Welsh

Welsh pronunciation is illustrated in the characters of Fluellen in Henry V and Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor. The majority of the distinctive features follow the same trend, but there are some exceptions. There is usually just one localized feature per word. The most noticeable feature is that voiced consonants (those with vocal cord vibration, such as /b, d, g, v/) lose their voicing.

/b/ becomes /p/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
Pabylon	Babylon	MW III.i.23
pad	bad	MW III.iii.207
pashful	bashful	H5 IV.viii.70
pattle	battle	H5 IV.vii.93
pear	bear	H5 IV.viii.35
peard	beard	MW IV.ii.182
peat	beat	MW I.i.66
peds	beds	MW III.i.18
peseech	beseech	H5 V.i.21
petter	better	MW I.i.39
pibble-pabble	bibble-babble	H5 IV.i.70
pid	bid	MW V.iv.3
pless	bless	MW I.i.67
plows	blows	H5 IV.viii.14
plue	blue	H5 III.vi.101
plood	blood	H5 IV.vii.105
ploody	bloody	H5 V.i.40
pody	body	H5 IV.vii.105
pold	bold	MW V.iv.2
porn	born	H5 IV.vii.11
poys	boys	H5 IV.vii.1
prabble	brabble	MW I.i.51
pragging	bragging	H5 V.i.5
prain	brain	MW I.i.40
prave	brave	H5 III.vi.62
prawls	brawls	H5 IV.viii.65
pread	bread	H5 V.i.8
preeches	breeches	MW IV.i.73
pridge	bridge	H5 III.vi.12
prief	brief	MW I.i.134
pring	bring	MW I.i.41
putter	butter	MW V.v.139
py	by	MW I.i.26
trempling	trembling	MW III.i.12

/d/ becomes /t/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
digt	digged	H5 III.ii.60
goot	good	MW I.i.41
Got	God	MW I.i.34
offert	offered	H5 IV.vii.3
swort	sword	MW I.i.39
tam	dam	MW I.i.139
Tavy	Davy	H5 IV.vii.101
tevil	devil	MW I.i.139

/v/ becomes /f/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
aggriefed	aggrieved	H5 IV.vii.158
falorous	valorous	H5 III.ii.74
fehemently	vehemently	MW III.i.8
fery	very	MW I.i.46
focative	vocative	MW IV.i.49
prerogatifes	prerogatives	H5 IV.i.67

/z/ becomes /s/ or /sh/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
ass	as	H5 V.i.4
Jeshu	Jesu	MW III.i.11 [Q only]
possitable	positively	MW I.i.220

/j/ becomes /ch/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
Cheshu	Jesu	H5 III.ii.61

The general pattern is clearly ‘voiced becomes voiceless’, hence the occasional instances of the reverse process are noteworthy. They include Evans’ pronunciation of Latin as well as English.

 

/p/ becomes /b/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
Hibocrates	Hippocrates	MW III.i.61
taber	taper	MW IV.iv.67
trib	trip	MW V.iv.1

/t/ becomes /d/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
tiddle-taddle	tittle-tattle	H5 IV.i.70

/k/ becomes /g/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
cogscomb	coxcomb	MW III.i.80
hig, hag, hog	hic, haec, hoc	MW IV.i.39
knog	knock	MW III.i.13
sprag	sprack	MW IV.i.77
stog	stock	MW III.i.108

/f/ becomes /v/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
vagram	fragrant	MW III.i.24
vlouting	flouting	MW III.i.108

In a few cases, voicing stays the same and the Welshness is signalled by a change in the manner of articulation.

/ch/ becomes /s/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
pinse	pinch	MW V.v.129
seese	cheese	MW V.v.139

/ch/ becomes /t/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
voutsafe	vouchsafe	H5 III.ii.92

/sh/ becomes /s/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
sall	shall	H5 IV.vii.23
silling	shilling	H5 IV.viii.71

/w/ becomes /v/

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
verefore	wherefore	MW III.i.73

There are also some cases where a consonant is omitted at the beginning of a word - usually /w/.

Sound omission

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
’oman	woman	MW I.i.211
’oord, ’ort	word	MW I.i.236
’ork	work	MW I.i.135
’orld	world	MW I.i.46
’udge	judge	MW I.i.171

It is unusual to show a variation in vowel quality.

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
louse	luce	MW I.i.17

And there is the occasional case where the spelling looks distinctive, with little difference in pronunciation.

Welsh pronunciation	English word	First usage in H5 or MW
chollors	cholers	MW III.i.11

 

The representation of the dialect makes great use of distinctive grammatical features, such as the stereotypical discourse tag, look you (H5 III.ii.57). Nouns and the occasional adverb are made plural - conjectures, disparagements, atonements, compromises (MW I.i.28,ff), and peradventures (MW I.i.72).

Grammatical agreement can be non-standard - a joyful resurrections (MW I.i.49). And words are frequently assigned to the wrong part of speech or given the wrong ending.

with as great discreetly	MW I.i.136
I will description the matter	MW I.i.200
if you be capacity of it	MW I.i.201
can you affection the woman	MW I.i.211
a very discretion answer	MW I.i.235
how melancholies I am	MW III.i.13
I will desires	MW III.iii.208
this is lunatics [= lunacy]	MW IV.ii.117
possitable [=positively]	MW I.i.220