The first comprehensive account of Welsh phonology opens with a concise history of the language and its relation to the other Celtic languages. Six chapters then explore its sound system, including the phonetic background, syllables, feet, phonotactics, and stress, and the characteristics of the dialects.

This work brings together in one volume the results of existing studies on the speech sounds of Welsh. It includes dialect studies of the Welsh of different districts, some of them dating back to the second half of the 19th century, while others adopt more structuralist and generative approaches.

This book explores patterns of marked variation in the use of the Welsh language, looking at them from the linguistic viewpoint -- variation at different levels of language, and from the sociolinguistic viewpoint -- regional and social varieties.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, University of Freiburg, language: English, abstract: The Welsh language has been in contact with English for many centuries. After the Celtic languages were forced out of central Europe during the age of the Roman Empire two branches developed: Goidelic (or Q Celtic) and Brittonic (or P Celtic), with Welsh belonging to the Brittonic branch. Since the fifth century Welsh has been under pressure as other Germanic-speaking tribes such as the Angles and Saxons arrived in Britain. The Welsh speaking population had to relocate in the area we today call Wales. What followed was a long process of anglicisation.

The languages belonging to the British subgroup of Celtic, i.e. Welsh, Cornish and Breton, have been the subject of thorough research for over a century now. Yet the phonological history of the prehistoric stages of these languages and the details of their connection with the other Celtic and Indo-European languages still present numerous unsolved issues. This volume aims to tackle the most acute problems of the historical phonology of British Celtic. Also it provides an up-to-date reference guide to British historical phonology in general, as well as a study of a large body of etymologies relevant to the correct evaluation of the historical phonology. This volume is of interest for the Celtologist, the Indo-Europeanist and the general historical linguist.