Indicative of the growth of English influence was the adoption of fixed surnames, after the English pattern, instead of Welsh patronymics. Thus Richard ap Meurig ap Lleurig apliywelyn of Bodorgan up Gwilym of Brecon become Richard Meyrick, and John ap Rhys Gwilym of Brecon become John Price. Most of the new surnames were based upon the father's Christian name - Jones (John), Davies (David), Powell (ap Hywel), but some were based on a nick-name - Lloyd (Llwyd - grey), Voyle (Moel - bald), an occupation - bought (Gof - blacksmith). The changes had occurred among the gentry by the mid-sixteenth century and virtually completed among all classes by the late seventeenth century, but as late as the mid-nineteenth century there are examples of a son taking his Father's Christian name as his surname.

From the seventeenth century, in the era of industrialisation in Welsh language changes took place. The growth of industry allowed Wales to sustain far more people than had been possible under the old agricultural economy. Some of them came from beyond the borders of Wales. In 1851, the Welsh population included 115000 people born in England and 20000 born in Ireland. Of course they took their languages with them, which little by little mixed with Welsh. But most of areas were Welsh-speaking and, in colonising their own country the Welsh brought their language from the countryside to the towns. That’s why alone among the Celtic languages, Welsh has had a considerable degree of success in becoming an urban tongue. By 1851, large numbers of Welsh speakers lived in mass urban communities in which the language could be used in a new range of activities. Also in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was widely practised in Wales the coining of new words, which has been greatly stimulated by the needs of modern society. Cyfrifiaduron (computers) with their maddal medd (software) and caledwedd (hardware) are one of the many fields in which a new Welsh terminology has been invented. Coinages such as darllediad (broadcast), tonfedd (wave length) and orian brig (peak hours) trip naturally off the tongues of broadcasters. Sports commentaries lead to a wide range of neologisms, with those for rugby (the work of Eric Davies) being particularly apt and idiomatic. Words old and new have been collected in the most ambitions lexicographical project yet undertaken in Wales.

Analysing all the information about Welsh-speakers I made a table which I called "Development of Welsh-speaking population in Wales".

Development of Welsh-speaking population in Wales.

years | welsh-speaking population | % of total population

1891 | 910280 | 54,4

1901 | 929824 | 49,9

1911 | 977366 | 43,5

1921 | 922092 | 37,1

1931 | 909261 | 36,8

1951 | 714686 | 28,9

1961 | 656002 | 26,0

1971 | 542425 | 20,9

1981 | 508207 | 18,9

1991 | 510920 | 18,7

As you see from the table, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales reduces greatly on 1931-51. The main reason of it is the Second World War. And it also reduced greatly from 1961 till 1971. I don't know exactly, but it seems to me the main reason from it is the problems in the industry (mostly in coal-mining) and migration.

Also, the population of Welsh-speaking people was decreasing from 1921 to 1971, and was increasing from the beginning of the Welsh language to 1911 and from 1981 till our days. At once the question arises: "What happened in 1981?" There are a lot of factors which influenced the growing of Welsh-speaking population from the 1981. They are: development of education in Welsh, appearance of the periodical press and books in Welsh, creation of radio and TV stations in Welsh, appearance of "institutions" which protect the Welsh, and the growing of national identity. Of course all this factors were present in the 1950s and 1970s, but in 1990s they were in its heyday.

It is very interesting to say that many pupils who learn Welsh think that Welsh is not a difficult language to learn and that it is easier to learn than English. Unlike English, it has the inestimable advantage of being largely phonetic; that is, the words are pronounced as they are written, with non of the confusion which arises in English over such words as cough, bough, through, though and thorough. While English has several letters (g, h and k, for example) which are often not pronounced at all, every letter in Welsh is pronounced.

The Welsh alphabet consists of twenty simple letters and eight digraphs (two letters combining to produce a different sound, as with ch and th), an unusual feature to include in an alphabet. Welsh has no j, k, q, l, x or z. Most of the simple letters present no difficulties, but it should