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NOTES ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF WELSH

VOWELS

They are sounded, long or short, as the vowels in the English words given below.

A		palm, pat.
E		gate (without diphthongization), get.
I		feet, fit.
O		more, not.
U	(1)	North Wales: like French u or German ü without rounding lips.
	(2)	South Wales: as I.
W		cool, full.
Y	(1)	In monosyllables generally, and in final syllables, as U (the ‘clear’ sound).
	(2)	In all but final syllables, and in y, yr (the), fy (my), dy (thy), yn, yng, ym (in), the adverbial yn, the preverbal and relative particle y, yr (y’m, y’th etc), syr (sir), nyrs (nurse), as English fun, (the ‘obscure’ sound).

DIPHTHONGS

1	Falling diphthongs, in which the second sound is consonantal: the two vowels have the sound noted above: ae, oe, ai, oi, the diphthong ei as English by, aw, ew, iw, ow, uw, ŵy, yw.
2	Rising diphthongs, in which the first sound is consonantal: ia, ie, io, iw, iy, (‘obscure’ y); wa, we, wi, wo, wy, (‘clear’ y), wy, (‘obscure’ y).

CONSONANTS

Only those which differ from English need to be noted.

CH	(following C in the alphabet), as Scottish loch.
DD	(following D in the alphabet), as th in English this, breathe.
F	as English v.
FF	as English f.
G	always as in English go.
NG	(following G in the alphabet), as in English sing.
	In some words (e.g. dangos), however, it is sounded ng-g, as in English longer. Alphabetically this follows after N.
LL	produced by placing the tongue to pronounce l, then emitting breath without voice.
PH	(following P in the alphabet), as English f.
TH	always as th in English thin.

ACCENT

Welsh words are generally accented on the last syllable but one. There are certain exceptions:

1	The reduplicated personal pronouns myfi, tydi, efe, efô, hyhi, nyni, chwychwi, hwynt-hwy, accented on the final syllable.
2	Verbs in -(h)au, -(h)oi, -eu, accented on the final syllable.
3	A few dissyllabic words beginning y + consonant, accented on the final syllable.
4	Certain polysyllabic words with a diphthong resulting in contraction in the final syllable, such as Cymraeg.
5	Some borrowed words accented as in the language of origin, generally English.