Ok… felly, I’m starting to wonder whether I might be getting a reputation for asking daft questions that probably don’t have definitive answers but here goes…
I’m a bit baffled by how, in everyday speech, people can hear the difference between ‘i’ and ‘ni’.
I’m referring to the many instances of phrases such as ‘on i’n siarad’ & ‘on n’in siarad’; ‘do’n i ddim’ & ‘do’ ni ddim’ ; 'hoffen i '& 'hoffen ni 'etc.
I can hear no distinguishable difference but obviously people must or they wouldn’t know whether I was referring to ‘I’ or ‘We’. I can’t imagine that context would resolve all instances so my question is…
Is there a very subtle difference that people can pick up on? If there is I’m missing it at the moment.
(What’s the Welsh for ‘ben alors’?)
