Appendix:Welsh pronunciation

Welsh

Wikibooks

The Welsh language

The Welsh language (called Cymraeg in Welsh) has 28 letters. The Latin alphabet is used (i.e. as in English, French, Polish, etc.), but letters sometimes represent different sounds in Welsh, which can be confusing to English speakers.

There are no silent letters. Every letter has a sound, and the sound is vocalized in spoken Welsh. The letters K, Q, V, X and Z are not included in the Welsh alphabet, but are sometimes found in borrowed words. When present, these letters have their English sounds, except for Z, which tends to be /s/ in North Wales.

There are regional differences in Welsh pronunciation, but standard Welsh is understood by Welsh speakers everywhere. The pronunciation guide below approximates the Welsh letter sounds by using standard English examples.

IPA for Welsh

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Welsh pronunciations in Wiktionary entries.

See Welsh phonology at Wikipedia for a more thorough look at the sounds of Welsh.

Consonants IPA Examples English equivalent b bach, cwbl, mab Sbaen be Spain d dydd, cadw, tad stafell do stable dʒ diawl (colloquial), garej just ð ddydd, deuddeg the f ffenest, cyffredin, ei phen, triphlyg, find ɡ glân, cegin, cig sgôr get score h haul, gwahanol have j iaith, geiriadur you k cig, acw, ac can l leicio, ei lyfr, Alban, bol like ɬ llyfr, cyllell No English equivalent; similar to the voiceless l in please but with considerably more friction m mab, cymaint, dim me m̥ fy mhen wormhole n nerth, anadlu, gwyn no n̥ fy nhad unhappy ŋ fy ngwely, rhwng, dangos thing, finger ŋ̊ yng Nghymru, anghywir Shanghai p pen, copa, map please r radio, ei restr, garw, dŵr right but trilled r̥ rhestr, anrheg Voiceless r as in pretty but trilled s Saesnes, sisis see ʃ siop, brwsh she t tatws, at time tʃ matsien, cwtsh, wats chance θ ei thad, athro, peth think v faint, ei fab, afal, arf very w wedyn, ei wraig was χ chwaer, ei chath, bwlch No common English equivalent; Scots loch or Yinglish chutzpah z sw, bysys (South Wales) zoo

Monophthongs IPA Examples English equivalents a sant, pàs pant, fan aː mab, sâl father eː peth, trên face (but monophthongal, as in Welsh English) ə ynysig about ɛ perth, mès well iː hir, tîm llun, bûm, cryf, tŷ (South Wales) be ɪ dim, sgìl punt, gwyn (South Wales) it ɨː llun, bûm, cryf, tŷ (North Wales) tea, keen ɨ̞ punt, gwyn (North Wales) fin, pinch oː bro, ôl roar, thaw ɔ bron, bòs cloth uː mwg, dŵr you, fool ʊ cwm, mẁg good Diphthongs IPA (North Wales) IPA (South Wales) Examples English equivalents ai̯ ai̯ tai eye aɨ̯ cau aːɨ̯ cae aːi̯ dramâu aːi̯ câi au̯ au̯ llawn cow aːu̯ llaw ei̯ ei̯ tei (most accents) day eɨ̯ teulu, gaeaf (most accents) eːu̯ ɛu̯ llew əi̯ əi̯ y'i tei (some dialects) əɨ̯ y'u teulu, gaeaf (some dialects) ɛu̯ ɛu̯ ewch ɪu̯ ɪu̯ lliw ɨ̞u̯ Duw, llyw ou̯ ou̯ llowcio oːi̯ oːi̯ trôi oːɨ̯ ɔi̯ oes ɔi̯ lloi boy ɔɨ̯ cyffrous uːɨ̯ ʊi̯ mwy ʊɨ̯ mwyaf

Other symbols used in transcription of Welsh pronunciation
IPA	Explanation
ˈ	Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable), for example ysgrifenyddes /əsɡrɪvɛˈnəðɛs/

The Welsh alphabet

Vowels

The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, W, and Y. All the vowels can be lengthened by the addition of a circumflex, properly called acen grom ('convex accent', or 'crooked accent') in Welsh, but often known by the familiar/juvenile name to bach (lit. 'little roof').

a is always as in can, ham, or man, never long as in may. The Welsh words am and ac are pronounced as they would be in English.

e by itself is always as in get, pet, and let. However, the letter E has a different sound in the three diphthongs.

i has the I sound as in bin or pin, or a long E sound as in seen or queen.

o has the O sound as in hot or the long sound as in toe.

u has the sound of long EE, as in see.

w has the sound of OO as in boot and shoot, or of U as in pull. Note, however, that W can also be used as a consonant with the English W sound.

y has two different sounds. In one-syllable words (llyn), and in the last syllable of polysyllabic words (estyn), it is a shortened EE sound as at the end of happy. (Note the different sound in ywy, however). In other contexts (in non-final syllables of polysyllabic words) it is pronounced as the obscure vowel schwa, as in the first syllable of the English word about (e.g. ystyr, pronounced uh s t ii r, where uh represents schwa).

The preceding rules for y apply to South Welsh accents. In areas of North Wales, the non-schwa pronunciation of y is less like English EE and more of a guttural sound, formed further back in the mouth.

Diphthongs

Ae, Ai and Au are all pronounced as English eye.

Aw has the sound of ow as in how and now.

Eu and Ei are pronounced as long A, or the ay sound in say.

Ew is difficult for English speakers because there is no direct equivalent. It is approximately eh-oo or ow-oo, but the correct sound is between those examples.

Iw or I'w is ee-you with the ee sound very short. It is similar to the English yew.

Oe has the sound of Oi or Oy.

Ow is pronounced the same as English row, tow, or throw.

Wy has the sound of oo-ee or a short Wi sound as in win.

Yw or Y'w is the same as Iw above.

Ywy (considered a diphthong even though it has three letters) has the sound of ow-ee as in the name Howie.

Consonants

• B is the same as English B as in beer.
• C is the Welsh K. It is always hard, as in can or cane, never soft as in once.
• Ch is a glottal Kh sound, as in the Scottish loch.
• D is the same as English D as in dog.
• Dd has the sound of voiced TH, as in this or there.
• F always has the sound of V, as in have or very.
• Ff is the same as English F as in first.
• G is always hard as in go or good, never soft as in manage.
• Ng has the English NG sound as in singer, though in some words it has the NG+G sound of finger.
• H is the same as English H, but it is always pronounced, never silent.
• J is found only in loanwords and has the same value as English J in jet.
• L is the same as English L as in long.

• Ll is a sound with no English equivalent. It is a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative formed by pronouncing L while allowing air to escape around the tongue; the English thl of athlete (or slat pronounced with a lisp) is vaguely similar.
• M is the same as English M as in many.
• N is the same as English N as in no or never.
• P is the same as English P as in poor or party.
• Ph is the same as ff
• R is the same as English R as in right, but tapped.
• Rh is pronounced as HR; that is, a slight H sound comes before the R sound.
• S is the same as English S as in say.
• Si is the same as English Sh as in show.
• T is the same as English T as in turn.
• Th is English voiceless TH, as in think or three. Note difference from the voiced Dd.
• W, when used as a consonant, has the English W sound as in work.