1
From William Shakespeare's Henry V to Hayao Miyazaki's Ni No Kuni: a
documentation of the Welsh English dialect in fiction.
Courtesy of Shakespearestaging.berkeley.edu. Courtesy of Studio Ghibli
Benjamin Jones, Mres, Applied [email protected]
Dr. Robert Penhallurick; Dr. Vivienne Rogers
2
What is Welsh English?
● An English dialect: regional variety of English.
● The form of English spoken in Wales.
● Other names: “Anglo-Welsh”; “Wenglish”– Now commonly “Welsh English” (abrv. WE)
3
Previous work and research on the dialect
● SAWD (Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects)– 1968 -1977 by David Parry
– Aim: To document the conservative WE forms in rural Wales.
– Lexical, phonological, grammatical data obtained through questionnaires
4
Characteristics of Modern Welsh English
● Phonological (pronunciation) usages
● Alveolar tap [ɾ]● [ɬ] and [x] in loanwords●Syntactic (grammar) usages
●Focus fronting: “A weed, it was.”
●StE how+adj → WE there is +adj: “There's nice.”
●Lexical (words) usages●“cwtch”
●“Ach-y-fi”
5
Research focus – “written word as linguistic evidence”
● Data for the 20th century is obtained, what of the dialect before?
● Hickey, R. (2010) English Varieties in Writing: The written word as linguistic evidence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins– Unfortunately a Welsh English chapter was not included – gap in the literature.
● Methodology derives from work carried out within this volume.– Find forms, cross-ref with glossaries
● OED, EDD, SAWD
6
Research aims● 1) Documenting the history of the dialect in fictional writing, prior to 20th C (text, and later screen)– How far back is there evidence of the dialect?
– What are the linguistic features in each literary era?
● 2) Distinguishing variation between Welsh writers and English writers of Welsh English.
● 3) Investigating the portrayals & their stereotypes attached to fictional representations
What have I unearthed so far?
7
Ieuan ap Hywel SwrdwalHymn to the Virgin (1470)
● Aristocratic Welsh family, schooled at Oxford, trained in Welsh bardic poetry.
● Academic peers mocked the Welsh's “lack of culture”
● Used Welsh orthography– Fricatives/affricates not present “such” → <sits>
– Lack of glides “would” → <uld>– Consonantal devoicing → “band” → <bant> (present in the SAWD)
● First text in which Welsh English is used by a Welshman to highlight Welsh national identity.
8
William Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and“Stage Welsh English”
● Tudor period (1485-1603): Welsh immigrated to London
● English playwrights became familiar with the accent, often used to mock WE speakers
●Stereotypes: Always minor character, comical stock, minority people - linguistically abused●Shakespeare stereotyped; but gave Welshman important positions
9
Phonological features of Tudor Welsh English
●Similiar to ap Hywel Swrdwal's poem (devoicing)●English-written “Stage Welsh” often criticized, however, more accurate than previously thought
10
Emergence of the late 19thC industrial novel / 20thC post-
modern novel● Welsh writers of English took back their representation of dialect in literature– Realist approach. Different levels of proficiency regarding dialects.
– Begin to see more lexical and grammatical usages● Authors: 1870 → Owen Parry (Ceredig), Amy Dillwyn, Allen Raine, Caradoc Evans, Margiad Evans, Jack Jones, Geraint Goodwin, Lewis Jones, Glyn Jones, Ron Berry, Niall Griffiths, Charlotte Williams → 2002
11
Examples from late 19th / early 20th century novels
Amy Dillwyn (The Rebecca Rioter) [1880]Unique translation from Welsh into Welsh English.eg) “A crot of a boy” (p.34)
Allen Raine (Queen of the Rushes) [1906]●Provided glossary of lexical items for her readers●28 items●Bore da, cawdel, cwrw.●Ladiwen, dacu, twt, parlwr. (not included)
●Several authors devised interesting means of engaging their readership with their native dialect.
Continued on ...
12
20th century narrative forms● Emergence of film and television mediums– Continuation of previous period.– Accent presented to a national/international audience
– Many programmes and films use the dialect in an authentic way.
●Television: Torchwood (2006-2011), Gavin & Stacey (2007-)●Film: Twin Town (1997), Submarine (2010)
… →
13
New narrative forms:Animations & video-games
● Dialect in film began to be used as a signifier of character (Lippi-green, 1997)– Voice-acting in animation & video-games.
– Used as a tool to quick characterisation
● ie) Disney's protagonists and villains
●For Welsh English: period heralds in a recurrence of non-native speakers representing the dialect (similar to Stage Welsh English)
●Not playwrights, but developers, producers...●Often cast people with the dialect.
14
Case study: Studio Ghibli and Wales
● Hayao Miyazaki's Japanese animation studio: Studio Ghibli.– World renowned animator.– My Neighbor Totoro; Spirited Away
● Often blends western and eastern elements into films.
● Interestingly, Miyazaki has an interest in Welsh studies.– Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)– Howl's Moving Castle (2004)– Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White
Witch(2013)
15
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
● Studio Ghibli & Level-5: introducing the Welsh English dialect to gaming & international audiences– Videogame industry now larger than Hollywood
● Features included:● Lexical: “butties”; “mam”; “boy bach”● Phonological: Rolled /r/ ; “Youer” ; “mun” “y'ere”
● Syntactic: “Take you far, it will.”● Stereotypes?
“There's tidy, mun!”
Negative –●Drippy (and accent) is the source of comedy●However, Drippy drives the comedy, rather than on receiving end of comedy.●Fairies are a proud race of stand-up comedians
Positive +●Association with fantasy? Celtic roots: mythological creatures●Used Welsh voice-actor●Steffan Rhodri
Drippy – Lord of the Fairies
16
Are there more examples in the video-game industry?
● Narratives set in the real world– Red Dead Redemption (2010) : Alwyn Lloyd (minor)– Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) : Edward Kenway
(protagonist)● Narratives set in a fictional world●Dragon Age 2 (2011) : Merrill (main)●Star Wars: The Old Republic (2012) : Captain Bryn (minor)
17
Conclusions?● 1st) English writers transcribing WE speakers– Poetry, prose, plays– Majority non-native authors– Heavy stereotyping– Focus primarily on phonology (accent)
● 2nd) Realist approach: Welsh writers of English depicting own speech & screen texts– Novels, plays, television, filmic portrayals
● 3rd ) Welsh English dialect used as a tool for characterisation:– stereotypes present, possibly positive connotations? (fantasy)
