Editing Welsh language (section)

===The four traditional dialects===
Although modern understanding often splits Welsh into northern ({{lang|cy|Gogledd}}) and southern ({{lang|cy|De}}) 'dialects', the traditional classification of four Welsh dialects remains the most academically useful:

*{{lang|cy|[[Gwyndodeg]]}}, the [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]] dialect
*{{lang|cy|[[Powyseg]]}}, the [[Kingdom of Powys|Powys]] dialect
*{{lang|cy|[[Dyfedeg]]}}, the [[Kingdom of Dyfed|Dyfed]] dialect
*{{lang|cy|[[Gwenhwyseg]]}}, the dialect of [[Kingdom of Gwent|Gwent]] and [[Kingdom of Morgannwg|Morgannwg]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kimkat.org/amryw/1_cymraeg/cymraeg_tafodieitheg_gymraeg_mynegai_1385e.htm |title=Index to Welsh dialects |publisher=Kimkat.org |date=20 April 2006 |access-date=27 February 2014}}</ref>

A fifth dialect is [[Patagonian Welsh]], which has developed since the start of {{lang|cy|[[Y Wladfa]]|italics=no}} (the Welsh settlement in Argentina) in 1865; it includes Spanish [[loanword]]s and terms for local features, but a survey in the 1970s showed that the language in [[Patagonia]] is consistent throughout the lower [[Chubut Valley]] and in the Andes.

Subdialects exist within the main dialects (such as the [[Cofi dialect]]). The 1989 book {{langnf|cy|Cymraeg, Cymrâg, Cymrêg: Cyflwyno'r Tafodieithoedd|''Welsh, Welsh, Welsh: Introducing the Dialects''|links=no}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Beth |last2=Thomas |first2=Peter Wynn | title=Cymraeg, Cymrâg, Cymrêg: Cyflwyno'r Tafodieithoedd |language=cy |trans-title=Welsh, Welch, Walsh: Introducing the Dialects |publisher=Gwasg Taf |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-948469-14-5}}</ref> was accompanied by a cassette containing recordings of 14 different speakers demonstrating aspects of different regional dialects. The book also refers to the earlier ''Linguistic Geography of Wales'' (1973)<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Alan R |year=1973 |title=Linguistic Geography of Wales |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] for Board of Celtic Studies |location=[[Cardiff]]}}</ref> as describing six different regions which could be identified as having words specific to those regions.

In the 1970s, there was an attempt to standardise the Welsh language by teaching {{lang|cy|Cymraeg Byw}} ('Living Welsh') – a colloquially-based generic form of Welsh,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.madog.org/dysgwyr/adolygiadau/adolygu1.html |title=Teach Yourself Welsh |publisher=Cymdeithas Madog |date=15 March 2000 |access-date=25 March 2014 |archive-date=8 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108234828/http://www.madog.org/dysgwyr/adolygiadau/adolygu1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> but the attempt largely failed because it did not encompass the regional differences used by Welsh-speakers.