Wnes i and wnesti pronunciations

Welsh General / Questions
#1

Apologies in advance if this is something already addressed and beaten to death, but I didn’t see it.

I’ve been working on the new Northern introductory course, and have noticed that some words/phrases such as “wnes i” and “wnest ti” are pronounced differently by the two people presenting the course. One person pronounces these with an “ess” sound in the middle, while the other has a fairly definite “esh” sound in the same spot.

What I’d like to know is whether this is a matter of personal preference or a normal variation that one hears between different individuals in everyday speech, or is one pronunciation “more correct” than the other. I’d like to find out before I spend too much more time practicing one and perhaps finding later that I should have worked on the other.

Thanks for bearing with me, friends.

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#2

It’s all down to personal preference. As simple as that I’m afraid. If you get chances to use your Welsh in the wild just listen for what others around you say and adopt that pronunciation. If you don’t, pick one, either one. :blush:

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#3

It is entirely personal preference, morganlevans - though probably the ‘ess’ version is regarded by some as more ‘standard’ than the ‘esh’ one. I think the best thing is to imitate local practice where you are.

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#4

Gentlemen, thanks very much. I kind of suspected this might be the case as it didn’t seem to be addressed at all in the course/lessons. But I did want to make sure. Thanks very much for your help.