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1273e “An Elementary Welsh Grammar” by John Morris-Jones (1864-1929),
professor of Welsh at Coleg y Brifysgol (University College), Bangor. Published
in 1921 (when he was aged 56 / 57). “This grammar deals
with Modern Literary Welsh only. It follows the lines of my Welsh Grammar
Historical and Compararive, 1913, so far as that treats of the modern language;
but the matter has been largely re-written, and is in some respects more
detailed.” ·····
HOW TO
SAY 'MY' IN WELSH
SECTIONS:
02 NASAL MUTATION AFTER THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy
03 TAG 'I' AFTER THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy
04 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy AND THE SPOKEN WELSH FORM 'yn
05 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER 'yn
06 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER 'yn WITH VERBNOUNS
07 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER 'yn - WITH AN APOSTROPHE OR WITHOUT?
08 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy / 'yn - SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS
09 THE TAG í = OF ME
10 TAG í - WITH OR WITHOUT?
11 EXERCISES
|
01 ORIGIN OF THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy |
- FY [vø] is the
standard form for the first-person singular possessive determiner.
Origin: from British *MEN. The British form is
ultimately from Indo-European*ME-ME.
In Welsh, there has been soft mutation of the initial
consonant [m] > [v], the final 'n' has been lost, and the vowel is a schwa.
In Breton generally VA, but the older form without soft mutation MA also
occurs.
In Irish and Scottish MO.
Compare the Celtic forms with
Latin MEUS,
Sanskrit MÁMA,
and forms in some of the Germanic languages:
English MY /mai/, originally MINE /main < miin/
German MEIN /main/
Dutch MIJN /mein/.
·····
|
02 NASAL MUTATION AFTER THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy |
- Mutable consonants C · P · T · G · B · D have nasal mutation
after FY (the same as after the
preposition YN = in. This mutation after FY
is a vestige of a process caused by the 'n' which has disappeared)
cefn > fy nghefn [vø nghe-ven]
my back
pen > fy mhen [vø mhen] my head
troed > fy nhroed [vø nghroid]
my foot
gwallt > fy ngwallt [vø ngwalht]
my hair
bysedd > fy mysedd [vø mø-sedh]
my fingers
dannedd > fy nannedd [vø na-nedh]
my teeth
- Examples with non-mutable
consonants:
llaw > fy llaw [vø lhau]
my hand
sgarff > fy sgarff [vø skarf]
my scarf
rhieni > fy rhieni [vø hri-e-ni]
my parents
- Before a vowel FY can be reduced to F'
arddwrn > fy arddwrn / f'arddwrn [vø ar-dhurn,
var-dhurn] my wrist
ewinedd > fy ewinedd / f'ewinedd [vø
e-wi-nedh, ve-wi-nedh] my nails
ochr > fy ochr / f'ochr [vø o-khor,
vo-khor] my side
·····
|
03 TAG 'I' AFTER THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy |
- Generally, in the spoken
language a pronoun tag i is added. This is a reduced form of fi = I, and in this final position denotes
'of me'. It is not stressed.
fy llaw i = my hand ('my hand of me')
fy ochr i / f'ochr i = my side ('my side
of me')
With immediate members of the family, this 'i' is not
used
fy nhad = my father [ø nhaad]
fy mam = my mother [ø mam]
·····
|
04 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fyAND
THE SPOKEN WELSH FORM 'yn |
The
explanation of FY above holds good for
the literary language, and certain (Northern) forms of spoken Welsh, and standardised
spoken Welsh. The standard colloquial form favours literary forms if they
happen to occur in the spoken language, even if only in a very reduced area. In
fact, the use of FY as a standard spoken
form was perhaps not a very wise choice. The usual spoken form is 'YN.
In older
Welsh the first-person singular possessive determiner was
This loss
of initial [v] in words which are efectively clitics, and so do not usually
carry stress in the sentence, is evidenced in other words:
mab > fab > ab / ap (= son of, in patronyms);
merch > ferch > erch / e'ch / ach
(= daughter of, in patronyms),
mi > fi > i (pronoun tag = of me) (see
below)
·····
|
05 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER 'yn |
1 Spoken
Welsh: 'Y before a mutable consonant
(standard: FY)
|
'Y MHOCEDI = my pockets [ø mho-ke-di] |
|
'Y NGHWRW = my beer |
|
Alternatively,
the schwa is dropped altogether, leaving only the mutation of the initial to
indicate its departure. Usually its absence is marked with an apostophe,
though many writes feel that the mutation in itself is suffiecient to
indicate that the 'FY' is to be understood, and the final tag i (if used) |
|
'MHOCEDI / MHOCEDI |
|
Note
that 'Y NHAD = my father , 'Y MAM = my
mother are usually 'NHAD / NHAD, 'MAM / MAM |
2 Spoken
Welsh: 'YN before other consonants
(standard: FY)
|
'YN LLYGAD I [øn lhø-ga-di]= my eye |
3 Spoken
Welsh: 'YN before a vowel (standard: FY, or F')
|
'YN ENW I = my name [ø ne-nui] |
This is often
reduced to 'N, which is attached to the following word
|
'NENW I = my name [ne-nui] |
·····
|
06 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER 'yn
WITH VERBNOUNS |
It is an
important construction with verbnouns
curo = hit, beat
fy nghuro i /
'y nghuro i = hitting me (my beating of-me)
helpu = help
fy helpu i /
'yn helpu i = helping me (my helping of-me)
Many
learners or imperfect speakers (especially those non-native speakers who have
learnt Welsh in Welsh-medium schools) make the mistake of imitating the English
construction in this case:
Maen nhw yn helpu fi / Ma' nw'n helpu fi (they
are at helping me)
instead of
Maen nhw'n fy helpu i / Ma' nw'n 'yn helpu i (they
are at my helping of me)
·····
|
07 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER 'yn
- WITH AN APOSTROPHE OR WITHOUT? |
The
forms 'y and 'yn,
and the proclitic 'n are written by some
writers without the apostrophe (y, yn, n).
'y nghi > y nghi, 'yn llaw
> y llaw, 'yn enw > 'nenw > nenw
'y nghi i > y nghi i, 'yn llaw i > y llaw i, 'yn enw i > 'nenw
i > nenw i
The
advantage of the apostrophe is that it distinguishes the possessive determiner
from other forms -
y (definite article),
yn ( preposition = in)
yn ( linking particle - mae ef yn siarad
Cymráeg)
yn (first-person plural possessive
determiner = our, colloquial form of ein).
The
disadvantage is that spoken Welsh has so many reductions compared with the
literary language that a piece of text can become cluttered with apostrophes
·····
|
08 THE POSSESSIVE DETERMINER fy / 'yn
- SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS |
fy un í / 'yn un í = [ø nii NII] mine (=
my one)
fy rhai í / yn rhai í = [øn hrai II] mine
(= my ones)
fy mod i / 'y mod i, 'mod i [MOO-di] =
that I am, that I was
yn fy marn í / yn 'y marn í [ø nø mar NII]
= in my opinion (ALSO: yn fy nhÿb í, yn fy meddwl í)
·····
|
09 THE TAG í = OF
ME |
The tag is
usually unaccented.
However,
to emphasis the idea of possession, as in English 'Hey! That's MY seat!', we
stress the tag in Welsh, and not FY / 'YN
fy nghadair / 'yn nghader [ø NGHA-der]
fy nghadair í / 'yn nghader í [ø NGHA-der II]
Here we
indicate the stressed tag with an acute accent. Usually in writing however it
is not noted.
Some
writers have tried different solutions.
The non-accented tag is treated as a clitic, and attached to the noun
fy enwi, fy enw-i
The
accented tag is italicised
fy enw i
Here
we'll mark the accented tag with an acute accent
·····
|
10 TAG í - WITH OR WITHOUT? |
In spoken
Welsh, the general rule is that the tag is added. But this is simplifying
matters. We have already seen that with members of the family it is omitted.
If
equivalent to an emphasised MY in English, the tag is necessary, since it
carries the stress
(standardised
colloquial / southern colloquial)
Ble mae fy nghyllell í?
(Ble ma' 'nghyllell í?)
Where's MY knife?
Ond beth am fy nghyllell í? (Ond beth am 'y
nghyllell í?) What about MY knife?
(Note that 'y is dropped after a vowel, but retained after a consonant)
And
without stress:
Ble mae fy nghyllell í? (Ble ma' 'nghyllell i?) Where's my knife?
Rhaid i Dic roi fy nghyllell i yn ôl (Rhaid i Dic roi 'nghyllell i nôl) = Dic
has to give me his knife back
If the pronoun 'FI' occurs in the same phrase, the tag is omitted
Instead of
Os caf fi fy nghyllell i (Os ca' i 'nghyllell i) = if I get my knife back
we have
Os caf fi fy nghyllell (Os ca' i 'nghyllell)
·····
|
11 EXERCISES |
EXERCISE 1
Using FY (or F' before
a vowel), write the answers to these questions
Example:
fflat (= flat) > fy fflat
01 crÿs (=
shirt)
02 trwÿn (= nose)
03 ffrindiau (= friends)
04 pensil (= pencil)
05 gwelÿ (= bed)
06 llyfrau (= books)
07 geiriadur (= dictionary)
08 arian (= money)
09 enw (= name)
10 brawd (= brother)
EXERCISE
1: ANSWERS:
|
01 crÿs
(= shirt) |
|
EXERCISE 2:
Use 'y /
'yn instead of fy (f')
01 fy
llyfrau (= my books)
02 f'arian
(= my money)
03 fy
mrawd (= my brother)
04 fy
nhrwÿn (= my nose)
05 fy
nghrÿs (= my shirt)
06 fy
ngeiriadur (= my dictionary)
07 fy
ngwelÿ (= my bed)
08 f'enw
(= my name)
09 fy
mhensil (= my pencil)
10 fy
ffrindiau (= my friends)
EXERCISE 2: ANSWERS:
|
01 fy
llyfrau (= my books) 02
f'arian (= my money) 03 fy
mrawd (= my brother) 04 fy
nhrwÿn (= my nose) 05 fy
nghrÿs (= my shirt) 06 fy
ngeiriadur (= my dictionary) 07 fy
ngwelÿ (= my bed) 08 f'enw
(= my name) 09 fy
mhensil (= my pencil) 10 fy
ffrindiau (= my friends) |
'yn
llyfrau i [øn LHØV-re-i] 'yn arian i [ø NAR-ya-ni] 'y mrawd
[ø MRAUD] (usually without i) 'y nhrwÿn i [øn NHRUI-ni] 'y nghrÿs i [ø NGHRII-si] 'y ngeiriadur i [ø ngeir-YA-di-ri] 'y
ngwelÿ i [ø NGWE-li-i] 'yn enw í [ø NE-nui] 'y mhensil i [ø MHEN-si-li] yn
ffrindiau i [øn FRIND-ye-i] |
EXERCISE 3
Write
these forms in standard colloquial Welsh: (it may be necessary to modify some of
the nouns - for example, colloquial PETHE is standard PETHAU)
|
01
'narddwrn i 02 'yn
llyged i 03 'yn
llyfre i 04 'yn
nhrowsus i 05 'y
mai í 06 'y
ngheg i 07 'y
nghoese i 08 yn 'y
marn í 09 Siôn
ÿw 'nenw i 10 'y mhlant |
EXERCISE 3: ANSWERS
|
01
'narddwrn i 02 'yn
llyged i 03 'yn
llyfre i 04 'yn
nhrowsus i 05 'y
mai í 06 'y
ngheg i 07 'y
nghoese i 08 yn 'y
marn í 09 Siôn
ÿw 'nenw i 10 'y mhlant |
01 fy
arddwrn i (= my wrist) 02 fy
llygaid i (= my eyes) 03 fy
llyfrau i (= my books) 04 fy
nhrowsus i (= my trousers) 05 fy
mai i (= MY fault) 06 fy
ngheg i (= my mouth) 07 fy
nghoesau i (= my legs) 08 yn fy
marn i (= in MY opinion) 09 Siôn
ÿw fy enw i / f'enw i (= my name is Siôn) 10 fy mhlant (= my children) |
Adolygiadau
diweddaraf: 20 01 2000
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