I think that English dialects and accents should be cherished.They’re not the poor relation of the Queen’s English. The same can be said of other languages. I think it’s fascinating that Welsh is spoken differently in different areas of the country. Though I don’t know for sure, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Welsh of the Cardiffian media, professional and political “elites” - to use an oft maligned term - is affecting its development in the South.
And isn’t that the natural order of things? Shouldn’t languages grow organically? If the existing language doesn’t quite have the necessary resources, shouldn’t users create stuff as they need to? Some English purists bemoan the way the language has changed over the years. But, taken to its extreme, that would mean that we wouldn’t have Shakespeare because the 16th century English would still have spoken like Chaucer did.
One of the interesting things is the extent to which the written language (of any language) differs from the spoken. In several ways: grammar, vocabulary, and “pronunciation”. I put the latter in quotation marks because how can a written language have pronunciation?
Well, what I’m getting at of course is the extent to which the written form attempts to represent the pronunciation, and immediately we fall over the hurdle of different dialects.
We are often told that Welsh is more phonetic than English, and while I know what people mean when they say that, any time-served learner will have come across many exceptions to & variations from supposed “rules” of Welsh pronunciation.
But it’s true of course that English is terribly unphonetic, and various attempts have been made to “reform” its spelling, but in a way this is futile, since dialects will remain unrepresented (other than the so-called standard “RP” English, presumably. And this will differ from General American English, so are we to start spelling words differently from the Americans? (more than we do already, that is)?
Spelling reform is a fraught process. The most recent attempt with which I am somewhat familiar was the reform of German orthography around the turn of this century. It was supposed to aid consistency and help learners. In the end I think it was somewhat watered-down, and not all that far-reaching in its effects. Even so, it was strongly opposed in some quarters, e.g. quite a few established authors.
It will be interesting to see if there are any further attempts to reform or formalise changes in Welsh spelling over the coming years. “Good luck with that!”, as the saying goes.
I think there is a Welsh society that meet up in Oswestry. I am still doing 6 month course but if anyone knows of the name I would be grateful for future reference.
Yes I think that’s the one, I see there’s a group in Amythig too.
Diolch yn fawr iawn @Deborah-SSi, now it’s a case of being more confidentt, keep learning and taking the plunge. I will spread the word and make enquiries.
Know what you mean, but Oswestry has always felt a bit Welsh to me.
When I went to school in Oswestry, Cymraeg was often heard and very much so on market day when the livestock market was held. Lots of my teachers and school,friends were Welsh too.
Can’t find much info on concert yet but will have a good search later. Thanks for mentioning it.
Mainly because it was decided by a committee, which of course couldn’t agree, and so they compromised. They couldn’t even manage to get rid of the ß - absurdly they ended up ‘almost’ abolishing it! Committees, eh?
Seems like it was the circumflex they tried to get rid of in certain words only:
(no mention of the cedilla there, although I thought I had read about its demise (or perhaps partial demise) some years before that report.
I remember being told years ago that in some French words at least, the presence of the circumflex indicates that there was once an “s” in the word, and this often relates to a similar English word. This is the case with
