help with welsh

[votadini]

hi all,i am attempting to write a book .and after much research am stuck on how a welsh accent would be written down? my book is set in the 4th.c. so would be very old welsh.anyone got any ideas where i could look? or is there a welsh speaker out there who may want to lend a hand?
thanks for any help received,

 

[Pyan]

Now. llet me see.....
Sorry, votadini - the only Wellsh(ish) accent I've seen written down is in Soul Music, by T,Pratchett, where our hero comes from a suspiciouslly Wellsh-sounding area of the Discworld - Llamedos. (read it backward!)
Pterry doubles up all the "l"s to make it look welshish, with some funny resullts.

Most Welsh speakers I've known are identifiable by the accent, rather than the spelling they use - traditionally, the odd "see?"at the end of the sentence is the only written clue. But don't use "Look you" - in five years living in Swansea, I never heard anyone say it, and my mate, when asked about the phrase, just roared with laughter.
Sorry I can't be of any more help....
Welcome to the forums, by the way - pop along here: http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/introductions/

to recieve the welcome and warnings for new members. You'll be glad you did!

 

[Lenny]

And "boyo".

The dwarves in The Soddit (a parody of The Hobbit by A.R.R.R. Roberts) are all Welsh, too.

Llook you, wellcome to the Chrons, lla boyo, see?

 

[Culhwch]

Moved to Aspiring Writers, where hopefully you'll find some more help...

 

[j d worthington]

Am I mistaken, or wasn't there a smattering of Welsh used in some of Arthur Machen's tales? I believe there's some of it used in "The Great Return", for instance; though I'd not swear as to the period, I think it was early Welsh. (*sigh* My memory is beginning to resemble Swiss cheese these days....)

EDIT: As I said, I'm not certain, but... on second thought, this may not be early, as I vaguely recall a reference to Calvinism in this context, which would put it at a much later date. But you might want to check, to be certain.

These may help in giving you some pointers (or at least point you in the direction of other sources):

Griffen, Literary Assumptions* PIPA Volume 2 (1999)

Celtic languages :: Welsh --* Britannica Concise Encyclopedia*- The online encyclopedia you can trust!

There's also this, from the Wikipedia article on Welsh:

Old Welsh
The earliest extant sources of a language identifiable as Welsh go back to about the 6th century, and the language of this period is known as Early Welsh. Very little of this language remains. The next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh (Hen Gymraeg) (9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotand has been preserved in this form of the language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Great Britain proceeded, the Brythonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbrian, and those in the south-west, speaking what would become Cornish, and so the languages diverged. Both Canu Aneirin and Canu Taliesin were in this era.

Welsh language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If I come across anything more that may be helpful, I'll pass it along....

 

[Coolhand]

"Kryten, transmit the following message in all known languages. Including Welsh." - Arnold Judas Rimmer.

You might want to keep in mind that 4th century welsh probably sounds nothing like the Modern version, so any modern take on the accent probably won’t help you.

To be honest, you might be better off keeping a very light touch on the issue of dialect. A little bit here and there is okay but it's very easy to make dialogue unreadable or too distracting if you write it down phonetically.
For example:
“Toodayyye eyee bee testin mee commbyneee harrrrvistaaarrr. Owww bee uuuu then ayyyee?”
Ouch.

It depends on what your goal is, but if it’s just the casual dialogue in the book I’d use modern dialogue that sounds credible for the character but is easy to follow, rather than forcing a reader to wade through blocks of headache inducing but technically correct accents.

All the best with your book.

 

[Lenny]

“Toodayyye eyee bee testin mee commbyneee harrrrvistaaarrr. Owww bee uuuu then ayyyee?”

Sounds more like Essex, that. With all the farmers.