Welsh

Where it’s spoken

Welsh (Cymraeg) is the indigenous Celtic language of Wales (Cymru), co-official with English under the 2011 Welsh Language Measure. The Welsh government aims to reach one million Welsh speakers by 2050. A heritage community in Patagonia (Y Wladfa), Argentina, descends from 19th-century settlers and maintains a Welsh dialect.

What it sounds like

Welsh features initial consonant mutations — the first consonant of a word changes systematically based on grammatical context (soft, nasal, and aspirate mutations). It has the voiceless lateral fricative ll, the trilled rh, and a small set of distinctive vowels. Stress is typically on the penultimate syllable.

How it’s written

Welsh uses 29 letters of the Latin alphabet — including digraphs ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th treated as single letters. Welsh spelling is one of the most phonemic in the world, despite its appearance to non-speakers. Vowels w and y are full vowels in addition to consonant roles.

History

Welsh descends from Brittonic Celtic spoken across Britain before the Anglo-Saxon migrations. The first Welsh literature dates to the 6th century. Welsh suffered serious decline through the 20th century but has stabilized and grown since devolution.