0948e
Gwefan Cymru-
http://www.kimkat.org/amryw/1_gwenhwyseg/gwenhwyseg_gwentian_of_the_future_1902_0948e.htm
0001z Yr Hafan / Home Page
..........1864e Y Fynedfa yn Saesneg / The
Gateway in English
....................0010e Y Barthlen / Siteplan
............................0223e Y Gymraeg / The Welsh
Language
.......................................1004e Y Wenhwyseg - Y Tudalen Mynegeiol / The Gwentian
Dialect - Index Page
..............................................Y Tudalen Hwn / This Page
····
|
|
Gwefan Cymru-Catalonia Y Wenhwyseg
(tafodiaith y de-ddwyrain)
|
|
(Y Parch. John Griffiths, Nant-y-moel)
From "Edward II in Glamorgan", John Griffith
1902
Tudalennau 177-179
·····
When the Gwentian speech re-invaded the Vale the
people, both Welsh and English, had become one. The Normans did their very
best, and succeeded to a large extent, more by diplomacy than by force, in
pulling down the wall of partition. But there was no real peace and goodwill
until the Gwentian was once more spoken along the long coast-line, by people
flourishing Norman and English surnames. The earlier charters of Glamorgan,
which concerned the people are addressed to three classes, French, English and
Welsh. Both Latin and French were used officially. The Welsh language, as has
been noticed, was recognised in the Welsh commote courts. Hence a number of
dual names for districts where there were both English and Welsh communities,
such as Coity Anglicana and Coity Wallicana; Avan Anglicana and Avan Wallicana;
Kidwelly Anglicana and Kidwelly Wallicana, just as there were in Breconshire a
Welsh and an English Talgarth, Hay and Pencelli. There are noble Norman
precedents for the establishment of Welsh courts throughout Wales.
A hundred years from now not only Glamorgan but South
Wales also will be overwhelmingly Gwentian in speech. Every Welsh dialect is
now spoken here, but the children of the immigrants talk and play in Y
Wenhwÿseg, the Gwentian dialect. The speech of the English settlers in Welsh
communities becomes also Gwentian in pronunciation. No other dialect survives
one generation here. The ruined conditions of former hives of industry in some
parts of Glamorgan and Monmouth remind us that the limit of our industrial
development will be reached sooner or later. With the inevitable ebbing of the
tide of immigration, and with any stand-still-ness in our communal life, the
Gwentian will re-assert itself. You can put any insurance both on the people
and the speech of Siluria. The latter has a remarkable power for borrowing and
giving a classic touch to English words. The Gwentian of the future will be
something like the following specimen spoken at a certain meeting a short time
ago. "I ni weti grondo acha speech dda iawn. Fe exposws y sharatwr ffalasi
argiwment yr ochor arath, a fe explodws i bubble hi." {Note: The quote
shows very prominent Gwentian syntactical / phonological forms, along with
heavy borrowing from English. 'We've heard a very good speech. The speaker
exposed the fallacy of the argument of the other side, and he exploded its
bubble'}. Whether such a dialect deserves to live is a question which is
nobody's business to decide. The Gwentian lives, and will live, for one thing
as a protest against every political meddling with a people's speech. Even
hole-and-corner dialect will survive dynasties of Bismarcks. Little Malta on
such a question makes her voice heard at Westminster. The flowing tide of
scholarship is strongly in favour of such survivals.
For some generations, the hillmen looked upon the
English settlements in the Vale as their fair game whenever they chose to go on
the war-path. But a force even stronger than even the Gwentian dialect
gradually united them. The hills became represented in the Norman castles and
English towns of the Vales by the fair daughters of Welsh freemen.
An old "triban" records the chief
commodities which were exchanged between Bro and Blaenau, the Vale and the
Uplands.
"Dywedir er's peth oesa'
Taw buwch o'r Fro ÿw'r gora',
Ond cÿn boddloni'r cyflawn serch
Rhaid ÿw cael merch o'r Blaena'."
For ages it has been said
That a cow from the Vale is the best,
But for the full satisfaction of love,
You must go to the Uplands for a wife.
The bard was either a Blaenau man or a love-sick Bro
bachelor. "Gwartheg Morgannwg," Glamorgan cattle, were once famous.
Equally historical is the fact that the Blaenau, where the natives enjoyed a
continuity of tenure for a fabulous time, have yielded an inexhaustible supply
of fair women to grace the goodlier homesteads of the Bro. It is one of a few
commodities which can be supplied without impoverishing the Hills.
_______________________________________________________________________________________