Welsh language: history and characteristics

The Welsh language is one of the Celtic writings of the Brittish group. It is mainly distributed in the western administrative part of Great Britain, that is, in Wales, where about 659 thousand people use this speech.

History of origin and development

It is known that this language began to form from the VI century, and the basis for it was the British. Its name comes from the word Walha, which means "another's speech." The first school with the teaching of Welsh was founded in the city of Aberystwyth in 1939. In our time, more than 500 establishments have been opened, where the training is conducted entirely in Kimry (as the carriers themselves call it).

The earliest literary examples in the writing of which the Welsh language was used, we can safely call the poems of Taliesin and the poem "Hododin" by the author Aneirin, who described the battle of the 600th between the Northumbrians and the Celts. The exact date of compilation and recording of these works is not known to anyone. Until their appearance, all literary works found on the territory of the country were written in Latin.

Usage Options

Speaking of modern Kimr language in a broad sense, it is necessary to say that it is divided into two main parts: colloquial and literary. The first option is used in everyday informal speech, which is rapidly developing and improving under the norms of today's world. The greatest changes occur in vocabulary: the disappearance of words denoting objects that are no longer used, and, conversely, the arrival of new, relevant expressions.

The Welsh literary language is used both in formal situations and in official documents. He remains close to translating the Bible in 1588.

Relevance

The Welsh language is difficult to call dead, because in our time there are a number of TV channels and radio stations that broadcast Welsh in full or mostly. In addition, weekly and monthly printed publications are published in the country, and about 500 books are published annually. Children between the ages of 5 and 16 study Welsh English in schools as the primary throughout the course.

In 2001, after the census, which showed a decline in the proportion of residents who are able to speak Welsh, the language council was abolished. Instead, the post of Commissioner for the Welsh language was introduced. Its main task is to promote the frequent use of Welsh. The Commissioner's activities are based on two principles:

• The state language of Wales must have conditions for functioning at the level with English;
• The availability of media resources in Welsh, which the population will, if desired, use.

The first to hold this position was M. Hughes, who had previously been deputy director of the language council. A year later the National Assembly passed a law according to which the institution is obliged to conduct activities not only in English, but also in Welsh.

Number of media

At the beginning of the 20th century, half the population used the Welsh language in everyday communication, and by the end of the century the number of speakers had decreased to 20%. The population census in 2001 showed the following statistics: 582 368 people are able to communicate in Welsh, and 659 301 people. Can read in Welsh and use it in colloquial and written speech. Approximately 130,000 speakers live in England, half of which live in Greater London. The statistics of 2004 showed that the population speaking the state language increased by 35 thousand people.

Dialects and accent

Despite the fact that England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland are parts of one state, their official languages differ somewhat from each other. Let's return to variants of the use of Welsh speech. Literary language does not have as many different dialects as colloquial. This is explained by the fact that everyday speech is used much more often than formal speech, accordingly, the part that is more used will develop. Consequently, no significant changes are observed in the literary language.

Conversational dialects are divided into southern and northern. The differences between them are determined by grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Take, for example, the Patagonian Welsh dialect, formed in 1865, after the Welsh people moved to Argentina. This dialect has borrowed many Spanish terms, denoting local features.

general characteristics

The Kimrian language is the self-name of the word "Welsh" that is familiar to us, which resembles the term Cymru (Wales), read as "kemeri". It belongs to the Indo-European family, the alphabet writing system is Latin. People who speak Welsh can be found in some regions of countries such as Argentina (the colony of Patagonia), the USA, Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia and England. Wales is the territory where this language has official status.

The basis of the letter was the Latin alphabet, the number of letters in which is 28. Literature J is mainly used in English borrowings: garej, jam, etc. Sounds of the Kimr language are atypical for European languages, for example deaf sonants. As for stresses, in a polysyllabic word they fall on the penultimate syllable.

The subject-predicate-complement -such is the mandatory order of the parts of speech in the sentence. Forms of verbs and preverbal particles are used instead of pronouns in subordinate clauses.

Welsh English has a twenty-odd system of counting, that is, the number 40 word for word from Welsh to Russian will be translated as "two times twenty", and, for example, 39 turns into "nineteen plus twenty". This method is used primarily to indicate the age and dates, in other cases the customary decimal system is used.