Patagonian Welsh

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Patagonian Welsh
Cymraeg y Wladfa
Native to Argentina
Region Chubut
Native speakers
unknown
Latin (Welsh alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog pata1258
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Headquarters of the Asociacion San David. Welsh: Cymdeithas Dewi Sant
. Asociacion San David, Colonia Galesa del Chubut.JPG
Headquarters of the Asociación San David. Welsh : Cymdeithas Dewi Sant.
Abierto
y Ar agor
in the headquarters of the Eisteddfod in the Chubut valley. "Open" sign in Spanish and Welsh, Y Wladfa.JPG
Abierto y Ar agor in the headquarters of the Eisteddfod in the Chubut valley.
Trilingual signal in Gaiman. Estacion Gaiman (2).JPG
Trilingual signal in Gaiman.

Patagonian Welsh (Welsh : Cymraeg y Wladfa) is a variety of the Welsh language spoken in Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, Chubut Province, Argentina. The decimal numeral system used in Modern Welsh originated in Patagonia in the 1870s, and was subsequently adopted in Wales in the 1940s as a simpler counterpart to the traditional vigesimal system, which still survives in Wales.

Contents

Teachers are sent to teach the language and to train local tutors in the Welsh language, and there is some prestige in knowing the language, even among those not of Welsh descent. Welsh education and projects are mainly funded by the Welsh Government, British Council, Cardiff University and the Welsh–Argentine Association. In 2005 there were 62 Welsh classes in the area and Welsh was taught as a subject in two primary schools and two colleges in the region of Gaiman. There is also a bilingual Welsh–Spanish language school called Ysgol yr Hendre situated in Trelew and a college located in Esquel. In 2016 there were three bilingual Welsh–Spanish primary schools in Patagonia.

Patagonian Welsh has developed to be a distinct dialect of Welsh, different from the several dialects used in Wales itself; however, the dialects have a high degree of mutual intelligibility, and speakers from Wales and Patagonia are able to communicate readily. Numerous toponyms throughout the Chubut Valley are of Welsh origin.

A total of 1,220 people undertook Welsh courses in Patagonia in 2015.

The formal Eisteddfod poetry competitions have been revived, although they are now bilingual in Welsh and Spanish.

History

The Welsh people first arrived in Patagonia in 1865. They had migrated to protect their native Welsh culture and language, which they considered to be threatened in their native Wales. Over the years the use of the language started to decrease and there was relatively little contact between Wales and the Chubut Valley. The situation began to change when many Welsh people visited the region in 1965 to celebrate the colony's centenary; since then the number of Welsh visitors increased.

In 1945 and 1946 the BBC World Service broadcast radio shows in Patagonian Welsh.

During the 1982 repatriation of Argentine troops from the Falklands war, British Merchant Navy seamen and Welsh Guardsmen encountered a Welsh-speaking Argentine soldier. [1] [2] [3] The detained troops were disembarked at Puerto Madryn.

In 2004 the Welsh speakers in Argentina asked the Welsh government to provide them with Welsh TV programmes to encourage the survival and growth of Welsh in Patagonia.

Language uses

Language teaching nowadays

Welsh-Spanish bilingual school Ysgol yr Hendre in Trelew Ysgol yr Hendre, Trelew, Y Wladfa 03.JPG
Welsh-Spanish bilingual school Ysgol yr Hendre in Trelew

Around 2005, sixty-two Welsh classes were taught in Chubut and language was also on the curriculum of a kindergarten, two primary schools and two schools in the area of Gaiman (including a school dating from 1899), as well as a bilingual Welsh-Spanish school located in Trelew and a school in Esquel. [4] [5] Welsh classes in the Andes region have been held since 1996. The Welsh Institute of Trevelin and Esquel was born from a joint project of the Assembly of Wales, the British Council and the Government of the Province of Chubut. [6]

Since the late 1990s, the Wales-Argentina Association has run a program to increase the teaching and use of the Welsh language in Chubut. For 15 years, the plan succeeded in creating a new type of Welsh-speakers in Patagonia (Welsh speakers as a second language, mostly young). By 1997, most of the students were adults and there was only one school for children. Four years later, there were 263 hours of Welsh classes per week and 846 students, of whom 87% were children and young people (in Gaiman, 95% of those attending such classes were under the age of twenty). [7]

One of the functions of the Wales-Argentina Association is also to organise teacher and student exchange trips between Wales and Argentina: it has a representative on the British Council's Welsh Teaching Project Commission which has sent Welsh teachers to Chubut and financially supports a student attending an intensive Welsh language course held annually. It also has links with colleges and schools in both Wales and Chubut, where it subsidises and provides support to students. [8]

In May 2015, the local government of Trelew announced free intensive Welsh language classes for the city's inhabitants under the name of Cwrs Blasu ("Savoring the language"). Ann-Marie Lewis, a Welsh teacher, travelled to Patagonia exclusively to teach the language. [9]

Welsh-Spanish bilingual schools

For the 150th anniversary of the colony, an association was created in Trevelin to form the first Spanish-Welsh bilingual school in the 16 de Octubre valley under the name of Ysgol Gymraeg yr Andes, which will be public, but privately managed. [6]

Literature and journalism

Newsletter Y Drafod. Y Drafod.jpg
Newsletter Y Drafod.

Poetry and literature books have been published since the early years of the colony, while the first newspapers, such as the Y Drafod (bilingual Welsh-Spanish) date from the 1890s. [10]

Perhaps one of the main writers of the colony was Eluned Morgan, author of several books, such as Into the Andes (in Welsh: Dringo 'r Andes) are considered classics. While R. Bryn Williams, was another prominent writer, who won the presidency of the National Eisteddfod and was also the author of several novels, including Banddos de los Andes. Among the writers in recent times, the figure of Irma Hughes de Jones can be observed.

Several volumes of memoirs on Patagonia have been published, including Memorias de la Patagonia (1980) by R. Bryn Williams, which includes essays by many residents of the Colonia, Atracciones de la Patagonia (1984) by Mariano Elías, based on from interviews with Fred Green, Memories of Patagonia (1985) by Valmai Jones and Nel fach and bwcs (1992) by Margaret Lloyd Jones. Meanwhile, Sian Eirian Rees Davies won the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize in 2005 with I Fyd Sy Well, a historical novel about the beginnings of the colony in Patagonia. Many extant books about the colony are in both Spanish and Welsh.

Eisteddfod

Headquarters of the Eisteddfod of the Chubut Valley in the Salon San David de Trelew. Eisteddfod del Valle del Chubut, Y Wladfa, Argentina 02 (2015).jpg
Headquarters of the Eisteddfod of the Chubut Valley in the Salón San David de Trelew.

The Eisteddfod is a very popular musical literary festival in Wales. With the arrival of settlers in Argentina, the festival also began in the region, which is celebrated twice a year until today. In September the Eisteddfod for young people is held in Gaiman and in October for adults. Also, they are made in Trevelin, Dolavon and Puerto Madryn. [11] Competitions are conducted in both Welsh and Spanish. [12]

Vocabulary

The dialect contains local adoptions from Spanish or borrowings from English, not present in the Welsh spoken in Wales. [13]

For example, mynd i baseando derives from paseando in Spanish. Baseando is a grammatical mutation from paseando.

Patagonian Welsh [14] Welsh (Wales)EnglishRioplatense Spanish
SingletFestvest, singletchaleco
PoncinPwmpenpumpkinzapallo
Mynd i baseandoMynd am droto go for a walkir de paseo / ir paseando
CorralCorlansheepfold, corralcorral
PasiwchDewch i mewnenter! / come in!¡pase!
CostioN/a(to) accostcostar

Welsh toponymy of Patagonian sites

Loma Blanca (in Welsh Bryn Gwyn) south of Gaiman. Loma Blanca - Bryn Gwyn (Y Wladfa, Argentina).JPG
Loma Blanca (in Welsh Bryn Gwyn) south of Gaiman.
Original photograph of the 16 de octubre Valley School (Ysgol Cwm Hyfryd) with inscriptions in Welsh. Cwm Hyfryd school, Chubut.jpg
Original photograph of the 16 de octubre Valley School (Ysgol Cwm Hyfryd) with inscriptions in Welsh.
Platform of the former Trelew train station (<<pueblo de Luis>>). Ex Estacion Ferroviaria de Trelew.JPG
Platform of the former Trelew train station («pueblo de Luis»).

When the Welsh settlers arrived in Patagonia, they did not have immediate contact with the Tehuelche or Mapuche natives, who already had their own toponymy for the region. Because of this, they needed to somehow distinguish the landscapes of their new home. [15]

Puerto Madryn was the first Welsh toponym. The name of the city commemorates Love Jones Parry, Baron of Madryn in Wales. The place name originated towards the end of 1862, when Love Jones Parry, accompanied by Lewis Jones travelled to Patagonia aboard the Candelaria ship to decide if that region was suitable for a Welsh colony. [16]

In the Chubut river valley, some of the toponyms of villages and rural areas arose from the peculiarities of the terrain (such as Bryn Gwyn, "white hill", or Tyr Halen, "salt land"), from the names of the farms donated by the Argentine government, or by a chapel erected in the area (as in the case of Bethesda or Ebenezer). [15]

There are also tributes to people, such as Trelew, where "Lew" is an acronym for Lewis Jones; [16] or compound names derived from geographical features (for example, Dolavon, where “Dol” is meadow or lap and “avon”, river) or even from buildings (such as Trevelin, where “Tre” is town and “velin”, mill, for John Daniel Evans' flour mill). [15] [17]

Some naming performed by the Welsh survive and others have been lost. [15] In 2015 a project called Gorsedd y Cwmwl emerged, aimed at restoring the original name of the Trono de las Nubes hill given by the first Welsh people who inhabited the 16 de Octubre valley and forgotten by the population, since the mountain is also called «La Monja». [18]

Spanish Welsh [19] [20] [21] English
Argentina Yr ArianninArgentina / The Argentine
Arroyo de los SaltosNant y Fall (hybrid toponym, Welsh nant «stream», Eng. fall "cascade" or "jump")Brook Jumps
Arroyo PescadoNant y PysgodStream of the Fishes
Bajo de los HuesosPant yr EsgyrnBone Hollow
Cajón de GinebraBocs GinSorry Gin / Crate of Gin
Cañada NegraGlyn DuBlack Glen
Cerro Cóndor Craig yr EryrEagle Hill
Cerro Ojo NegroTrofa Llygad DuBlack Eye
Cerro Trono de las NubesGorsedd y CwmwlThrone Cloud Hill
Dique Florentino Ameghino / El DiqueYr ArgaeThe Dam / Florentino Ameghino Dam
Estepa patagónicaY Paith (lit. the prairie)Patagonian steppe
Fuerte AventuraCaer AnturFort Adventure
La AngosturaLle CulNarrow Place
Laguna de AaronLlyn AaronAaron Lagoon
Laguna/Bajo del DiabloLlyn y Gwr DrwgDevil Lagoon
Laguna GrandeLlyn MawrBig Lagoon
Las Plumas Dôl y PluMeadow of the Feathers
Loma BlancaBryn GwynWhite Hill
Loma MaríaBryniau MeriMary Hill
Loma RedondaBryn CrwnRounded Hill
Pampa de Agnia y Laguna de AgniaLlyn Ania / Pant y FfwdanAnia Lake
Paso de Indios Rhyd yr IndiaidFord of the Indians
Paso BerwynRhyd BerwynFord Berwyn
Península Valdés Gorynys ValdésValdés Peninsula
Provincia del Chubut Talaith Chubut / CamwyChubut Province
Provincia de Río Negro Talaith Afon DduBlack River Province
Provincia de Santa Cruz Talaith Y Groes WenSaint Cross Province
Pueblo de Luis TrelewTrelew / Lewtown
Pueblo del Molino TrevelinMill Village
Puerto Madryn Porth MadrynPort Madryn
Punta CuevasPenrhyn yr OgofâuCaves Point
Rawson TrerawsonRawsontown
Río Chico Afon FachLittle River
Río Chubut Afon CamwySwirling River
Río CorintosAber Gyrants (hybrid place name, Welsh aber "estuary", Eng. currants "Corinthian grape" with Welsh spelling and initial mutation)Estuary of the Currants (N.B. NOT Currents)
Sierra ChataCraig y WerfaRock Werfa
Tecka Hafn LâsCanyon Lâs
Tierra Salada / Veintiocho de Julio Tyr HalenSalt Land
Torre JoséTŵr JosephJoseph Tower
Tres SaucesTair HelygenThree Willow
Valle 16 de OctubreCwm Hyfryd / Bro HydrefBeautiful Valley / October Valley
Valle de Los Altares Dyffryn yr AllorauValley of the Altars
Valle de los MártiresDyffryn y Merthyron / Rhyd y BeddauValley of the Martyrs
Valle inferior del río ChubutDyffryn CamwyChubut Valley / Swirling Valley
Valle FríoDyffryn OerCold Valley
Vuelta/Prado del río DolavonBack River

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