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Distributed for University of Wales Press

The Welsh Language

A History

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 around the world 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.

192 pages | 10 halftones, 11 maps | 5 x 7 1/2 | © 2014

History: European History

Language and Linguistics: General Language and Linguistics


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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Maps

Acknowledgements

The Welsh Language: A Personal Perspective

1. The Origins of Welsh

2. Welsh in the Early British Kingdoms

3. Welsh in the Middle Ages

4. From the Act of ‘Union’ to the Industrial Revolution

5. The Welsh Language in the Era of Industrialization

6. Welsh in the Later Nineteenth Century

7. Welsh in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

8. The Second World War and After

9. The Welsh Language Today

10. Welsh and the Other Non-State Languages of Europe

11. The Characteristics of Welsh

Postscript

Further Reading

Index

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