In Welsh, under the influence of other words or grammatical patterns, the first sound of a word changes (in the written language, the first letter is changed). Radical is the term for the initial sound (or letter) before it is changed. There are three sorts of changes which ar traditionally labelled as soft, nasal, and aspirate. No attempt will be made here to provide a phonological analysis of these changes (but see Specialist Studies).
We shall also include here another initial change
which involves words which begin with a vowel, that is, adding h.
|
Radical |
Soft |
Nasal |
Aspirate |
Adding h |
|
p |
b |
mh |
ph |
- |
|
t |
d |
nh |
th |
- |
|
c |
g |
ngh |
ch |
- |
|
b |
f |
m |
- |
- |
|
d |
dd |
n |
- |
- |
|
g |
gollwng |
ng |
- |
- |
|
ll |
l |
- |
- |
- |
|
m |
f |
- |
- |
- |
|
rh |
r |
- |
- |
- |
|
a,e,i,o,u,w,y |
- |
- |
- |
adding h initially |