The Welsh Language: A Pocket Guide

by Janet Davies

This accessible and comprehensive introduction traces the development of the Welsh language from its origins, which extend back at least 2,500 years within Britain, to the present day, when about half a million people speak Welsh.

 

Janet Davies offers a broad historical survey, looking at Welsh-language culture from sixth-century heroic poetry to television and pop music in the late twentieth century.  She considers the public status of the language from the Act of Union with England of 1536 to the enactment of the Welsh Language Act in 1993, compares the status of Welsh with that of other minority languages throughout Europe and provides a brief guide to pronunciation, dialect and grammar.

Genres: Nonfiction

135 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[Aled Owen-Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The parts of the book related to the current state of the language are outdated now owing to the book having been published more than 20 years ago but there's plenty of very interesting information contained within, even including the outdated stuff.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent and highly readable account of the history of the Welsh language. The 1993 edition I read has recently been brought up to date by the revised edition published in 2014. I therefore felt frustrated not to be able to read about the effect that devolution and the Internet and social networking revolutions have had on the language, issues which are hopefully addressed in the new edition.

[Jo Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

useful new info

[Kubilay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read both editions. They are pretty same, of course the later one has more recent data.