Hi All, travelling the entire A483 from Swansea presently. Not much Cymraeg so far, as in people actually speaking it in the wild, except in Tesco filling station before I set off 
Ok so now completed the entire A483 and in Kendal Travelodge. Same wall pic 
Tomorrow Ill look for some Cumbrian Cumbric place names.
An interesting situation in church (Welsh-speaking) this morning: I sing in the choir and am both on the list of readers and refreshment makers and all three coincided this morning! The Old Testament reading held a few tricky pronunciations and I have had time to practise to get my tongue round them, but I just “went for it” this morning. Whilst pouring tea I recognised the person I was serving, but she is not a regular and I couldn’t place her, even when she told me her name was Gwyneth. We chatted and she said how clearly I had read and I thanked her. Whilst I was washing up she kindly brought the cups to me and chatted a bit more. Good job my friend did not tell me who she was until after she had left. It was Gwyneth Lewis - first National Poet of Wales and author of the words above the Millennium Centre!! I had been to a fund-raising event for the Eisteddfod in Cardiff Bay at which she read some of her poems. (I am now hiding my red face!!)
7 Likes
Da iawn. Well done. Which curch out of interest.
Eglwys Dewi Sant in Cardiff, not far from the National Museum. Very helpful and supportive of learners. We have a coffee morning 10.30-12 every third Saturday of the month for beginners of all stages. Usually 10-15 life-long Welsh speakers, so plenty of help!
1 Like
John
I don’t want to raid your thread, but had a thought today that was very random and wanted somewhere to post it - so that I could fly a kite and see what the response might be.
The question is: “are there really mutations in the celtic languages and how are we so sure”
Here’s my thing - what if the word for children was originally “lant” not “plant”. if we varied the pronouns to ym, dyb, eib, eiph, etc then that would give the same result, wouldn’t it?
If the pronouns varied due to noun or verb-noun class then for “neud” we could have yngw, dy, iw, eigw, eugw etc.
You could argue that mutations exist in all languages, and that they are usually not expressed in the written form of a language.
Your model would work, but it is much more complex than using a mutation model. Think of what you would need to do to before-noun adjectives, to objects of short-form verbs, etc. For instance, would hen ddyn be hendd yn, hendd ddyn, or something else? Occam’s Razor, I 'd say 
3 Likes
Also, this may only work with Welsh mutations that come at the beginning of the words - it wouldn’t work for mutations in, say, Irish, when they appear in the middle or end of words .(bodhran, siobhan, niamh)
1 Like
Well it’s ingenious, @Toffidil - but it reminds me of a nineteenth-century academic tome that I came across in the University Library in Cambridge which offered a detailed (ingenious, indeed!) demonstration (by a complex set of sound-change rules and other devices) that Basque was a Slavonic language. The logic was faultless, provided you accepted the rules. Which no sane person would, of course. 
In linguistics, as in so many other aspects of life, I think the simplest explanation is usually the right one.
4 Likes
Thanks and to @siaron and @louis as well - just a bit of fun really. I was intrigued that lots of other languages seem to have many more noun classes, than simply gender, with characteristic markers, for spatial awareness etc and it sort of sparked a bit of curiosity.
1 Like
Not at all. The more the merrier.
Not sure how it would work with words that only mutate sometimes like da/tha. And what about the spirant and nasal?
Yes thanks for posting this, teally interesting. Just thinking, how would you get it to deal with mid word reverse mutations, like hytrach, tecach and all the Gwent ones.
Anyway, I just spent the weekend back in the Tyne valley and nearby Penine Valleys (a good distance from W lales) but noticed loads of celtic stuff. Lanercost for Llanerch, Nent valley and then a wierd one -
Just near to our old house is a watershed area known as Hill head. I noticed a proposed housing estate called the Garn. Interesting as we alresdy have cairn for pile of stones. I know that the welsh carn means a bit more, as in raised area of ground. Im just wondering if there is a link. There is also a nesrby ares with Bar as part of the name which I think is also celtic for watershead.
Any thoughts?
Apart from the rubbish typing 
Sorry my mistake. Ive just googled it. It was the Garth, which works in both languages.
I’ve just popped into Carmarthen to buy a bit if lunch. Even the supermarkets are buzzing with Cymraeg today. Possibly market day, actual or traditional (?).
I tagged along behind a couple of farmers who were putting the world to rights. One was ok to understand as he was just agreeing with his friend by saying: O Ie ie all the time.
Understanding said friend was more tricky. I gave it my best shot, but after a while, I wondered if I was getting too close to him for the liking of the security cameras, so had to accept defeat. Ah well, some you win, some you loose.
2 Likes
Understanding farmers on market day is NOT for the faint-hearted…
1 Like
But if you don’t mind a bit of vocabulary expansion…follow on 
2 Likes
I’ve never been brave enough to take on Farmers on market day, but I have been known to follow Mum’s and children around a shop to try to eavesdrop on their conversations!
4 Likes
Anyone with local knowledge for this one?
Neath, Swansea and Ammanford each have a “Wind Street” in their historical commercial centre.
I think all are translated Gwynt as in the wind, but now they are all pronounced wind as in winding (well wine actually )
None of them seem to particularly twisty (except perhaps the Swansea one) or breezy.
Any ideas?
1 Like
Llandysul, too.
1 Like