Ei, ein, eich

Welsh
#1

People often ask about the pronunciation of these little words - and I always tell them (when they ask ME!) that they should be pronounced i, yn and ych respectively (eu also counts as an i, by the way). I tell them this because it’s the truth, and I always believe in telling the truth (unless there’s a VERY good reason for lying, obviously).

Anyway, looking in my favourite vintage grammar of Welsh the other day, I was pleased to note that 100+ years ago none other than the great J. Morris Jones was pointing out exactly the same thing. So I think I’m in good company, and let’s all keep saying i, yn and ych, shall we? :slight_smile:

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4 Likes
#2

I’m actually really glad you’ve posted this, as how to pronounce “ei” has bugged me for a long time. A dictionary I own by a chap you’ve probably heard of says “Pronouncing it as written sounds affected to native speakers” and no one wants to sound affected!

One further question though… is that the short i or the long i?

1 Like
#3

Long i, like English ‘ee’. The word ei sounds exactly like the word i.