<ch> and <ll>

The male speaker (on the left) is from north Welsh, whilst the female speaker (on the right) is from the south. 

We can see here the difference between the way in which two potentially challenging consonant sounds are produced. The first is [ɬ], represented by <ll> in the written language in words such as llong ‘ship’ and felly ‘so’. The second sound is [χ] and is conveyed by <ch> in written Welsh in words like chi ‘you’ and chwerw ‘bitter’.

You will see that a large part of the tongue (the tongue blade) approaches the top of the mouth when <ll> is produced. On the other hand, when<ch> in pronounced at the beginning of words such aschi‘you’ andchwerw‘bitter’, is much further back.