[8] It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia).

Instead, the shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century, with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson, the Battle of Dyrham, a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD,[22] which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh.

The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years.

The next main period is Old Welsh (Hen Gymraeg, 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of the language.

During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to the decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys.

A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within a single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching).

[53] Alexander John Ellis in the 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk.

[55] The Welsh Language Board, on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

[68] The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in the United States spoke Welsh at home.

Each public body is required to prepare for approval a Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle.

This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version.

The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument.

Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes.

Neither the 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh.

[78] She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to the "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards.

We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer the required fresh approach to this new role."

However, a Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal.

The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau".

Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh.

A daily newspaper called Y Byd (The World) was scheduled to be launched on 3 March 2008, but was scrapped, owing to insufficient sales of subscriptions and the Welsh Government offering only one third of the £600,000 public funding it needed.

The historian Professor Kenneth O. Morgan referred to the significance of the report and its consequences as "the Glencoe and the Amritsar of Welsh history".

The Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth ('Aberystwyth Welsh School') was founded in 1939 by Sir Ifan ap Owen Edwards, the son of O.M.

Following a commitment made in the One Wales coalition government between Labour and Plaid Cymru, the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Welsh Language National College) was established.

The Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones addressed his audience in Welsh and his words were interpreted into the EU's 23 official languages.

⟨k, q, v, x, z⟩ are used in some technical terms, like kilogram, volt and zero, but in all cases can be, and often are, replaced by Welsh letters (same pronunciation): cilogram, folt and sero.

Very informally, the pronouns are often heard in their normal subject/object form and aping English word order: Dw i'n hoffi ti ('Am I liking you').

Although there is only one word for "one" (un), it triggers the soft mutation (treiglad meddal) of feminine nouns, where possible, other than those beginning with "ll" or "rh".

There are separate masculine and feminine forms of the numbers 'two' (dau and dwy), 'three' (tri and tair) and 'four' (pedwar and pedair), which must agree with the grammatical gender of the objects being counted.

Gareth King, author of a popular Welsh grammar, observes, "The difference between these two is much greater than between the virtually identical colloquial and literary forms of English.

Fe'u cynysgaeddir â rheswm a chydwybod, a dylai pawb ymddwyn y naill at y llall mewn ysbryd cymodlon.