The Welsh Language

The Welsh Language
Author: Janet Davies
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2014-01-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1783160209

The existence of the Welsh-language can come as a surprise to those who assume that English is the foundation language of Britain. However, J. R. R. Tolkien described Welsh as the 'senior language of the men of Britain'. Visitors from outside Wales may be intrigued by the existence of Welsh and will want to find out how a language which has, for at least fifteen hundred years, been the closest neighbour of English, enjoys such vibrancy, bearing in mind that English has obliterated languages thousands of miles from the coasts of England. This book offers a broad historical survey of Welsh-language culture from sixth-century heroic poetry to television and pop culture in the early twenty-first century. The public status of the language is considered and the role of Welsh is compared with the roles of other of the non-state languages of Europe. This new edition of The Welsh Language offers a full assessment of the implications of the linguistic statistics produced by the 2011 Census. The volume contains maps and plans showing the demographic and geographic spread of Welsh over the ages, charts examining the links between words in Welsh and those in other Indo-European languages, and illustrations of key publications and figures in the history of the language. It concludes with brief guides to the pronunciation, the dialects and the grammar of Welsh.

The Welsh Learner's Dictionary

The Welsh Learner's Dictionary
Author: Heini Gruffudd
Publisher: Ylolfa
Total Pages: 256
Release: 1998
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780862433635

At last, a full, no-gimmick dictionary with 20,000 words and phrases. It has what learners really need: plenty of examples of words and phrases in context.

Colloquial Welsh

Colloquial Welsh
Author: Gareth King
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2015-08-27
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1317304691

Colloquial Welsh provides a step-by-step course in Welsh as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Welsh in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Key features include: • progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills • structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar • an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises • realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios • useful vocabulary lists throughout the text • additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Welsh will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Welsh. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

"Speak it in Welsh"

Author: Megan S. Lloyd
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2007
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780739117606

From the quarrelling captains in Henry V, to the linguistically challenged lovers in I Henry IV, to the monoglot vocalist Lady Mortimer, to the proud Sir Hugh Evans, Shakespeare offers Welsh characters whose voices, language use, and presence help reflect a sometimes marginalized aspect of British identity. "Speak It in Welsh" Wales and the Welsh Language in Shakespeare seeks to understand why Shakespeare included the Welsh voice in his plays.

The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature

The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature
Author: Geraint Evans
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 857
Release: 2019-04-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1107106761

This book is a comprehensive single-volume history of literature in the two major languages of Wales from post-Roman to post-devolution Britain.

Language, Economy, and Society

Language, Economy, and Society
Author: J. W. Aitchison
Publisher:
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2000
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN:

In this new edition the authors present new sets of language data both for individuals and for households in Wales and examine the impact of migration on the language, the relationship between social class and ability to speak Welsh, and the bases for the reproduction and maintenance of the language within the context of the family. The final chapter considers the prospects for the language in the light of new political and institutional developments (including the National Assembly for Wales), recent planning issues (most notably housing) and developments in the critically important field of education. This book is an essential reference source for those concerned with the changing status and vitality of the Welsh language and of other minority languages in Europe. It provides a framework and a factual context in which to set such issues as language planning and policy formulation at local and national levels.

An Introduction to the Celtic Languages

An Introduction to the Celtic Languages
Author: Paul Russell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2014-07-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317894553

This text provides a single-volume, single-author general introduction to the Celtic languages. The first half of the book considers the historical background of the language group as a whole. There follows a discussion of the two main sub-groups of Celtic, Goidelic (comprising Irish, Scottish, Gaelic and Manx) and Brittonic (Welsh, Cornish and Breton) together with a detailed survey of one representative from each group, Irish and Welsh. The second half considers a range of linguistic features which are often regarded as characteristic of Celtic: spelling systems, mutations, verbal nouns and word order.

Welsh Food Stories

Welsh Food Stories
Author: Carwyn Graves
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2022-05-26
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 191527902X

Welsh Food Stories explores more than two thousand years of history to discover the rich but forgotten heritage of Welsh foods – from oysters to cider, salted butter to salt-marsh lamb. Despite centuries of industry, ancient traditions have survived in pockets across the country among farmers, bakers, fisherfolk, brewers and growers who are taking Welsh food back to its roots, and trailblazing truly sustainable foods as they do so. In this important book, author Carwyn Graves travels Wales to uncover the country’s traditional foods and meet the people making them today. There are the owners of a local Carmarthenshire chip shop who never forget a customer, the couple behind Anglesey’s world-renowned salt company Halen Môn, and everyone else in between – all of them have unique and compelling stories to tell about how they contribute to the past, present and future of Welsh food. This is an evocative and insightful exploration of an often overlooked national cuisine, shining a spotlight on the importance – environmentally and socially – of keeping local food production alive.

The Use of Welsh

The Use of Welsh
Author: Martin John Ball
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Total Pages: 356
Release: 1988
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9780905028989

This book explores patterns of marked variation in the use of the Welsh language, looking at them from the linguistic viewpoint -- variation at different levels of language, and from the sociolinguistic viewpoint -- regional and social varieties.

A Bibliography of Welsh Literature in English Translation

A Bibliography of Welsh Literature in English Translation
Author: S. Rhian Reynolds
Publisher:
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2005
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN:

A Bibliography of Welsh Literature in English Translation is a groundbreaking volume that maps for the first time the translation history of Wales's two languages. This is also the first listing of Welsh-English literary translations and should be an indispensable tool not only for scholars but also for lay readers and for students of Celtic and Welsh literatures. As a resource that opens up for the first time one of the richest fields of translation in the British context, this bibliography is also a pioneering Welsh contribution to the burgeoning academic field of translation studies. The Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales (CREW), directed by Professor M. Wynn Thomas, received a prestitgious research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board for a one-year project in 2001 that was to culminate in a web-based database, an international conference and this published volume. S. Rhian Reynolds was employed as the postdoctoral research officer for the project, which grew far beyond the expected lifespan due to the wealth and quantity of the material uncovered. Translation practice has encompased the whole wealth of Welsh-language literature and among the thousands of translations recorded here are the acknowledged classics of European culture---The Mabinogion, the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, the hymns of William Williams Pantycelyn and the plays, fiction, and political writings of Saunders Lewis. Ever since Welsh-English translation was first instigated in the eighteenth century it has provided an invaluable interface between Wales and the wider world (even non-anglophone cultures usually discover Welsh-language literature through the medium of English), between Wales and the other countries of the British Isles and (most importantly of all, perhaps) between the two cultures of Wales itself.