<c> and <ch>

In this video we can see the difference between the production of two sounds in Welsh. The first sound is [k] which is written as <c> in words like ‘ci’ and ‘cwtsh’. The second sound is [χ] which is written as <ch> in words like ‘chi’ and ‘chwerw’.

When the speaker says the first consonants ‘ci’ and ‘cwtsh’, notice that the back of the tongue starts high up in the mouth and moves forward quite quickly and there is a gap between the tongue and the back of the mouth.

When the speaker starts to say the first consonants ‘chi’ and ‘chwerw’, the back of the tongue is not as high up in the mouth but it’s much further back and stays there for longer.