Welsh orthography

Welsh orthographyuses 29letters(including eightdigraphs) of theLatin scriptto write nativeWelshwords as well as established loanwords.

Majuscule forms(also calleduppercaseorcapital 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
Titlecaseforms
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 calledlowercaseorsmall 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

Welshorthographymakes use of multiplediacritics,which are primarily used on vowels, namely theacute accent(acen ddyrchafedig), thegrave accent(acen ddisgynedig), thecircumflex(acen grom,to bach,orhirnod) and thediaeresis(didolnod). They are considered variants of their base letter, i.e. they are notAlpha betisedseparately.

The letter⟨j⟩has only recently been accepted into Welsh orthography: for use in words borrowed from English which retain the/dʒ/sound, even when it originally was not represented by⟨j⟩inEnglish orthography,as ingarej( "garage" ) andffrij( "fridge" ). Older borrowings of English words containing/dʒ/resulted in the sound being pronounced and spelled in various other ways, resulting in occasionaldoubletssuch asSiapanandJapan( "Japan").

The letters⟨k, q, v, x, z⟩are sometimes used in technical terms, likekilogram,voltandzero,but in all cases can be, and often are, nativised:cilogram,foltandsero.

History

A 19th-century Welsh Alpha bet printed inWelsh,without⟨j⟩or⟨rh⟩

The earliest samples of written Welsh date from the 6th century and are in theLatin Alpha bet(seeOld Welsh). The orthography differs from that of modern Welsh, particularly in the use of⟨p, t, c⟩to represent thevoicedplosives/b,d,ɡ/non initially. Similarly, the voicedfricatives/v,ð/were written⟨b, d⟩.

By theMiddle Welshperiod, this had given way to quite a bit of variability: Although⟨b, d, g⟩were now used to represent/b,d,ɡ/,these sounds were also often written as in Old Welsh, while/v/could be denoted by⟨u, v,ỽ,f, w⟩.In earlier manuscripts, moreover,fricativeswere often not distinguished fromplosives(e.g.⟨t⟩for/θ/,now written⟨th⟩).Thegrapheme⟨k⟩was also used, unlike in the modern Alpha bet, particularly beforefront vowels.The disuse of this letter is at least partly due to the publication ofWilliam Salesbury's Welsh New Testament andWilliam Morgan'sWelsh Bible,whose English printers, with type letter frequencies set for English and Latin, did not have enough⟨k⟩letters in their type cases to spell every/k/as⟨k⟩,so the order went "C for K, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth";this was not liked at the time, but has become standard usage.

In this period,⟨ð⟩(capital⟨Ð⟩) was also used interchangeably with⟨dd⟩,such as the passage in the 1567 New Testament:A Dyw y sych ymaith yr ollðeigre oddiwrth y llygeid,which contains both⟨ð⟩and⟨dd⟩.Elsewhere, the same word is spelt in different ways, e.g.newyddandnewyð.

The printer and publisherLewis Jones,one of the co-founders ofY Wladfa,the Welsh-speaking settlement in Patagonia, favoured a limitedspelling reformwhich replaced Welsh⟨f⟩/v/and⟨ff⟩/f/with⟨v⟩and⟨f⟩,and fromcirca1866 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 placenameTrevelin( "mill town" ), which in standard Welsh orthography would beTrefelin.

In 1928, a committee chaired by SirJohn Morris-Jonesstandardised the orthography of modern Welsh.

In 1987, a committee chaired by Professor Stephen J. Williams made further small changes,introducing⟨j⟩.Not all modern writers adhere to the conventions established by these committees.

Letter names and sound values

"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 aschwa(e.g.cy/kə/forèc). In this system the vowels are named as below.

Letter	Name	Corresponding sounds	English approximation
a	a	/a,ɑː,a:/	cat (short) / father (long)
b	bi	/b/	bat
c	èc	/k/	case
ch	èch	/χ/	No English equivalent; similar to lochin Scottish, but pronounced further back.
d	di	/d/	day
dd	èdd	/ð/	these
e	e	/ɛ,eː/	bed (short) / closest to hey (long)
f	èf	/v/	of
ff	èff	/f/	four
g	èg	/ɡ/	gate
ng	èng	/ŋ/	thing
h	aets	/h/	hat
i	i,i dot(S)	/ɪ,iː,j/	bit (short) / machine (long) /yes (as consonant; before vowels)
j	je	/d͡ʒ/	jump (only found in loanwords, usually from English but still in wide use such asjeli('jelly',IPA:[dʒɛlɪ]) andjîns('jeans',IPA:[dʒɪnz])
l	èl	/l/	lad
ll	èll	/ɬ/	not present in English; avoiceless alveolar lateral fricative.A bit like what the consonant cluster "hl" would sound like.
m	èm	/m/	mat
n	èn	/n/	net
o	o	/ɔ,oː/	Short, like "bog "inRP;long like dawn in RP or stove inScottish English
p	pi	/p/	pet
ph	ffi	/f/	phone
r	èr	/r/	Rolled R
rh	rhi	/r̥/	Voiceless rolled R
s	ès	/s/	sat
t	ti	/t/	stick
th	èth	/θ/	thin
u	u(N),u bedol(S)	/ɨ̞,ɨː/(N), /ɪ,iː/(S)	for Southern variants: bit (short) / machine (long); in Northern dialects/ɨ̞,ɨː/not found in English. Identical to "î" and "â" inRomanian,and similar to the "e" in Englishroses.
w	w	/ʊ,uː,w/	push (short) / pool (long) /wet (as consonant)
y	ỳ	/ɨ̞,ɨː,ə/(N), /ɪ,iː,ə,əː/(S)	for Southern variants: bit (final syllable, short) / machine (final syllable, long) above (other places, short) / roses/ɨ̞,ɨː/,found in certain dialects of English that differentiate "Rosa's" and "roses", for example, General American.

Notes

Diphthongs

Orthography	Northern dialects	Southern dialects	English (approximation only)
ae	/ɑːɨ̯/,/eːɨ̯/	/ai̯/,/ɛi̯/	eye,may
ai	/ai̯/	/ai̯/	eye
au	/aɨ̯/,/a/	/ai̯/,/ɛ/	eye.Realised as bet (south) and cat (north) in plural endings.
aw	/au̯,ɑːu̯/	/au̯/	how
ei	/ɛi̯/	/ɛi̯/	As ineight
eu	/əɨ̯/	/əi̯/	As in height
ew	/ɛu̯,eːu̯/	/ɛu̯/	Roughly likeEdwardwith thedremoved:E'ward,or Cockney pronunciation of-ellin words likewell,hell.
ey	/e.ɨ̯/	/e.ɪ/	Two distinct vowels.
iw	/ɪu̯/	/ɪu̯/	not usually present in English except in the interjectionEw!;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/juː/instead. See thePhonological history of English consonant clustersarticle for more information.
oe	/ɔɨ̯,ɔːɨ̯/	/ɔi̯/	boy
oi	/ɔi̯/	/ɔi̯/	boy
ou	/ɔɨ̯,ɔːɨ̯/	/ɔi̯/	boy
ow	/ɔu̯/	/ɔu̯/	goal
uw	/ɨu̯/	/ɪu̯/	not present in English; closest to 'i-oo' (short i)
wy	/ʊ̯ɨ,u̯ɨ/	/ʊ̯i/	not present in English; closest to gooey
yw	/ɨu̯,əu̯/	/ɪu̯,əu̯/	/ɪu̯/not present in English; closest to 'i-oo' (short i) /əu/like "goat "inReceived Pronunciationor like "house "inCanadian English

Diacritics

Welsh makes use of a number ofdiacritics.

Thecircumflex(ˆ) is mostly used to marklong vowels,soâ, ê, î, ô, û, ŵ, ŷare always long. However, not all long vowels are marked with a circumflex, so the lettersa, e, i, o, u, w, ywith no circumflex do not necessarily represent short vowels; see§ Predicting vowel length from orthography.

Thegrave 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.pas/paːs/(a cough),pàs/pas/(a pass/permit or a lift in a car);mwg/muːɡ/(smoke),mẁg/mʊɡ/(a mug).

Theacute accent(´) is sometimes used to mark a stressed final syllable in a polysyllabic word. Thus the wordsgwacáu(to empty) anddicléin(decline) have final stress. However, not all polysyllabic words with final stress are marked with the acute accent (Cymraeg"Welsh" andymlaen"forward/onward", for example, are written with none). The acute may also be used to indicate that a letterwrepresents a vowel where a glide might otherwise be expected, e.g.gẃraidd/ˈɡʊ.raið/(two syllables) "manly", as opposed togwraidd/ˈɡwraið/(one syllable) "root".

Similarly, thediaeresis(¨) 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 letteriis used to represent the cluster/ij/which is always followed by another vowel, e.g.copïo(to copy) pronounced/kɔ.ˈpi.jɔ/,not*/ˈkɔp.jɔ/.

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.

Predicting vowel length from orthography

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.

In all dialects, only stressed vowels may be long; unstressed vowels are always short.

An unmarked (stressed) vowel is long:

• in the last syllable of a word when no consonant follows:da/dɑː/(good).
• beforevoiced stopsb,d,gand before allfricatives(except forll)ch,dd,f,ff,th,s:mab/mɑːb/(son),hoff/hoːf/(favourite),peth/peːθ/(thing),nos/noːs/(night).

An unmarked vowel is short:

• in an unstressed (proclitic) word:a/a/.
• beforep,t,c,ng:iet/jɛt/(gate),lloc/ɬɔk/(sheepfold),llong/ɬɔŋ/(ship)
• before mostconsonant clusters:sant/sant/(saint),perth/pɛrθ/(hedge),Ebrill/ˈɛbrɪɬ/(April).

The vowely,when it is pronounced/ə/,is always shorteven when it appears in an environment where other vowels would be long:cyfan(whole)/ˈkəvan/.When pronounced as acloseornear-close vowel(/ɨ/or/ɨ̞/in the North,/i/or/ɪ/in the South),yfollows the same rules as other vowels:dydd(day)/ˈdɨːð/(North) ~/ˈdiːð/(South),gwynt(wind)/ˈɡwɨ̞nt/(North) ~/ˈɡwɪnt/(South).

Beforel,m,n,andr,unmarked vowels are long in some words and short in others:

vowel		long				short
i		gwin	/ɡwiːn/	(wine)		prin	/prɪn/	(scarcely)
e		hen	/heːn/	(old)		pen	/pɛn/	(head)
y		dyn	/dɨːn/~/diːn/	(man)		gwyn	/ɡwɨ̞n/~/ɡwɪn/	(white)
w		stwmo	/ˈstuːmo/	(bank up a fire)		amal	/ˈamal/	(often)
e		celyn	/ˈkeːlɪn/	(holly)		calon	/ˈkalɔn/	(heart)

(The last four examples are given in South Welsh pronunciation only since vowels in nonfinal syllables are always short in North Welsh.)

Beforennandrr,vowels are always short:onn/ˈɔn/(ash trees),ennill/ˈɛnɪɬ/(to win),carreg/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 withs:tyst/tɨːst/(witness). Beforell,a vowel is short when no consonant follows thell:gwell(better)/ɡwɛɬ/It is long when another consonant does follow thell:gwallt/ɡwɑːɬt/(hair).

In Southern dialects, long vowels may appear in a stressedpenultimatesyllable as well as in a stressed word-final syllable. Beforell,a stressed vowel in the last syllable can be either long (e.g.gwell"better"/ɡweːɬ/) or short (e.g.twll"hole"/tʊɬ/). However, a stressed vowel in thepenultbeforellis always short:dillad/ˈdɪɬad/(clothes). Befores,a stressed vowel in the last syllable is long, as mentioned above, but a stressed vowel in the penult is short:mesur(measure)/ˈmɛsir/.Vowels are always short before consonant clusters:sant/sant/(saint),gwallt/ɡwaɬt/(hair),tyst/tɪst/(witness).

Digraphs

The Middle-Welsh LL ligature.
Unicode:U+1EFA and U+1EFB.

While thedigraphsch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, thare each written with two symbols, they are all considered to be single letters. This means, for example thatLlanelli(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 Welshcrosswords.Llitself had actually been written as aligaturein Middle Welsh.

Sortingis done in correspondence with the Alpha bet. For example,lacomes beforely,which comes beforella,which comes beforema.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 examplellomcomes afterllong(in which thengstands for/ŋ/) but beforellongyfarch(in whichnandgare pronounced separately 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:

Llandudno,Ffestiniog,Rhuthun,etc. (place names)

Llŷr,Rhian,etc. (personal names)

Rhedeg busnes dw i.Llyfrgellydd ydy hi.(other sentences starting with a digraph)

The two letters in a digraph are both capitalised only when the whole word is in uppercase:

LLANDUDNO,LLANELLI, YRHYL(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 theNational Library of Wales(logo) andCardiff University (logo).

See also

• Bardic Alphabet
• Welsh Braille

External links

• Type Welsh characters online
• Type Welsh accents in Word
• Welsh pronunciation course with audio