The Welsh language has several features in its grammar which are crosslinguistically very unusual. This paper looks at five such features, at their rarity in the languages of the world and at their place in Welsh grammar. It shows that the textual frequency of each feature, in corpora of spoken and written Welsh, is declining. These five features, which had been stable in Welsh since the earliest records well over a thousand years ago, have in the lifetime of older speakers become optional or obsolescent in the spoken language: the grammar of the language has changed. Welsh is likely changing because of bilingualism. Along with the recent increase in the public use of Welsh has come an increase in the use of English in the everyday lives of Welsh speakers. The average Welsh-speaker now speaks more English than Welsh, outside the family at least. Speaking a second language fluently and regularly HAS been shown to affect the speaker's first language, probably to lessen the psychological load in constantly switching between the two languages. It is argued that in such a situation cross-linguistically unusual features are inherently more susceptible to loss. Finally, the paper looks very briefly at possible future developments.
The effect of recent changes on the linguistic uniqueness of Welsh
John Evans: Cyfieithu i'r Comisiwn Ewropeaidd
Y prif siaradwr yn y Gynhadledd Heriau Cyfieithu a gynhaliwyd ym Mhrifysgol Aberystwyth ar 27 Hydref 2017 oedd John Evans, Cyfieithydd yn y Comisiwn Ewropeaidd. Dyma'r delweddau sy'n cyd-fynd â'i gyflwyniad yn trafod rôl y cyfieithydd o fewn y Comisiwn Ewropeaidd.
Academi Cynhadledd Achos
Mae'r clipiau yma yn olrhain hanes cynhadledd achos er mwyn gwarchod plant. Mae’r clipiau yn cynnig enghraifft i fyfyrwyr o’r modd y cynhelir Cynhadledd Achos. Yn yr achos hwn, trafodir dau blentyn ifanc o’r enw Siân a Dylan. Mae Siân yn bump oed, a Dylan yn fabi deunaw mis oed. Pwrpas cynnal y Gynhadledd Achos yw i benderfynu a ddylai’r plant barhau ar y gofrestr amddiffyn plant ai peidio. Mae'r fideo wedi ei rannu mewn i 8 rhan. Dychmygol yw’r cymeriadau yn yr adnodd hwn, ond mae’r math yma o sefyllfa yn gyffredin iawn o fewn cyd-destun y Gynhadledd Achos.
Invasive animals and their effects on British freshwater ecosystems
The introduction of non-native species presents one of the most significant threats facing biodiversity worldwide. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly affected, due to the widespread introduction of species to rivers and lakes for aquaculture and fishing. This article describes non-native, freshwater animals that are present and invasive in Britain, as well as those which are likely to become established over the coming years. The effects of these animals on freshwater ecosystems are explained, and problems that are faced when attempting to manage invasive species are highlighted. Additionally, the effects of climate change and other stressors on the future distribution of non-native species are discussed.
The love-songs of Iolo Morganwg, with particular reference to 'Y Ferch o'r Scerr' ('The Lady of Sker')
The manuscripts of Iolo Morganwg (1747-1826), as well as his collection of native folk-songs, give us a unique insight into an important period in the history of Welsh culture during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The central focus of this study is the love-songs found in his collection, together with the wider social context and background which serve to underpin the folk songs. One can trace this tradition to the poets of the nobility, and especially to the age of Dafydd ap Gwilym. Also one folk-tune in particular will be discussed in detail, ‘The Lady of Sker’. The love story, the folk-tune and the words which are normally associated with ‘The Lady of Sker’ are all well-known in several circles, however the folk-tune recorded by Iolo is totally unknown.
From social drama to the pageant: theatre in the cultural exchange between Wales and north-east India
This article uses theatre as a lens in order to examine the cultural exchange between Wales and the Khasi and Jaiñtia Hills that is rooted in the history of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Overseas Mission present in north-east India between 1841 and 1969. Focusing on Khasi plays from the colonial period as well as an example of Welsh missionary performance staged in Wales in 1929, the article considers the extent to which Welsh conceptions of theatre and drama influenced native performances in the Khasi Hills, and correspondingly, to what extent the missionaries’ perception of India influenced the idea and the representation of the country in Welsh performative portrayals.
Turning an-‘Other’ Page: Re-interpreting the relationship between south Wales’s Welsh- and English-speaking co...
This article analyses the relationship between Welsh and English speakers in pub scenes in two contemporary novels set in south Wales, namely Y Tiwniwr Piano by Catrin Dafydd (2009) and The Book of Idiots by Christopher Meredith (2012), in light of philosophical theories about the ‘other’ and otherness. The development of the concept of the ‘other’ is traced by considering the work of philosophers and cultural theorists such as Georg Hegel, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhabha. Turning to the work of Charlotte Williams and Simon Brooks, the article argues that both Welsh and English speakers in Wales can experience otherness, and the novels are then analysed to explore how this is reflected in contemporary fictional texts. The article draws conclusions about the significance of otherness to contemporary Welsh imagination and identity and suggests how other philosophical ideas could help us find common ground between Wales’s two main language communities.
Llawlyfr Creadigedd yn yr ysgol gynradd
Datblygwyd y llawlyfr ar-lein yma gan Brifysgol Cymru: Y Drindod Dewi Sant. Mae’n cyflwyno a thrafod prif elfennau creadigrwydd yn yr ysgol gynradd ar gyfer ymarferwyr y Cyfnod Sylfaen a Chyfnod Allweddol 2. Mae’r llawlyfr yn ymateb i ddatblygiadau polisi Llywodraeth Cynlluniad Cymru ac yn cynnig arweiniad ar sut i baratoi, creu, cynllunio, datblygu, trefnu ac asesu gweithgareddau dysgu ‘creadigedd’ o ansawdd uchel.
Llawlyfr Technolegau Iaith
Mae’r llawlyfr hwn yn esbonio beth yw technolegau iaith ac yn ddisgrifio rhai o’r cydrannau mwyaf sylweddol yn ogystal â cheisio egluro’r dulliau a ddefnyddir i'w gwireddu. Mae wedi’i fwriadu ar gyfer myfyrwyr, datblygwyr, academyddion, swyddogion polisi, ac eraill sydd heb gefndir yn y maes ond sydd eisiau deall mwy am feysydd pwysig prosesu iaith naturiol, deallusrwydd artiffisial, technoleg cyfieithu a thechnoleg lleferydd. Mae'r llawlyfr hefyd ar gael ar wefan Porth Technolegau Iaith Cenedlaethol Cymru. Ysgrifennwyd gan swyddogion o Uned Technolegau Iaith, Prifysgol Bangor, a Cymen Cyf gyda chymorth grant bach gan y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
Adroddiad Swan-Linx Cymru ar iechyd a lles plant ysgol
Dyma adroddiad sy'n deillio o waith Prifysgol Abertawe ar brosiect Swan-Linx, prosiect iechyd a ffitrwydd sydd â'r nod o ymchwilio i iechyd a lles plant ysgol ym mlynyddoedd 5 a 6 (9-11 oed). Mae'r adroddiad yn seiliedig ar ddata a gasglwyd drwy gyfrwng: Arolwg iechyd ar y we o'r enw CHAT (Child Health and Activity Tool) sy'n gofyn cwestiynau am ymddygiadau iechyd gwahanol gan gynnwys diet, gweithgaredd corfforol, cwsg a lles. Diwrnod Hwyl Ffitrwydd, lle cafodd BMI (Mynegai Màs y Corff), ffitrwydd aerobig, cyflymder, cryfder, ystwythder, p?er, a hyblygrwydd yn cael eu mesur. Ariannwyd y gwaith cyfrwng Cymraeg gyda chymorth grant bach gan y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
Gwerddon: Greening a desert? Some comments on the history of a Welsh-language e-periodical
The article considers the history of Gwerddon, a multi-disciplinary research e-journal launched in April 2007, which has to date (January 2019) published more than one hundred original articles. Its origins lie in the growth of Welsh-language teaching in Welsh universities in the 1970s and 1980s, the campaign to establish a Welsh-language federal college at a time when the federal University of Wales was in crisis, and the urgent need for Welsh-language scholarship to be equally represented in the research assessment exercises of the RAE/REF. The study considers the journal’s impact factors and its role in the development of a Welsh presence on the burgeoning web of the early twenty-first century, and argues that its continuation rests both on Welsh Government educational policy in general, and the financial resilience of the Higher Education sector at a time of severe challenges.
Health and salvation: medicine, the body and the moral order in colonial Bengal 1840-1935
Drawing on a rich seam of archival material on Welsh missionary activity in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Bengal, the article addresses ways in which care of the sick became a central, if problematic, part of Christian Mission. While the building of dispensaries, clinics and hospitals provided both a platform and a social visibility to the evangelisation process, they also exposed deeper tensions around the politics of gender and the implantation of Western medical practices in a colonised society.