2012-06-21 pronunciation of monosyllable sin Welsh
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PRONUNCIATION OF MONOSYLLABLES IN WELSH
Monosyllables
have either a short or a long vowel.
1 Open-ended monosyllables have
a long vowel
That is,
monosyllables with a, e, i, o, u, w, y
Exception:
monosyllables with y (= ə)
ffa beans
lle place
mi I, me
ti you
ci dog
lli flax
da good; also (especially South Wales) cattle
si rumour
to roof
bo it might be
llo calf
llu group
cu loved
tu side
du black
llw oath
sw zoo (1)
tŷ house (2)
rhy too (big, long, heavy, etc)
monosyllables with y (= ə)
ty (obsolete) your
dy (modern Welsh) your
fy my
hy! exclamation of scorn
(1) sw is often spelt with a circumflex, though none is needed
(2) tŷ (= house) is spelt with a circumflex to differentiate it from ty (= your),
though any confusion between the two is unlikely since ty is obsolete
EXERCISE:
i/ Read out these words
1 du
2 tu
3 llo
4 glo
5 ci
6 to
7 da
8 gwe
9 bri
10 tri
ii/ What do they mean? (some are not in the list given above)
ANSWERS
1 du black
2 tu
side
3 llo
calf
4 glo
coal
5 ci dog
6 to
roof
7 da
good
8 gwe web
9 bri
renown
10 tri
three
2 Closed monosyllables have a
long vowel if they are closed with the following
consonants: b, ch, d, dd, f, ff, g, s, th. Also l, n and r in these cases: i +
l, u + l, i + n, u + n, i + r, u + r.
mab son
bach little, small
tad father
lladd kill; cut
haf summer
tref town
caf I shall have
rhaff rope
nyth nest
had seed
mad good (obsolete)
glas blue; green
byd earth, world
coch red
Sul Sunday
mul mule
cul narrow
hil lineage
cil corner, nook
mil thousand
rhydd free
gwas las
saff safe
mur town wall
cur pain
hir long
sir county
EXERCISE:
i/ Read out these words
1 haf
2 rhaff
3 coch
4 mil
5 glas
6 nyth
7 Sul
8 rhad
9 cul
10 ras
ii/ What do
they mean? (some are not in the list given above)
ANSWERS
1 haf summer
2 rhaff rope
3 coch red
4 mil thousand
5 glas blue;
green
6 nyth nest
7 Sul Sunday
8 rhad cheap
9 cul narrow
10 ras race
3 Closed monosyllables have a short vowel if they are closed with the following consonants: c, ng, j, l, ll, m, n, p, r, sh, t, tsh, z (in most cases they are words from English; some are colloquialisms and are not accepted as Welsh words; but many in -m, -n and -r are from old Welsh, from an original mm, nn, rr)
pac pack
baj badge
dall blind
call sensible
pall lack
gang gang
llong ship
loj lodge
dal to hold
wel well
dwl stupid, dull-witted
Y Rhyl town name
Gwen woman’s name (white, beautiful)
gwn gun
jaz jazz
dol doll
top top
bat bat
bar bar
watsh watch
witsh witch
mam mother
brwsh brush
swm sum
trwm heavy
rhwng between
llan church; village with a parish church
tar tar
llyn lake
siop shop
ffresh fresh
mor so (small, long, etc)
4 Some words should, according to the final consonant, have a long vowel, but in fact the vowel is short. Strictly speaking this short vowel is indicated by a grave accent, though this rule is rarely followed, or only partially followed, in Welsh texts (again, they tend to be words from English)
bìl bill
Bìl Bill, William
bìn bin
tùn tin
càb cab
pàs lift, ride (in a car)
bàg bag
còb embankment
sàd sound, firm
drìl drill
òd odd
stìff stiff
èth name of the letter th
swìl shy
pìn pin
prìn scarcely
gès guess
nès until
gàs gas
sẁs a kiss
fflàch flash
There are some words with a ‘y’ which represents [ə], though from the spelling we might expect the ‘y’ to represent a full vowel [i]
yn (preposition in; particle for forming adverbs; predicative particle)
yn (colloquiall) my
y the
yr the
y relative particle
yr relative particle
ys it is (obsolete)
myn (used as the first word in some oaths)
syr sir
5 Some words should, according to the final consonant, have a short vowel, but in fact the vowel is long. This long vowel is indicated by a circumflex (many are words from English) (many in -n and -r are from old Welsh from an original single r, n)
ffrâm frame
ŷm we are
bûm I have been
rêl real
jêl jail
trên train
tân fire
sêt seat
tîm team
llên literature
siâp shape
gŵn I know
Some words which we might expect to have a circumflex are exceptional and do not have one: hen (= old), dyn (= man), oll (= whole, all), holl (= whole, all)
(We might
expect hên, dŷn, ôll, hôll)
6 Closed monosyllables have a short vowel if they are closed with more than one consonant:
bardd poet
sarff serpent
shilff shelf
parc park
banc bank
pinc pink
arth bear
marc mark
gwallt hair
plant children
cant hundred
lamp lamp
corff body
parth district; hearth
7 In North Wales, there is a long vowel where the standard language has a short vowel
before -llt, -sg, -sb, -st.
It is sometimes indicated by a circumflex. Unstandard long vowels are perhaps best represented in texts for learners of Welsh by a colon, though this is unorthodox.
gwallt (gwâllt, gwa:llt) hair
dallt (dâllt, da:llt) understand (Northern form of deall)
mellt (mêllt, me:llt) lightning flashes
Pasg (Pâsg, Pa:sg) Easter
Nest (Nêst, Ne:st) woman’s name
gwisg (gwîsg, gwi:sg) dress
llosg (llôsg, llo:sg) burnt; something burnt, chilblain
Llan-rwst (Llan-rŵst, Llan-rw:st) name of a village
cosb (côsb, co:sb) punishment
hallt (hâllt, ha:llt) salty
7 In South Wales, there is a long vowel where the standard language has a short vowel
before -ll..
It is sometimes indicated by a circumflex. Unstandard long vowels are perhaps best represented in texts for learners of Welsh by a colon, though this is unorthodox.
llall (llâll, lla:ll) other
nall (nâll, na:ll)
other
pell (pêll,
pe:ll) distant
toll (tôll,
to:ll) toll
gwell (gwêll, gwe:ll) better
dall (dâll, da:ll) blind
8 In South Wales the diphthong ae [a·i] becomes a’ [a:], and the diphthong oe [o·i] becomes o’ [o:]. These unstandard long vowels are often written with a circumflex (â, ô) though the recommended speeling is eith an apostrophe (a’, o’). It is perhaps best represented by a double vowel letter, though this is unorthodox (aa, oo)
coed (côd, co’d, cood) wood.
maen (mân, ma’n, maan) stone; bakestone
saer (sâr, sa’r, saar) carpenter
oer (ôr, o’r, oor) cold
9 The diphthongs ae, oe and wy have a semi-long first element which remains in both open and closed monosyllables. It could be represented in texts for learners of Welsh by a raised dot, though this is unorthodox (a·e, o·e, w·y)
cae (ca·e) field
haen (ha·en)layer
ddoe (ddo·e) yesterday
poen (po·en)
pain
llwy (llw·y) spoon.
llwyd (llw·yd) grey, brown.
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