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Welsh (Part 2, The Celtic Languages)

© Kelly Vincent

How Does Welsh Compare to Other Celtic Languages?

Welsh has most in common with Cornish and Breton, as they are all P-Celtic languages, though they are not mutually understandable. In written form they appear similar, but pronunciation and colloquialisms make the spoken languages much more distinct. The differences are far greater between P- and Q-Celtic languages, as the changes go back over a thousand years. The primary difference between them is the ‘p’ sound versus the ‘k’ sound. For instance, the Welsh word for tree is pren, while the Irish is crann (1: “To what other languages is it related?”). There are many examples of such similarities in vocabulary, but the languages have evolved to be very different, and although an Irish speaker might pick up a few words in Welsh, they would never understand much without training.

Sources

1. http://users.comlab.ox.ac.uk/geraint.jon...

2. http://www.patagonia-argentina.com/i/con...

3. http://www.uoc.es/euromosaic/web/documen...

4. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language....

5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/patagonia/

6. The Welsh page on http://www.geocities.com/indoeurop/atree... (select Celtic and then Welsh)