, the pulpit and the eisteddfod may be regarded as the
most potent factors in resisting the inroads of English. The whole
question of the vitality of Welsh and what may be called the political
and social history of the language is treated in great detail by H.
Zimmer, "Der Pan-Keltismus in Gross-britannien und Irland," i., in
_Preussische Jahrbucher_, vol. xcii. (1898). In elementary schools in
Wales the use of Welsh has been permitted since 1893.

With regard to the extent over which Welsh is spoken a detailed map is
given in J.E. Southall's _Welsh Language Census of 1891_ (Newport,
1895). A line drawn from the southern end of the estuary of the Dee
about 2 m. W. of Connah's Quay to Aberthaw in Glamorgan would
practically include all those districts where Welsh is spoken by 60%
of the population, and considerable deductions would have to be made
for parts of Flint, Montgomery, most of Radnor and the N. part of
Brecon. Little is spoken in the southern half of the Gower peninsula
or in S. Pembrokeshire. Over much of Anglesey 97-1/2% of the population
spoke Welsh and in parts of Cardiganshire 98.3%. Of a total population
in 1901 of 2,012,876, 929,824 were returned as speakers of Welsh, of
whom 280,905 were monoglots. That Welsh is a very living language may
be gathered from the following statistics. Between 1801 and 1898 no
fewer than 8425 volumes were published in the vernacular, whilst in
1895 there were appearing regularly 2 quarterlies, 2 bi-monthlies, 28
religious and literary monthlies and 25 weekly papers. In 1909 the
number was probably greater. The danger for Welsh lies rather in the
direction of internal decay. The speech of the people is saturated
with English words and idiom, and modern writers like Daniel Owen
submit to the same influence instead of returning to the classical
models of the 17th century.

Much remains to be done as regards the classification of the modern
Welsh dialects. It is usual to divide them into four groups--(1) Powys
(N.E.); (2) Gwynedd (N.W.); (3) Dyfed (S.W.); (4) Gwent (S.E.). One of
the chief points on which N. and S. diverge is the pronunciation of
the vowels i, u, y, which in the S. all tend to become i. The
difference between N. and S. was noticeable as early as the time of
Giraldus Cambrensis. See M. Nettlau, _Beitrage zur cymrischen
Grammatik_ (Leipzig, 1887), also _Rev. celt._ ix. pp. 64 ff., 113 ff.;
T.