Editing Welsh language (section)

=== Modern Welsh ===
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[[File:Still surviving... - geograph.org.uk - 406078.jpg|thumb|[[Bible translations into Welsh|Welsh Bible]] of 1620, in [[Llanwnda, Pembrokeshire|Llanwnda]] church, rescued from the hands of French invaders in 1797<ref>{{cite news |title=Llanwnda Bible damaged in last invasion of Britain on display |work=BBC News |date=3 January 2018 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-42548146 |access-date=18 November 2019}}</ref>]]
The [[Bible translations into Welsh]] helped maintain the use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The [[New Testament]] was translated by [[William Salesbury]] in 1567,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.library.wales/discover/digital-gallery/printed-material/william-salesburys-new-testament |title=William Salesbury's New Testament &#124; The National Library of Wales |publisher=Library.wales |access-date=2020-06-01}}</ref> and the complete Bible by [[William Morgan (Bible translator)|William Morgan]] in 1588.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Morgan-Welsh-bishop |title=William Morgan &#124; Welsh bishop |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=2020-06-01}}</ref> Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://whywelsh.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/welsh-is-the-oldest-language/ |title=Is Welsh the oldest language? |last=Llŷr |first=Dylan |date=2013-08-20 |access-date=2018-09-10 |df=dmy-all |website=Why Welsh? }}</ref> Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch14_culture_and_religion.shtml |title=History – Themes – Chapter 14: Culture and religion in early modern Wales |publisher=[[BBC Wales]] |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2020-06-01}}</ref> and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from the Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it.

During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to the decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Migration |url=http://www.agor.org.uk/cwm/themes/life/society/migration.asp |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=www.agor.org.uk}}</ref> Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brant |first=Colin |date=Spring 2020 |title=Communication and Culture: The Role of Language Policy on Regional Minority Languages in the Reduction of Political Conflict |url=https://scholarship.rollins.edu/honors/104/ |journal=Applied Linguistics Commons |pages=1–77 }}</ref>