Treffie
06-14-2011, 10:10 AM
Os, thought you may be interested in this article I found :thumb001:
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TO people at opposite ends of the country, the differences between the Welsh language they speak have long been a source of amusement and one-upmanship.
A poet and broadcaster, Ifor ap Glyn, has now traced the part of the country where the two dialects of North and South Walian meet.
Mr ap Glyn believes that the area between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth is where the two distinctive accents and vocabularies of the dialects collide.
He said that talking to locals in Lampeter, Aberystwyth and Aberllefenni made him realise how much the language can change from area to area.
“I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task to pinpoint this kind of border where the dialects cross over,” he said.
“There are so many different factors to consider – differences in accent, vocabulary and sometimes grammatical patterns too.
“However, we decided to focus on a number of specific words to see if a pattern developed.
“And we discovered that there are an awful lot of changes between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, specifically in the Talybont area.”
As part of a programme on the language for S4C, he prepared a questionnaire with 15 different words and then widely distributed it in an area ranging from Dolgellau to Aberaeron, targeting schools and chapels to ensure that people of all ages filled in the form.
And he turned to the pupils of Machynlleth Secondary School to help him in the task of mapping out where the different words changed.
“We received over a thousand responses,” he said, “and even after we had weeded out people who hadn’t lived in the area all their lives, there was still a substantial amount of data to analyse.
“With every pair of words such as rwan/nawr (now), fo/fe (him) or allan/mas (out), we saw there was a zone of convergence, where the two forms co-exist, so it was difficult for us to establish a definitive border.
“Some people have argued that there is a different dialect for every five or 10 miles.
“Nevertheless, there was a great deal of change evident between the area of Furnace and Tre Taliesin on the road between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.
“At one time, the North Walian ‘u’ sound extended to every area of Wales.
“It was interesting going to Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari secondary school near Bridgend and playing an archive tape of someone from the area that still used that ‘u’ sound in the 1970s.
“Our language doesn’t divide neatly into two boxes – South and North – and neither do the people of Wales.
“In Mid Wales, many people told me that they didn’t like to identify themselves as Gogs or Hwntws – North or South Walians.
“But on the other hand, as one contributor told me – you can’t really call yourself a “Canolborth-wr” – a “Mid-Walian”.
Although he said no two people speak exactly the same, he found distinct regional differences in Lampeter in the South and Corris in the North where the North Walian word for cuppa, “panad” turns to the South Walian “dishgled” and where the north Walian word for him – “fo” becomes the South Walian “fe”.
“One thing that is for sure is that language is changing all the time and one place that has many characteristics that set it apart is Montgomeryshire,” he said.
“Words like clemmed for hungry are spoken in Welshpool which could come from the Welsh, arglemio.
“People living in the town also say sietyn for hedge, which could come from the English, shedding.
“And colloquial words like cakey, for something silly, are also spoken in the Midlands and probably came from there.”
He said there used to be a prejudice against dialects but these days many people, especially in the media, are embracing them.
“When I was growing up we were expected to speak the Queen’s English, but that is no longer the case,” he said.
“Welsh broadcasters slip in words that are local to them and social media such as Facebook which is between friends, encourages them to share a common language.”
Link (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/06/13/tracking-down-where-welsh-language-dialects-collide-91466-28867055/)
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TO people at opposite ends of the country, the differences between the Welsh language they speak have long been a source of amusement and one-upmanship.
A poet and broadcaster, Ifor ap Glyn, has now traced the part of the country where the two dialects of North and South Walian meet.
Mr ap Glyn believes that the area between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth is where the two distinctive accents and vocabularies of the dialects collide.
He said that talking to locals in Lampeter, Aberystwyth and Aberllefenni made him realise how much the language can change from area to area.
“I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task to pinpoint this kind of border where the dialects cross over,” he said.
“There are so many different factors to consider – differences in accent, vocabulary and sometimes grammatical patterns too.
“However, we decided to focus on a number of specific words to see if a pattern developed.
“And we discovered that there are an awful lot of changes between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, specifically in the Talybont area.”
As part of a programme on the language for S4C, he prepared a questionnaire with 15 different words and then widely distributed it in an area ranging from Dolgellau to Aberaeron, targeting schools and chapels to ensure that people of all ages filled in the form.
And he turned to the pupils of Machynlleth Secondary School to help him in the task of mapping out where the different words changed.
“We received over a thousand responses,” he said, “and even after we had weeded out people who hadn’t lived in the area all their lives, there was still a substantial amount of data to analyse.
“With every pair of words such as rwan/nawr (now), fo/fe (him) or allan/mas (out), we saw there was a zone of convergence, where the two forms co-exist, so it was difficult for us to establish a definitive border.
“Some people have argued that there is a different dialect for every five or 10 miles.
“Nevertheless, there was a great deal of change evident between the area of Furnace and Tre Taliesin on the road between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.
“At one time, the North Walian ‘u’ sound extended to every area of Wales.
“It was interesting going to Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari secondary school near Bridgend and playing an archive tape of someone from the area that still used that ‘u’ sound in the 1970s.
“Our language doesn’t divide neatly into two boxes – South and North – and neither do the people of Wales.
“In Mid Wales, many people told me that they didn’t like to identify themselves as Gogs or Hwntws – North or South Walians.
“But on the other hand, as one contributor told me – you can’t really call yourself a “Canolborth-wr” – a “Mid-Walian”.
Although he said no two people speak exactly the same, he found distinct regional differences in Lampeter in the South and Corris in the North where the North Walian word for cuppa, “panad” turns to the South Walian “dishgled” and where the north Walian word for him – “fo” becomes the South Walian “fe”.
“One thing that is for sure is that language is changing all the time and one place that has many characteristics that set it apart is Montgomeryshire,” he said.
“Words like clemmed for hungry are spoken in Welshpool which could come from the Welsh, arglemio.
“People living in the town also say sietyn for hedge, which could come from the English, shedding.
“And colloquial words like cakey, for something silly, are also spoken in the Midlands and probably came from there.”
He said there used to be a prejudice against dialects but these days many people, especially in the media, are embracing them.
“When I was growing up we were expected to speak the Queen’s English, but that is no longer the case,” he said.
“Welsh broadcasters slip in words that are local to them and social media such as Facebook which is between friends, encourages them to share a common language.”
Link (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/06/13/tracking-down-where-welsh-language-dialects-collide-91466-28867055/)