Welsh language

Welsh is a Celtic language native to Wales and spoken by a substantial minority of its population. It has a continuous literary tradition and official status in Wales.

Brittonic languages: A branch of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Welsh belongs to this branch, whose members descend from the languages of ancient Britain.
Proto-Celtic language: The reconstructed ancestor of the Celtic languages, spoken before their diversification. Welsh ultimately descends from this ancestral language through the Brittonic branch.
Welsh-medium education: Education in which Welsh is the main language of instruction. Schools are a major route through which children acquire Welsh and build fluency.
Taliesin: A sixth-century Brittonic poet whose surviving work is associated with early Welsh literature. The poems attributed to Taliesin are among the oldest landmarks in Welsh literary tradition.
Welsh Language Act 1967: A UK law that allowed Welsh to be used in some court proceedings in Wales. It marked an early statutory recognition of Welsh after centuries of restricted official use.
Welsh grammar: The system of Welsh word forms, sentence structure, and grammatical mutations. Its initial consonant mutations and verb-focused clauses distinguish Welsh sentence patterns.
Old Welsh: The earliest historical stage of Welsh, documented chiefly in inscriptions and early manuscripts. Its surviving evidence marks the language’s emergence from earlier Brittonic speech.
S4C: A Welsh-language television broadcaster launched in 1982. Its programming gives Welsh a prominent place in contemporary broadcasting.
William Morgan (translator): The Welsh bishop who translated the Bible into Welsh, publishing the complete translation in 1588. His translation established a lasting model for formal written Welsh.
Census in Wales: A decennial population census that records demographic characteristics, including reported Welsh-speaking ability. Census figures track changes in the number and distribution of people reporting Welsh ability.

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