:Welsh phonology

Welsh has the following consonant phonemes:{{Cite book |last=King |first=Gareth |title=Modern Welsh, A Comprehensive Grammar |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-138-82630-4 |location=London |pages=3–15 |chapter=Sounds and Spelling}}{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=John Morris |url=https://archive.org/details/welshgrammarhist00joneuoft/ |title=A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1913 |location=Oxford |pages=9–188 |chapter=Phonology |id=pibn 1000706503}}{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Stephen J. |title=A Welsh Grammar |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=1980 |isbn=0-7083-0737-X |location=Cardiff |pages=1–5 |chapter=Phonology}}{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Zirui |title=Phonetics of Southern Welsh Stress |publisher=University College London |year=2018 |location=London |page=5 |chapter=Background on the Welsh language}}{{Cite book |last=Hannahs |first=S. J. |title=The Phonology of Welsh |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-960123-3 |location=Oxford |pages=21–22 |chapter=A Survey of Welsh Phonetics}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" ! ! colspan="2" |Labial ! colspan="2" |Dental ! colspan="2" |Alveolar ! colspan="2" |Post- alveolar ! colspan="2" |Palatal ! colspan="2" |Dorsal ! colspan="2" |Glottal
Nasal | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|m̥}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|m}} | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|n̥}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|n}} | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ŋ̊}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ŋ}} | colspan="2" |
Stop | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|p}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|b}} | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|t}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|d}} | style="border-right: 0;" |({{IPA link|tʃ}}) | style="border-left: 0;" |({{IPA link|dʒ}}) | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|k}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɡ}} | colspan="2" |
Fricative | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|f}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|v}} | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|θ}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ð}} | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|s}} | style="border-left: 0;" |({{IPA link|z}}) | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ʃ}} | style="border-left: 0;" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|χ}} | style="border-left: 0;" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|h}} | style="border-left: 0;" |
Trill | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" | {{IPA link|r̥}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|r}} | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" |
Approximant | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" | | style="border-left: 0;" | | style="border-right: 0;" | | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|j}} | style="border-right: 0;" |({{IPA link|ʍ}}) | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|w}} | colspan="2" |
Lateral | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|ɬ}} | style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|l}} | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="2" |

Symbols in parentheses are either allophones, or found only in loanwords. The sound {{IPA|/z/}} generally occurs in loanwords, e.g. sŵ {{IPA|/zuː/}} ('zoo'), although this is usually realised as {{IPA|/s/}} in northern accents, e.g. {{IPA|/suː/}}. The postalveolar affricates {{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/dʒ/}} occur mainly in loanwords, e.g. {{lang|cy|tsips}} {{IPA|/tʃɪps/}} ('chips') and {{lang|cy|jeli}} {{IPA|/ˈdʒɛli/}} ('jelly'), but also in some dialects as developments from {{IPA|/tj/}} and {{IPA|/dj/}}, e.g. {{IPA|/dʒaul/}} from {{lang|cy|diafol}} {{IPA|/ˈdjavɔl/}} ('devil'). The voiceless nasals {{IPA|/m̥ n̥ ŋ̊/}} occur mostly word-initially, as a consequence of nasal mutation. These nasals have recently been interpreted as sequences of {{IPA|/m n ŋ/}} + {{IPA|/h/}}.{{Cite journal |last=Hammond |first=Michael |date=January 2019 |title=Voiceless Nasals in Welsh |url=https://doi.org/10.16922/jcl.20.3 |journal=Journal of Celtic Linguistics |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=31–60 |doi=10.16922/jcl.20.3 |s2cid=165438641|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Bell |first=Elise |date=2023 |title=Northern Welsh |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=53 |issue=2 |page=7 |doi=10.1017/S0025100321000165 |doi-access=free}} Initial {{IPA|/χw/}} is colloquially realised as {{IPA|[ʍ]}} in the south, e.g. {{lang|cy|chwech}} {{IPA|/χweːχ/}} ('six') pronounced {{IPA|[ʍeːχ]}}.

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

The fricatives {{IPA|/v ð/}} tend not to be pronounced in certain contexts, e.g. {{lang|cy|nesaf}} {{IPA|/nɛsav/}} ('next') realised as {{IPA|/ˈnɛsa/}} or {{lang|cy|i fyny}} {{IPA|/iː ˈvənɨ/}} ('up') from {{lang|cy|mynydd}} {{IPA|/mənɨð, mənɪð/}} ('mountain'). Historically, this occurred so often with the voiced velar fricative that it disappeared entirely from the language. The occurrence and distribution of the phoneme {{IPA|/ʃ/}} varies from area to area. Only two native words are pronounced with {{IPA|/ʃ/}} by all speakers: {{lang|cy|siarad}} ('talk') and sisial (scissors), although it appears in borrowings, e.g. {{lang|cy|siop}} {{IPA|/ʃɔp/}} ('shop'). In northern accents, it can occur when {{IPA|/s/}} precedes {{IPA|/iː j/}}, e.g. {{lang|cy|es i}} {{IPA|/ˈeːʃ i/}} ('I went'). In some southern dialects it is produced when {{IPA|/s/}} follows {{IPA|/ɪ/}} or {{IPA|/iː/}}, e.g. {{lang|cy|mis}} {{IPA|/miːʃ/}} ('month'). The voiceless fricative {{IPA|/χ/}} is realised as uvular except by some southwestern speakers, who produce the sound in the velar region as {{IPA|[x]}}.

The {{IPA|/r/}} phoneme is reportedly pronounced as the voiced uvular fricative {{IPA|[ʁ]}} by some speakers in Dyfed and Gwynedd, in a pronunciation known as {{lang|cy|tafod tew}} ('thick tongue').{{Cite book |last=Wells |first=John C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3-ElL71fikC |title=Accents of English |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-28540-2 |volume=2 |location=Cambridge |page=390}}

In some dialects of north-western Welsh, the {{IPA|/l/}} phoneme is consistently velarised or "dark" ({{IPA|[ɫ]}}, not to be confused with {{IPA|[ɬ]}}) in all positions,{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}} but remains unvelarised or "clear" ({{IPA|[l]}}) in the south, except in rare exceptions where {{IPA|[ɫ]}} is found after {{IPA|/d/}}, e.g. {{lang|cy|dlos}} {{IPA|[dɫos]}} 'pretty'.

File:Welsh vowel chart.svgs of a Welsh speaker from Bangor, Gwynedd{{cite book |first=Martin J. |last=Ball |year=1984 |chapter=Phonetics for phonology |title=Welsh Phonology: Selected Readings |editor-first1=M. J. |editor-last1=Ball |editor-first2=G. E. |editor-last2=Jones |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=5–39 |isbn=0-7083-0861-9}}]]

The vowel phonemes of Welsh are as follows:

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Front ! colspan="2" | Central ! colspan="2" | Back
short ! long ! short ! long ! short ! long
Close | {{IPA link|ɪ}} || {{IPA link|iː}}|| {{IPA link|ɨ̞}} || {{IPA link|ɨː}} || {{IPA link|ʊ}} || {{IPA link|uː}}
Mid | {{IPA link|ɛ}} || {{IPA link|eː}}|| {{IPA link|ə}} || || {{IPA link|ɔ}} || {{IPA link|oː}}
Open | || | || {{IPA link|a}} || {{IPA link|aː}} || ||

The vowels {{IPA|/ɨ̞/}} and {{IPA|/ɨː/}} merged with {{IPA|/ɪ/}} and {{IPA|/iː/}} in southern dialects, but are retained in northern dialects.

The contrast between long and short vowels is found in stressed final syllables. Since stress in Welsh is, with a few exceptions, on the penultimate syllable, this means that length contrasts mostly occur only in monosyllabic words. The length contrast for most vowels also involves a contrast in vowel quality (e.g., /iː/ vs. /ɪ/) and there is debate as to which is the primary contrasting feature. The long counterpart to short {{IPA|/a/}} is sometimes misleadingly transcribed {{IPA|/ɑ/}}. This is often found in solely quality-distinctive transcriptions to avoid using a length mark. The actual pronunciation of long {{IPA|/a/}} is {{IPA|[aː]}}, which makes the vowel pair unique in that there is no significant quality difference. Regional realisations of {{IPA|/aː/}} may be {{IPA|[æː]}} or {{IPA|[ɛː]}} in north-central and (decreasingly) south-eastern Wales or sporadically as {{IPA|[ɑː]}} in some southern areas undoubtedly under the influence of English.

The vowel {{IPA|/ə/}} does not occur in the final syllable of words (except a few monosyllabic proclitics). It is always pronounced short except when emphasised in the name of the letter {{lang|cy|y}}.{{Cite book |title=The Qualities and the Origins of the Welsh Vowel [ɨː] |last=Wmffre|first=Iwan |publisher=Curach Bhán Publications |year=2013 |isbn=9783942002127 |location=Berlin |pages=3 |oclc=910913657}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" ! Diphthongs	colspan="3" | Second component
First component || front || central || back
close | {{IPA|ʊi}} | {{IPA|ʊɨ}} | {{IPA|ɪu, ɨu}}
mid | {{IPA|əi/ɛi, ɔi}} | {{IPA|əɨ/ɛɨ, ɔɨ}} | {{IPA|əu/ɛu, ɔu}}
open | {{IPA|ai}} | {{IPA|aɨ, aːɨ}} | {{IPA|au}}

The diphthongs containing {{IPA|/ɨ/}} occur only in northern dialects; in southern dialects {{IPA|/ʊɨ/}} is replaced by {{IPA|/ʊi/}} and {{IPA|/ɨu, əɨ~ɛɨ, ɔɨ, a(ː)ɨ/}} are merged with {{IPA|/ɪu, əi~ɛi, ɔi, ai/}}. There is a general tendency in the South to simplify diphthongs in everyday speech, e.g. Northern {{IPA|/ɡwaːɨθ/}} corresponding to {{IPA|/ɡwaːθ/}} in the South, or Northern {{IPA|/ɡwɛiθjɔ/}} and Southern {{IPA|/ɡwiθɔ/}}.

The long vowels are not inherited from Proto-Celtic vowels, which were transformed into separate vowels, but instead from the New Quantity System.

Stress falls in the vast majority of polysyllabic words on the penultimate syllable. There are three main sources of exception. First, in a few native words, the stress falls on the final syllable (e.g. verbs ending in -áu and words like {{lang|cy|Cymraeg}} "Welsh") as a result of a stressed penultimate syllable coalescing with a following vowel to form a diphthong or long monophthong. Second, certain prefixes do not reliably take stress (e.g., di- "without", as in diwerth "worthless", which is stressed on the final sylable). Third, borrowings from other languages often retain the stress in the original language, as with {{lang|cy|ambiwlans}} and {{lang|cy|testament}} (both stressed on the first syllable), though even here stress generally shifts to the penultimate in inflected forms such as the plural.{{Cite book |last=Hannahs |first=S. J. |title=The Phonology of Welsh |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-960123-3 |location=Oxford |pages=44–47 |chapter=Welsh Phonological Structures}} According to its positioning, related words or concepts (or even plurals) can sound quite different, as syllables are added to the end of a word and the stress moves correspondingly:

class="wikitable" |+
Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
{{lang|cy|ysgrif}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/ˈəsɡrɪv/}}	"article, essay"
{{lang|cy|ysgrifen}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsˈɡrivɛn/}}	"writing"
{{lang|cy|ysgrifennydd}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsɡrɪˈvɛnɪð/}}	"secretary"
{{lang|cy|ysgrifenyddes}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsɡrɪvɛnˈəðɛs/}}	"female secretary"
{{lang|cy|ysgrifenyddesau}} | style="text-align: left;" | {{IPA|/əsɡrɪvɛnəðˈɛsai/}}	"female secretaries"

Note also how adding a syllable to {{lang|cy|ysgrifennydd}} to form {{lang|cy|ysgrifenyddes}} changes the pronunciation of the second {{angbr|y}}. This is because the pronunciation of {{angbr|y}} depends on whether or not it is in the final syllable.

Stress on penultimate syllables is characterised by a low pitch, which is followed by a high pitch on the (unstressed) word-final syllable. In words where stress is on the final syllable, that syllable also bears the high pitch.{{cite thesis |first=Briony Jane |last=Williams |date= September 1983 |title=Stress in Modern Welsh |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=University of Cambridge |doi=10.17863/CAM.16507 |hdl=1810/250821}} This high pitch is a remnant of the high-pitched word-final stress of early Old Welsh (derived from original penultimate stress in Common Brittonic by the loss of final syllables); the stress shift from final to penultimate occurred in the Old Welsh period without affecting the overall pitch of the word.{{cite web |url=http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/dwew2/old_and_middle_welsh.pdf |title=Old and Middle Welsh |first=David |last=Willis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927030441/http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/dwew2/old_and_middle_welsh.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-27}}

{{wikibooks|Welsh/Pronunciation}}

{{reflist}}

{{Welsh linguistics}}{{Language phonologies}}

Category:Welsh grammar

Category:Celtic phonologies