Welsh
This article deals with Welsh as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.
| Welsh (Cymraeg) |
|---|
| Genetic classification: Indo-European Celtic Insular Brythonic Welsh |
| Spoken in: Avaerilon |
| See Wikipedia:Welsh language |
Welsh is a Celtic language in the Indo-European family spoken in RL Wales (mainly in the west and north west) and parts of Argentina. It is a member of the Insular Celtic group of languages, which also includes Scots Gaelic, Irish, Breton, Manx and Cornish.
The language is particularly known among non-Welsh for its distinctive spelling conventions, such as the use of the 'll', and initial consonant mutation (whereby 'Cymru', for example, can also be spelled 'Gymru' or 'Nghymru' depending on the preceding word and/or grammatical construction), but it is no more unpronounceable or difficult to learn for non-Welsh than many other Indo-European languages once the learner familiarises themselves with spelling and pronunciation (both of which are arguably more regular than with English orthography).
Alphabet
The Welsh alphabet is comprised of 29 letters (vowels marked in bold):
- 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
Letters such as K, Q, V, X or Z are only ever used for proper names, such as Kiev, Qatar, Pelydrau-X (X-rays), and Zagreb.
The vowels A, E, I and O are pronounced more or less the same as in English.
- The letter U is pronounced as the English EE (for example, 'du' - meaning 'black' - is pronounced as 'dee').
- The letter W is usually pronounced as the English OO (for example, 'cwm' - meaning 'valley' - is pronounced 'koom').
- The letter Y can either be pronounced as in English (for example, 'byd' - meaning 'world' - is pronounced 'beed'), or as a short English U (for example, 'Cymru' - meaning 'Wales' - is pronounced 'kumree').
Most consonants are also pronounced as their English counterparts.
- The letter CH is pronounced as in the Scottish word 'loch' or the German word 'nach'.
- The letter DD is pronounced as a soft English TH, as in 'the'.
- The letter F is pronounced softly, like the English letter V.
- The letter FF is pronounced harder, the same as the English letter F.
- The letter NG is pronounced as in the English words 'long' or 'finger'.
- The letter LL is pronounced as an aspirated L, with the lips and tongue formed as if to pronounced a standard L but then with air blown from the mouth without actually pronouncing the letter. The nearest English equivalent would be adding an H sound in front of the L (for example, 'llan' - meaning church, village, parish or yard - sounds like 'hlan').
- The letter RH is pronounced harshly, as through the H is placed in front of the R (for example, 'rhy' meaning 'too (much)' sounds like 'hri'); it is a particularly trilled R, not unlike a Spanish RR.
Loan Words
Many Welsh words are identifiable as English loanwords, such as "tacsi" (taxi), "ambiwlans" (ambulance), "jiwbilî" (jubilee), "sŵ" (zoo), and "warden traffig" (traffic warden).
Welsh-speaking NS nations
Welsh is spoken in a small number of nationstates.
It is one of the offical languages in Bettia, widely spoken in the northern provinces and the capital city, Gabalfa. Bettian settlers have also brought the language to nations such as Vephrall (which considers Welsh as one of its major language), Nedalia and Hypocria.
Welsh is the primary language of Lloegr-Cymru, where it is widely used as the language for everyday conversation. It is also one of the main languages in Shessara.
Welsh is one of two official languages in the Resurgent Dream. It is widely used in official proceedings as well as in everyday conversation.
Welsh is an official language widely spoken in Avaerilon.
