Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) [Paperback]

Gareth King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0415092698 | ISBN-13: 978-0415092692 | Edition: 1

An accessible and comp guide to the Welsh language as it is spoken today. The book is organised to enable a thorough understanding of Welsh grammar and is an ideal reference source for both the user and learner of Welsh.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...both comprehensive and modern. ...Explanations are clear and illustrated by an abundance of realistic sentences." -- Alan R. King, LINGUIST

"This impressive opus constitutes a solid, much-needed and most welcome contribution to the descriptive grammar literature on modern colloquial Welsh and a considerable achievement..." -- Alan R. King, LINGUIST

About the Author

Gary King formerly taught Welsh to adults for Dyfed Education Authority; he also held the position of Research Officer in Welsh at Univerisity College of Wales in Aberystwyth. He currently teaches German to A level. Gary is author of Colloquial Welsh, Basic and Intermediate Welsh Grammar Workbooks and is Series Adviser for the Colloquials. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (July 14, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415092698
• ISBN-13: 978-0415092692
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,401,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gareth King is the author of numerous books on language, including a range of well-known and popular titles written for learners of Welsh, language of the future. His latest book, published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis in December 2010, is an extensive revision and expansion of George Campbell's well-known Concise Compendium of the World's Languages, and he is now working on a similar updating of the original 2-volume edition. In addition, after a pause of some years, he has finally bowed to public clamour and has embarked on the writing of a new book on Welsh, scheduled for publication in 2013.
Away from the writing shed, he acts as Series Advisor and linguistic consultant for Routledge's Colloquial... range of language learning titles (now extending to over sixty languages of the world), all of which are easy to find and purchase on Amazon. Two of them were actually written by him, and are consequently especially sought after by connoisseurs, with first editions commanding frankly absurd prices on "e-Bay" and across the modern marvel that is the electrical interweb.
He did his first degree during the Cold War, emerging from Cambridge University with a useful degree in Slavonic (involving some of the most dangerous languages known to modern science), and sensibly went on some years later to do an MA in Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic at Aberystwyth, learning Welsh in the process by the simple but effective expedient of sharing a flat with a bunch of girls from North Wales - this, perhaps, was the fateful turn in his life that was to bring about the publishing sensation that his books on Welsh were to become in Wales, and which propelled him inexorably on the road to legendary status in that small but perfectly-formed land. He is markedly less well-known in Scandinavia and the Caribbean, and maintains residences there for this very reason.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grammars gibble but they don't fall down..., May 21, 2007

By 

Bob Manson (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) (Paperback)

The use of grammars to teach languages (foreign or otherwise) has been deemed anathema by Those Who Know Better, but I believe it's one of the best ways to learn if you can't "immerse" yourself in the language. Actually, for a hairy language like Welsh you'll eventually want to look at a grammar anyway--if you ever plan on getting beyond the "I am a tourist, where is the nearest nuclear containment facility?" or "There are frogs in my bidet, please ventilate my overthruster" stage, that is.

Surprisingly, there are multiple Welsh grammar books on the market. Of the ones I've looked at "Modern Welsh" is the most comprehensive, readable, and up-to-date. It avoids the use of linguistspeak, is organized in a very usable fashion, and could be read from cover-to-cover if you so desired. And it (supposedly, I can't say of my own knowledge) describes how Welsh is really spoken.

Combined with "Basic Welsh" and "Intermediate Welsh" by the same author, you'll have a decent guide to learning how the language is supposed to work. The other two books are meant to be used as exercise/review tutorials, while this reference covers everything in them plus a lot more.

Although it's a paperback book it seems like a decent binding--sewed and glued folios instead of the all-too-frequent glued cut pages, and the cover seems very sturdy. This probably accounts for some of the cost.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Easy to Read, November 29, 2001

By 

Big Dave (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar (Comprehensive Grammars) (Paperback)

Once you've gotten through a basic course or a good book-and-tape set, you'll want a grammar. This one is excellent.

Every principle is illustrated with examples, making this book useful for personal study as well as for use as a reference. Principles such as sentence structure are demonstrated in English as well as Welsh. Where differences of usage exist between north and south Welsh, or literary and colloquial Welsh, they are identified.

The more unusual features of Welsh (mutation, the coexistence of decimal and vingesimal numbering systems, and the existence of both a singular/plural and a collective/unit distinction, for instance) are treated elegantly.

This book is very accessible and well-indexed, making it ideal for students.