Welsh language

Welsh language
Celtic language of Wales.

Besieged for centuries by the English language, Welsh continues to be spoken by 18–20% of the population of Wales, or more than half a million people, though estimates of the actual number of first-language speakers vary widely. Welsh is traditionally divided into three periods: Old Welsh (с 800–1150), attested mainly in glosses and short textual passages; Middle Welsh (с 1150–1500), with a rich medieval literature including poetic texts originally composed much earlier; and Modern Welsh (from с 1500). Modern literary Welsh was largely fixed by William Salesbury's Bible translation. Vernacular Welsh, split along dialectal lines, has long been diverging from literary Welsh; many modern speakers cannot write or easily understand the traditional written language. The issue of an acceptable modern standard remains unresolved.

* * *

Welsh  Cymraeg,  

      member of the Brythonic group of the Celtic languages, spoken in Wales. Modern Welsh, like English, makes very little use of inflectional endings; British, the Brythonic language from which Welsh is descended, was, however, an inflecting language like Latin, with word endings marking such grammatical categories as noun case and verb tense. The spoken language occurs in several local dialects but has been declining on the whole since the accession of Henry Tudor (Henry VII), of Welsh descent, to the English throne in 1485. At present few people speak only Welsh.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Welsh language — Welsh Cymraeg, y Gymraeg Pronunciation [kəmˈrɑːɨɡ] Spoken in   …   Wikipedia

  • Welsh language —    Welsh is acknowledged as the strongest surviving Celtic language, partly thanks to the Welsh Language Act and the setting up of the Welsh Language Board, which insist, among other things, that the language appears on road signs, is taught in… …   Encyclopedia of contemporary British culture

  • Welsh Language Act — refers to two different acts of the United Kingdom Parliament:*Welsh Language Act 1967 *Welsh Language Act 1993 …   Wikipedia

  • Welsh Language Board — The Welsh Language Board ( cy. Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg) is a statutory body set up by the UK Government as part of the Welsh Language Act 1993. It is now an Assembly Sponsored Public Body. It began its life under John Walter Jones OBE and its… …   Wikipedia

  • Welsh Language Act 1993 — The Welsh Language Act 1993 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector.The Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 had made English… …   Wikipedia

  • Welsh Language Act 1967 — The Welsh Language Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (citation 1967 c. 66), which gave some rights to use the Welsh language in legal proceedings in Wales and gave the relevant Minister the right to authorise the… …   Wikipedia

  • Welsh Language Board — an organization appointed by the Welsh Assembly to encourage the use of Welsh in Wales. * * * …   Universalium

  • History of the Welsh language — The history of the Welsh language spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh …   Wikipedia

  • List of Welsh language poets (6th century to c.1600) — See also Welsh language poetry has, until quite recently, been regulated by specific verse forms (Canu Caeth), with the encouragement of the eisteddfod movement. The following list is as inclusive as possible for the years prior to 1600. It… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Welsh principal areas by percentage Welsh language — This is a List of Welsh principal areas by the percentage of those professing some skills in the Welsh language in Wales in the 2001 UK census. The census did not record Welsh speakers living outside of Wales.The census produced… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”