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The Ministry of higher and secondary education of

Republic of Uzbekistan

Uzbek state World Languages University

The faculty of English philology III

Course paper

Topic: Main features of Welsh English pronunciation

Toshkent 2016



Contents

Intruduction

1. Wales is a part of United Kingdom

2. Welsh English and it's pronunciation

2.1 The vowel system

2.2 The consonant system

2.3 Stress and intonation

2.4 Some examples and differences of Welsh English

Conclusion

Bibliography



Introduction

welsh english pronunciation phonological

This course paper is about main features of Welsh English pronunciation, its vowel system and consonant system.

The aim of writing this course paper is to analyze the phonological structure of Welsh English pronunciation.

In order to achieve the main aim of the work we should to full fill the following tasks:

· the history of Wales

· Pronunciation of Wales

· the vowel and consonant system differences of Welsh English

· the changes of stress and intonation of Welsh English

While writing this course paper we have used the e- versions of course books of foreign writes like The Pronunciation of English:Charles W. Kreidler, Old and Middle Welsh- David Willis, English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change: Nikolas Coupland, Alan Richard and articels and surveys of some researchers and as well as enternet matirials.

The theoretical aim of this work is that theoretical part of this course paper can be used in the lecture of Varieties of Modern English pronunciation.

What is more, in this work can be notesed a practical part, which can help in practical lessons, here also can be found the examples for differences of Welsh English and General Britain English pronuciation.

Structure of this course paper consist of an introduction, main part conclusion and references which were used during creating proses of this course work.



1. Wales is a part of United Kingdom and Britain

Wales is situated to the west of England and is around 170 miles (256 km) long and 60 miles (96 km) wide. It covers just over 8,000 square miles (20,722 kmІ) - that's about the same size as Massachusetts in the USA or half the size of Switzerland. Welsh is a member of the Britannic branch of the languages spoken nativelyin Wales by some in England. The language of Wales, more properly called Cymraeg in preference to Welsh (A Germanic word denoting "foreigner"), belongs to a branch of Celtic, an Indo-European language Old and Middle Welsh

David WillisDepartment of Linguistics, University of Cambridge. The Welsh themselves are descendants of the Galatians, to whom Paul wrote his famous letter. Their language is a distant cousin to Irish and Scots Gaelic and a close brother to Breton. Welsh is still used by about half a million people within Wales and possibly another few hundred thousand in England and other areas overseas.

In most heavily populated areas of Wales, such as the Southeast (containing the large urban centers of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea), the normal language of everyday life is English, but there are other areas, notably in the Western and Northern regions, (Gwynedd and Dyfed particularly) where the Welsh language remains strong and highly visible. The Welsh word for their country is Cymru (Kumree), the land of the Comrades; the people are known as Cymry (Kumree) and the language as Cymraeg (Kumrige). Regional differences in spoken Welsh do not make speakers in one area unintelligible to those in another (as is so often claimed), standard Welsh is understood by Welsh speakers everywhere.

Despite its formidable appearance to the uninitiated, Welsh is a language whose spelling is entirely regular and phonetic, so that once you know the rules, you can learn to read it and pronounce it without too much difficulty. For young children learning to read, Welsh provides far fewer difficulties than does English, as the latter's many inconsistencies in spelling are not found in Welsh, in which all letters are pronounced.

According to the 2011 UK Census counted 3.1 million residents of Wales. Of these, 73% (2.2 million) reported having no Welsh language skills. In 2011, 27% (837,000) of the total population of Wales were born outside of Wales, and of these, 636,000 (76%) were born in England. The Welsh Language Use Surveys 2012.p.7 Of the residents of Wales aged three and over, 19% (562,000) reported being able to speak Welsh, and 77% of these were able to speak, read and write the language (making 431,000 - 15% of the total population). This can be compared with the 2001 Census, in which 20.8% of the population (582,000) reported being able to speak Welsh. In surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006, 57% (315,000) of Welsh speakers described themselves as fluent in the written language.

Relationship to other languages (Perthynas i ieithoedd eraill)

Welsh is fairly closely related to Cornish and Breton, and more distantly related to Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.

Here is an illustration of some of the differences and similarities between the Celtic languages using the phrases 'What is your name?' and 'My name is... / I'm...':

· Irish - Cйn t-ainm atб ort?, Is mise...

· Gloss: What-the name is on-you?, Am I [emphatic]..."

· Scottish Gaelic - Dи an t-ainm a th'ort, Is mise...

· Gloss: What the name is on-you?, Am I [emphatic]..."

· Manx - Cre'n ennym t'ort?, Ta'n ennym orrym... / ... Mish

· Gloss: What'the name is on-you?, Is the name on-me... /... I [emphatic]"

· Breton - Petra eo da anv?, ... Eo ma anv

· Gloss: What is your name?,... Is my name"

· Cornish - Pyth yw dha hanow?, Ow hanow yw...

· Gloss: What is your name?, My name is..."

· Welsh - Beth yw dy enw (di)?, Fy enw (i) yw...

· Gloss: What is your name (you)?, My name (me) is..."

As it shown above the only word in these examples that is similar in all the languages is name: ainm(Irish), ainm (Scottish Gaelic), ennym (Manx), anv (Breton), hanow (Cornish) andenw (Welsh).

The word for what- Cйn (Irish), De (Scottish Gaelic), Cre (Manx), Petra (Breton),Pyth (Cornish) and Beth (Welsh) - illustrates one of the sound differences between the branches of the Celtic languages. In the Gaelic languages, apart from Scottish Gaelic, it starts with C, which is why they are called Q-Celtic languages (this sound is sometimes written with a Q in Manx), while in the Brythonic languges it starts with p or b, which is why they are known as P-Celtic. Both sounds developed from the Proto-Celtic [k?].There are more similarities within each branch of these languages than between the branches (Gaelic and Brythonic), and the Gaelic languages are closer to one another than are the Brythonic languages. The phonology of Welsh is characterised by a number of sounds that do not occur in English and are typologically rare in European languages, such as the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [?] and several voiceless sonorants (nasals and liquids), some of which result from consonant mutation. Stress usually falls on the penultimate syllable in polysyllabic words, while the word-final unstressed syllable receives a higher pitch than the stressed syllable.



2. Welsh English and it' pronunciation

Wales is a bilingual area and Wales people as a second language study the English and they have own dialect of pronouncing English. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the distinctive words and grammar, there is a variety of accents found across Wales from the Cardiff dialect to that of the South Wales Valleys and to West Wales. John Edwards has written and spoken entertainingly about a specific form of Welsh English -- that found in the south-east area of Wales -- as Wenglish. Some people, generally outside Wales, use the same word to refer to any form of English spoken in Wales. Accent varies according to region, ethnicity, and education. RP is spoken mainly by English expatriates and its influence is strongest in the south-east. The following generalizations refer to native Welsh people:

1) Speakers of Welsh are often described as having a lilting or singsong intonation in their English, an effect created by three tendencies: a rise--fall tone at the end of statements (where RP has a fall); long vowels only in stressed syllables, the vowels in the second syllables of such words as ?increase and ?expert being short; reduced vowels avoided in polysyllabic words, speakers preferring, for example, /t?k?t/ for ticket and /k?n?k??n/ for connection.

2) Welsh English is usually non-rhotic, but people who regularly speak Welsh are likely to have a postvocalic r (in such words as worker).

3) The accents of South Wales are generally aitchless. In North Wales, word-initial /h/ is not usually dropped, partly because it occurs in Welsh.

4) There is a tendency towards the monophthongs /e/ and /o/ and away from the diphthongs /e?/ and /?shtu;/ in such words as late and hope.

5) The vowel /a/ is often used for both gas and glass.

6) Schwa is often preferred to /?/ in such words as but and cut.

7) Diphthongs are often turned into two syllables with /bi?/ for beer becoming /bij?/ and /pu?/ for poor becoming /puw?/.

8) There is a preference for /u/ over /ju/ in such words as actually/aktuali/ and speculate /sp?kulet/.

9) The inventory of consonants is augmented from Welsh by the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative ? (spelt ll as in Llangollen), the voiceless alveolar roll /r?/ (spelt rh as in Rhyl), and the voiceless velar fricative /x/ (spelt ch as in Pentyrch). 10) In many parts of the south, /l/ tends to be light and clear in such words as light and fall; in the north, it tends to be dark in both.

11) The voiced plosives /b, d, g/ are often aspirated in initial position, as with /b^had/ for bad, often heard by non-Welsh people as `pad'. The voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ are often aspirated in all positions, as with /p^h?p^h/ for pip. Consonants between vowels are often lengthened, as in /m?s??n/ for missing, and /ap?i?/ for happy.

12) The -ing participle is often realized as /?n/, as in /dans?n/ for dancing.

13) There is a tendency, especially in the north, to substitute /s/ and /?/ for /z/ and /?/, so that is becomes `iss' and division `divishon'.

14) The -y ending in words such as happy and lovely is realized by /??/: `appee', `lovelee'.

2.1 The vowels system

"English in Wales: 2015-02-22.p130Vowels may be classified as either rounded or unrounded, as either lax or tense, and as either long or short. In articulating a rounded vowel, the lips are rounded. The rounded vowels of Present-Day English are:

1. /u/ (the phoneme spelled oo in food);

2. /U/ (the phoneme spelled u in put);

3. /o/ (the phoneme spelled oa in boat);

4. /ф/ (the phoneme spelled au in caught). Note that there are different degrees of rounding in these different vowels. The other vowels of Present-Day English are unrounded.

In articulating a tense vowel, the tongue and other parts of the vocal apparatus are relatively tense. With a lax vowel, on the other hand, the muscles of the vocal apparatus are relatively loose. The lax vowels in Present-Day English are:

1. /I/ (the phoneme spelled i in bit);

2. /e/ (the phoneme spelled e in bet);

3. /U/ (the phoneme spelled u in put);

4. /ф/ (the phoneme spelled au in caught).

Note that the degree of tenseness varies considerably in these different vowels. The other vowels of Present-Day English are relatively tense (also in different degrees). The distinction between long and short vowels cannot be illustrated in Present-Day English, because vowel-length is no longer "phonemic" for speakers of English. That is, there are no "minimal pairs" of words that differ only with respect to the length of a vowel, and so speakers of PDE typically do not "hear" differences in vowel length. Old and Middle Welsh, David Willis, 2006.4 The distinction between long and short vowels was presumably phonemic in Old English and Middle English. Vowel length is presumably a matter of duration: that is, how long the vowel-sound is sustained in its articulation. Apart from the above distinctions, vowels may be classified according to the how far the tongue is from the roof of the mouth during articulation, and how far back in the oral cavity the vowel is articulated. If the lower jaw is relatively low (that is, if the mouth is relatively widely open), the tongue will be relatively far from the roof of the mouth. Vowels for which the jaw is relatively low during articulation are called, unsurprisingly, low vowels; and vowels for which the jaw is relatively high (the mouth is more nearly closed) are called high vowels. This distinction can be appreciated, for example, by gripping the chin and successively articulating "ha-ha, hee-hee, ha-ha, hee-hee." The phoneme spelled a in ha is a low vowel, and the phoneme spelled ee in hee is a high vowel. The jaw can be felt to move up and down correspondingly.

Long vowels

/i?/ ModW. cig `meat' (cognate with OIr. cнcce `flesh'), gwin `wine' (loan from Latin vоnum), cil `corner' (OIr. cъl) (/i?/ arises from inherited /i?/ and /u?/, plus Latin loans with -о-);

/e?/ (diphthongizes to /u?/) llwyd `grey' (the first element in Brythonic Letocetum

/le?tok??tum/ `Lichfield');

/??/ (diphthongizes to /o?/) coed `trees' < *k??to- (second element in Letocetum), hoedl `life' < *s??tlo- (< *saitlo-);

/??/ (diphthongizes to /au/ in stressed syllables) llawn `full' < *l??no- (OIr. lбn), mawr `big' < *m??r- (OIr. mбr), caws `cheese' (Latin cвseus) (arises from

diphthongization of earlier /a?/);

/??/ Llun `Monday' (Latin (dies) Lыnae), ffurf `form' (Latin fфrma), budd `use, value' <*boud- (OIr. bъaid), cul `narrow' < *koilo- (OIr. cуil) (arises from

monophthonigization of various diphthongs, plus Latin loans with -ф- or -ы-).

The vowel /??/ shortened to [?] in pretonic syllables, for instance, Latin Nвtвlicia > Primitive Welsh */n?d?lig/, shown by the short vowel in the first syllable when this word is loaned into Old Irish as Notlaic. With diphthongization of /??/ and subsequent allophonic reallocation of length, this led to the creation of a new phoneme /?/ (secondary split).

Short vowels

/i/ or /?/ sych `dry' (Latin siccus), byd (OIr. bith), gwyn `white' (OIr. find) (also arises from i-affection);

/e/ ebol `foal' (OIr. ech `horse'), hen `old' (OIr. sen);

/a/ anadl `breath' (OIr. anбl), aradr `plough' (OIr. arathar);

/o/ rhod `wheel' (OIr. roth);

/u/ ffrwd /fru:d/ `stream'. Old and Middle Welsh, David Willis, 2006.4

A vibration is felt in the oral cavity when a vowel is articulated. If this vibration is felt toward the front of the cavity, say in the area of the alveolar ridge, the vowel is described as a front vowel. If the vibration is felt toward the back of the cavity, say in the area of the velum, the vowel is described as a back vowel. This distinction can be appreciated by successively articulating "ho-ho, hee-hee, ho-ho, hee-hee," and paying attention to where the vibration is felt most strongly in the oral cavity. The phoneme spelled o in ho is a back vowel, and the phoneme spelled ee in hee is a front vowel. The vowels /??/ and /??/ occur only in Northern dialects; in Southern dialects they are replaced by /?/ and /i?/ respectively. In Southern dialects, the contrast between long and short vowels is found in stressed syllables only; in Northern dialects, the contrast is found only in stressed word-final syllables (including monosyllabic words). The vowel /?/ does not occur in the final syllable of words (except a few monosyllabic proclitics). In Southern dialects, schwa can be long or short. In Northern dialects, schwa is always short, because long vowels appear only in word-final syllables, a position where schwa never appears.

	Front	Central	Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	I	i:	??	??	?	u:
Mid	?	e:	?	(??)	?	o:
Open			a	??

The vowels /??/ and /??/ occur only in Northern dialects; in Southern dialects they are replaced by /?/ and /i?/ respectively. In Southern dialects, the contrast between long and short vowels is found in stressed syllables only; in Northern dialects, the contrast is found only in stressed word-final syllables (including monosyllabic words). The vowel /?/ does not occur in the final syllable of words (except a few monosyllabic proclitics). In Southern dialects, schwa can be long or short. In Northern dialects, schwa is always short, because long vowels appear only in word-final syllables, a position where schwa never appears.

Short monophthongs

The vowel of cat /ж/ is pronounced as a more central near-open front unrounded vowel [ж?].^[1] In Cardiff, bag is pronounced with a long vowel [a?].^[2] In Powys, a pronunciation resembling its New Zealand and South African analogue is sometimes heard, i.e. trap is pronounced /tr?p/^[3] The vowel of end /?/ is a more open vowel and thus closer to cardinal vowel [?] than RP^[1]. The vowel of "kit" /?/ often sounds closer to the schwa sound of above, an advanced close-mid central unrounded vowel [??]^[1] The vowel of hot /?/ is raised towards /?/ and can thus be transcribed as [??] or [??].^[1] The vowel of "bus" /?/ is pronounced [?]^[4] and is encountered as a hypercorrection in northern areas for foot.^[3] It is sometimes manifested in border areas of north and mid Wales as an open front unrounded vowel /a/ or as a near-close near-back vowel /?/in northeast Wales, under influence of Cheshire and Merseyside accents.^[3] In accents that distinguish between foot and strut, the vowel of foot is a more lowered vowel [??],^[4] particularly in the north^[3] The schwa of better may be different from that of above in some accents; the former may be pronounced as [?], the same vowel as that of bus.^[1] The schwi tends to be supplanted by an /?/ in final closed syllables, e.g. brightest /?b??i.t?st/. The uncertainty over which vowel to use often leads to 'hypercorrections' involving the schwa, e.g. programme is often pronounced /?pro?.?r?m/

Long monophthongs

The vowel of car is often pronounced as a open central unrounded vowel [??] and more often as a long open front unrounded vowel/a?/

In broader varieties, particularly in Cardiff, the vowel of bird is similar to South African and New Zealand, i.e. a lowered close-mid front rounded vowel [ш?] Most other long monophthongs are similar to that of Received Pronunciation, but words with the RP /??/ are sometimes pronounced as [o?] and the RP /e?/ as [e?]. An example that illustrates this tendency is the Abercrave pronunciation of play-place [?ple??ple?s]

In northern varieties, /??/ as in coat and /??/ as in caught/court may be merged into /??/ (phonetically [o?]).

In Rhymney, the diphthong of there is monophthongised [??]

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are vowel-phonemes articulated with a glide from one vowel to another. There are three diphthongs in Present-Day English.

1. /aI/ (the phoneme spelled i in bite). In articulating this phoneme, a speaker begins by articulating /a/ (the phoneme spelled a in father), and glides to /I/ (the phoneme spelled i inbit).

2. /aU/ (the phoneme spelled ou in house). In articulating this phoneme, a speaker begins by articulating /a/ (the phoneme spelled a in father), and glides to /U/ (the phoneme spelled uin put).

3. /фI/ (the phoneme spelled oy in boy). In articulating this phoneme, a speaker begins by articulating /ф/ (the phoneme spelled au in caught), and glides to /I/ (the phoneme spelled i in bit)

Diphthongs	Second component
First component	front	central	back
close	?i	??	?u, ?u
mid	?i/?i, ?i	??/??, ??	?u/?u, ?u
open	ai	a?, ???	au

The diphthongs containing /?/ occur only in Northern dialects; in Southern dialects /??/ is replaced by /?i/, /?u, ??~??, ??/ are merged with /?u, ?i~?i, ?i/, and /a?, ???/ are merged with/ai/. There is a general tendency in the South to simplify diphthongs in everyday speech, e.g. Northern /?w???и/ corresponding to /?wa?и/ in the South, or Northern /?w?iиj?/ and Southern /?wiи?/. Fronting diphthongs tend to resemble Received Pronunciation, apart from the vowel of bite that has a more centralised onset [ж??]

*Backing diphthongs are more varied:

* The vowel of low in RP, other than being rendered as a monophthong, like described above, is often pronounced as [o??]

* The word town is pronounced similarly to the New Zealand pronunciation of tone, i.e. with a near-open central onset [???]

The /ju?/ of RP in the word due is usually pronounced as a true diphthong [л??]

Welsh English vowels

Pure vowels
Help key	Welsh	Examples
/?/	/?/ ~ /??/ ~ /?/	bid, pit
/i?/	/i/	bead, peat
/?/	/?/	bed, pet
/e?/	/e/~/e?/	fate, gate
	/e?/	bay, hey
/ж/	/a/	bad, pat, barrow, marry
/??/	/a?/	balm, father, pa
/?/	/?/	bod, pot, cot
/??/	/??/	bawd, paw, caught
/o?/	/o/~/o?/	beau, hoe, poke
	/o?/	soul,low,tow
/?/	/?/	good, foot, put
/u?/	/u?/	booed, food
/?/	/?/~/?/	bud, putt
Diphthongs
/a?/	/a?/ ~ /??/	buy, ride, write
/a?/	/a??/ ~ /???/~ /???/	how, pout
/??/	/??/	boy, hoy
/ju?/	/?u/~/л??/	hue, pew, new
R-coloured vowels
/??r/	/???(?)/	beer, mere
/??r/	/???(?)/	bear, mare, Mary
/?r/	/a?(?)/	bar, mar
/?r/	/??(?)/	moral, forage,born, for
/??r/	/o?(?)/	boar, four, more
/??r/	/???(?)/	boor, moor
/?r/	/??/~/ш?/	bird, herd, furry
/?r/(?)	/?(?)/	runner, mercer

2.2 The Consonants system

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All consonants may be classified as either voiced or voiceless. In articulating a voiced consonant, the vocal cords are vibrating. (The vibration may easily be felt by gripping the larynx--the "Adam's apple"--between the fingers and the thumb while articulating the consonant.) In articulating an unvoiced consonant, the vocal cords are not vibrating. Present-Day English has several consonant pairs that are articulated alike except that one is voiced and the other is unvoiced. Some examples are the phoneme spelled b in bat (voiced) and the phoneme spelled p in pat (unvoiced); the phoneme spelled d in dab (voiced) and the phoneme spelled t in tab (unvoiced); the phoneme spelled th in this (voiced) and the phoneme spelled th in thistle (unvoiced). In welsh English a strong tendency (shared with Scottish English and some South African accents) towards using an alveolar tap [?] (a 'tapped r') in place of an approximant [?] (the r used in most accents in England). Rhoticity is largely uncommon, apart from some speakers in Port Talbot who supplant the front vowel of bird with /?/, like in many varieties of North American English and accents influenced by WelshSome gemination between vowels is often encountered, e.g. money is pronounced [?m?.n?i?]

In northern varieties influenced by Welsh, pens and pence merge into /p?ns/ and chin and gin into /d??n/In the north-east, under influence of such accents as Scouse, ng-coalescence does not take place, so sing is pronounced /s???/Also in northern accents, /l/ is frequently strongly velarised [??]. In much of the south-east, clear and dark L alternate much like they do in RP The consonants are generally the same as RP but Welsh consonants like [?] and [x] are encountered in loan words such as Llangefni and Harlech

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
			central	lateral
Nasal	voiceless	m?		n?				??
	voiced	m		n				?
Plosive	voiceless	p		t				k
	voiced	b		d				g
Affricate	voiceless					(t??)
	voiced					(d??)
Fricative	voiceless	f	и	s	?	?			ч	h
	voiced	v	р	(z)
Trill	voiceless			r?
	voiced			r
Approximant	voiced				l		j	w

Symbols in parentheses are either allophones, or found only in loanwords. The sound /z/ generally occurs in loanwords, e.g. sw /zu?/ ('zoo'), although this is usually realised as /s/in northern accents, e.g. /su?/. The postalveolar affricates /t?/ and /d?/ occur mainly in loanwords, e.g. tships /t??ps/ ('chips') and jeli /?d??li/ ('jelly'), but also in some dialects as developments from /tj/ and /dj/, e.g. /d?aul/ from diafol /?djav?l/ ('devil'). The voiceless nasals /m? n? ??/ occur mostly word-initially, as a consequence of nasal mutation. Initial /чw/(or /ч?/) is colloquially realised as [?] in the south, e.g. chwech /чwe?ч/ ('six') pronounced [?e?ч].

The stops /p t k/ are distinguished from /b d ?/ by means of aspiration more consistently than by voicing, as /b d ?/ are actually devoiced in most contexts. This devoiced nature is recognised in the spelling of /sp sk/ as ?sb sg?, although /st/ is orthographically ?st? for historical reasons.

The fricatives /v р/ may also be devoiced in some contexts, but are distinguished from /f и/ by having a shorter frication length than the latter. There is a tendency in the spoken language not to pronounce these voiced fricatives in certain contexts, e.g. nesaf /n?sav/ ('next') realised as /?n?sa/ or i fyny /i? ?v?n?/ ('up') from mynydd /m?n??р/ ('mountain'). Historically, this occurred so often with the voiced uvular fricative that it disappeared entirely from the language. Some speakers realise the voiceless lateral fricative /?/ as anvoiceless palatal fricative [з] in some or all contexts.^[2] The occurrence and distribution of the phoneme /?/ varies from area to area. Very few native words are pronounced with /?/by all speakers, e.g. siarad /??arad/ ('talk'), although it appears in borrowings, e.g. siop /??p/ ('shop'). In northern accents, it can occur when /s/ precedes /i? j/ or /j/, e.g. mi es i /mi ?e?? i?/ ('I went'). In some southern dialects it is produced when /s/ follows /?/ or /i?/, e.g. mis /mi??/ ('month'). The voiceless fricative /ч/ is realised as uvular except by some southwestern speakers, who produce the sound in the velar region. The /r/ phoneme is reportedly pronounced as a voiced uvular fricative by some speakers in Dyfed and Gwynedd, in a pronunciation known as tafod tew ('thick tongue').

In northern Welsh, the alveolar lateral approximant is consistently velarised or "dark" in all positions, but remains unvelarised or "clear" in the south.

Mutation of consonants

The consonants /gw/, /rh?/ and /mh? nh? ??h/, although phonetically sequences of two sounds as in Modern Welsh, often function as single units in the phonological system.

The fricative /?/ is a Middle Welsh innovation, from loanwords such as siaced `jacket', siambr `chamber' or siarad `speak', and later also from the change of /s/ to /?/ before /i/ in some varieties.

Old Welsh had a voiced velar fricative /?/ which was lost by the start of Middle Welsh. It is indicated in some environments in Old Welsh orthography as <g>, for instance, in word final position after /i/ in Gelhig /ge?i?/ `Gelli (personal name)' and in guetig /gwedi?/ or guotig /gwodi?/ `after(wards)' (ModW. wedi). It was lost in all contexts over an extended period from the sixth to the ninth century. (Jackson 1953: 469-70).

Initial-consonant mutations

Like Modern Welsh, Old and Middle Welsh had a system of initial-consonant mutations, according to which the initial segment of a word, if one of nine mutable consonants, changed in certain morphosyntactic environments. At one time, these changes were phonologically conditioned, a consonant undergoing a change if the preceding word ending in a vowel, a nasal or /s/ or /k/. At word boundaries, the conditioning environments were lost, in many cases with the loss of final syllables. The phonological changes remained, however, and were reinterpreted as having lexical or grammatical triggers, apeparing after certain items (prepositions, numeral, pronominal proclitics) or in certain grammatical environments (associated for instance with gender or with various subject or object positions).

Although there are significant historical differences in the morphosyntactic environments in which the mutations are found, the phonological changes that instantiate the mutations are largely the same at all periods. There are three mutations, soft, aspirate and nasal:

Under soft mutation:

voiceless stops shift to voiced stops (/p t k/ > /b d g/), for instance, MW. penn > benn `head', ty > dy `house', cath > gath `cat'; voiced stops shift to fricatives (/b d g/ > OW. /в d ?/, MW. /в d/ and zero), for instance.

bed /be:d/ > ved /вe:d/ `grave', da /da/ > da /da:/ `good', glas > OW. glas /?la:s/, MW. Las /la:s/ `blue'; /m/ shifts to a nasalized voiced bilabial fricative /вЮ/, which later merges with /в/ (ModW. /v/), for instance, MW. mab /ma:b/ > OW. mab /вЮa:b/, MW. vab /вa:b/ `son'; /?/ shifts to /l/, for instance. llad > lad `kill';

/rh?/ shifts to /r/, for instance, MW. rann /rh?ann/ > rann /rann/ `part';

Aspirate mutation shifts voiceless stops to fricatives (/p t k/ > /? и x/), for instance, penn > phenn /?enn/ `head' (ModW. /fen/), ty > thy `house', cath > chath `cat';

Nasal mutation shifts voiceless and voiced stops to the corresponding nasals (/p t k/ > /mh? nh? ??h/ and /b d g/ > /m n ?/), for instance, MW. penn /penn/ > uym penn /v?'mh?enn/ `my head', teulu /te?l?/ > uyn teulu /v?'nh?e?l?/ `my family', korf /kor?/ uyg korf /v?'??hor?/ `my body', brawt /braud/ > uym brawt /v?'mraud/ `my brother', diua /di:вa/ uyn diua /v?'ni:вa/ `(to) destroy me', gallu /ga??/ > uyg gallu /v?'?a??/ `my ability'.

The most significant difference between Old and Middle Welsh English is that the result of soft mutation of /g/ is /?/ in Old Welsh, whereas /g/ disappears under soft mutation in both Middle and Modern Welsh. In Old Welsh, the soft mutations of /m/ and /b/ were probably kept distinct as /вЮ/ and /в/ respectively. In Middle Welsh English, the outcome of mutation was the same for both /m/ and /b/, namely /в/ (corresponding to ModWE. /v/).

Mutation caused problems for Old and Middle Welsh orthography. Soft mutation of /d/ and /rh?/ is never marked; soft mutation of other consonants is marked inconsistently. Nasal mutation is marked using several different systems. Phonetically, the sound changes leading to soft and aspirate mutation are lenitions, that is, weakening of articulation. These lenitions are of one of two types: either changes involving relaxation of the vocal folds (voicing) or changes involving weakening of them manner of articulation from stop to fricative (spirantization). The sound changes leading to nasal mutation are assimilations of stops to preceding nasal consonants.

Soft mutation

Soft mutation is the result of lenition of stops in intervocalic position and before /r/ or /l/. In these contexts, Brythonic voiceless stops became voiced stops (intervocalic voicing) and voiced stops and /m/ became fricatives (voiced spirantization) in all varieties of late Brythonic. Latin loanwords into Brythonic are treated the same as native vocabulary. These changes occurred both in word-internal position and across word boundaries: word-internally:

Latin catзna > ModW. cadwyn `chain' ([t] > [d] intervocalically);

Latin vitrum > gwydr `glass' ([t] > [d] before [r]);

Latin fides > ffydd `faith' ([d] > [d] intervocalically);

Brythonic *gabros > gafr ([b] > [v] before [r]). across word-boundaries:

Brythonic *tekos > ModW. /te:g/ teg `fair', but, after a feminine noun, *tabarnв tekв > /tavarn de:g/ tafarn deg `fair tavern';

Brythonic *mammв > /mam/ mam `mother', but, after *esjo `his', *esjo mammв > /i vam/ ei fam `his mother'.

In general, the conditioning environment for soft mutation in word-initial position disappeared with the loss of final syllables in late Brythonic (mid sixth century). The phonological alternations associated with these sound changes were retained and reinterpreted as part of the grammatical system. Hence, for instance, soft mutation originally triggered by the vocalic ending of a feminine adjective became established as a grammatical feature of an adjective after a feminine noun. Reorganization of the morphosyntactic environments for soft mutation continues throughout the history of Welsh, soft mutation spreading analogically to environments that were not originally intervocalic or disappearing from environments that were originally intervocalic.

Aspirate mutation

Aspirate mutation arose as the result of sound changes that turned voiceless stops into fricatives (voiceless spirantization) in the following environments:

(1) voiceless geminates > fricatives, for instance, Latin cloppus > ModW. /klo:f/ cloff `lame', Brythonic *kattos > /ka:и/ cath `cat', *brokkos > /bro:x/ broch `badger';

(2) voiceless stops after /r l/ became fricatives, for instance, Latin purpura > ModW. /porfor/ porffor `purple', Brythonic *artos > /arи/ arth `bear', Latin calcem > /kalx/ calch `lime' (this change also affects voiced stops, for instance, Brythonic *bardos > /bard/ bardd `poet');

(3) voiceless stops after word-final /s k x/ became fricatives, via the following developments:

/-s p/ > [-h p] > [pp] > [?] > /f/

/-s t/ > [-h t] > [tt] > /и/

/-s k/ > [-h k] > [kk] > /x/

In certain environments where a preceding word ended in /s k x/, this last change gave rise to aspirate mutation, for instance:

Brythonic *esjвs tegos > ModW. /i и?/ ei thy `her house' (ty `house') via the change /-s t/ >/и/;

Brythonic *sweks tabarnвs > MW. /xwe иavarn/ chwe thafarn `six taverns' (tafarn `tavern') via the change /-s t/ > /и/;

Brythonic *ak tortв > ModW. /a иorи/ a thorth `and a loaf' (torth `loaf') via the change /-k t/> /и/.

The original triggering consonant disappeared in the sound change, and the alternation between /p t k/ and /f и x/ became morphsyntactic, triggered by a range of lexical items including ei `her', chwe `six' and a(c) `and'. Aspirate mutation fails to arise in some contexts with a preceding */s/ in Brythonic, for instance, an adjective after a masculine noun does not undergo aspirate mutation: *eskopos tekos > ModW. /esgob te:g/ esgob teg `fair bishop' not **/esgob иe:g/.

This is probably because, unlike changes leading to soft mutation, the change leading to aspirate mutation occurs only within a phonological word, between a clitic and a free form, but not between two stressbearing words.

Nasal mutation

Nasal mutation arises by sound changes which assimilate stops to a precceding nasal, which itself coalesces with the following word (nasal assimilation). This occurred both wordinternally and between proclitics and their hosts and between numerals and their nouns. For instance, in word-internal position, we find *windos > MW. gwynn `white' and *santeros > hanner `half'. After the negative suffix an-, we find an- + tec > anhec `unfair' and an- + doeth > anoeth `unwise'. With a proclitic, we find Brythonic *men tegos > ModW. fy nhy `my house' with nasal mutation of ty. There were two separate nasal assimilations, and this has an effect on the distribution of nasal mutation. Assimilation of voiced stops to a preceding nasal (/mb nd ?g/ > /m(m) n(n) ?(?)/) occurred earlier than assimilation of voiceless stops to a preceding nasal (/mp nt nk/ > /mh? nh? ??h/). Jackson dated the former to the late fifth century, the latter to the eighth or early ninth century. Evidence comes from items that trigger nasal mutation only with a following voiced (not voiceless) stop. Proclitics, such as fy(n) `my' and yn `in', were not affected by loss of final syllables and hence ended in /n/ throughout this time. Stress-bearing numerals, such as *sextan `seven', *nawan `nine' and *decan `ten', however, lost their final syllable, hence ended in /n/ when voiced nasalization arose but not when voiceless nasalization arose.

Therefore, in Middle Welsh, only a restricted group of nouns, all beginning with a voiced stop, undergo mutation after these numerals: seith mu `seven cattle' < bu `cattle', seith nyn `seven men' < dyn `man'.

Distinctive vocabulary and grammar

Aside from lexical borrowings from Welsh like bach (little, wee), eisteddfod, nain and taid (grandmother and grandfather respectively), there exist distinctive grammatical conventions in vernacular Welsh English. Examples of this include the use by some speakers of the tag question isn't it? regardless of the form of the preceding statement and the placement of the subject and the verb after the predicate for emphasis, e.g. Fed up, I am or Running on Friday, he is.^[11]

In South Wales the word "where" may often be expanded to "where to", as in the question, "Where to is your Mam?". The word "butty" ("byti" in Welsh orthography, probably related to "buddy"^{[citation needed]}) is used to mean "friend" or "mate"^[13]

There is no standard variety of English that is specific to Wales, but such features are readily recognized by Anglophones from the rest of the UK as being from Wales, including the (actually rarely used) phrase look you which is a translation of a Welsh language tag. The word "tidy" has been described as "One of the most over-worked Wenglish words" and can have a range of meanings including - fine or splendid, long, decent, and plenty or large amount. A "tidy swill" is a wash involving at least face and hands.

3. Stress

Stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. In English, stressed syllables are louder than non-stressed syllables. Also, they are longer and have a higher pitch. "English in Wales: 2015-02-22.p138.

English is a stress-timed language. That means that stressed syllables appear at a roughly steady tempo, whereas non-stressed syllables are shortened. In the English language, there is one phenomenon concerning stress that you can observe:

There are many verbs that consist of two syllables. Mostly, the stress is on the secondsyllable.

Due to historical developments, the same word has become a noun. The noun, however, is stressed differently: the stress is on the first syllable. For example: to record - a record; to permit - a permit; to address - an address.

In Old Welsh, the stress accent shifted back to the penultimate syllable, although the pitch accent remained word-final, resulting in the dissociation of stress and pitch accent characteristic of Welsh today.

Sound changes that differentiate final syllables, including the only syllable of monosyllabic words, from nonfinal syllables are generally dated to before the Old Welsh accent shift, whereas those which differentiate penultimate syllables and the only syllable of monosyllabic words from other syllables are generally dated to after it. The following changes target syllables according to their stress before the accent shift, hence must predate i Old and Middle Welsh

David WillisDepartment of Linguistics, University of Cambridget:

(1) Unstressed high vowels /u/ and /?/ weaken in nonfinal syllables, first to [?] (rounded mid central vowel) and [?] (unrounded mid central vowel, schwa) respectively, ultimately merging as [?]. That is, /u/ and /?/ survive in stressed monosyllabic words, but reduce in nonfinal syllables of polysyllabic words. Since these are the unstressed syllables before the accent shift, this change must predate it.