Editing Welsh language (section)

==Orthography==
{{Main|Welsh orthography}}

Welsh is written in a [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]] of 29 [[letter (alphabet)|letter]]s, of which eight are [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s treated as single letters for [[collation]], for example {{lang|cy|fy}} comes before {{lang|cy|ffrwyth}} in the dictionary:

: a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, j, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y

In contrast to English practice, {{vr|w}} and {{vr|y}} are considered vowel letters in Welsh along with {{vr|a, e, i, o, u}}.

{{vr|j}} was not used traditionally, but is now used in many everyday words borrowed from English, like {{lang|cy|jam}} ('jam'), {{lang|cy|jôc}} ('joke') and {{lang|cy|garej}} ('garage'). {{vr|k, q, v, x, z}} are used in some technical terms, like ''kilogram'', ''volt'' and ''zero'', but in all cases can be, and often are, replaced by Welsh letters (same pronunciation): {{lang|cy|cilogram}}, {{lang|cy|folt}} and {{lang|cy|sero}}.<ref>Thomas, Peter Wynn (1996) ''Gramadeg y Gymraeg.'' Cardiff: University of Wales Press: 757.</ref> {{vr|k}} was in common use until the 16th century, but was dropped at the time of the publication of the New Testament in Welsh, as [[William Salesbury]] explained: "{{vr|c}} for {{vr|k}}, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth". This change was not popular at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dohiyimir.typepad.com/eng_wel_tolkien.pdf|title=English and Welsh, an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien|website=typepad.com|access-date=9 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123213007/http://dohiyimir.typepad.com/eng_wel_tolkien.pdf|archive-date=23 January 2018}}</ref>

The most common [[diacritic]] is the [[circumflex]] (called {{lang|cy|to bach}} in Welsh, lit. 'little roof'),<ref>{{cite web |title=to bach |url=https://welsh-dictionary.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html?to+bach |website=[[Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru]] |access-date=16 November 2023}}</ref> which usually disambiguates [[vowel length|long vowels]], most often in the case of [[homograph]]s, where the vowel is short in one word and long in the other: e.g. {{lang|cy|man}} ('place') vs {{lang|cy|mân}} ('fine, small').