Continuing the theme of ‘w is boring’, how is ‘ŵ’ pronounced and why is there a need for that accent in some Welsh words?
My understanding @david-44, is that the ‘to bach’ (hat/ roof/ circumflex) indicates the need for the longer vowel sound for that letter - so you’re likely to see it where you might otherwise expect a short vowel sound, or where the word means something different depending on short/long vowel sound
eg.tan - until, tân - fire.
I’ve seen the suggestion that it can help if you imagine a silent ‘H’ after the vowel in words with a to bach
=> w = ‘oo’ as in book, while ŵ = ‘oo’ like in zoo - ooh.
May be clearer with ‘a’, but you asked about w/ŵ…
Thanks @ann-6, that is a great explanation on ŵ.
Out of interest, how is â pronounced as opposed to ‘a’ - are you able to give examples from the way English words are pronounced, as your example of ‘book’ and ‘zoo’ really helped for w and ŵ.
Think of the English lard (without much of a recognisable ‘r’ sound) and lad. Or maybe consider the double a that is found in Dutch/Flemish as the equivalent of â.
Thinking of the silent h where there’s a to bach, â = ah
With English examples though,
=> a = ‘a’ as in tram, while â = ‘ah’ like the sound you hear in calm/ palm.
Does that help @david-44?
