There is no standard variety of English that is specific to Wales, but such features are readily recognised by Anglophones from the rest of the UK as being from Wales, including the phrase look you which is a translation of a Welsh language tag.
Welsh code-switchers fall typically into one of three categories: the first category is people whose first language is Welsh and are not the most comfortable with English, the second is the inverse, English as a first language and a lack of confidence with Welsh, and the third consists of people whose first language could be either and display competence in both languages.
Welsh and English share congruence, meaning that there is enough overlap in their structure to make them compatible for code-switching. In studies of Welsh English code-switching, Welsh frequently acts as the matrix language with English words or phrases mixed in. A typical example of this usage would look like dw i’n love-io soaps, which translates to "I love soaps".
In a study conducted by Margaret Deuchar in 2005 on Welsh-English code-switching, 90 per cent of tested sentences were found to be congruent with the Matrix Language Format, or MLF, classifying Welsh English as a classic case of code-switching. This case is identifiable as the matrix language was identifiable, the majority of clauses in a sentence that uses code-switching must be identifiable and distinct, and the sentence takes the structure of the matrix language in respect to things such as subject verb order and modifiers.
The decline of Welsh and the ascendancy of English was intensified further during the Industrial Revolution, when many Welsh speakers moved to England to find work and the recently developed mining and smelting industries came to be manned by Anglophones. David Crystal, who grew up in Holyhead, claims that the continuing dominance of English in Wales is little different from its spread elsewhere in the world. The decline in the use of the Welsh language is also associated with the preference in the communities for English to be used in schools and to discourage everyday use of the Welsh language in them, including by the use of the Welsh Not in some schools in the 18th and 19th centuries.
"Anglo-Welsh literature" and "Welsh writing in English" are terms used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers. It has been recognised as a distinctive entity only since the 20th century. The need for a separate identity for this kind of writing arose because of the parallel development of modern Welsh-language literature; as such it is perhaps the youngest branch of English-language literature in the British Isles.
A rival claim for the first Welsh writer to use English creatively is made for the diplomat, soldier and poet John Clanvowe (1341–1391).
Rhodri Clark (27 March 2007). "Revealed: the wide range of Welsh accents". Wales Online. Retrieved 31 January 2019. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/revealed-wide-range-welsh-accents-2269968
"Secret behind our Welsh accents discovered". Wales Online. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2010. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/secret-behind-welsh-accents-discovered-2332160
Carney, Rachel (16 December 2010). "A Cardiff Story: A migrant city". The Guardian Cardiff. Cardiff. Retrieved 16 December 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/cardiff/2010/dec/15/a-cardiff-story-a-migrant-city-rachel-carney
Lambert, James (2018). "A multitude of "lishes"". English World-Wide. A Journal of Varieties of English. 39: 1–33. doi:10.1075/eww.00001.lam. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Wells (1982), pp. 380, 384–385. - Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, ISBN 0-52128540-2
https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759
Connolly (1990), pp. 122, 125. - Connolly, John H. (1990), "Port Talbot English", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 121–129, ISBN 978-1-85359-032-0 https://books.google.com/books?id=tPwYt3gVbu4C
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Wells (1982), pp. 384, 387, 390 - Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, ISBN 0-52128540-2
https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759
Schneider, Edgar Werner; Kortmann, Bernd (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English: CD-ROM. - Google Books. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Company KG. ISBN 9783110175325. Retrieved 22 February 2015. 9783110175325
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Wells (1982), pp. 380–381. - Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, ISBN 0-52128540-2
https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759
Schneider, Edgar Werner; Kortmann, Bernd (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English: CD-ROM. - Google Books. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Company KG. ISBN 9783110175325. Retrieved 22 February 2015. 9783110175325
Schneider, Edgar Werner; Kortmann, Bernd (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English: CD-ROM. - Google Books. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Company KG. ISBN 9783110175325. Retrieved 22 February 2015. 9783110175325
Trudgill, Peter (27 April 2019). "Wales's very own little England". The New European. Retrieved 16 April 2020. https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/pembrokeshire-wales-little-england-history-1-6016252
Wells (1982), pp. 384, 387, 390 - Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, ISBN 0-52128540-2
https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759
Wells (1982), p. 387. - Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, ISBN 0-52128540-2
https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Schneider, Edgar Werner; Kortmann, Bernd (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English: CD-ROM. - Google Books. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Company KG. ISBN 9783110175325. Retrieved 22 February 2015. 9783110175325
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Wells (1982), pp. 384, 387, 390 - Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, ISBN 0-52128540-2
https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Peter Garrett; Nikolas Coupland; Angie Williams, eds. (15 July 2003). Investigating Language Attitudes: Social Meanings of Dialect, Ethnicity and Performance. University of Wales Press. p. 73. ISBN 9781783162086. Retrieved 2 September 2019. 9781783162086
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Coupland (1988), p. 29. - Coupland, Nikolas (1988), Dialect in Use: Sociolinguistic Variation in Cardiff English, University of Wales Press, ISBN 0-70830-958-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=W8kmAAAAMAAJ
Approaches to the Study of Sound Structure and Speech: Interdisciplinary Work in Honour of Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk. Magdalena Wrembel, Agnieszka Kiełkiewicz-Janowiak and Piotr Gąsiorowski. 21 October 2019. pp. 1–398. ISBN 9780429321757. 9780429321757
Crystal (2003), p. 335. - Crystal, David (4 August 2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521530330 https://books.google.com/books?id=Kh_RZhvHk0YC
Crystal (2003), p. 335. - Crystal, David (4 August 2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521530330 https://books.google.com/books?id=Kh_RZhvHk0YC
The British Isles. Bernd Kortmann and Clive Upton. 10 December 2008. ISBN 9783110208399. Retrieved 31 January 2019. 9783110208399
Crystal (2003), p. 335. - Crystal, David (4 August 2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521530330 https://books.google.com/books?id=Kh_RZhvHk0YC
Wells (1982), p. 390. - Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–393, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, ISBN 0-52128540-2
https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759
Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (1990a). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change - Google Books. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313. Retrieved 22 February 2015.[page needed] 9781853590313
Crystal (2003), p. 335. - Crystal, David (4 August 2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521530330 https://books.google.com/books?id=Kh_RZhvHk0YC
Crystal (2003), p. 335. - Crystal, David (4 August 2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521530330 https://books.google.com/books?id=Kh_RZhvHk0YC
"Why butty rarely leaves Wales". Wales Online. 2 October 2006 [updated: 30 Mar 2013]. Retrieved 22 February 2015. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/why-butty-rarely-leaves-wales-2302834
Crystal (2003), p. 335. - Crystal, David (4 August 2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521530330 https://books.google.com/books?id=Kh_RZhvHk0YC
Edwards, John (1985). Talk Tidy. Bridgend, Wales, UK: D Brown & Sons Ltd. p. 39. ISBN 0905928458. 0905928458
Deuchar, Margaret (1 November 2006). "Welsh-English code-switching and the Matrix Language Frame model". Lingua. 116 (11): 1986–2011. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2004.10.001. ISSN 0024-3841. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Deuchar, Margaret (December 2005). "Congruence and Welsh–English code-switching". Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 8 (3): 255–269. doi:10.1017/S1366728905002294. ISSN 1469-1841. S2CID 144548890. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Deuchar, Margaret; Davies, Peredur (2009). "Code switching and the future of the Welsh language". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (195). doi:10.1515/ijsl.2009.004. S2CID 145440479. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Deuchar, Margaret (December 2005). "Congruence and Welsh–English code-switching". Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 8 (3): 255–269. doi:10.1017/S1366728905002294. ISSN 1469-1841. S2CID 144548890. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Deuchar, Margaret (December 2005). "Congruence and Welsh–English code-switching". Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 8 (3): 255–269. doi:10.1017/S1366728905002294. ISSN 1469-1841. S2CID 144548890. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Deuchar, Margaret (1 November 2006). "Welsh-English code-switching and the Matrix Language Frame model". Lingua. 116 (11): 1986–2011. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2004.10.001. ISSN 0024-3841. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Crystal (2003), p. 334. - Crystal, David (4 August 2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521530330 https://books.google.com/books?id=Kh_RZhvHk0YC
"Welsh and 19th century education". BBC. Retrieved 30 October 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/language_education.shtml
Garlick (1970). - Garlick, Raymond (1970), "Welsh Arts Council", An introduction to Anglo-Welsh literature, University of Wales Press, ISSN 0141-5050 https://books.google.com/books?id=Aa0wvgAACAAJ
Garlick (1970). - Garlick, Raymond (1970), "Welsh Arts Council", An introduction to Anglo-Welsh literature, University of Wales Press, ISSN 0141-5050 https://books.google.com/books?id=Aa0wvgAACAAJ
Johnston (1994), p. 91. - Johnston, Dafydd (1994), A Pocket Guide to the Literature of Wales, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, ISBN 978-0708312650 https://archive.org/details/literatureofwale0000john