There is no _k_ in the Welsh alphabet, a circumstance which reduces the
consonants to twenty; while a farther reduction is made by the fact that
_w_ and _y_ are _always_ vowels in Welsh, instead of being only
occasionally so, as in English. J. M. will therefore find that the Welsh
alphabet contains but eighteen consonants and seven vowels, twenty-five
letters in all.
This, however, I imagine, is not the point on which he wishes for
information. If a stranger glances at a page of Welsh without being aware
that _y_ and _w_ are, strictly speaking, vowels, he will of course
naturally conclude that he sees an over proportion of consonants. Hence,
probably, has arisen the very general idea on the subject, which is perhaps
strengthened by the frequent occurrence of the double consonants _Ll_ and
_Dd_, the first of which is but a sign, standing for a peculiar softening
of the letter; and the latter for _Th_ of the English language.
Such an idea might perhaps be conveyed by the following instances, taken at
random: _Dywyll_, _Dydd_, _Gwyddna_, _Llwyn_, _Gwyrliw_, &c. But it will be
dispelled by an orthography adapted to the pronunciation; thus
_Dou-ill_[3], _Deeth_, _Goo-eeth-na_, _Lloo-een_, _Gueer-leeoo_.
J. M. will be interested to know that the Welsh language can furnish almost
unexampled instances of an accumulation of vowels, such as that furnished
by the word _ieuainc_, young men, &c.; but above all by the often-quoted
_englyn_ or stanza on the spider or silkworm, which, in its four lines,
_does not contain a single consonant_:
"O'i wi[^w] wy i weu e a,--a'i weau
O'i wyau e weua:
E weua ei [^w]e aia,
A'i weau yw ieuau ia."