Welsh English

"Saesneg" redirects here. For the language called "Welsh", seeWelsh language.

Welsh English
Native to	United Kingdom
Region	Wales
Native speakers	(undated figure of 2.5 million)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Ingvaeonic Anglo-Frisian Anglic English British English Welsh English
Early forms	Old English Middle English Early Modern English
Writing system	Latin(English Alpha bet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

Welsh English(Welsh:Saesneg Gymreig) comprises thedialectsof English spoken byWelsh people.The dialects are significantly influenced byWelshgrammarand often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the distinctive words and grammar, a variety ofaccentsare found across Wales, including those ofNorth Wales,theCardiff dialect,theSouth Wales ValleysandWest Wales.

Accents and dialects in the west of Wales have been more heavily influenced by the Welsh language while dialects in the east have been influenced more by dialects inEngland.In the east and south east, it has been influenced byWest CountryandWest Midlanddialectswhile in north east Wales and parts of the North Wales coast, it has been influenced byMerseyside English.

A colloquialportmanteau wordfor Welsh English isWenglish.It has been in use since 1985.

Pronunciation

Vowels

Short monophthongs

• The vowel ofcat/æ/is pronounced either as anopen front unrounded vowel[a]or a more centralnear-open front unrounded vowel[æ̈].InCardiff,bagis pronounced with a long vowel[aː].InMid-Wales,a pronunciation resembling itsNew ZealandandSouth Africananalogue is sometimes heard, i.e.trapis pronounced/trɛp/.
• The vowel ofend/ɛ/is pronounced close tocardinal vowel[ɛ],similar to modernRP.
• In Cardiff, the vowel of "kit"/ɪ/sounds slightly closer to theschwasound ofabove,an advancedclose-mid central unrounded vowel[ɘ̟].
• The vowel of "bus"/ʌ/is usually pronounced [ɜ~ə]and is encountered as ahypercorrectionin northern areas forfoot.It is sometimes manifested in border areas of north and mid Wales as anopen front unrounded vowel/a/.It also manifests as anear-close near-back rounded vowel/ʊ/without thefoot–strut splitin parts of North Wales influenced byCheshireandMerseysideaccents,and to a lesser extent in south Pembrokeshire.
• Theschwatends to be supplanted by an/ɛ/in final closed syllables, e.g.brightest/ˈbrəitɛst/.The uncertainty over which vowel to use often leads to 'hypercorrections' involving the schwa, e.g.programmeis often pronounced/ˈproːɡrəm/.

Long monophthongs

Monophthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Abercrave, fromCoupland & Thomas (1990),pp. 135–136.

Monophthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Cardiff, fromCoupland & Thomas (1990),pp. 93–95. Depending on the speaker, the long/ɛː/may be of the same height as the short/ɛ/.

Diphthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Abercrave, fromCoupland & Thomas (1990),pp. 135–136

Diphthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Cardiff, fromCoupland & Thomas (1990),p. 97

• Thetrap-bath splitis variable in Welsh English, especially among social status. In some varieties such asCardiff English,words like ask, bath, laugh, master and rather are usually pronounced with PALM while words like answer, castle, dance and nasty are normally pronounced with TRAP. On the other hand, the split may be completely absent in other varieties likeAbercraf English.
• The vowel ofcaris often pronounced as anopen central unrounded vowel[ɑ̈]and more often as a longopen front unrounded vowel/aː/.
• In broader varieties, particularly in Cardiff, the vowel ofbirdis similar toSouth AfricanandNew Zealand,i.e. amid front rounded vowel[ø̞ː].
• Most other long monophthongs are similar to that ofReceived Pronunciation,but words with the RP/əʊ/are sometimes pronounced as[oː]and the RP/eɪ/as[eː].An example that illustrates this tendency is theAbercravepronunciation ofplay-place[ˈpleɪˌpleːs].
• Innorthernvarieties,/əʊ/as incoatand/ɔː/as incaught/courtmay be merged into/ɔː/(phonetically[oː]).

Diphthongs

• Fronting diphthongs tend to resemble Received Pronunciation, apart from the vowel ofbitethat has a more centralised onset[æ̈ɪ].
• Backing diphthongs are more varied:
  • The vowel oflowin RP, other than being rendered as a monophthong, like described above, is often pronounced as[oʊ̝].
  • The wordtownis pronounced with anear-open centralonset[ɐʊ̝].
• Welsh English is one of few dialects where the Late Middle English diphthong/iu̯/neverbecame/juː/,remaining as a falling diphthong[ɪʊ̯].Thusyou/juː/,yew/jɪʊ̯/,andewe/ɪʊ̯/are not homophones in Welsh English. As suchyod-droppingnever occurs: distinctions are made betweenchoose/t͡ʃuːz/andchews/t͡ʃɪʊ̯s/,through/θruː/andthrew/θrɪʊ̯/,which most other English varieties do not have.

Consonants

• Most Welsh accents pronounce /r/ as analveolar flap[ɾ](a 'flapped r'), similar toScottish Englishand someNorthern EnglishandSouth Africanaccents, in place of anapproximant[ɹ]like in most accents in Englandwhile analveolar trill[r]may also be used under the influence ofWelsh.
• Welsh English is mostlynon-rhotic,however variable rhoticity can be found in accents influenced by Welsh, especiallynorthernvarieties. Additionally, whilePort Talbot Englishis mostly non-rhotic like other varieties of Welsh English, some speakers may supplant the front vowel ofbirdwith/ɚ/,like in many varieties ofNorth American English.
• H-droppingis common in many Welsh accents, especiallysouthernvarieties likeCardiff English,but is absent in northern andwesternvarieties influenced by Welsh.
• Somegeminationbetween vowels is often encountered, e.g.moneyis pronounced[ˈmɜn.niː].
• As Welsh lacks the letter Z and thevoiced alveolar fricative/z/, some first-language Welsh speakers replace it with thevoiceless alveolar fricative/s/ for words likecheeseandthousand,whilepens(/pɛnz/) andpencemerge into/pɛns/,especially in north-west, west and south-west Wales.
• In northern varieties influenced by Welsh,chin(/tʃɪn/) andginmay also merge into/dʒɪn/.
• In the north-east, under influence of such accents asScouse,ng-coalescencedoes not take place, sosingis pronounced/sɪŋɡ/.
• Also in northern accents,/l/is frequently strongly velarised[ɫː].In much of the south-east,clear and dark Lalternate much like they do in RP.
• The consonants are generally the same as RP but Welsh consonants like/ɬ/and/x/(phonetically[χ]) are encountered in loan words such asLlangefniandHarlech.

Distinctive vocabulary and grammar

See also:List of English words of Welsh origin

Aside from lexical borrowings fromWelshlikebach(little, wee),eisteddfod,nainandtaid(grandmotherandgrandfatherrespectively), there exist distinctive grammatical conventions in vernacular Welsh English. Examples of this include the use by some speakers of thetag questionisn't it?regardless of the form of the preceding statement and the placement of the subject and the verb after thepredicatefor emphasis, e.g.Fed up, I amorRunning on Friday, he is.

In South Wales the wordwheremay often be expanded towhere to,as in the question, "Where to is your Mam?".The wordbutty(Welsh:byti) is used to mean "friend" or "mate".

There is no standard variety of English that is specific to Wales, but such features are readily recognised by Anglophones fromthe rest of the UKas being from Wales, including the phraselook youwhich is a translation of a Welsh language tag.

The wordtidyis among "the most over-worked Wenglish words". It carries a number of meanings include - great or excellent, or a large quantity. Atidy swillis a wash that includes, at the least, the hands and the face.

Code-switching

As Wales has become increasingly more anglicised,code-switchinghas become increasingly more common.

Examples

Welsh code-switchers fall typically into one of three categories: the first category is people whose first language is Welsh and are not the most comfortable with English, the second is the inverse, English as a first language and a lack of confidence with Welsh, and the third consists of people whose first language could be either and display competence in both languages.

Welsh and English share congruence, meaning that there is enough overlap in their structure to make them compatible for code-switching. In studies of Welsh English code-switching, Welsh frequently acts as the matrix language with English words or phrases mixed in. A typical example of this usage would look likedw i’n love-io soaps,which translates to "I love soaps".

In a study conducted by Margaret Deuchar in 2005 on Welsh-English code-switching, 90 per cent of tested sentences were found to be congruent with the Matrix Language Format, or MLF, classifying Welsh English as a classic case of code-switching.This case is identifiable as the matrix language was identifiable, the majority of clauses in a sentence that uses code-switching must be identifiable and distinct, and the sentence takes the structure of the matrix language in respect to things such as subject verb order and modifiers.

History of the English language in Wales

The presence of English in Wales intensified on the passing of theLaws in Wales Acts of 1535–1542,thestatuteshaving promoted the dominance of English in Wales; this, coupled with theclosure of the monasteries,which closed down many centres of Welsh education, led to decline in the use of the Welsh language.

The decline of Welsh and the ascendancy of English was intensified further during theIndustrial Revolution,when many Welsh speakers moved to England to find work and the recently developedminingandsmeltingindustries came to be manned by Anglophones.David Crystal,who grew up inHolyhead,claims that the continuing dominance of English in Wales is little different from its spread elsewhere in the world.The decline in the use of the Welsh language is also associated with the preference in the communities for English to be used in schools and to discourage everyday use of theWelsh languagein them, including by the use of theWelsh Notin some schools in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Influence outside Wales

While other British English accents from England have affected the accents of English in Wales, especially in the east of the country, influence has moved in both directions.Accents in north-east Wales and parts of the North Wales coastline have been influenced by accents inNorth West England,accents in the mid-east have been influenced by accents in theWest Midlandswhile accents in south-east Wales have been influenced byWest Country English.In particular,ScouseandBrummie(colloquial) accents have both had extensive Anglo-Welsh input through migration, although in the former case, the influence ofIrish-Englishis better known.

Literature

Main article:Welsh literature in English

Dylan Thomas' writing shed at theBoathouse,Laugharne

"Anglo-Welsh literature" and "Welsh writing in English" are terms used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers. It has been recognised as a distinctive entity only since the 20th century.The need for a separate identity for this kind of writing arose because of the parallel development of modernWelsh-language literature;as such it is perhaps the youngest branch of English-language literature in the British Isles.

WhileRaymond Garlickdiscovered sixty-nine Welsh men and women who wrote in English prior to the twentieth century,Dafydd Johnston believes it is "debatable whether such writers belong to a recognisable Anglo-Welsh literature, as opposed to English literature in general".Well into the 19th century English was spoken by relatively few in Wales, and prior to the early 20th century there are only three major Welsh-born writers who wrote in the English language:George Herbert(1593–1633) fromMontgomeryshire,Henry Vaughan(1622–1695) fromBrecknockshire,andJohn Dyer(1699–1757) fromCarmarthenshire.

Welsh writing in English might be said to begin with the 15th-century bardIeuan ap Hywel Swrdwal(?1430 -?1480), whoseHymn to the Virginwas written atOxfordin England in about 1470 and uses a Welsh poetic form, theawdl,andWelsh orthography;for example:

O mighti ladi, owr leding - tw haf

At hefn owr abeiding:

Yntw ddy ffast eferlasting

I set a braents ws tw bring.

A rival claim for the first Welsh writer to use English creatively is made for the diplomat, soldier and poetJohn Clanvowe(1341–1391).

The influence of Welsh English can be seen in the 1915 short story collectionMy PeoplebyCaradoc Evans,which uses it in dialogue (but not narrative);Under Milk Wood(1954) byDylan Thomas,originally a radio play; andNiall Griffithswhose gritty realist pieces are mostly written in Welsh English.

See also

• Cardiff English
• Abercraf English
• Gower dialect
• Port Talbot English
• Welsh literature in English
• Regional accents of English speakers
• Gallo(Brittany)
• Scots language

Other English dialects heavily influenced by Celtic languages

• Bungi dialect
• Cornish dialect
• Hiberno-English
• Highland English(andScottish English)
• Manx English

Bibliography

• Connolly, John H. (1990),"Port Talbot English",in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.),English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change,Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 121–129,ISBN978-1-85359-032-0
• Coupland, Nikolas (1988),Dialect in Use: Sociolinguistic Variation in Cardiff English,University of Wales Press,ISBN0-70830-958-5
• Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan R., eds. (1990),English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change,Multilingual Matters Ltd.,ISBN978-1-85359-032-0
• Crystal, David(4 August 2003),The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition,Cambridge University Press,ISBN9780521530330
• Johnston, Dafydd (1994),A Pocket Guide to the Literature of Wales,Cardiff: University of Wales Press,ISBN978-0708312650
• Garlick, Raymond(1970), "Welsh Arts Council",An introduction to Anglo-Welsh literature,University of Wales Press,ISSN0141-5050
• Wells, John C.(1982),Accents of English,Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393,doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759,ISBN0-52128540-2

Further reading

• Penhallurick, Robert (2004),"Welsh English: phonology",in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.),A handbook of varieties of English, Vol. 1: Phonology,Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 98–112,ISBN978-3-11-017532-5
• Podhovnik, Edith (2010),"Age and Accent - Changes in a Southern Welsh English Accent"(PDF),Research in Language,8(2010): 1–18,doi:10.2478/v10015-010-0006-5,hdl:11089/9569,ISSN2083-4616,S2CID145409227,archived fromthe original(PDF)on 23 September 2015,retrieved25 August2015

• Parry, David,A Grammar and Glossary of the Conservative Anglo-Welsh Dialects of Rural Wales,The National Centre for English Cultural Tradition:introductionandphonologyavailable at the Internet Archive.

External links

• Sounds Familiar?– Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
• Talk Tidy:John Edwards, Author of books and CDs on the subject "Wenglish".
• Some thoughts and notes on the English of south Wales:D Parry-Jones, National Library of Wales journal 1974 Winter, volume XVIII/4
• Samples of Welsh Dialect(s)/Accent(s)Archived26 June 2006 at theWayback Machine
• Welsh vowels
• David Jandrell: Introducing The Welsh Valleys Phrasebook