Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T23:18:48.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - English in Wales

from Part I - English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2024

Susan Fox
Affiliation:
Universität Bern, Switzerland
Get access

Summary

This chapter presents on overview of present-day Welsh English(es) with a focus on regional variation and diachronic developments over the past fifty years. The Anglicisation of Wales has progressed in several phases over the centuries, which is why the accents and dialects of English in Wales are regionally distinctive, the Welsh language and neighbouring English English dialects impacting them to different degrees. The chapter takes the Survey of Anglo-Welsh dialects (Parry 1999) as a starting point and uses corpus and survey data compiled in the twenty-first century as well as recent research publications, thereby examining the main trends of development in the different domains of English. Phonological variation and change are described across a broad North–South continuum, whereas in morphosyntax the greatest differences can be found between the predominantly English-speaking Southeast and the bilingual, historically Welsh-dominant North and West Wales. In regional lexicon, sociolinguistically and nationally salient items are relatively few, originating from both Welsh and English. Finally, the chapter draws attention to recent research, and highlights some caveats and future directions for the study of English in Wales.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Awbery, G. M. (1997). The English language in Wales. In Tristram, H. L. C. (ed.), The Celtic Englishes. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, pp. 8699.Google Scholar
BBC Voices. (2004–2014). Voices. www.bbc.co.uk/voices/ (accessed 18 April 2023).Google Scholar
British Library Sounds. (2009). British Library Sounds. https://sounds.bl.uk (accessed 18 April 2023).Google Scholar
Campbell, R. H. (2021). Direction of Change in Cardiff English: Levelling, Standardisation, or Drift? PhD dissertation, Cardiff University.Google Scholar
Collins, B. and Mees, I. M. (1990). The phonetics of Cardiff English. In Coupland, N. (ed.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict and Change. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 87103.Google Scholar
Coupland, N. (1988). Dialect in Use: Sociolinguistic Variation in Cardiff English. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durham, M. (2011). Right dislocation in Northern England: Frequency and use – perception meets reality. English World-Wide 32(3): 257–79. https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.32.3.01dur.Google Scholar
Durham, M. (2015). Representations of Welsh English online: What can tweets tell us about salience and enregisterment? Paper presented at NWAVE44, Toronto, 22–25 Oct 2015.Google Scholar
Durham, M. (2016). Changing attitudes towards the Welsh English accent: A view from Twitter. In Durham, M. and Morris, J. (eds), Sociolinguistics in Wales. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 181205.Google Scholar
Durham, M. (2019). Quantifying potential: Non-canonical word order through a variationist perspective. Paper presented at UK Language Variation and Change 12, London, 3–5 Sept 2019.Google Scholar
Durham, M. and Morris, J. (2016). An overview of sociolinguistics in Wales. In Durham, M. and Morris, J. (eds), Sociolinguistics in Wales. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 328.Google Scholar
Ellis, A. J. (1882). On the delimitation of the English and Welsh languages. Y Cymmrodor 4: 173208.Google Scholar
Fife, J. and King, G. (1991). Focus and the Welsh ‘abnormal sentence’: A cross-linguistic perspective. In Fife, J. and Poppe, E. (eds.), Studies in Brythonic Word Order. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 81153.Google Scholar
George, C. (1990). Community and Coal: An Investigation of the English-Language Dialect of the Rhondda Valleys, Mid Glamorgan. PhD thesis, University College Swansea.Google Scholar
Heinecke, J. (2003). The temporal and aspectual systems of English and Welsh. In Tristram, H. L. C. (ed.), The Celtic Englishes III. Heidelberg: C. Winter, pp. 85110.Google Scholar
Hejná, M. (2015). Pre-Aspiration in Welsh English: A Case Study of Aberystwyth. PhD dissertation, University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Hejná, M. (2018). ‘Fax it up.’ – ‘Yes, it does rather.’ The relationship between trap, strut, and start in Aberystwyth English. In Å. Abelin and Y. Nagano-Madsen (eds.), Proceedings of FONETIK 2018. The XXXth Swedish Phonetics Conference, Gothenburg, June 7–8, pp. 27–32. https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/130518727/Hejna2018b.pdf (accessed 18 April 2023).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, B. A. (2016a). Welsh English Dialect. Sheffield: Bradwell Books.Google Scholar
Jones, B. A. (2016b). Gwent English: A comparative investigation of lexical items. Tradition Today: Journal of the Centre for English Traditional Heritage 5: 2034. http://centre-for-english-traditional-heritage.org/TraditionToday5/TT5_Jones_Gwent_English.pdf (accessed 18 April 2023).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, B. A. (2018). A History of the Welsh English Dialect in Fiction. PhD dissertation, Swansea University.Google Scholar
Jones, B. M. (1990). Constraints on Welsh English tags: Some evidence from children’s language. English World-Wide 11: 173–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, C. (2016). The perceptual dialectology of Wales from the border. In Durham, M. and Morris, J. (eds.), Sociolinguistics in Wales. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 151–79.Google Scholar
Moraru, M. (2016). Bourdieu, Multilingualism, and Immigration: Understanding How Second Generation Multilingual Immigrants Reproduce Linguistic Practices with Non-Autochthonous Minority Languages in Cardiff, Wales. PhD dissertation, Cardiff University. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/98458/ (accessed 18 April 2023).Google Scholar
Morris, J. (2010). Phonetic variation in Northern Wales: Preaspiration. In Meyerhoff, M., Adachi, C., Daleszynska, A. and Strycharz, A. (eds.), Proceedings of the Second Summer School of Sociolinguistics, The University of Edinburgh, 14–20 June 2010. Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/64918/1/Jon.pdf (accessed 18 April 2023).Google Scholar
Morris, J. (2013). Sociolinguistic Variation and Regional Minority Language Bilingualism: An Investigation of Welsh–English Bilinguals in North Wales. PhD dissertation, University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Orton, H., Barry, M. V., Halliday, W. J., Tilling, P. M. and Wakelin, M. F. (eds.) (1962–1971). Survey of English Dialects (B): The Basic Material (4 vols in 12 parts). Leeds: E. J. Arnold; repr. Routledge, London, 1998.Google Scholar
Parry, D. (1977). The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects, Vol. 1: The South-East. Swansea: David Parry, University College.Google Scholar
Parry, D. (1979). The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects, Vol. 2: The South-West. Swansea: David Parry, University College.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, D. (1999). A Grammar and Glossary of Conservative Anglo-Welsh Dialects of Rural Wales. NATCECT. Occasional Publications, No. 8. Sheffield: University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
Paulasto, H. (2006). Welsh English Syntax: Contact and Variation. Joensuu: Joensuu University Press. http://epublications.uef.fi/pub/urn_isbn_952-458-804-8/index_en.html.Google Scholar
Paulasto, H. (2009). Regional effects of the mode of transmission in Welsh English. In Penttilä, E. and Paulasto, H. (eds.), Language Contacts Meet English Dialects: Studies in Honour of Markku Filppula. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 211–29.Google Scholar
Paulasto, H. (2014). Extended uses of the progressive form in L1 and L2 Englishes. English World-Wide 35(3): 247–76. https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.35.3.01pau.Google Scholar
Paulasto, H. (2016). Variation and change in the grammar of Welsh English. In Durham, M. and Morris, J. (eds.), Sociolinguistics in Wales. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 123–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paulasto, H., Penhallurick, R. and Jones, B. A. (2020). Welsh English. Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Penhallurick, R. (1991). The Anglo-Welsh dialects of North Wales. University of Bamberg Studies in English Linguistics, Vol. 27. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penhallurick, R. (1993). Welsh English: A national language? Dialectologia et Geolinguistica 1: 2846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penhallurick, R. (1994). Gowerland and Its Language. University of Bamberg Studies in English Linguistics. Frankfurt am Mein: Peter Lang.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penhallurick, R. (1996). The grammar of northern Welsh English: Progressive verb phrases. In Klemola, J., Kytö, M. and Rissanen, M. (eds.), Speech Past and Present. Studies in English Dialectology in Memory of Ossi Ihalainen. University of Bamberg Studies in English Linguistics Vol. 38. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, pp. 308–42.Google Scholar
Penhallurick, R. (2007). English in Wales. In Britain, D. (ed.), Language in the British Isles, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 152–70.Google Scholar
Penhallurick, R. (2008). Welsh English: Phonology. In Kortmann, B. and Upton, C. (eds.), Varieties of English 1: The British Isles. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 105–21.Google Scholar
Penhallurick, R. (2013). Voices in Wales: A new national survey. In Upton, C. and Davies, B. L. (eds.), Analysing 21st century British English: Conceptual and Methodological Aspects of the ‘Voices’ Project. London: Routledge, pp. 124–35.Google Scholar
Podhovnik, E. (2008). The Phonology of Neath English: A Socio-Dialectological Survey. PhD dissertation, Swansea University.Google Scholar
Podhovnik, E. (2010). Age and accent-changes in a southern Welsh English accent. Research in Language 8: 118.Google Scholar
Quaino, S. (2011). The Intonation of Welsh English: the Case of Ceredigion and Gwynedd. PhD dissertation, Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt, Austria.Google Scholar
Rhys, S. (2014). 25 English words and phrases you only hear in Wales. WalesOnline, 14 May 2014. www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/25-english-words-phrases-you-7071496 (accessed 18 April 2023).Google Scholar
Roberts, G. T. (1996). ‘Under the hatches’: English Parliamentary Commissioners’ views of the people and language of mid-nineteenth-century Wales. In Schwarz, B. (ed.), The Expansion of England: Race, Ethnicity and Cultural History. London: Routledge, pp. 171–97.Google Scholar
Robinson, J., Gilbert, H. and Herring, J. (2010). Voices of the UK. British Library, Social Sciences Collections and Research. Project funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Unpublished linguistic descriptions of English in Wales.Google Scholar
Roller, K. (2016). Salience in Welsh English Grammar: A Usage-Based Approach. PhD dissertation. Freiburg: University Library Press. https://doi.org/10.6094/978-3-928969-6-3 (accessed 18 April 2023).Google Scholar
Thomas, A. R. (1984). Welsh English. In Trudgill, P. (ed.), Language in the British Isles, 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 178–94.Google Scholar
Thomas, A. R. (1994). English in Wales. In Burchfield, R. (ed.), The Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol. V: English in Britain and Overseas: Origins and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 94147.Google Scholar
Walters, J. R. (2001). English in Wales and a ‘Welsh Valleys’ accent. World Englishes 20(3): 285304.Google Scholar
Walters, J. R. (2003). ‘Celtic English’: Influences on a South Wales Valleys accent. English World-Wide 24(1): 6387.Google Scholar
Williams, C. H. (1990). The anglicisation of Wales. In Coupland, N. (ed.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict and Change. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 1947.Google Scholar
Williams, M. (2003). Information packaging in Rhondda speech: A second look at the research of Ceri George. In Tristram, H. L. C. (ed.), The Celtic Englishes III. Heidelberg: C. Winter, pp. 201–24.Google Scholar
Windsor Lewis, J. (1990). Syntax and lexis in Glamorgan English. In Coupland, N. (ed.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict and Change. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 109–20.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • English in Wales
  • Edited by Susan Fox, Universität Bern, Switzerland
  • Book: Language in Britain and Ireland
  • Online publication: 17 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108769617.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • English in Wales
  • Edited by Susan Fox, Universität Bern, Switzerland
  • Book: Language in Britain and Ireland
  • Online publication: 17 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108769617.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • English in Wales
  • Edited by Susan Fox, Universität Bern, Switzerland
  • Book: Language in Britain and Ireland
  • Online publication: 17 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108769617.011
Available formats
×