pronounced as /notice/Welsh orthography uses 29 letters (including eight digraphs) of the Latin script to write native Welsh words as well as established loanwords.[1] [2]
| Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Titlecase forms | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |
| Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |
Welsh orthography makes use of multiple diacritics, which are primarily used on vowels, namely the acute accent (Welsh: acen ddyrchafedig), the grave accent (Welsh: acen ddisgynedig), the circumflex (Welsh: acen grom, Welsh: to bach, or Welsh: hirnod) and the diaeresis (Welsh: didolnod). They are considered variants of their base letter, i.e. they are not alphabetised separately.
The letter has only recently been accepted into Welsh orthography: for use in words borrowed from English which retain the pronounced as //dʒ// sound, even when it originally was not represented by in English orthography, as in Welsh: garej ("garage") and Welsh: ffrij ("fridge"). Older borrowings of English words containing pronounced as //dʒ// resulted in the sound being pronounced and spelled in various other ways, resulting in occasional doublets such as Welsh: Siapan and Welsh: Japan ("Japan").
The letters are sometimes used in technical terms, like kilogram, volt and zero, but in all cases can be, and often are, nativised: Welsh: cilogram, Welsh: folt and Welsh: sero.[3]
The earliest samples of written Welsh date from the 6th century and are in the Latin alphabet (see Old Welsh). The orthography differs from that of modern Welsh, particularly in the use of to represent the voiced plosives pronounced as //b, d, ɡ// non initially. Similarly, the voiced fricatives pronounced as //v, ð// were written .[4]
By the Middle Welsh period, this had given way to quite a bit of variability: Although were now used to represent pronounced as //b, d, ɡ//, these sounds were also often written as in Old Welsh, while pronounced as //v// could be denoted by . In earlier manuscripts, moreover, fricatives were often not distinguished from plosives (e.g. for pronounced as //θ//, now written).[5] The grapheme was also used, unlike in the modern alphabet, particularly before front vowels. The disuse of this letter is at least partly due to the publication of William Salesbury's Welsh New Testament and William Morgan's Welsh Bible, whose English printers, with type letter frequencies set for English and Latin, did not have enough letters in their type cases to spell every pronounced as //k// as, so the order went "C for K, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth";[6] this was not liked at the time, but has become standard usage.
In this period, (capital) was also used interchangeably with, such as the passage in the 1567 New Testament: Welsh: A Dyw y sych ymaith yr oll '''ð'''eigre o'''dd'''iwrth y llygeid, which contains both and . Elsewhere, the same word is spelt in different ways, e.g. Welsh: newy'''dd''' and Welsh: newy'''ð'''.[7]
The printer and publisher Lewis Jones, one of the co-founders of Welsh: [[Y Wladfa]], the Welsh-speaking settlement in Patagonia, favoured a limited spelling reform which replaced Welsh pronounced as //v// and pronounced as //f// with and, and from circa 1866 to 1886 Jones employed this innovation in a number of newspapers and periodicals he published and/or edited in the colony. However, the only real relic of this practice today is the Patagonian placename Trevelin ("mill town"), which in standard Welsh orthography would be Welsh: Trefelin.
In 1928, a committee chaired by Sir John Morris-Jones standardised the orthography of modern Welsh.
In 1987, a committee chaired by Professor Stephen J. Williams made further small changes, introducing . Not all modern writers adhere to the conventions established by these committees.[8]
"N" and "S" indicate variants specific to the northern and southern dialects of Welsh. Throughout Wales an alternative system is also in use in which all consonant letters are named using the corresponding consonant sound plus a schwa (e.g. Welsh: cy pronounced as //kə// for Welsh: èc). In this system the vowels are named as below.
| Letter | Name | Corresponding sounds | English approximation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | Welsh: a | pronounced as //a, ɑː, a:// | cat (short) / father (long) | |
| b | Welsh: bi | pronounced as //b// | bat | |
| c | Welsh: èc | pronounced as //k// | case | |
| ch | Welsh: èch | pronounced as //χ// | No English equivalent; similar to loch in Scottish, but pronounced further back. | |
| d[9] | Welsh: di | pronounced as //d// | day | |
| dd | Welsh: èdd | pronounced as //ð// | these | |
| e | Welsh: e | pronounced as //ɛ, eː// | bed (short) / closest to hey (long) | |
| f | Welsh: èf | pronounced as //v// | of | |
| ff | Welsh: èff | pronounced as //f// | four | |
| g | Welsh: èg | pronounced as //ɡ// | gate | |
| ng | Welsh: èng | pronounced as //ŋ// | thing | |
| h[10] | Welsh: aets | pronounced as //h// | hat | |
| i | Welsh: i, Welsh: i dot (S) | pronounced as //ɪ, iː, j// | bit (short) / machine (long) / yes (as consonant; before vowels) | |
| j | Welsh: je | pronounced as //d͡ʒ// | jump (only found in loanwords, usually from English but still in wide use such as Welsh: '''j'''eli ('jelly', pronounced as /cy/) and Welsh: '''j'''îns ('jeans', pronounced as /cy/) | |
| l | Welsh: èl | pronounced as //l// | lad | |
| ll | Welsh: èll | pronounced as //ɬ// | not present in English; a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. A bit like what the consonant cluster "hl" would sound like. | |
| m | Welsh: èm | pronounced as //m// | mat | |
| n | Welsh: èn | pronounced as //n// | net | |
| o | Welsh: o | pronounced as //ɔ, oː// | Short, like "bog" in RP; long like dawn in RP or stove in Scottish English | |
| p | Welsh: pi | pronounced as //p// | pet | |
| ph | Welsh: ffi | pronounced as //f// | phone | |
| r | Welsh: èr | pronounced as //r// | Rolled R | |
| rh | Welsh: rhi | pronounced as //r̥// | Voiceless rolled R | |
| s | Welsh: ès | pronounced as //s// | sat | |
| t | Welsh: ti | pronounced as //t// | stick | |
| th | Welsh: èth | pronounced as //θ// | thin | |
| u | Welsh: u (N), Welsh: u bedol (S) | pronounced as //ɨ̞, ɨː// (N),[11] pronounced as //ɪ, iː// (S) | for Southern variants: bit (short) / machine (long); in Northern dialects pronounced as //ɨ̞, ɨː// not found in English. Identical to "î" and "â" in Romanian, and similar to the "e" in English roses. | |
| w | Welsh: w | pronounced as //ʊ, uː, w// | push (short) / pool (long) / wet (as consonant) | |
| y[12] | Welsh: ỳ | pronounced as //ɨ̞, ɨː, ə// (N), pronounced as //ɪ, iː, ə, əː// (S) | for Southern variants: bit (final syllable, short) / machine (final syllable, long) above (other places, short) / roses pronounced as //ɨ̞, ɨː//, found in certain dialects of English that differentiate "Rosa's" and "roses", for example, General American. |
| Orthography | Northern dialects | Southern dialects | English (approximation only) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ae | pronounced as //ɑːɨ̯//, pronounced as //eːɨ̯// | pronounced as //ai̯//, pronounced as //ɛi̯// | eye, may | |
| ai | pronounced as //ai̯// | pronounced as //ai̯// | eye | |
| au | pronounced as //aɨ̯//, pronounced as //a// | pronounced as //ai̯//, pronounced as //ɛ// | eye. Realised as bet (south) and cat (north) in plural endings. | |
| aw | pronounced as //au̯, ɑːu̯// | pronounced as //au̯// | how | |
| ei | pronounced as //ɛi̯// | pronounced as //ɛi̯// | As in eight | |
| eu | pronounced as //əɨ̯// | pronounced as //əi̯// | As in height | |
| ew | pronounced as //ɛu̯, eːu̯// | pronounced as //ɛu̯// | Roughly like Edward with the d removed: E'ward, or Cockney pronunciation of -ell in words like well, hell. | |
| ey | pronounced as //e.ɨ̯// | pronounced as //e.ɪ// | Two distinct vowels. | |
| iw | pronounced as //ɪu̯// | pronounced as //ɪu̯// | not usually present in English except in the interjection Ew!; closest to 'i-oo' (short i). A small number of English dialects have this sound in words that have "ew" or "ue". Such words, in the majority of English dialects that distinguish ew/ue and oo, would usually have pronounced as //juː// instead. See the Phonological history of English consonant clusters article for more information. | |
| oe | pronounced as //ɔɨ̯, ɔːɨ̯// | pronounced as //ɔi̯// | boy | |
| oi | pronounced as //ɔi̯// | pronounced as //ɔi̯// | boy | |
| ou | pronounced as //ɔɨ̯, ɔːɨ̯// | pronounced as //ɔi̯// | boy | |
| ow | pronounced as //ɔu̯// | pronounced as //ɔu̯// | goal | |
| uw | pronounced as //ɨu̯// | pronounced as //ɪu̯// | not present in English; closest to 'i-oo' (short i) | |
| wy | pronounced as //ʊ̯ɨ, u̯ɨ// | pronounced as //ʊ̯i// | not present in English; closest to gooey | |
| yw | pronounced as //ɨu̯, əu̯// | pronounced as //ɪu̯, əu̯// | pronounced as //ɪu̯// not present in English; closest to 'i-oo' (short i) pronounced as //əu// like "goat" in Received Pronunciation or like "house" in Canadian English |
Welsh makes use of a number of diacritics.
The circumflex (ˆ) is mostly used to mark long vowels, so â, ê, î, ô, û, ŵ, ŷ are always long. However, not all long vowels are marked with a circumflex, so the letters a, e, i, o, u, w, y with no circumflex do not necessarily represent short vowels; see .
The grave accent (`) is sometimes used, usually in words borrowed from another language, to mark vowels that are short when a long vowel would normally be expected, e.g. Welsh: pas pronounced as //paːs// (a cough), Welsh: pàs pronounced as //pas// (a pass/permit or a lift in a car); Welsh: mwg pronounced as //muːɡ// (smoke), Welsh: mẁg pronounced as //mʊɡ// (a mug).
The acute accent (´) is sometimes used to mark a stressed final syllable in a polysyllabic word. Thus the words Welsh: gwacáu (to empty) and Welsh: dicléin (decline) have final stress. However, not all polysyllabic words with final stress are marked with the acute accent (Welsh: Cymraeg "Welsh" and Welsh: ymlaen "forward/onward", for example, are written with none). The acute may also be used to indicate that a letter w represents a vowel where a glide might otherwise be expected, e.g. Welsh: gẃraidd pronounced as //ˈɡʊ.raið// (two syllables) "manly", as opposed to Welsh: gwraidd pronounced as //ˈɡwraið// (one syllable) "root".
Similarly, the diaeresis (¨) is used to indicate that two adjoining vowels are to be pronounced separately (not as a diphthong). However, it is also used to show that the letter i is used to represent the cluster pronounced as //ij// which is always followed by another vowel, e.g. Welsh: copïo (to copy) pronounced pronounced as //kɔ.ˈpi.jɔ//, not pronounced as /
The grave and acute accents in particular are very often omitted in casual writing, and the same is true to a lesser extent of the diaeresis. The circumflex, however, is usually included. Accented vowels are not considered distinct letters for the purpose of collation.
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; the rules vary a bit according to dialect.[13] [14]
In all dialects, only stressed vowels may be long; unstressed vowels are always short.
An unmarked (stressed) vowel is long:
An unmarked vowel is short:
The vowel y, when it is pronounced pronounced as //ə//, is always short even when it appears in an environment where other vowels would be long: Welsh: cyfan (whole) pronounced as //ˈkəvan//. When pronounced as a close or near-close vowel (pronounced as //ɨ// or pronounced as //ɨ̞// in the North, pronounced as //i// or pronounced as //ɪ// in the South), y follows the same rules as other vowels: Welsh: dydd (day) pronounced as //ˈdɨːð// (North) ~ pronounced as //ˈdiːð// (South), Welsh: gwynt (wind) pronounced as //ˈɡwɨ̞nt// (North) ~ pronounced as //ˈɡwɪnt// (South).
Before l, m, n, and r, unmarked vowels are long in some words and short in others:
| vowel | long | short | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | Welsh: gwin | (wine) | Welsh: prin | (scarcely) | |||||
| e | Welsh: hen | (old) | Welsh: pen | (head) | |||||
| y | Welsh: dyn | (man) | Welsh: gwyn | (white) | |||||
| w | Welsh: stwmo | (bank up a fire) | Welsh: amal | (often) | |||||
| e | Welsh: celyn | (holly) | Welsh: calon | (heart) |
(The last four examples are given in South Welsh pronunciation only since vowels in nonfinal syllables are always short in North Welsh.)
Before nn and rr, vowels are always short: Welsh: onn pronounced as //ˈɔn// (ash trees), Welsh: ennill pronounced as //ˈɛnɪɬ// (to win), Welsh: carreg pronounced as //ˈkarɛɡ// (stone).
In Northern dialects, long vowels are stressed and appear in the final syllable of the word. Vowels in non-final syllables are always short. In addition to the rules above, a vowel is long in the North before a consonant cluster beginning with s: Welsh: tyst pronounced as //tɨːst// (witness). Before ll, a vowel is short when no consonant follows the ll: Welsh: gwell (better) pronounced as //ɡwɛɬ// It is long when another consonant does follow the ll: Welsh: gwallt pronounced as //ɡwɑːɬt// (hair).
In Southern dialects, long vowels may appear in a stressed penultimate syllable as well as in a stressed word-final syllable. Before ll, a stressed vowel in the last syllable can be either long (e.g. Welsh: gwell "better" pronounced as //ɡweːɬ//) or short (e.g. Welsh: twll "hole" pronounced as //tʊɬ//). However, a stressed vowel in the penult before ll is always short: Welsh: dillad pronounced as //ˈdɪɬad// (clothes).Before s, a stressed vowel in the last syllable is long, as mentioned above, but a stressed vowel in the penult is short: Welsh: mesur (measure) pronounced as //ˈmɛsir//. Vowels are always short before consonant clusters: Welsh: sant pronounced as //sant// (saint), Welsh: gwallt pronounced as //ɡwaɬt// (hair), Welsh: tyst pronounced as //tɪst// (witness).
While the digraphs ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th are each written with two symbols, they are all considered to be single letters. This means, for example that Welsh: [[Llanelli]] (a town in South Wales) is considered to have only six letters in Welsh, compared to eight letters in English. Consequently, they each take up only a single space in Welsh crosswords. Ll itself had actually been written as a ligature in Middle Welsh.
Sorting is done in correspondence with the alphabet. For example, Welsh: la comes before Welsh: ly, which comes before Welsh: lla, which comes before Welsh: ma. Automated sorting may occasionally be complicated by the fact that additional information may be needed to distinguish a genuine digraph from a juxtaposition of letters; for example Welsh: llom comes after Welsh: llong (in which the Welsh: ng stands for pronounced as //ŋ//) but before Welsh: llongyfarch (in which n and g are pronounced separately as pronounced as //ŋɡ//).
Although the digraphs above are considered to be single letters, only their first component letter is capitalised when a word in lower case requires an initial capital letter. Thus:
Welsh: Ll''andudno'', Ff''estiniog'', Rh''uthun''|italic=unset, etc. (place names)
Welsh: Ll''ŷr'', Rh''ian''|italic=unset, etc. (personal names)
Welsh: Rh''edeg busnes dw i''. Ll''yfrgellydd ydy hi.''|italic=unset (other sentences starting with a digraph)The two letters in a digraph are only both capitalised when the whole word is in uppercase:
Welsh: '''LL'''ANDUDNO, '''LL'''ANE'''LL'''I, Y '''RH'''YL|italic=unset (as on a poster or sign)
The status of the digraphs as single letters is reflected in the stylised forms used in the logos of the National Library of Wales (logo) and Cardiff University(logo).
