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Historical background:
The Celts.
Offa's Dyke.
Llewelyn and Edward I.
Owain Glyndwr's rebellion.
The Tudors, the Acts of Union, and the spread of English.
The Welsh Knot.
The Welsh Revival
Culture, language and idiosyncrasy:
Geography
National emblems, songs or traditions that might illustrate their culture.
Languages: Welsh and Welsh English (lexical, grammatical and phonological
features).
https://www.historyextra.com/period/modern/wales-welsh-history-language-culture-
differences-england-industry-coal-independence/
https://www.wales.com/es/acerca-de/cultura/emblemas-nacionales-de-gales
Features of Welsh English The English spoken in Wales is not as deviant with respect to
more standard forms of English, especially when it is compared to either Scottish or Irish
English. There is little in the syntax which is specifically Welsh so that the main features
are phonological with one or two morphological characteristics and a few lexical items
such as bach and gel as terms of endearment.
Phonology The most general feature of Welsh English is the lilting intonation due to the
rise-fall at the end of statements as opposed to the fall in other forms of English. Long
vowels tend to occur only in stressed syllables. There is little distinction in length among
low vowels so that words like grand and grass sound as if they had the same vowel. A
central schwa is found for the /ʌ/-vowel in words like cut, but /kət/, /bət/. Long final
vowels occur such as /i:/ in sorry /sɒri:/. Yod before /u:/ is often deleted as
in regulate /reguleit/.
Welsh - the Celtic language - is found in two major varieties, a northern and a southern
one. The north of Wales tends to be more rural and the south, certainly in the regions of
Swansea and Cardiff, is mainly urban. In keeping with the division for Welsh there are
some distinctions between the English spoken in the north and that in the south of the
country. Southern Welsh English is h-less where Northern Welsh English tends to be h-
ful, i.e. /h/ occurs in initial position. In the south a clear /l/ is commonly used for all
types of English /l/ - i.e. in syllable-initial and in syllable-final positions which have a
clear and a dark /l/ in Received Pronunciation respectively - whereas in the north the
velar /ɫ/ may well predominate.
Morphology Multiple negation is found as in We don’t speak no English in the home. As is
frequently used as a relative pronoun, The woman as went abroad. Them acts as a
demonstrative adjective Them men who sing so well. Unstressed do can be employed to
express a durative aspect as in Irish English (see above) The children do be playing in
the yard after school. Fronting as a means of topicalisation is quite acceptable, Books on
linguistics he is keen on reading.
1- A Visit to Grandpa’s
Dylan Thomas is a renowned Welsh poet and writer who was born in Swansea in 1914.
In "A Visit to Grandpa's" Dylan Thomas narrates a memory of his childhood in
Carmarthenshire, where his parents came from─and where his grandfather lived. You'll see
that the story is narrated in first person, from the point of view of a child.
Read the story carefully and pay attention to the following aspects:
- Contrast between reality and imagination.
- Passages in which reality and imagination merge.
- Verbal wit; humorous passages.
