United Kingdom (Wales, England), Argentina (Chubut Province)
Ethnicity
Welsh
Speakers
Wales: 538,300 (17.8% of the population of Wales in 2021, including both L1 and L2 speakers)
England: 110,000 (2001, estimated)[1]
Argentina: 1,500–5,000[2][3]
Canada: <3,885 (L1)[4]
Australia: 1,737 [5]
Language family
Indo-European
Celtic
Insular Celtic
Brittonic
Western Brittonic
Welsh
Early forms
Common Brittonic
Old Welsh
Middle Welsh
Dialects
Cofi
Gwyndodeg
Powyseg
Dyfedeg
Gwenhwyseg
Patagonian Welsh
Writing system
Latin (Welsh alphabet)
Welsh Braille
Official status
Official language in
Wales (United Kingdom)
Recognised minority language in
Argentina (Chubut Province)
Regulated by
Welsh Language Commissioner (2012–present)
Welsh Language Board (1993–2012)
Language codes
ISO 639-1
cy
ISO 639-2
wel (B) cym (T)
ISO 639-3
cym
Glottolog
wels1247
ELP
Welsh
Linguasphere
50-ABA
Welsh-speaking population in Wales according to the 2021 census
Welsh is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)[6]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
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Culture of Wales
History
Timeline
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Prehistory
Roman Era
Anglo-Welsh Wars
Early Middle Ages
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Kingdom of Powys
Deheubarth
Medieval Welsh law
Norman invasion
Edwardian conquest
Late Middle Ages
Statute of Rhuddlan
Glyndŵr rebellion
Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542
Colonies
People
Languages
Welsh (Y Fro Gymraeg
History
Welsh placenames
Welsh surnames
Welsh medium education)
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Traditions
Traditional Welsh costume
Welsh law
Land division (Commote
Cantref
Historic counties)
Mythology and folklore
Arthurian legend
Matter of Britain
Mabinogion
Cuisine
Bara brith
Bara Lafwr
Cawl
Cawl Cennin
Crempog
Gower cuisine
Selsig Morgannwg
Tatws Pum Munud
Welsh breakfast
Welsh cake
Welsh rarebit
Welsh dishes
Restaurants
Food festivals
Festivals
Calennig
Dydd Santes Dwynwen
Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau
Saint David's Day
Calan Mai
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Calan Gaeaf
Gŵyl Mabsant
Gŵyl San Steffan
Eisteddfod
List of festivals in Wales
Religion
Religion in Wales
Christianity in Roman Britain
Catholic Church of England and Wales
Celtic Christianity
Celtic Rite
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Dubricius
Teilo
Welsh Bible
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William Morgan
Welsh Methodist revival
1904–1905 Welsh Revival
Disestablishment of Church in Wales
Art
Literature
in Welsh
in English
Medieval
Authors
Poets
Theatre
Welsh historical documents
Welsh-language comics
Music and performing arts
Theatre
Welsh folk music
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Welsh stepdance
Cerdd Dant
Crwth
Cymanfa Ganu
Cynghanedd
Noson Lawen
Pibgorn
Tabwrdd
Triple harp
Twmpath
Welsh bagpipes
Media
Radio
Television
Cinema
Sport
Bando
Boxing
Cnapan
Cricket
Football
Golf
Horse Racing
Pel-Fas
Pêl-Law
Rugby League
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Monuments
World Heritage Sites
Symbols
Flag
Coat of arms
National anthem
Flag of Saint David
Other flags
Welsh Dragon
Welsh heraldry
Celtic cross
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Inventions and discoveries
Wales portal
v
t
e
Video of a Welsh speaker.
Welsh (Cymraeg[kəmˈraːiɡ]ⓘ or y Gymraeg[əɡəmˈraːiɡ]) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina).[7]
It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British",[8] "Cambrian",[9] "Cambric"[10] and "Cymric".[11]
The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave the Welsh language official status in Wales.[12] Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd,[13] with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being de facto official.
According to the 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of the population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills.[14] Other estimates suggest that 896,300 people (29.2%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in December 2023.[15] Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount.[16] 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly.[16]
The Welsh government plans to increase the number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased.[17] Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO.[18]
^Hywel Jones. "Estimation of the number of Welsh speakers in England" (PDF). calls.ac.uk.
^Devine, Darren (30 March 2013). "Patagonia's Welsh settlement was 'cultural colonialism' says academic". Wales Online. Cardiff: Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 6 May 2017. Now, though 50,000 Patagonians are thought to be of Welsh descent, the number of Welsh speakers is believed to be between only 1,500 and 5,000.
^"Wales and Patagonia". Wales.com – The official gateway to Wales. Welsh Government. Retrieved 22 May 2016. Today the province of Chubut, where most Welsh immigrants settled, has a population of 550,000 people. Of these, some 50,000 can claim Welsh ancestry and 5,000 speak the Welsh language.
^"Population of immigrant mother tongue families, showing main languages comprising each family, Canada, 2011". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
^"Cultural diversity: Census 2021". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
^"Atlas of the world's languages in danger". UNESCO Digital Library. p. 183. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
^Edwards, Huw. "Why do they speak Welsh in South America?". BBC iWonder. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
^E.g. in the Act of Uniformity 1662 (13–14 Chas. II, c. 55) §27: "That the Book [of Common Prayer] hereunto annexed be truly and exactly translated into the British or Welsh tongue."
^Nolan, Edward Henry (1859). Great Britain As It Is. London: John Lane & Co. p. 47. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
^Jackson, John (1752). Chronological Antiquities. Vol. III. London: J Noon. p. 143.
^Walter Thomas, Mrs D; Hughes, Edward (1879), The Cymric Language, Cardiff: D Duncan & Sons
^"Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 30 May 2016. The Welsh language has official status in Wales.
^"National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012". www.legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 19 April 2018. The official languages of the Assembly are English and Welsh.
^"Welsh language in Wales (Census 2021)". GOV.WALES. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
^"Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: October 2022 to September 2023 | GOV.WALES". www.gov.wales. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^ ab"Welsh language use in Wales (initial findings): July 2019 to March 2020 (revised) | GOV.WALES". www.gov.wales. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
^"Almost a quarter of children in Wales are taught only in Welsh, as the language experiences a revival". ITV News. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
^Luain, Cathal Ó. "Unesco: Status of Celtic languages outlined by atlas". Agence Bretagne Presse (in French). Retrieved 25 May 2023.
Welsh (Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ]) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken...
the Welshlanguage (Welsh: hanes yr iaith Gymraeg) spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle...
Patagonian Welsh (Welsh: Cymraeg y Wladfa) is a variety of the Welshlanguage spoken in Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, Chubut Province, Argentina...
The WelshLanguage Society (Welsh: Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, also often abbreviated to Cymdeithas yr Iaith or just Cymdeithas in English) is a direct...
The languages of Wales include the Welshlanguage, which is an official language of Wales, and English, which is also considered an official language in...
Middle Welsh (Welsh: Cymraeg Canol, Middle Welsh: Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welshlanguage of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more...
Welsh Romani (or Welsh Kalá) is a variety of the Romani language which was spoken fluently in Wales until at least 1950. It was spoken by the Kale group...
British citizens. In Wales, the Welshlanguage (Welsh: Cymraeg) is protected by law. Welsh remains the predominant language in many parts of Wales, particularly...
The WelshLanguage Commissioner (Welsh: Comisiynydd y Gymraeg) is a Welsh Government officer, overseeing an independent advisory body of the same name...
The WelshLanguage Board (Welsh: Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg) was a statutory body set up by Her Majesty's Government under the WelshLanguage Act 1993. It...
Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century: a nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, was formed in 1925, and the WelshLanguage Society in 1962...
The WelshLanguage Act 1967 (c. 66) (Welsh: Deddf yr Iaith Gymraeg 1967) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which gave some rights to...
term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers. The term 'Anglo-Welsh' replaced an earlier attempt to define this category...
The teaching of English in Welsh schools was generally supported by the Welsh public and parents who saw it as the language of economic advancement.: 453...
dialects in the west of Wales have been more heavily influenced by the Welshlanguage while dialects in the east have been influenced more by dialects in...
and the Celtic languages, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and, as a revived language with few speakers, Cornish. British Sign Language is also used. There...
Welsh rarebit or Welsh rabbit (/ˈrɛərbɪt/ or /ˈræbɪt/) is a dish of hot cheese sauce served on toasted bread. The original 18th-century name of the dish...
WelshLanguage Act refers to two different acts of the United Kingdom Parliament: WelshLanguage Act 1967, which extended the Welsh Courts Act 1942, restoring...
nature of the Pictish language: Pictish was an insular Celtic language allied to the P-Celtic language Brittonic (descendants Welsh, Cornish, Cumbric, and...
The Welsh Dragon (Welsh: y Ddraig Goch, meaning 'the red dragon'; pronounced [ə ˈðraiɡ ˈɡoːχ]) is a heraldic symbol that represents Wales and appears...
cur dog or dwarf dog (cor = dwarf, gi = lenitive of ci, dog) in the Welshlanguage, which was not intended as an insult to the dog's size, rather as a...
WelshLanguage Act 1993 (c. 38) (Welsh: Deddf yr Iaith Gymraeg 1993) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welshlanguage on...
Old Welsh (Welsh: Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welshlanguage from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh. The...
The Brittonic languages (also Brythonic or British Celtic; Welsh: ieithoedd Brythonaidd/Prydeinig; Cornish: yethow brythonek/predennek; and Breton: yezhoù...
Welsh nationalism (Welsh: Cenedlaetholdeb Cymreig) emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh...
The Welsh Government (Welsh: Llywodraeth Cymru) is the devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and deputy ministers. It is...
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