Welsh Orthography - Letter Names and Sound Values

Letter Names and Sound Values

"N" and "S" represent the variants in the northern and southern dialects of Welsh.

Letter Name Corresponding sounds English approximation
a â /a, ɑː/ cat (short) / father (long)
b bî /b/ bat
c èc /k/ case
ch èch /x/ loch (Scottish)
d dî /d/ day
dd èdd /ð/ this
e ê /ɛ, eː/ bed (short) / closest to hey (long)
f èf /v/ vat
ff èff /f/ four
g èg /ɡ/ gate
ng èng /ŋ/ thing
h âets, hâ /h/ hat
i î (N), î dot (S) /ɪ, iː, j/ bit (short) / machine (long) / yes (as consonant; before vowels)
l èl /l/ lad
ll ell /ɬ/ not present in English; a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative
m èm /m/ mat
n en /n/ net
o ô /ɔ, oː/ Short, like "bog" in RP; long like stove in Scottish English, North Central American English and West/Central Canadian English
p pî /p/ pet
ph ffî /f/ phone
r èr /r/ rat (trilled)
rh rhî, rhô /r̥/ pray (trilled): an unvoiced
s ès /s/ sat
t tî /t/ tan
th èth /θ/ thin
u û (N), û bedol (S) /ɨ̞, ɨː/ (N), /ɪ, iː/ (S) for Southern variants: bit (short) / machine (long); /ɨ̞, ɨː/ not found in English.
w ŵ /ʊ, uː, w/ book (short) / pool (long) / wet (as consonant)
y ŷ /ɨ̞, ɨː, ə/ (N)
/ɪ, iː, ə, əː/ (S)
for Southern variants: bit (final syllable, short) / machine (final syllable, long)
above (other places, short) / roses /ɨ̞, ɨː/, found in certain dialects of English that differentiate "Rosa's" and "roses", for example, General American.
Notes

Read more about this topic:  Welsh Orthography

Famous quotes containing the words letter, names, sound and/or values:

    “Come up from the fields father, here’s a letter from our Pete,
    And come to the front door mother, here’s a letter from thy dear
    son.”
    —Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

    “I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “There have been many stories told about the bottom, or rather no bottom, of this pond, which certainly had no foundation for themselves. It is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “I describe family values as responsibility towards others, increase of tolerance, compromise, support, flexibility. And essentially the things I call the silent song of life—the continuous process of mutual accommodation without which life is impossible.”
    —Salvador Minuchin (20th century)