notes on Welsh pronunciation

from Sing Them Home, Stephanie Kallos

The Welsh people will tell you by way of encouragement — for they are a kind and encouraging people — that their native tongue is not difficult to speak, not at all. Every sound is pronounced, they will tell you. There are none of those troubling silent letters one finds in English.
Rs are always trilled, and anyone can learn to do it. The accent is always on the next to last syllable, except… And this is where it starts, the exceptions, variants, complications, mutations:

1. A u can sound like a short i ("tin") or a long e ("teen").
2. Double d's are pronounced like the th in "the."
3. Double l's have no equivalent sound in English; place the tongue on the roof of the mouth near the teeth as if to pronounce "l," then blow voicelessly.
The pervasive y can be pronounced in one of there ways, as a short i as in "sin," as a long e as in "seen," and as the sound in the word "son." There are rules as to which sound the y takes, but nobody knows them."

Notes from the back of the New Directions paperback edition of the script

Rhiannon p1

strongly aspirated r, and accent on the second syllable.

Llareggub p1

a voiceless l produced from the side of the mouth, accent on the second syllable; the third syllable rhyming with "bib."

Dai p1

as "dye."

Dowlais p3

accent on the first syllable, the second syllable rhyming with "ice."

Maisgwyn p3

"mice-gwin," accent on the second syllable.

Myfanwy p4

accent on the second syllable, f as v, the first y an indeterminate sound; the second y as ee.

Ach y fi p5

the ch guttural, the y indeterminate, f as v, the whole pronounced as one word; an interjection expressing disgust.

mwchins p7

a compromise between the English word, "mooching," and the Welsh dialect word, "mitching," playing truant.

Organ Morgan p9

the r's rolled, the o's short.

Eisteddfodau p11

eye-steth-vod-eye, the th voiced, a strong accent on the third syllable.

Parchs p11

the ch guttural; clergymen.

Dewi p13

de-wee; the first syllable, which has the accent, is short.

Moel yr Wyddfa p13, Rev. Jenkins's prayer

moil-er-ooithva, the th voiced.

Carnedd p13, ditto

the dd a voiced th, the r rolled, accent on the first syllable.

Penmaenmawrp13, ditto

"maen" rhymes with "line," "mawr" rhymes with "hour."

Sawdde p14, ditto

southay, the th voiced.

Edw p14, ditto

aid-oo

Llyfnant p14, ditto

y indeterminate, f as v.

Claerwen, Cleddau, Dulais p14, ditto

clire-wen, cleth-eye, the th voiced, dill-ice.

Ogwrp14, ditto

ogoorr, accent on the first syllable.

Cennen p14, ditto

the c hard.

Gerwain p21

gerr-wine, the g hard.

Ty p21

as "tee."

Gorslas p22

gorse-lahss, with a strong accent on the second syllable.

Twll p26

tooll, the oo short, the "ll" as in "Llareggub.

cawl p32

as "cowl," a broth with leeks.

fach p46

an expression of endearment; f as v, the ch guttural.

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