of services through the medium of Welsh
created a Welsh Language Partnership Council to advise Government on its strategy in relation to the Welsh language
allowed for an official investigation by the Welsh Language Commissioner of instances where there is an attempt to interfere with the freedom of Welsh-speaking people to use the language with one another[76]
The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time,Alun Ffred Jones, said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through the Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for the language, its speakers and for the nation."[76] The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to the people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward."[77]
On 5 October 2011,Meri Huws, Chair of theWelsh Language Board, was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner.[78] She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to the "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with theWelsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First MinisterCarwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for the Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment:Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer the required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012.
Local councils and theSenedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees.
Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English.[79] Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first.[80] There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered ahate crime.[81][82]
Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language.[83]
Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However, a Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording isPleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau". Banknotes used in Wales are in English only, as these are issued by theBank of England for both England and Wales.
Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions.
The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channelS4C in November 1982, which untildigital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows[85] during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital stationS4C Digidol is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010,S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by theBBC in Welsh is available for download.[86] There is also a Welsh-language radio station,BBC Radio Cymru, which was launched in 1977.[87]
The only Welsh-language national newspaperY Cymro (The Welshman) was published weekly until 2017, and monthly thereafter, following a change in ownership. There is no daily newspaper in Welsh. A daily newspaper calledY Byd (The World) was scheduled to be launched on 3 March 2008, but was scrapped, owing to insufficient sales of subscriptions and theWelsh Government offering only one third of the £600,000 public funding it needed.[88] There is a Welsh-language online news service which publishes news stories in Welsh calledGolwg360 ('360 [degree] view').
As of March 2021, there were 58 local Welsh language community newspapers, known asPapurau Bro, in circulation.[89]
The decade around 1840 was a period of great social upheaval in Wales, manifested in theChartist movement. In 1839, 20,000 people marched onNewport, resulting in a riot when 20 people were killed by soldiers defending the Westgate Hotel, and theRebecca Riots wheretollbooths onturnpikes were systematically destroyed.
This unrest brought the state of education in Wales to the attention of the British government since 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.
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 allAnglicans and thus presumed unsympathetic to thenonconformist majority in Wales. The Commissioners presentedtheir report to the Government on 1 July 1847 in three large blue-bound volumes. This report quickly became known in Wales as theBrad y Llyfrau Gleision (Treason of the Blue Books) since,[90] apart from documenting the state of education in Wales, the Commissioners were also free with their comments disparaging the language,nonconformity, and the morals of the Welsh people in general. An immediate effect of the report was that ordinary Welsh people began to believe that the only way 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 ProfessorKenneth O. Morgan referred to the significance of the report and its consequences as "theGlencoe and theAmritsar of Welsh history".[91]
In the later 19th century, the teaching of English in Welsh schools was generally supported by the Welsh public and parents who saw it as the language of economic advancement.[92]: 453, 457 Virtually all teaching in the schools of Wales was in English, even in areas where the pupils barely understood English. Some schools used theWelsh Not, a piece of wood, often bearing the letters "WN", which was hung around the neck of any pupil caught speaking Welsh. The pupil could pass it on to any schoolmate heard speaking Welsh, with the pupil wearing it at the end of the day being punished. One of the most famous Welsh-born pioneers of higher education in Wales wasSir Hugh Owen. He made great progress in the cause of education, and more especially theUniversity College of Wales atAberystwyth, of which he was chief founder. He has been credited[by whom?] with theWelsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict c 40), following which several new Welsh schools were built. The first was completed in 1894 and namedYsgol Syr Hugh Owen.
Towards the beginning of the 20th century this policy slowly began to change, partly owing to the efforts ofO.M. Edwards when he became chief inspector of schools for Wales in 1907.
A Welsh Government video of an English medium school inWales, where introducing the Welsh language has boosted the exam results
TheYsgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth ('Aberystwyth Welsh School') was founded in 1939 bySir Ifan ap Owen Edwards, the son of O.M. Edwards, as the first Welsh Primary School.[93] The headteacher wasNorah Isaac.Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth is still a very successful school, and now there are Welsh-language primary schools all over the country.Ysgol Glan Clwyd was established inRhyl in 1956 as the first Welsh-medium secondary school.[94]
Sign promoting the learning of Welsh
Welsh is now widely used in education, with 101,345 children and young people in Wales receiving their education in Welsh medium schools in 2014/15, 65,460 in primary and 35,885 in secondary.[95] 26 per cent of all schools in Wales are defined as Welsh medium schools, with a further 7.3 per cent offering some Welsh-medium instruction to pupils.[96] 22 per cent of pupils are in schools in which Welsh is the primary language of instruction. Under theNational Curriculum, it is compulsory that all students study Welsh up to the age of 16 as either a first or a second language.[97] Some students choose to continue with their studies through the medium of Welsh for the completion of their A-levels as well as during their college years. Alllocal education authorities in Wales have schools providing bilingual or Welsh-medium education.[98] The remainder study Welsh as a second language in English-medium schools. Specialist teachers of Welsh calledAthrawon Bro support the teaching of Welsh in the National Curriculum. Welsh is also taught in adult education classes. The Welsh Government has recently set up six centres of excellence in the teaching of Welsh for Adults, with centres in North Wales,[99] Mid Wales, South West, Glamorgan, Gwent, and Cardiff.
The ability to speak Welsh or to have Welsh as a qualification is desirable for certain career choices in Wales, such as teaching or customer service.[100] All universities in Wales teach courses in the language, with many undergraduate and post-graduate degree programmes offered in the medium of Welsh, ranging from law, modern languages, social sciences, and also other sciences such as biological sciences. Aberystwyth,Cardiff, Bangor, and Swansea have all had chairs in Welsh since their virtual establishment, and all their schools of Welsh are successful centres for the study of the Welsh language and its literature, offering aBA in Welsh as well as post-graduate courses. At all Welsh universities and theOpen University, students have the right to submit assessed work and sit exams in Welsh even if the course was taught in English (usually the only exception is where the course requires demonstrating proficiency in another language). Following a commitment made in theOne Wales coalition government between Labour and Plaid Cymru, theColeg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Welsh Language National College) was established. The purpose of the federal structured college, spread out between all the universities of Wales, is to provide and also advance Welsh medium courses and Welsh medium scholarship and research in Welsh universities. There is also a Welsh-medium academic journal calledGwerddon ('Oasis'),[101] which is a platform for academic research in Welsh and is published quarterly. There have been calls for more teaching of Welsh in English-medium schools.
When conducting applicants' professional reviews forChartered Engineer status, theInstitution of Engineering and Technology accepts applications in Welsh and will conduct face-to-face interviews in Welsh if requested to do so. One of the requirements for Chartered Engineer is also to be able to communicate effectively in English.
In 2006 theWelsh Language Board launched a free software pack which enabled the use ofSMS predictive text in Welsh.[104] At theNational Eisteddfod of Wales 2009, a further announcement was made by the Welsh Language Board that the mobile phone companySamsung was to work with the network providerOrange to provide the first mobile phone in the Welsh language,[105] with the interface and the T9 dictionary on the Samsung S5600 available in the Welsh language. The model, available with the Welsh language interface, has been available since 1 September 2009, with plans to introduce it on other networks.[106]
OnAndroid devices, both the built-inGoogle Keyboard and user-created keyboards can be used.[107]iOS devices have fully supported the Welsh language since the release of iOS 8 in September 2014. Users can switch their device to Welsh to access apps that are available in Welsh. Date and time on iOS is also localised, as shown by the built-in Calendar application, as well as certain third-party apps that have been localised.[108][109]
In 2017, parliamentary rules were amended to allow the use of Welsh when theWelsh Grand Committee meets atWestminster. The change did not alter the rules about debates within the House of Commons, where only English can be used.[111]
In February 2018, Welsh was first used when the Welsh Secretary,Alun Cairns, delivered his welcoming speech at a sitting of the committee. He said, "I am proud to be using the language I grew up speaking, which is not only important to me, my family and the communities Welsh MPs represent, but is also an integral part of Welsh history and culture".[112][113][114]
In November 2008, the Welsh language was used at a meeting of the European Union'sCouncil of Ministers for the first time. The Heritage MinisterAlun Ffred Jones addressed his audience in Welsh and his words were interpreted into the EU's 23 official languages. The official use of the language followed years of campaigning. Jones said "In the UK we have one of the world's major languages, English, as the mother tongue of many. But there is a diversity of languages within our islands. I am proud to be speaking to you in one of the oldest of these, Welsh, the language of Wales." He described the breakthrough as "more than [merely] symbolic" saying "Welsh might be one of the oldest languages to be used in the UK, but it remains one of the most vibrant. Our literature, our arts, our festivals, our great tradition of song all find expression through our language. And this is a powerful demonstration of how our culture, the very essence of who we are, is expressed through language."[115]
Jill Evans MEP used Welsh in a number of speeches in the European Parliament. In 2004, her using Welsh was the first use of the language in the European Parliament.[116] The last time Welsh was spoken in the European Parliament was during Evans' last speech shortly beforeBrexit.[117]
A greeting in Welsh is one of the55 languages included on theVoyager Golden Record chosen to be representative of Earth in NASA'sVoyager programme launched in 1977.[118] The greetings are unique to each language, with the Welsh greeting beingIechyd da i chwi yn awr ac yn oesoedd, which translates into English as "Good health to you now and forever".[119][120]
Welsh supplements its core Brittonic vocabulary (words such aswy "egg",carreg "stone") with hundreds of wordlemmas borrowedfrom Latin,[121] such as (ffenestr 'window' < Latinfenestra,gwin 'wine' < Latinvinum). It also borrows words fromEnglish, such as (silff 'shelf',giât 'gate').
Welsh is written in aLatin alphabet of 29letters, of which eight aredigraphs treated as single letters forcollation, for examplefy comes beforeffrwyth in the dictionary:
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
In contrast to English practice,⟨w⟩ and⟨y⟩ are considered vowel letters in Welsh along with⟨a, e, i, o, u⟩.
⟨j⟩ was not used traditionally, but is now used in many everyday words borrowed from English, likejam ('jam'),jôc ('joke') andgarej ('garage').⟨k, q, v, x, z⟩ are used in some technical terms, likekilogram,volt andzero, but in all cases can be, and often are, replaced by Welsh letters (same pronunciation):cilogram,folt andsero.[122]⟨k⟩ was in common use until the 16th century, but was dropped at the time of the publication of the New Testament in Welsh, asWilliam Salesbury explained: "⟨c⟩ for⟨k⟩, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth". This change was not popular at the time.[123]
The most commondiacritic is thecircumflex (calledto bach in Welsh, lit. 'little roof'),[124] which usually disambiguateslong vowels, most often in the case ofhomographs, where the vowel is short in one word and long in the other: e.g.man ('place') vsmân ('fine, small').
Colloquial Welsh inclines very strongly towards the use of auxiliaries with its verbs, as in English. The present tense is constructed withbod ('to be') as anauxiliary verb, with the main verb appearing as averbnoun (used in a way loosely equivalent to an infinitive) after the particleyn:
Mae Siân yn mynd i Lanelli
Siân is going to Llanelli.
There,mae is a third-person singular present indicative form ofbod, andmynd is the verb-noun meaning "to go". Theimperfect is constructed in a similar manner, as are theperiphrastic forms of thefuture andconditional tenses.
In thepreterite, future and conditional mood tenses, there areinflected forms of all verbs, which are used in the written language. However, speech now more commonly uses the verbnoun together with an inflected form ofgwneud ('do'), so "I went" can beMi es i orMi wnes i fynd ('I did go').Mi is an example of a preverbal particle; such particles are common in Welsh, though less so in the spoken language.
Welsh lacks separate pronouns for constructing subordinate clauses; instead, special verb forms or relative pronouns that appear identical to some preverbal particles are used.
The Welsh for "I like Rhodri" isDw i'n hoffi Rhodri (word for word, "am I [the] liking [of] Rhodri"), withRhodri in a possessive relationship withhoffi. With personal pronouns, the possessive form of the personal pronoun is used, as in "I likehim": [Dw i'nei hoffi], literally, "am Ihis liking" – "I likeyou" is [Dw i'ndy hoffi] ('am Iyour liking'). Very informally, the pronouns are often heard in their normal subject/object form and aping English word order:Dw i'n hoffi ti ('Am I liking you').
In colloquial Welsh, possessive pronouns, whether they are used to mean "my", "your", etc. or to indicate the direct object of a verbnoun, are commonly reinforced by the use of the corresponding personal pronoun after the noun or verbnoun:ei dŷe "his house" (literally "his houseof him"),Dw i'n dy hoffidi "I like you" ('I am [engaged in the action of] your likingof you'), etc. The "reinforcement" (or, simply, "redoubling") adds no emphasis in the colloquial register. While the possessive pronoun alone may be used, especially in more formal registers, as shown above, it is considered incorrect to use only the personal pronoun. Such usage is nevertheless sometimes heard in very colloquial speech, mainly among young speakers:Ble 'dyn ni'n mynd? Tŷ ti neu dŷ fi? ('Where are we going? Your house or my house?').
Welsh is a moderately inflecting language. Verbs inflect at least for person, number and mood, while nouns inflect for number and there is a masculine-feminine distinction, of which the latter is marked via consonant mutation.
Colloquial and literary grammar show more differences than in English.
The traditional counting system used in the Welsh language isvigesimal, i.e. it is based on twenties. Welsh numbers from 11 to 14 are "x on ten" (e.g.un ar ddeg: 11), 16 to 19 are "x on fifteen" (e.g.un ar bymtheg: 16), though 18 isdeunaw, "two nines"; numbers from 21 to 39 are "1–19 on twenty"(e.g.deg ar hugain: 30), 40 isdeugain "two twenties", 60 istrigain "three twenties", etc. This form continues to be used, especially by older people, and it is obligatory in certain circumstances (such as telling the time, and in ordinal numbers).[125]
There is also a decimal counting system, which has become relatively widely used, though less so in giving the time, ages, and dates (it features no ordinal numbers). This system originated in Patagonian Welsh and was subsequently introduced to Wales in the 1940s.[126] Whereas 39 in the vigesimal system ispedwar ar bymtheg ar hugain ('four on fifteen on twenty') or evendeugain namyn un ('two twenty minus one'), in the decimal system it istri deg naw ('three tens nine').
Although there is only one word for "one" (un), it triggers thesoft mutation (treiglad meddal) of feminine nouns, where possible, other than those beginning with "ll" or "rh". There are separate masculine and feminine forms of the numbers 'two' (dau anddwy), 'three' (tri andtair) and 'four' (pedwar andpedair), which mustagree with thegrammatical gender of the objects being counted. The objects being counted appear in the singular, not plural form.
The differences between the dialects of modern colloquial Welsh are insignificant in comparison with the difference between the spoken and standard language. The latter is much more formal and is, among other things, the language of the Welsh translations of the Bible (but theBeibl Cymraeg Newydd – "New Welsh Bible" – is much less formal in language than the traditional 1588 Bible). Among the characteristics of the literary language, in comparison with the spoken language, are more frequent use of conjugated verb forms, a change in the use of certain tenses (for example, the literary imperfect in modern language has the meaning of thesubjunctive mood), a reduction in the frequency of the use of pronouns (since the information they convey is usually conveyed by forms of inflected verbs and prepositions) and a more pronounced tendency to replace English borrowings with native Welsh words.[127]
For example: consider the question "Do you want a cuppa[a cup of tea]?" In Gwynedd this would typically beDach chi isio paned? while in the south of Dyfed one would be more likely to hearYch chi'n moyn dishgled? (though in other parts of the South one would not be surprised to hearYch chi isie paned? as well, among other possibilities). An example of a pronunciation difference is the tendency in some southern dialects to palatalise the letter "s", e.g.mis (Welsh for 'month'), usually pronouncedIPA:[miːs], but asIPA:[miːʃ] in parts of the south. This normally occurs next to a high frontvowel like /i/, although exceptions include the pronunciation ofsut "how" asIPA:[ʃʊd] in the southern dialects (compared with northernIPA:[sɨt]).
Although modern understanding often splits Welsh into northern (Gogledd) and southern (De) 'dialects', the traditional classification of four Welsh dialects remains the most academically useful:
A fifth dialect isPatagonian Welsh, which has developed since the start ofY Wladfa (the Welsh settlement in Argentina) in 1865; it includes Spanishloanwords and terms for local features, but a survey in the 1970s showed that the language inPatagonia is consistent throughout the lowerChubut Valley and in the Andes.
Subdialects exist within the main dialects (such as theCofi dialect). The 1989 bookCymraeg, Cymrâg, Cymrêg: Cyflwyno'r Tafodieithoedd (Welsh for 'Welsh, Welsh, Welsh: Introducing the Dialects')[129] was accompanied by a cassette containing recordings of 14 different speakers demonstrating aspects of different regional dialects. The book also refers to the earlierLinguistic Geography of Wales (1973)[130] as describing six different regions which could be identified as having words specific to those regions.
In the 1970s, there was an attempt to standardise the Welsh language by teachingCymraeg Byw ('Living Welsh') – a colloquially-based generic form of Welsh,[131] but the attempt largely failed because it did not encompass the regional differences used by Welsh-speakers.
Modern Welsh can be considered to fall broadly into two mainregisters—Colloquial Welsh (Cymraeg llafar) and Literary Welsh (Cymraeg llenyddol). Colloquial Welsh is used in most speech and informal writing. Literary Welsh is closer to the form of Welsh standardised by the 1588 translation of the Bible and is found in official documents and other formal registers, including much literature. As a standardised form, literary Welsh shows little if any of the dialectal variation found in colloquial Welsh. Some differences include:
No distinction between simple present and future (e.g.af 'I go' and 'I shall go')
Simple form most often expresses only future (e.g.af i 'I'll go')
Subjunctive verb forms
Subjunctive in fixed idioms only
3rd.pl ending and pronoun-nt hwy
3rd.pl ending and pronoun-n nhw
Amongst the characteristics of the literary, as against the spoken language are a higher dependence on inflected verb forms, different usage of some of the tenses, less frequent use of pronouns (since the information is usually conveyed in the verb/preposition inflections) and a much lesser tendency to substitute English loanwords for native Welsh words. In addition, more archaic pronouns and forms of mutation may be observed in Literary Welsh.
Examples of sentences in literary and colloquial Welsh
Doedd o ddim wedi sefyll yno'n hir. (North) (D)ôdd e ddim wedi sefyll yna'n hir. (South)
They'll sleep only when there's a need.
Ni chysgant ond pan fo angen.
Fyddan nhw'n cysgu ddim ond pan fydd angen.
The differences between dialects of modern spoken Welsh pale into insignificance compared to the difference between some forms of the spoken language and the most formal constructions of the literary language. The latter is considerably more conservative and is the language used inWelsh translations of theBible, amongst other things – although the 2004Beibl Cymraeg Newydd (Welsh for 'New Welsh Bible') is significantly less formal than the traditional 1588 Bible. Gareth King, author of a popular Welsh grammar, observes, "The difference between these two is much greater than between the virtually identical colloquial and literary forms of English."[133] A grammar of Literary Welsh can be found inA Grammar of Welsh by Stephen J. Williams[134] or more completely inGramadeg y Gymraeg by Peter Wynn Thomas.[135] (No comprehensive grammar of formal literary Welsh exists in English.) An English-language guide to colloquial Welsh forms and register and dialect differences isDweud Eich Dweud by Ceri Jones.[136]
Genir pawb yn rhydd ac yn gydradd â'i gilydd mewn urddas a hawliau. Fe'u cynysgaeddir â rheswm a chydwybod, a dylai pawb ymddwyn y naill at y llall mewn ysbryd cymodlon.[137]
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[138]
^"Wales and Patagonia".Wales.com – The official gateway to Wales.Welsh Government. Archived fromthe original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved22 May 2016.Today the province of Chubut, where most Welsh immigrants settled, has a population of 550,000 people. Of these, some 50,000 can claim Welsh ancestry and 5,000 speak the Welsh language.
^E.g. in theAct of Uniformity 1662 (13–14 Chas. II, c. 55) §27: "That the Book [of Common Prayer] hereunto annexed be truly and exactly translated into the British or Welsh tongue."
^Dunbar, R (2007).Diversity in addressing diversity: Canadian and British legislative approaches to linguistic minorities and their international legal context. In: Williams C (ed)Language and Governance. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 104.
^"Welsh (adj.)".Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved18 November 2019.As a noun, "the Britons," also "the Welsh language," both from Old English. The word survives in Wales, Cornwall, Walloon, walnut, and in surnames Walsh and Wallace.
^Green, David W.; Wei, Li (November 2016). "Code-switching and language control".Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.19 (5):883–884.doi:10.1017/S1366728916000018.
^"'Historic' vote for language law".BBC News. 7 December 2010. Retrieved10 September 2018.A new law to promote the Welsh language has been unanimously passed by the Welsh Assembly. The measure makes Welsh an official language in Wales, and obliges public bodies and some private companies to provide services in it. A language commissioner will be appointed to enforce the measure and to protect the Welsh speakers' rights. Ministers hailed the vote as a "historic step forward for the Welsh language."
^"Language board chief Meri Huws is Welsh commissioner".BBC News. 5 October 2011. Retrieved10 September 2018.The chairwoman of the Welsh Language Board has been appointed the first Welsh language commissioner. Meri Huws will act as a champion for the Welsh language, says First Minister Carwyn Jones.
^"'Treacherous' Blue Books online".BBC News. 23 December 2005. Retrieved21 January 2017.A 19th Century report that became controversial for condemning the Welsh language has been published online by the National Library of Wales. The government report about Welsh education in 1847 was dubbed the Treachery of the Blue Books (Brad y Llyfrau Gleision).
^"Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth celebrates 75th anniversary".BBC News. 25 September 2014. Retrieved3 October 2016.Former pupils and teachers of Wales' first Welsh-medium school will gather to celebrate its 75th anniversary.Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth was opened in September 1939 by Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards, who feared children's spoken Welsh was being tarnished by the English language.
^"Welcome".Ysgol Glan Clwyd. Archived fromthe original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved3 October 2016.The school was established in 1956 and was the first Welsh-medium secondary school in Wales. It was originally located in Rhyl.
^"The Welsh language".Citizens Advice. Archived fromthe original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved27 February 2014.Welsh is a subject in the national curriculum and is compulsory at all state schools in Wales, for pupils up to the age of 16. In English-medium schools, it is taught as a second language, and in Welsh-medium schools, as the first language.
J.W. Aitchison; H. Carter (2000).Language, Economy and Society. The changing fortunes of the Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century. Cardiff. University of Wales Press.
J.W. Aitchison; H. Carter (2004).Spreading the Word. The Welsh Language 2001. Y Lolfa.
Bell, Elise; Archangeli, Diana B.; Anderson, Skye J.; Hammond, Michael; Webb-Davies, Peredur; Brooks, Heddwen (2021). "Northern Welsh". Illustrations of the IPA.Journal of the International Phonetic Association:1–24.doi:10.1017/S0025100321000165, with supplementary sound recordings.
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