Welsh

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This article deals with Welsh as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

Welsh (Cymraeg)
Genetic classification:
Indo-European
  Celtic
    Insular
      Brythonic
        Welsh
Spoken in:
(add your nation here)

Bettia
Free Socialist Wales
Lloegr-Cymru
Miraclia
Pascifitonia (Westshire and Leeshire)
Shessara
The Resurgent Dream
Vephrall
Y Fenni ([PEEL])

See Wikipedia:Welsh language

Welsh is a Celtic language in the Indo-European family spoken in RL Wales (mainly in the west and north west) and parts of Argentina. It is a member of the Celtic group of languages, which also includes Scots Gaelic, Irish, Breton, Manx and Cornish.

The language is particularly known among non-Welsh for its distinctive spelling conventions, such as the use of the 'll', and initial consonant mutation (whereby 'Cymru', for example, can also be spelled 'Gymru' or 'Nghymru' depending on the preceding word and/or grammatical construction), but it is no more unpronounceable or difficult to learn for non-Welsh than many other Indo-European languages once the learner familiarises themselves with spelling and pronunciation (both of which are arguably more regular than with English orthography).


The Welsh Alphabet

The Welsh alphabet is comprised of 28 letters (vowels marked in bold):

A, B ,C ,Ch, D, Dd, E, F, Ff, G, Ng, H, I, L, Ll, M, N, O, P, Ph, R, Rh, S, T, Th, U, W, Y

Other letters such as J, K, Q, V, X or Z or often used in words borrowed from the English language, such as Jiwbil (Jubilee) or Zw (Zoo).

The vowels A, E, I and O are pronounced more or less the same as in English.

  • The letter U is pronounced as the English EE (for example, 'cu' - meaning 'key' - is pronounced as the same as 'key').
  • The letter W is usually pronounced as the English OO (for example, 'cwm' - meaning 'valley' - is pronounced 'koom').
  • The letter Y can either be pronounced as in English (for exmaple, 'byd' - meaning 'world' - is pronounced 'beed'), or as a short English U (for exmaple, 'Cymru' - meaning 'Wales' - is pronunced 'kumree').

Most consonants are also pronounced as their English counterparts.

  • The letter CH is pronounced as in the Scottish word 'loch' or the German word 'nach'.
  • The letter DD is pronounced as a soft English TH, as in 'the'.
  • The letter F is pronounced softly, like the English letter V.
  • The letter FF is pronounced harder, the same as the English letter F.
  • The letter NG is prnounced as in the English words 'long' or 'finger'.
  • The letter LL is pronounced as an aspirated L, with the lips and tongue formed as if to pronounced a standard L but then with air blown from the mouth without actually pronouncing the letter. The nearest Engish equivelent would be adding an H sound in front of the L (for example, 'llan' - meaning church, village, parish or yard - sounds like 'hlan').
  • The letter RH is pronounced harshly, as through the H is placed in front of the R (for example, 'rhy' meaning 'too (much)' sounds like 'hri').

Welsh Speaking NS Nations

Welsh is spoken in a small number of nationstates.

It is one of the offical languages in Bettia, widely spoken in the northern provinces and the capital city, Gabalfa. Bettian settlers have also brought the language to nations such as Vephrall (which considers Welsh as one of its major language), Nedalia and Hypocria.

Welsh is the primary language of Lloegr-Cymru, where it is widely used as the language for everyday conversation. It is also one of the main languages in Shessara




Languages of NationStates
Major constructed or created languages: Dienstadi | Gurennese | Jevian | Necrontyr | Noterelenda | Pacitalian | Pacitalian English | Rejistanian | Rethast | Riikan | Solen
Minor constructed or created languages: Alçaera | Algebraic English | Alvésin | Ancient Shieldian | Anguistian | Aperin | Avalyic | Baranxeï | Belmorian | Belmorian-Rejistanian | Celdonian | Chicoutim | Constantian | Dovakhanese | Edolian | Eugenian | Fklaazj | Footballian | Galadisian Quenya | Garomenian | Gestahlian | Gosian | Hockey Canadian | Isselmerian | Kerlan | Khenian | Kurma | Kzintsu'ng | Lank Jan | Latika | Lausem | Letilan | Limbruenglish | Mock Welsh | Neo-Virgean | Nielandic | Nord-Brutlandese | Nordaþ | Novian | Palixian | Paristani | Poirih | Rukialkotta | Sandrian | Scat | Schnan | Simple English | Søskendansk | Syokaji | Tetemelayu | Trøndersk | Volscian | Weegie | Weserian | Wymgani | Xikuangese | Yokarian
Selection of Real-life languages in NS: Albanian | Arabic | Belarusian | Catalan | Chechen | Chinese | Czech | Dutch | English | Esperanto | Faroese | Finnish | French | German | Greek | Hebrew | Hindi | Icelandic | Irish | Italian | Japanese | Korean | Latin | Latvian | Maltese | Maori | Mongolian | Norse | Norwegian | Persian (Farsi) | Polish | Portuguese | Punjabi | Russian | Samoan | Sign language | Sanskrit | Spanish | Sumerian | Swahili | Swedish | Tamil | Thai | Tibetan | Tongan | Urdu | Welsh
For a full list of NationStates languages see Category:Languages.