History of Welsh

Questions:

1. Internal history:
   1. What evidence of earlier stages of Welsh exists?
   2. Which Welsh dialects are there?
   3. Which features of Welsh are regarded as typologically most characteristic in the literature?
   4. Which languages are most closely related to Welsh?
   5. Which are the two major groups of Celtic languages?
   6. Where do these languages fit into the Indo-European language family?
2. External history:
   1. Where did the Welsh - and other Celts - come from?
   2. Over which geographical area were Celtic languages distributed around 2000 years ago? Hint: One of the books of the Bible refers to the Celts.
   3. "Gallia divisa est in partes tres" (Julius Caesar). Which were the three parts?
   4. What were the major events in the history of the Welsh speaking community?
   5. What are the major cultural traditions and events in Welsh speaking areas?
   6. What is the institutional status of Welsh as an official language, and how has this status changed over the centuries?
   7. What is the current situation of Welsh in this respect?

Task:

Using the answers to the above questions, construct a table to summarise the time-line of the development of Welsh, from the earliest times to the present day. You should include important names.

For example:

Date Political Events Cultural Events Language Events

1000 BC ............................ ............................ ............................

... ............................ ............................ ............................

... ............................ ............................ ............................

... ............................ ............................ ............................

... ............................ ............................ ............................

... ............................ ............................ ............................

... ............................ ............................ ............................

... ............................ ............................ ............................

2003 AD ............................ ............................ ............................