Edit filter log

'{{Short description|Sounds and pronunciation of the Welsh language}} {{selfref|For assistance with IPA transcriptions of Welsh for Wikipedia articles, see [[Help:IPA/Welsh]].}} {{IPA notice}} The '''[[phonology]] of [[Welsh language|Welsh]]''' is characterised by a number of sounds that do not occur in [[English language|English]] and are rare in [[Languages of Europe|European languages]], such as the [[Voiceless dental and alveolar lateral fricatives|voiceless alveolar lateral fricative]] {{IPA|[ɬ]}} and several [[Sonorant#Voiceless|voiceless sonorants]] ([[nasal consonant|nasals]] and [[liquid consonant|liquids]]), some of which result from [[Colloquial Welsh morphology#Initial consonant mutation|consonant mutation]]. [[Stress (linguistics)|Stress]] usually falls on the [[Penult|penultimate syllable]] in polysyllabic words, while the word-final unstressed syllable receives a higher [[Pitch accent|pitch]] than the stressed syllable. ==Consonants== Welsh has the following [[consonant]] [[phoneme]]s:<ref name="Ball" /><ref name="King">{{cite book |first=Gareth |last=King |year=1996 |chapter=Sounds and Spelling |title=Modern Welsh, A Comprehensive Grammar |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=3–15 |isbn=978-1-138-82630-4}}</ref><ref name="Jones">{{cite book|first=John |last=Jones |year=1913 |chapter=Phonology |title=A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=9–188 |id=pibn 1000706503}}</ref><ref name="Williams">{{cite book |author=Stephen J. Williams |year=1980 |chapter=Phonology |title=A Welsh Grammar |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=1–5 |isbn=0-7083-0737-X}}</ref><ref name="Liu">{{cite book |first=Zirui |last=Liu |year=2018 |chapter=Background on the Welsh language |title=Phonetics of Southern Welsh Stress |location=London |publisher=University College London |page=5}}</ref><ref name="Hannahs1">{{cite book |first=S. J. |last=Hannahs |year=2013 |chapter=A Survey of Welsh Phonetics |title=The Phonology of Welsh |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=21–22 |isbn=978-0-19-960123-3}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" ! ! colspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]] ! colspan="2" |[[Interdental consonant|Dental]] ! colspan="2" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ! colspan="2" |[[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br />alveolar]] ! colspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] ! colspan="2" |[[Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]] ! colspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- ![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|m̥}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|m}} | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|n̥}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|n}} | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ŋ̊}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ŋ}} | colspan="2" | |- ![[Stop consonant|Stop]] | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|p}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|b}} | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|t}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|d}} | style="border-right: 0;" |({{IPAlink|tʃ}}) | style="border-left: 0;" |({{IPAlink|dʒ}}) | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|k}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ɡ}} | colspan="2" | |- ![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]] | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|f}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|v}} | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|θ}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ð}} | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|s}} | style="border-left: 0;" |({{IPAlink|z}}) | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ʃ}} | style="border-left: 0;" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|χ}} | style="border-left: 0;" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|h}} | style="border-left: 0;" | |- ![[Trill consonant|Trill]] | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" | {{IPAlink|r̥}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|r}} | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | |- ![[Approximant consonant|Approximant]] | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" | | style="border-left: 0;" | | style="border-right: 0;" | | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|j}} | style="border-right: 0;" |({{IPAlink|ʍ}}) | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|w}} | colspan="2" | |- ![[Lateral consonant|Lateral]] | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|ɬ}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|l}} | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | |} Symbols in parentheses are either [[allophone]]s, or found only in [[loanword]]s. The sound {{IPA|/z/}} generally occurs in loanwords, e.g. ''sŵ'' {{IPA|/zuː/}} ('zoo'), although this is usually realised as {{IPA|/s/}} in [[Welsh language#Dialects|northern accents]], e.g. {{IPA|/suː/}}. The postalveolar affricates {{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/dʒ/}} occur mainly in loanwords, e.g. {{lang|cy|tsips}} {{IPA|/tʃɪps/}} ('chips') and {{lang|cy|jeli}} {{IPA|/ˈdʒɛli/}} ('[[gelatin dessert|jelly]]'), but also in some dialects as developments from {{IPA|/tj/}} and {{IPA|/dj/}}, e.g. {{IPA|/dʒaul/}} from {{lang|cy|diafol}} {{IPA|/ˈdjavɔl/}} ('devil'). The [[Nasal consonant#Voiceless nasals|voiceless nasals]] {{IPA|/m̥ n̥ ŋ̊/}} occur mostly word-initially, as a consequence of [[Welsh morphology#Nasal mutation|nasal mutation]]. These nasals have recently been interpreted as sequences of {{IPA|/m n ŋ/}} + {{IPA|/h/}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammond |first1=Michael |title=Voiceless Nasals in Welsh |journal=Journal of Celtic Linguistics |date=January 2019 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=31–60 |doi=10.16922/jcl.20.3 |s2cid=165438641 |url=https://doi.org/10.16922/jcl.20.3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Elise |title=Northern Welsh |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |date=2023 |volume=53 |issue=2 |page=7 |doi=10.1017/S0025100321000165 |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100321000165|doi-access=free }}</ref> Initial {{IPA|/χw/}} (or {{IPA|/χʷ/}}) is colloquially realised as {{IPA|[ʍ]}} in the south, e.g. {{lang|cy|chwech}} {{IPA|/χweːχ/}} ('six') pronounced {{IPA|[ʍeːχ]}}. {{IPA|[ç]}} results from {{IPA|/j/}} when preceded by {{IPA|/h/}}, often as a result of [[h-prothesis|''h''-prothesis]] of the radical word, e.g. {{lang|cy|iaith}} {{IPA|/jai̯θ/}} 'language' becomes {{lang|cy|ei hiaith}} {{IPA|[ɛi çai̯θ]}} 'her language'.<ref name="Watkins 1993">{{cite book |first=T. Arwyn |last=Watkins |title=The Celtic Languages |pages=300–301 |year=1993 |editor-first=Martin J. |editor-last=Ball |chapter=Welsh |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-01035-7}}</ref> It also occurs in some Northern dialects as the cluster {{IPA|[çj]}} in place of intervocalic {{IPA|/ɬ/}} in words like {{lang|cy|allan}} ('out') where it is pronounced {{IPA|[açjan]}} rather than the more common (and standard) {{IPA|[aɬan]}}.<ref>{{cite web |first=John C. |last=Wells |title=Welsh ll |date=26 June 2008| work=John Wells's phonetic blog |access-date=15 July 2013 |url=http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog0806b.htm}}</ref> The stops {{IPA|/p t k/}} are distinguished from {{IPA|/b d ɡ/}} by means of [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]] more consistently than by [[voicing (phonetics)|voicing]], as {{IPA|/b d ɡ/}} are actually devoiced in most contexts. This devoiced nature is recognised in the spelling of {{IPA|/sp sk/}} as {{angbr|sb sg}}, although {{IPA|/st/}} is [[Orthography|orthographically]] {{angbr|st}} for historical reasons. The fricatives {{IPA|/v ð/}} tend not to be pronounced in certain contexts, e.g. {{lang|cy|nesaf}} {{IPA|/nɛsav/}} ('next') realised as {{IPA|/ˈnɛsa/}} or {{lang|cy|i fyny}} {{IPA|/iː ˈvənɨ/}} ('up') from {{lang|cy|mynydd}} {{IPA|/mənɨð, mənɪð/}} ('mountain'). Historically, this occurred so often with the [[voiced velar fricative]] that it disappeared entirely from the language. The occurrence and distribution of the phoneme {{IPA|/ʃ/}} varies from area to area. Very few native words are pronounced with {{IPA|/ʃ/}} by all speakers, e.g. {{lang|cy|siarad}} {{IPA|/ˈʃarad/}} ('talk'), although it appears in borrowings, e.g. {{lang|cy|siop}} {{IPA|/ʃɔp/}} ('shop'). In northern accents, it can occur when {{IPA|/s/}} precedes {{IPA|/iː j/}}, e.g. {{lang|cy|es i}} {{IPA|/ˈeːʃ i/}} ('I went'). In some [[Welsh language#Dialects|southern dialects]] it is produced when {{IPA|/s/}} follows {{IPA|/ɪ/}} or {{IPA|/iː/}}, e.g. {{lang|cy|mis}} {{IPA|/miːʃ/}} ('month'). The voiceless fricative {{IPA|/χ/}} is realised as uvular except by some southwestern speakers, who produce the sound in the velar region as {{IPA|[x]}}. The {{IPA|/r/}} phoneme is reportedly pronounced as the [[voiced uvular fricative]] {{IPA|[ʁ]}} by some speakers in [[Dyfed]] and [[Gwynedd]], in a pronunciation known as {{lang|cy|tafod tew}} ('thick tongue').<ref>{{cite book |first=John C. |last=Wells |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3-ElL71fikC| title=Accents of English |volume=2 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |page=390 |isbn=0-521-28540-2}}</ref> In some dialects of north-western Welsh, the {{IPA|/l/}} phoneme is consistently [[Dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants#Dark L|velarised]] or "dark" ({{IPA|[ɫ]}}, not to be confused with {{IPA|[ɬ]}}) in all positions,{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}} but remains unvelarised or "clear" ({{IPA|[l]}}) in the south, except in rare exceptions where {{IPA|[ɫ]}} is found after {{IPA|/d/}}, e.g. {{lang|cy|dlos}} {{IPA|[dɫos]}} 'pretty'. ==Vowels== [[File:Welsh vowel chart.svg|thumb|upright=1.36|A chart plotting the vowel [[formant]]s of a Welsh speaker from [[Bangor, Gwynedd]]<ref name="Ball">{{cite book |first=Martin J. |last=Ball |year=1984 |chapter=Phonetics for phonology |title=Welsh Phonology: Selected Readings |editor-first1=M. J. |editor-last1=Ball |editor-first2=G. E. |editor-last2=Jones |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=5–39 |isbn=0-7083-0861-9}}</ref>]] The [[vowel]] phonemes of Welsh are as follows:<ref name="Ball" /><ref name="King" /><ref name="Jones" /><ref name="Williams" /><ref name="Liu" /><ref name="Hannahs1" /> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]] ! colspan="2" | [[Central vowel|Central]] ! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]] |- ! <small>short</small> ! <small>long</small> ! <small>short</small> ! <small>long</small> ! <small>short</small> ! <small>long</small> |- ! [[Close vowel|Close]] | {{IPA link|ɪ}} || {{IPA link|iː}}|| {{IPA|ɨ̞}} || {{IPA|ɨː}} || {{IPA link|ʊ}} || {{IPA link|uː}} |- ! [[Mid vowel|Mid]] | {{IPA link|ɛ}} || {{IPA link|eː}}|| {{IPA link|ə}} || || {{IPA link|ɔ}} || {{IPA link|oː}} |- ! [[Open vowel|Open]] | || | || {{IPA link|a}} || {{IPA|aː}} || || |} The vowels {{IPA|/ɨ̞/}} and {{IPA|/ɨː/}} merged with {{IPA|/ɪ/}} and {{IPA|/iː/}} in southern dialects, but are retained in northern dialects. In all dialects, the contrast between long and short vowels is found in stressed penultimate syllables of polysyllabic words or in monosyllabic words. Word-final vowels show a contrast between [[vowel quality]] rather than [[Vowel length|length]] proper, e.g. {{lang|cy|ysbyty}} {{IPA|/əsˈbə.tiː/}} is realised as {{IPA|[əsˈpə.ti]}} with final short {{IPA|[i]}} rather than with final long {{IPA|[iː]}}. The vowel {{IPA|/ə/}} does not occur in the final syllable of words (except a few monosyllabic [[proclitic]]s). It is always pronounced short except when emphasised in the name of the letter {{lang|cy|y}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The Qualities and the Origins of the Welsh Vowel [ɨː] |last=Wmffre|first=Iwan |publisher=Curach Bhán Publications |year=2013 |isbn=9783942002127 |location=Berlin |pages=3 |oclc=910913657}}</ref> The long counterpart to short {{IPA|/a/}} is sometimes misleadingly transcribed {{IPA|/ɑ/}}. This is often found in solely quality-distinctive transcriptions to avoid using a length mark. The actual pronunciation of long {{IPA|/a/}} is {{IPA|[aː]}}, which makes the vowel pair unique in that there is no significant quality difference. Regional realisations of {{IPA|/aː/}} may be {{IPA|[æː]}} or {{IPA|[ɛː]}} in north-central and (decreasingly) south-eastern [[Wales]] or sporadically as {{IPA|[ɑː]}} in some southern areas undoubtedly under the influence of English.<ref name=":0" /> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" ! [[Diphthong]]s || colspan="3" | Second component |- ! First component || front || central || back |- ! close | {{IPA|ʊi}} | {{IPA|ʊɨ}} | {{IPA|ɪu, ɨu}} |- ! mid | {{IPA|əi/ɛi, ɔi}} | {{IPA|əɨ/ɛɨ, ɔɨ}} | {{IPA|əu/ɛu, ɔu}} |- ! open | {{IPA|ai}} | {{IPA|aɨ, aːɨ}} | {{IPA|au}} |} The diphthongs containing {{IPA|/ɨ/}} occur only in northern dialects; in southern dialects {{IPA|/ʊɨ/}} is replaced by {{IPA|/ʊi/}} and {{IPA|/ɨu, əɨ~ɛɨ, ɔɨ, a(ː)ɨ/}} are merged with {{IPA|/ɪu, əi~ɛi, ɔi, ai/}}. There is a general tendency in the South to simplify diphthongs in [[Colloquialism|everyday speech]], e.g. Northern {{IPA|/ɡwaːɨθ/}} corresponding to {{IPA|/ɡwaːθ/}} in the South, or Northern {{IPA|/ɡwɛiθjɔ/}} and Southern {{IPA|/ɡwiθɔ/}}. ==Stress and pitch== [[Stress (linguistics)|Stress]] in polysyllabic words occurs most commonly on the [[wikt:penultimate|penultimate]] [[syllable]], more rarely on the final syllable (e.g. verbs ending in -áu).<ref name="Williams 1983" /> Exceptions can arise in relation to borrowings from foreign words, such as {{lang|cy|ambiwlans}} and {{lang|cy|testament}} (both stressed on the first syllable). According to its positioning, related words or concepts (or even [[plural]]s) can sound quite different, as syllables are added to the end of a word and the stress moves correspondingly: {| class="wikitable" |+ |- !Word !! Pronunciation !! Meaning |- | {{lang|cy|ysgrif}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/ˈəsɡrɪv/}} || "article, essay" |- | {{lang|cy|ysgrifen}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsˈɡrɪvɛn/}} || "writing" |- | {{lang|cy|ysgrifennydd}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsɡrɪˈvɛnɪð/}} || "secretary" |- | {{lang|cy|ysgrifenyddes}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsɡrɪvɛnˈəðɛs/}} || "female secretary" |- | {{lang|cy|ysgrifenyddesau}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsɡrɪvɛnəðˈɛsai/}} || "female secretaries" |} Note also how adding a syllable to {{lang|cy|ysgrifennydd}} to form {{lang|cy|ysgrifenyddes}} changes the pronunciation of the second {{angbr|y}}. This is because the pronunciation of {{angbr|y}} depends on whether or not it is in the final syllable. Stress on penultimate syllables is characterised by a low [[Pitch accent|pitch]], which is followed by a high pitch on the (unstressed) word-final syllable. In words where stress is on the final syllable, that syllable also bears the high pitch.<ref name="Williams 1983">{{cite thesis |first=Briony Jane |last=Williams |date= September 1983 |title=Stress in Modern Welsh |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=University of Cambridge |doi=10.17863/CAM.16507 |hdl=1810/250821}}</ref> This high pitch is a remnant of the high-pitched word-final stress of early [[Old Welsh]] (derived from original penultimate stress in [[Common Brittonic]] by the loss of final syllables); the stress shift from final to penultimate occurred in the Old Welsh period without affecting the overall pitch of the word.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/dwew2/old_and_middle_welsh.pdf |title=Old and Middle Welsh |first=David |last=Willis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927030441/http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/dwew2/old_and_middle_welsh.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-27}}</ref> ==References== {{wikibooks|Welsh/Pronunciation}} {{reflist}} {{Welsh linguistics}}{{Language phonologies}} [[Category:Welsh grammar]] [[Category:Celtic phonologies]]'