Late Mn. W., which begins with the Bible, though influenced to some extent by Salesbury, is based upon Early Mn. W., and forms a continuation of it. In the 19th century several neologisms were introduced, chiefly under the influence of Pughe; the language of this period will be referred to, when necessary, as Recent Welsh.
§ 6. i. The spoken language has four main dialects, as follows:
(1) Venedotian, the dialect of Gwynedd or North West Wales. (Gwyn. dial.)
(2) Powysian, the dialect of Powys, or North East and Mid Wales. (Powys dial.)
(3) Demetian, the dialect of Dyfed or South West Wales.
(4) Gwentian, the dialect of Gwent and Morgannwg, or South East Wales.
N. W. is used as an abbreviation for 'North Wales' or 'North Walian', S. W. for 'South Wales' or 'South Walian'.
ii. The two N. W. dialects differ from the two S. W. chiefly in the choice of words to express some common ideas, the most noticeable difference being the use of o, fo in N. W., and e, fe in S. W., for the pronoun 'he' or 'him'.
iii. In the final unaccented syllable the diphthongs ai and au are mostly levelled with e in the dialects. In Powys and Dyfed, that is, in an unbroken belt from North East to South West, the three are sounded e; thus cader, pethe, bore for cadair 'chair', pethau 'things', bore 'morning'. In Gwynedd and Gwent they are sounded a, as cadar (Gwent cá|tar), petha, bora. When ai is significant (e.g. as denoting the plural) it is ai in Gwynedd, i in Gwent, sometimes i in Powys, as Gwynedd defaid 'sheep', llygaid (when not ll'gada) 'eyes'; Gwent defid, llý|cid; Powys defed, llygid; Dyfed defed, llyged.
Dialectal forms, chiefly Demetian and Powysian ‑e, begin to appear in the mss. of the 15th century; but the rhymes of the bards of the 15th and 16th centuries, with the exception of some poetasters, always imply the literary form, which is still used in the written language except in a few words. See § 31 ii.
