Wyt ti wedi Trydaru yn y Gymraeg? Have you Tweeted in Welsh?
It has become a social media phenomenon keeping millions of people in touch, whether it’s sharing their politics with followers or updating their mates with the trivia of everyday life.
Now researchers at Cambridge University have launched a new study into the evolution of the Welsh language – using Twitter as the basis of its research.
Researchers are using a database of Welsh tweets to identify the characteristics of the changes in the language.
Dr David Willis from Cambridge’s Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, who is heading up the study says:
“My focus is on the syntax of language – the structure or grammar of sentences – and my long-term aim is to produce a syntactic atlas of Welsh dialects that will add to our understanding of current usage of the language and the multi-stranded influences on it. To do this relies on gathering spoken material from different sectors of the Welsh-speaking population to make comparisons across time and space.”
More information about the study can be found here:
