3. In English, _three_ vowels only constitute words in themselves (_a_,
article; _I_, pronoun; _O_, interjection), and each is used only in one
sense. In Welsh, _five_ of the vowels (_a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _y_) are words;
and they are used in at least a dozen different significations. _A_,
besides being an affirmative and interrogative adverb, answers to the
English _and_, _as_, _with_, _will go_.
4. Diphthongs forming distinct words are much more numerous in Welsh than
in English. The following occur: _ai_, _a'i_ (=_a ei_), _a'u_, _ei_, _eu_,
_ia_, _ie_, _i'w_, _o'i_, _o'u_, _ow_, _[^w]y_, _yw_.
5. In Welsh there are no such clusters of consonants as occur in the
English words _arched_ {472} (pronounced _artsht_), _parched_, _scorched_,
_marched_, _hinged_ (_hindzhd_), _singed_, _cringed_, _fringed_, _purged_
(_purdzhd_), _charged_ (_tshardzhd_), _scratched_, &c. &c. From the
difficulty encountered in pronouncing some of these combinations, arise the
vulgar errors heard in some parts of the country: _burstis_ for _bursts_,
_castis_ for _casts_. Three consonants are very rarely thus crushed
together in Welsh,--four, never.
6. The Welsh, to avoid an unpleasant hiatus, often introduce a consonant.
Hence we have _y_ or _yr_, the; _a_ or _ac_, and; _a_ or _ag_, as; _na_ or
_nac_, not; _na_ or _nag_, than; _sy_ or _sydd_, is; _o_, from, becomes
_odd_; _i_, to, becomes _idd_. I cannot call to mind more than one similar
example in English, _a_ or _an_; and its existence is attributable to the
superfluity of consonants, _n_ being _dropped_ in _a_, not _added_ in _an_.
The mystery of the consonants in the swearing Welshman's mouth (humorously
described by Messrs. Chambers) is difficult of explanation. The words usual
in Welsh oaths afford no clue to its solution; for the name of the Deity
has two consonants and one vowel in English, while it has two vowels and
one consonant in Welsh. Another name invoked on these occasions has three
consonants and two vowels in English, and one of the vowels is usually
elided; in Welsh it has three vowels and three consonants, and colloquially
the middle consonant is dropped. The Welsh borrow a few imprecatory words
from the English, and in appropriating them they _append the vowel
termination_ o _or_ io. Prejudice or imagination, therefore, seems to have
had something to do in describing poor Taffy's profanities.
In conclusion, I may add that the Hundredth Psalm was chosen for analysis
without a previous knowledge that it would present a greater excess of
consonants (letters or sounds) in English than in Welsh. I do not believe
two chapters from the Bible can be produced, which will show an opposite
result.