the O. W. period to the present day; the sounds a, e, o, have always been represented by the characters a, e, o,[1] and the sound i always by i, with some exceptions in Early Ml. W., § 16 ii (2).
§ 10. The sound of a is that of the English a in father. It occurs long as in tad 'father', medium as in tá|dol 'fatherly', and short as in mam 'mother'.
The sound does not occur short in English, the a of Eng. man being a more forward sound, which may be denoted by æ. This sound æ is heard in Welsh in a narrow strip stretching from the English border to Harlech, and in Glamorganshire.
§ 11. The sound of e, when long or medium, is the middle e, as in the Eng. men, let; thus gwên 'smile', gwé|nu 'to smile'; when short it is generally more open, tending towards the Eng. e in there; thus gwenn 'white'. For its sound in diphthongs, see §§ 29, 79.
§ 12. The sound of i is the close i of the French fini, si, or the North Eng. i in king, machine. The Southern Eng. i is more open. It occurs long as in gwîn 'wine', medium as in gwí|noedd 'wines', short as in prin 'scarcely'.
§ 13. The sound of o, when long or medium, is the middle o, midway between the close o in Eng. note and the open o in not; thus tôn 'tune', tó|nau 'tunes'; when short it is more open, tending towards the o of not, as tonn 'wave', tŏˊnnau 'waves'.
§ 14. i. The sound of w is that of the French ou in sou, or the North Eng. oo in food, book. The Southern Eng. sound is more open. It occurs long as in gŵr 'man', medium as in gẃ|rol 'manly', short as in trwm 'heavy'.
ii. (1) The sound w was written u in O.W., and thus could not be distinguished (except by the context) from the sound u, § 15 i, which was also written u (though sometimes i, 15 ii).
(2) In Early Ml. W., the sound w, both vocalic and consonantal was written u (or v) and w, and as the former also represents the sound u, and both represent the sound f, the spelling is often ambiguous. In Late Ml. W. the uncertainty is partly removed by the restriction of w and the use of ỽ (a peculiar shape
- ↑ Here and in the following sections up to § 26, a letter printed in heavy type represents the written letter; a letter printed in italics represents the sound.
