Fydd dim byd 'ma am sbel, dw i'n datblygu fersiwn newydd o'r safle, gan ddefnyddio Teip Symudol. Bydd rhaid i mi weithio mas sut i symud popeth o fan hyn i fan 'na, a gobeithio bydd y weflog newydd yn hwylio'r tonnau digidol cyn diwedd yr wythnos.

Welsh weather wondergirl found in packet of salt and vinegar.

O Lechryd i'r Eidal

Heddiw, dw i'n sganio lluniau newydd ar gyfer gwefan Robin Holtom. Bydda i'n ail-wneud y wefan cyn bo hir, felly dyma'ch cyfle ola i weld y lluniau sydd arni ar hyn o bryd.
Mynydd Arberth gan Robin Holtom

Technoleg, yr X Files ac ieithoedd bychain

Language Learning and Technology: rhifyn arbennig am dechnoleg ac ieithoedd brodorol. Llawer o erthyglau diddorol, megis yr un ar y rhyngrwyd ac ieithoedd brodorol yr Amerig. Ar diwedd yr erthygl honno, mae 'na ddolen i wefan ysgol gynradd Tulalip, sy'n llawn dop o bethau diddorol a difri.

Pam mae tywydd yn fenywaidd?

Dyma llyfr newydd sy'n gofyn pob math o gwestiynau diddorol am iaith, cenedl ieithyddol ac anghydraddoldeb rhywiol, gan gynnwys penod(au) ar y Gymraeg:

Among the issues discussed for each language are the following: What are the structural properties of the language that have an impact on the relations between language and gender? What are the consequences for areas such as agreement, pronominalisation and word-formation? How is specification of and abstraction from (referential) gender achieved in language? Is empirical evidence available for the assumption that masculine/male expressions are interpreted as generics? Can tendencies of variation and change be observed, and have alternatives been proposed for a more equal linguistic treatment of women and men?
[rhagor]

Y teulu mwya dyfeisgar yn y byd?

Beth yw'r brenhiniaeth? Do'n i ddim yn gwybod fod cymaint o'r rigmarôl 'traddodiadol' ynglyn â'r teulu Windsoraid wedi'i ddyfeisio mor ddiweddar:

"Jubilees," the periodic celebrations of a monarch’s survival in office that are now a tiresome feature of life, are also took on their present importance in the last century [h.y. yr ugeinfed ganrif]. The jubilee to mark 25 years of office for George 5 had "no exact precedent" writes Cannadine. But suddenly the church service on jubilee day was "something very much like a Holy Communion" according to an admiring Ramsay Macdonald.
[rhagor]

Dw i'n gwybod bod y fath dyfeisio yn ddigon cyffredin ond mae'r syfrdanol faint o'r celwydd mawr Prydeinig dyn ni wedi'i fewnoli. Yn erthygl yn y Barn newydd, mae Dafydd Morgan Lewis yn dweud "a minnau tua'r tair ar ddeg oed cofiaf ysgrifennu ar gefn copi o Lyfr Mawr y Plant y geiriau 'I believe in the Royal Family.'" Amser i roi'r pethau plentynaidd heibio? Ar y llaw arall, gall giamocs Phil Battenburg godi gwên o hyd. [dolennau oddi wrth plep]

"Isn't it good, Bulgarian wood?"

Mae Coedwig yr Ysbrydion yn llyfr/gêm/comic o Fwlgaria, gyda changen ffabaf y tylwyth teg y gwelwch chi erioed. Mae 'na reswm da am y gwên ar wyneb Goran. [oddi wrth glosses]

Dwyieithog? Neu iaith a hanner?

Codir cwestiynau cyfarwydd gan erthygl Crawford Kilian:

One interesting aspect of the White House site is that it's now bilingual. You can read all the site text in Spanish if you prefer. But as Nielsen notes, when you switch to Spanish, all the navigation guides remain in English! Spanish speakers may enjoy the convenience, but they'll also get the nonverbal message: You don't matter enough for us to take any real trouble to make this site navigable for you.
[rhagor]

Mae'r canol ar y ffin

Cyfweliad da â Hugh Brody.

Ai iaith yw technoleg gwybodaeth?

Mae 'na rywbeth cyfarwydd iawn ynglyn â'r stori hon, eto o gylchgrawn Wired. Pan o'n i yn yr ysgol, nôl yn yr oesoedd canol (h.y. cyn y cwricwlwm cenedlaethol a Chymraeg orfodol) roedd rhaid i mi ddewis rhwng astudiaethau cyfrifiadurol (fel y'u gelwid amser 'ny) a Chymraeg. Er fy mod yn agos at top fy nosbarth Cymraeg ail iaith, ces i fy nghyngori gan bawb i neud compiwters achos dyna ble oedd y dyfodol (ac, i fod yn onest, dyna ble oedd fy niddordeb - dw i wedi bod yn dweeb erioed). Felly, yn lle meistroli hen iaith y nefoedd bondigrybwyll, ces i fy nhrwytho yn ieithoedd llawer mwy defnyddiol, megis BASIC a LOGO, medrau sy wedi bod heb unrhyw les i mi o gwbl yn fy 'ngyrfa'.

Sensing widespread opposition, the state government set up a review team called Vijay Bhatkar committee to examine its own proposal. Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, a decorated scientist in India said, "We recommended that IT not be made an optional (second language) along with other languages, as Marathi will suffer. I believe not 60, but 80 percent of the students choose Marathi. But the government has retained its decision ignoring our recommendations. The education minister is very firm about his position."
[rhagor]

Gorchestiaeth Ieithyddol, rhan 2,382

Byddai rhai o'r ystrydebau yn yr erthygl hon yn chwerthinllyd, tasen nhw ddim yn dod o ysgolhaig y cyfraith mewn prifysgol Canada. Gall plentyn weld y gwallau yn y dadl 'ma:

A commission study released this week showed French is absent from 62 percent of 42 foreign embassy websites surveyed, while English is missing from 5 percent.

"The idea that there is a divide being created along language lines -- it just doesn't work," he says. "English is clearly the dominant language on the Internet. I don't know that there's a divide being created between English and French. English is the language of choice for so many."
[rhagor]

Felly, os ydw i'n deall hyn yn iawn, y dewis yw Saesneg neu dim byd. Y ffaith bod pobl ddwyieithog yn dewis Saesneg yn hytrach na dim byd yn profi bod hi'n well 'da nhw Saesneg na Ffrangeg. Felly, does dim pwynt darparu gwefannau yn Ffrangeg achos bydd pobl yn darllen y fersiwn Saesneg, fel maen nhw nawr. Why Professor Geist, you're a genius!

Yoshitomo Nara

dy blentyndod

Termau Ymchilio yr Wythnos

Croeso i'r person oedd yn chwilio am ateb i'r cwestiwn tra phwysig "What does siarad Cymraeg mean?".

Gwallt pinc a'r iaith uffernol

Profiadau wrth geisio dysgu Basgeg. Erthygl Salon.

So I e-mailed my dad, "How's the Basque going?" Reply from the MIT professor emeritus of linguistics: "F---ing language from hell. This is a waste of my time."

We gave up. Our running joke was: "Well, we'll be fine as long as we learn to say, 'I support your cause. Please do not shoot.'" Really, it's just a joke -- I have no idea how to say that. And I'm thankful it didn't come up.
[rhagor]

Dôl ffrwythlon dolennau

Syllwyddor Tsieroci, ieithoedd a llenyddiaeth y byd hynafol a hen Saesneg. Dim ond tri dolen, bron ar hap, ffeindiais i ar weflog fabulousness. Diolchiadau hefyd i'r môr-forwyn enigmatig, am fy rhoi ar lwybr trwy goedwig y gweflogau ieithyddol. Mae mwy ohonyn nhw nag o'n i'n dychmygu.

"Why we write in English."

Cyfweliad â dau awdur o Affrica sy'n sôn am eu rhesymau dros dewis Saesneg yn lle eu hieithoedd brodorol.

Whatever their choices, African poets know that they are excluding part of their intended audience and limiting their own creative mode of expression, since most are, because of colonization, quite literally multi-lingual people. Within these choices of language, such multi-lingual African poets find limitations to overcome and freedoms to enjoy. Use of the English language, which carries the baggage of the oppressor's culture, usually becomes a mode of stimulating mental exercise. On the other hand, the Shona and Ndebele languages, which are most Zimbabwean poets' more natural forms of communication and expression of feelings, unfortunately limit the global exposure of their work.
[rhagor]

"Open the pod bay doors, HAL"

Dw wedi bod yn darllen Blodyn Tatws gan Eirug Wyn, ac un o'r pethau oedd yn fy mhoeni oedd y ffaith bod y cyfrifiadur, NESTA, yn gallu deall Cymraeg lafar ac ateb yn yr hen iaith hefyd. Mae'n jyst yn bosib y bydd cyfrifiaduron wedi'u datblygu sy'n deall Saesneg erbyn canol y ganrif hon, ond anhebyg iawn bydden nhw'n gallu defnyddio'r Cymraeg. Mae Microsoft yn arllwys miliynau i mewn i ymchwilio'r posibiliadau, gan ganolbwyntio ar saith iaith - dydy'r Gymraeg ddim ar eu rhestr. Ta beth, dyma gweflog am brosesu ieithoedd naturiol, tarddle da am fwy o wybodaeth am y maes hynod o bwysig hwn. [oddi wrth 'sglaig o gyfieithydd]

Exit Here: chwilio am yr Amerig go iawn. Yn 1993, teithiais i ar draws yr Unol Daleithiau gyda'm cariad. Dyma un o'r motels arhoson ni ynddo.

Cipolwg gwahanol ar ddiwylliant Cymru

Os dych chi'n gallu anwybyddu'r tudalen cynta hyll a'r baneri porn ar bob tudalen arall mae'n werth ymweld â dyn y blaidd, yn enwedig y Essential Guide to Welsh Pop Culture. Nid jyst y criw arferol sydd yma, ac mae gan y boi ffordd gyda'i eiriau, rhaid cyfaddau:

R.S.Thomas: The Joy Division of Welsh poetry.

Augustus John: the Hello magazine of his day.

Murray the Hump: A band that manages to sound louche and naive at the same time.

Grandad Jack

Dw i'n sganio hen luniau heno. Dyma fy nhaid, tad fy nhad, fel bachgen.

John Christmas Davies

"He must be on something."

Dechreuais i drafodaeth Metafilter am weflogau arbenigol. Braidd yn brin oedd yr atebion, ond dw i'n hoffi fuckcorporategroceries (<homer> mmm, bwyd </homer>), ac mae 'na lu o ddolenau diddorol ar cioran63 (sydd yn Almaeneg, ond gyda llawer o luniau).

Un iaith i'w rheolau nhw?

Un byd, un iaith. Erthygl gan Vincent Buck (o'r glossblog) am rôl y cyfieithydd yn y Ewrop (a'r byd) newydd.

Wedi marw a mynd i nef y blogwyr...

Newydd ddod ar draws glossblog, gweflog am ieithoedd. Mae 'na gormod o ddolennau 'na i mi eu dwyn heno, ond tebyg iawn bydda i'n ailgylchu storiau Vincent yn yr wythnosau i ddod. Dyma dau i ddechrau: Rhyfelau ieithyddol erthygl yng nghylchgrawn Harvard. Holiadur ar ddwyieithogrwydd ac emosiynau

Ydych chi'n cofio Treweryn, Lerpwl?

Drueni collais i hyn ar y pryd, ond mae'n debyg yr oedd arddangosfa am Dreweryn yn Lerpwl yn gynt eleni. Wrth darllen fersiwn BBC hanes boddi Capel Celyn des i ar draws hyn:

In 1936 Penyberth in Caernarvonshire was drowned...

Meddwl am rywbeth arall, tybed?

Llyn Celyn gan Richard Page Mwy am waith Richard Page yn Nhreweryn.

Rhedeg am y trên

Stori gyffrous. Mae bywyd yn gyffrous, weithiau, ondyfe?

Hapus/trist? Bechgyn/merched? Gweflog/Gymraeg?

Meddyliwch am ddau air o'r un hyd a'u rhoi nhw yn yr Ambigram.Matic i gael un gair plith-draphlith. Mae rhai'n gweithio yn well nag eraill. Cofiwch dod yn ôl a rhoi gwybod am unrhyw canlyniadau diddorol a gewch chi. [oddi wrth iconomy]

Eiconau i'r twristiaid

Pwy sy'n penderfynu beth yw beth yw sothach a beth yw celfyddydau? Cwestiynau diddorol mewn safle o Dde-Orllewin yr Amerig.

Herio twr Babel

Cyfieithu a'r ieithoedd bychain:

The question of translation has a unique relevance in Ireland, where for centuries language usage has been inextricable from social and political issues. Other European countries may be moderately concerned about maintaining the purity and integrity of their well-established native languages. In Ireland, however, the supremacy of a second language is unquestionable, while the national language often struggles to keep its position from being all but eroded
[rhagor]

[oddi wrth wood s lot]

"Can't you talk any louder?"

Ydy hi'n rhy hwyr i achub yr unig iaith fenwod yn y byd?

In a bid to save a special language used exclusively by women of an ethnic group in central-south China, a protection zone will be set up in Hunan Province.

The language, on the verge of disappearing, is believed to be the world's only women's language. It is used among women of the Yao ethnic group in Jiangyong County of Hunan.

The language was usually written on silks, paper fans or embroidery items. So far, more than 1,200 characters have been identified. Less than 700 characters are in common use.
[rhagor]

(Daw'r difyniad yn y teitl o'r gân Girls Talk, gyda llaw. Mae rhywun wedi fy ngalw yn hilgi heddiw, sa i mo'yn bod yn rywiaethwr hefyd.) [oddi wrth meistr yr orsaf]

Estheteg Warcheidiol

Cyfoeth y byd: nodiadau maes ar gyfer ail-ddyfeisio. Erthygl hir gan Iwan Bala. Dim amser i'w darllen nawr, ond mae'n edrych yn ddiddorol. [english version]

Alawon cadwynog

Mae'r Prosiect Cloriau yn ymdrech i olrhain cysylltiadau rhwng grwpiau pop gan ddilyn olau ail fersiynau. Dw i wedi bod ati gan ychwanegu rhai o'm ffefryns i'r cronfa gwybodaeth, ond mae angen lot mwy o gysylltiadau i grwpiau Cymraeg eu hiaith.

Llais dadeni

Cyfweliad â Meredid Hopwood o'r rhaglen Women's Hour. Mae brwdfrydedd y Prifardd yn heintus iawn. Rhaid i mi ddysgu rheolau cynghanedd yn syth. Pam dylai'r menywod gael yr hwyl i gyd? [diolch i Theo Brueton]

Wrth baratoi am draethawd nesa yn fy nghwrs coleg, dw i'n wrthi'n darllen hunangofiant Angharad Tomos, sy'n llawn chwedlau diddorol, fel hon:

Yn y diwedd, yr oedd slogan ar y pedair ochr [o golofn Nelson], yr ymwelwyr Japaneaidd yn fflachio eu camerâu fel pethau gwirion, a Sali Wyn a minnau'n eistedd ar y grisiau yn meddwl am ba hyd y byddai'n rhaid inni aros yno. Ymhen hir a hwyr, daeth y glas a'n cymryd i'r ddalfa. Yn Swyddfa'r Heddlu Bow Street, roedd yr arolygydd yn wallgo.

'How dare you?' bloeddiodd yn fy wyneb. 'How would you like it if I came to your place and destroyed the most precious thing you have?

'You already have,' atebais.

'Shut up, you little bitch.'

Yr adeg honno y sylweddolais fod colofn Nelson yn golygu tipyn mwy i'r Saeson nag y mae i ni.

"OK! I moon the Balrog!"

Geiriau olaf enwog - doniol i bobl drist a gamdreulio eu hieuenctid chwarae gemau fel Dungeons & Dragons. Ie, pobl fel fi. [oddi wrth haul yn y pellter]

Pam nad ydw i ddim yn ysgrifennu yn y Gymraeg?

Newydd ychwanegu y difyniad gan Bobi Jones o'i draethawd Planet o 1970 i ochr dde y dudalen, ac wrth edrych arno ar y weflog, wneud yn siwr mod i ddim wedi wneud traed moch ohono fe, sylwais bod y rhan fwya o'r safle 'ma yn Saesneg, ddim yn y Gymraeg o gwbl. Adlewyrchiad yw hwn o'r ffaith mod i'n treulio gormod o amser syrffio'r we, a dim digon meddwl am bethau call i ddweud am y pethau dw i'n eu darganfod, ac hefyd y ffaith mod i'n ddiog dros ben.

DU Amlieithog:

  Contrary to popular belief, the UK has always been multilingual. Gaelic, Irish and Welsh have been gradually displaced by English, itself the product of many different influences, but today are fighting back. These 'older mother tongues' have been joined by an astonishing variety of more recently arrived languages from all parts of the world.
[rhagor]

[via y boncyff cneuog]

Rhestr dolennau Iolo Morganwg. Lot o 404au, ond llawer o stwff diddorol hefyd.

Yr Angel Clwyfedig

Casgliad Hugo Simburg yn oriel genedlaethol y Ffindir. Braf i weld sganiau o safon eitha da. Dyma'r llun sydd ar glawr llyfr Angharad Tomos, Wele'n Gwawrio.
Yr Angel Clwyfedig gan Hugo Simburg

Cyflwyniad da i syniadau paramaeth (permaculture) mewn cyfweliad â Bill Mollison. [via Bifurcated Rivets]

Gyda FindSounds, gallwch chi chwilio'r we am effeithiau sain mewn sawl fformat. Dw i wedi ffeindo swn fy hoff deryn, fy hoff gi ac hyd yn oed fy hoff ragenw - llawer gwell 'da fi ni na nhw. Os wyt ti'n ffeindio rhywbeth diddorol, rho wybod yn y blwch sylwadau.

Swniau anifeiliaid y byd.

Ffeindiais i'r dyfyniad hwn ar wefan Bill Poser; mae'n dod o'r llyfr hwn:

Like cholera or leprosy, monolingualism at both societal/state and individual level is a dangerous illness, which should be eradicated as soon as possible. Its promotion is dangerous for peace in the world. The center of the contaminated area is Europe and the Europeanised countries. This center does its best to spread the disease to other parts of the world...
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas

Hen luniau o Siapan yng nghasgliad llyfrgell Nagasaki. [via gordon.coale]

Penblwydd hapus Raidió na Gaeltachta, 30 oed heddiw. Tri deg mlynedd heb chwarae un record Saesneg ei hiaith. Dydy Radio Cymru ddim yn gallu goroesi tri deg munud heb wneud hynny.

Ddim wedi cael lot o amser i sgwennu dim byd 'ma ers wythnos. Gyda'r tywydd mor braf, a dim dosbarthiadau i'w dysgu, dyn ni wedi bod yn gweithio yn yr ardd a chlós y tyddyn. Ddoe oedd ras hwyiaid cyntaf y tymor yn y pentre, a'r tro cyntaf i fi gollwng y 500 o adar bach plastig i Nant Hawen. Cyffrous iawn. Neithiwr, aethon ni i weld A Hard Day's Night yn Theatr Mwldan; noson gynt welon ni Gosford Park, ffilm newyd Robert Altman. Heno, bydd Cymanfa Ganu yng Nghapel y Wig.

Dyma desten daflen Cymuned sy'n cael ei dosbarthu ym Mhorthmadog ar hyn o bryd. Beth dych chi'n meddwl amdani?

Hela Hen Eiriau

Ddoe, wrth ymchwilio Daypop, des i ar draws hyn:

"I once heard a Welsh sermon in which the word 'truth' was repeatedly uttered in English. Apparently there is no exact equivalent in Welsh"
Geoffrey Madan
[rhagor]

Mae hynny yn lol, wrth gwrs (dw i'n hoff iawn o'r ffaith taw 'falsehood' yw ystyr Saesneg y gair Cymraeg 'truth', ond stori arall yw honna). Heddi, wrth edrych am ddiffiniad Plant Alis ffeindais i hwn:

Noda Stephens, o Ferthyr, fod yn y Gymraeg naw o wahanol eiriau am frwydr, ac efe a gasgla o weithiau yr hen feirdd bedwar ugain a phymtheg o eiriau cyfansawdd wedi tyfu allan o un o'r naw hynny, sef aer, megys aerawd, aerawg, aereswr, &c. Ond nid oes Gymro heddyw a fedr ddefnyddio ond pur ychydig o’r pedwar ugain a phymtheg hynny mewn unrhyw frawddegau trefnus. Prawf hyn ddau beth: cyfoeth y Gymraeg, ac anfedrusrwydd Cymry yr oes hon i drin eu hiaith eu hunain.
[rhagor]

Lluniau o frodorion America, llyfr gan Brifysgol Pennsylvania, gyda traethodau gan Gerald Vizenor ac eraill:

[Quanah] Parker was Comanche, a wise crossblood leader at the turn of the last century who defended the use of peyote as a religious freedom. The narratives of his religious inspiration, his crossblood uncertainties, are not obvious in either of the photographs. His hair is braided in both pictures but the poses seem to be the causal representations of then and now, tradition and transition, or variations on the nostalgic themes of savagism of civilization. His eyes, not the costumes, are the narrratives...
[rhagor]

Mwy am Quanah.

Erthygl arall, gan yr un awdur yn yr un cylchgrawn:

The success of British imperialism could never be accounted for by military force alone. It needed accompanying myths of cultural accomplishment, uplift and efficiency. For a worldwide set of elites, English served as an entrance to that cultural mythography, as it continues to do today. When the forces of neo-colonialism assemble themselves, whether as an IMF economic assessment team or as a multinational Anglophone gendarmerie, ELT classes will have provided both language and ideology.
[rhagor]

Ôl-wladychiaeth, gwrthod ieithyddol a seiber-Saesneg

Hen erthygl (o 1996) sy'n cnoi'r cil am ddefnydd ieithoedd bychain ar y we. Llawer o edefion diddorol i'w dilyn:

The anglophone world favors understanding English rejection as a measure of technological backwardness, as national socioeconomic suicide in the face of anglophone-based international market competition. The degree of English-speaking in a non-anglophone country's population serves as a rough measure of its integration into the global capitalist economy, as well as its preparedness for further integration.
[rhagor]

Dych chi wedi darllen Alasdair Gray?

Alasdair Gray's was a voice that offered me something freeing. It wasn't distant or assumptive. It knew words, syntax, and places I also knew, yet used them without any tang of apology: it took its own experience and culture as valid and central, not ancient or rural, tourist-trade quaint or rude mechanical humorous.
[rhagor]

Hunaniaeth a chwant o waed

Erthygl ddiddorol ar hunaniaeth genedlaethol a gwleidyddol. Dw i ddim yn cytuno â holl swm a sylwedd yr awdur, ond mae'n wneud llawer o bwyntiau pwysig am beryglon cenedlaetholdeb diwylliannol arwynebol.

There is more at stake in Northern Ireland than "identity." If it were only about identity, the conflict really would be insoluble, for if the republicans should be true to their Irish roots, why should the Loyalists not be equally true to their British roots? Or is Hayden suggesting that they go back to the land of their ancestors, which for many of them would be Scotland? In fact, the conflict is as much about social discrimination as it is about religion or political rights. How to find a political solution which safeguards the interests of the Catholic minority as well as the Protestants is extremely difficult. To see it as a colonial war, as Hayden does, which would be solved as soon as the hated enemy goes home, is naive at best, and dangerous at worst. But one doesn't have to be a Sinn Fein sympathizer to regard the treatment of their battles as a form of personal therapy for American visitors as an insult.
[rhagor]

Neithiwr, es i weld Mulholland Drive, ffilm newydd David Lynch. Wrth adael y sinema, yr oedd yr un golwg ar bawb, golwg sy'n cael ei ddisgrifio yn Saesneg fel hyn: WTF?

Dim byd ond cariad, beib

Peiriant ffrwythau'r Beatles, caethiwus dros ben. Casglais i 143 o gredydau cyn i mi ennill y jacpot. Fyddet ti ddim mor dwp, na fyddet?

Ces i fargen yn car bwt Abertawe y bore 'ma: record gan Jo'Burg Hawk.

Oriel Applets. Dw i ddim yn deall y mathemateg tu ôl iddyn nhw, ond mae'n hwyl i'w gwylio. Dw i'n credu taw hwn yw fy hoff un. Mae'r caleidosgop yn neis, hefyd. A'r prismau.

Dinasoedd dan y croen

Gad i fi gymryd dy law a'th arwein ar hyd strydoedd Efrog Newydd anghofiedig. Neu, os nag wyt ti am deithio mor bell, beth am fynd am dro yn y Gaerdydd go iawn.

Y Beibl, ar-lein. Testamant newydd yn unig, i ddechrau.

Themau teledu o'r 70au ac 80au.

Disgwyl glaw? Gwefan Dylan fendigedig, llawn dolennau.

Erthygl Chicago Times ar Wyddeleg yn Iwerddon.

Wales Visitation

Recordiad o Allen Ginsberg darllen ei gerdd am ei ymweliad cyntaf i Gymru. Gwelais i fe ar ei ymweliad olaf, yn Abertawe, blwyddyn neu ddwy cyn iddo farw. Perfformiad trydanol.

Calling all Anglophiles! [sic]

Mae Washington Post yn un o’r papruau mawr yr Unol Daleithiau. All the President’s Men ac hynny i gyd. Beth yw’r esgus felly am yr ystrydebau blinedig yn eu hadolygiad o CD gan y Super Furries:

By most accounts, Wales is one of the sleepiest regions of the United Kingdom, an isolated rural enclave still steeped in stodgy Old World traditionalism. How, then, to explain the rise of Super Furry Animals, currently the focus of an adventurous pop scene that has sprung up from the countryside like a patch of mushrooms?
[rhagor]

Tudalen o hiwmor ieithyddol, gan gynnwys y canlynol:

We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.
Booker T. Washington
[rhagor]

Hidlenni uwchiaeth

Erthygl yn Nature am y ffordd mae pobl dwyieithog yn hildo geiriau:

Bilingual people switch off one language to avoid speaking double Dutch. By first sounding out words in their brain's dictionary, they may stop one tongue from interfering with another.

Those fluent in two languages rarely mix them up. They switch between language filters that oust foreign words, Thomas Munte of Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany, and his team suggest.
[rhagor]

Cawl ieithyddol

Llyfr cogionio i ieithyddwyr. Hmm, amser swper, dw i’n meddwl.

Ieithoedd mewn perygl

Ar raglen NPR Science Friday dydd Gwener diwetha oedd trafodaeth ar ieithoedd mewn perygl. Gall wrando ar yr holl raglen ar lein (mae angen RealPlayer). Llawer o ddolennau diddorol, hefyd.

Erthygl Guardian am y ‘gwahaniad digidol’:

The so-called digital divide is in danger of widening into a chasm after a new report revealed that twice as many Londoners as Welsh people access the internet on a regular basis. [...]

Around 56% of people living in the south-east [of England] regularly use the internet, compared to only 23% in Wales, and a similar pattern is evident with email usage.
[rhagor]

Breuddwyd Descartes

Hanes gorffennol a’r dyfodol cyfieithu awtomatig gan beiriannau.

O, Jesu, are you come from Wales?

Cwestiwn: Sawl gwaith crybwyllwyd Cymru gan Shakespeare? Ateb: Tri deg pedwar. Cwestiwn arall ’te: Beth am y Cymry a’u hiaith? Ateb: Tri deg dau, rhyngddynt.

Dau artist o’r Amerig

Mae’r artist Eban Hieronymous Johnson yn haeddu ei enw canol. Llawer o enghreifftiau o’i waith unigriw a llawer o ddolennau i’w dilyn unwaith dych chi wedi bennu. Ro’n i’n mwynhau delweddau calendrau Jesus Helguera, hefyd:

Helguera’s calendars gave Mexican Americans something to be proud of, a rich Mexican culture and history. They reminded us that we are not the foreigners, but descendants of natives. Jesus Helguera’s art has for decades been adopted as Chicano art. It is prevalent and yet not intrusive. It is powerful yet blends into the background. His images were imitated and copied. These cultural calendars can still be found in countless tienditas, bakeries, liquor stores, mercados and Mexican homes.
[rhagor]

[via American Samizdat]

Siapiau o Gymru

Ffeindiais i’r gerdd hon gan Menna Elfyn ar wefan Web of Words - yn anffodus, diolch i’r ffordd maen nhw wedi cynllunio eu gwefan, dw i ddim yn gallu rhoi dolen syth iddi. Bydd rhaid i chi ddilyn y dolenni o’r dudalen ffrynt i’w ffeindio. Mae fersiwn clywedol o’r gerdd yn gysylltiadwy, fodd bynnag.

Siapiau o Gymru

Ei diffinio rown
ar fwrdd glân
rhoi ffurf i’w ffiniau
ei gyrru i’w gororau
mewn inc coch;
ac meddai myfyrwyr o bant,
‘It’s like a pig running away’;
wedi bennu chwerthin,
Rwy’n ei chredu;
y swch gogleddol
yn heglu’n gynt
na’r swrn deheuol
ar ffo rhag y lladdwyr.
[rhagor]

Ffilm Gernyweg ei hiaith i gael perfformiad cyntaf yn San Steffan

Mae’r erthygl yn ddwyieithog, Saesneg a Chernyweg. Faint o’r Gernyweg dych chi’n gallu ei deall?

“An fylm a ober war lies nivel. Hwedhel da yw, yntertaynmont gwir mes yma marthys moy ena mar mynnir down lowr. Prag y hwrussyn ni y fylmya yn Kernewek? Mar ny vynnyn ni gweles an bys avel park kerri McDonalds-po-Kentucky Fried Chicken, y tal dhyn ni keslowena rychter ha dyfrans.”
[rhagor]

Peiriant dawnsio ydw i...

ac allwch chi ymuno â fi gyda’r teclyn hwn. Lot o hwyl. (Mae hi’n safle Almaeneg ei hiaith: rhowch glec ar y gair “Selbermachen” yn y cornel gwaelod de a bant â chi.)

Hei! Dw i’n gallu gweld fy mhentre o fan hyn!

Casgliad wych o hen gardiau post O’r Waun, y pentre lle ges i fy magu. Dyma llun o goffeb rhyfel gan Eric Gill sydd yng nghanol y pentre. Yr oedd fy mam yn byw yn y stryd hwn fel geneth, a phriododd hi fy nhad yn y capel hwn. Ro’n i’n arfer delifro’r Evening Leader i’r ty hwn. Gwych.

A’r alawon hen yn fyw

Gwaith Ceiriog ym mhrosiect Guttenburg:

Llongau Madog

Wele’n cychwyn dair ar ddeg,
O longau bach ar fore teg;
Wele Madog ddewr ei fron,
Yn gapten ar y llynges hon.
Mynd y mae i roi ei droed,
Ar le na welodd dyn erioed:
Antur enbyd ydyw hon,
Ond Duw a'i dal o don i don.

Ser y nos a haul y dydd,
O gwmpas oll yn gwmpawd sydd;
Codai corwynt yn y De,
A chodai’r tonnau hyd y ne;
Aeth y llongau ar eu hynt,
I grwydro’r mor ym mraich y gwynt;
Dodwyd hwy ar dramor draeth,
I fyw a bod er gwell er gwaeth.

Wele’n glanio dair ar ddeg,
O longau bach ar fore teg:
Llais y morwyr glywn yn glir,
’R ol blwydd o daith yn bloeddio “Tir!”
Canent newydd gan ynghyd,
Ar newydd draeth y newydd fyd -
Wele heddwch i bob dyn,
A phawb yn frenin arno’i hun.
[rhagor]

Ble mae’r ieithyddion Cymraeg?

Nid, ar y cyfan, yng Nghymru, fel esbonir yn yr erthygl hon:

In this situation one might suppose that Welsh would be increasingly prominent as an object of academic study in Wales. Sadly, this is not the case. A great deal of energy is devoted to teaching Welsh, and to promoting its use, and also to studying how it is and has been used, but there is little research on the language itself, its sound system and its grammatical structure, how they are acquired by children, how they have changed over time, and how they vary from place to place. Increasingly, such research is carried out outside Wales and by non-Welsh linguists. [...]

Someone might also argue that the priority for those who are interested in Welsh must be to teach it or to promote its use in various ways and that studying the language itself is a luxury the country can’t at present afford. The trouble with this argument is that promoting a language and studying it are not independent matters. In the long run the possibilities of promoting the language will be significantly reduced if the language is not an object of study.[...]

There are a number of comparisons that are relevant here. Wales is not the only small country with an interesting language. Another is Iceland. In 1998 Iceland had a population of under 300,000, while Wales had a population of nearly 3 million. More importantly, according to the 1991 census, the number of Welsh speakers in Wales was 500,000. Thus, there are considerably more Welsh speakers than Icelandic speakers. In the circumstances, one might think that there would be at least as much work on Welsh in Wales as there is on Icelandic in Iceland. In fact, there is far more work on Icelandic in Iceland. Over the last 20 years Icelandic linguists have produced a large body of sophisticated work on their language and as a result Icelandic has had a major impact on linguistic theory.
[rhagor]

Gweler manylion Seminarau Cystrawen y Gymraeg am enghreifftiau o’r gwaith sy’n cael ei wneud.

Mewn rhifyn arall o’r un cylchgrawn mae erthygl am numismateg a hunaniaeth frodorol:

In a document detailing Governor Philip’s expedition in 1791, it was recorded that “...Men’s beards were kept at reasonable length by singeing. This must have been an unpleasant operation because, after European contact, they were happy to accept the offer of a shave” (Turbet, 1989). Thus, rather than being an acknowledgement of the adorable bodies of Aboriginal Australians, the Aboriginal silhouette comes across as ‘natural’, in the pejorative sense of the word, in contrast with Queen Elizabeth’s silhouette, on the same coin, which was depicted as ‘civilized’.
[rhagor]

Mae civilized yn air diddorol, ondyfe?

Mwy o farfau...

mewn rhifyn arall o’r un cylchgrawn ffeindes i erthygl ar numismateg a hunaniaeth frodorol:

In a document detailing Governor Philip’s expedition in 1791, it was recorded that “...Men’s beards were kept at reasonable length by singeing. This must have been an unpleasant operation because, after European contact, they were happy to accept the offer of a shave” (Turbet , 1989). Thus, rather than being an acknowledgement of the adorable bodies of Aboriginal Australians, the Aboriginal silhouette comes across as ‘natural’, in the pejorative sense of the word, in contrast with Queen Elizabeth’s silhouette, on the same coin, which was depicted as ‘civilized’.
[rhagor]

Mae civilized yn air diddorol, ondyfe?

Arwyddocâd barfog

Wrth ddilyn dolen mewn trafodaeth Metafilter des i ar draws y Journal of Mundane Behavior, lle ffeindes i'r erthygl hon am farfau a'u harwyddocâd:

Abstract: This paper analyses the cultural significance of male facial grooming, the arts of shaving, clipping and trimming, and the meanings of full beard growth. It draws upon a semiotic interpretation, and reconfigures the overlooked and personalised ritual of daily facial preparation and presentation. The analysis sees facial hair as a signifier of masculinity, but one which does not remain fixedly within the masculine realm. The radical politicisation of facial hair has been effected through both the gay and the feminist movements, so that the figures of the "bearded fairy", the "goateed club bunny", and the "drag king" are not restricted to their assigned subcultures, but bleed via the mass media into dominant culture.
[rhagor]

Jyst rhag ofn mae hynny yn swnio tipyn bach yn rhy drwm, dyma berspectif y Brunching Shuttlecocks ar yr un pwnc:

And even now there are pockets of us stubbornly clinging to our goatees both in the literal and metaphorical sense, those who insist that it was never about the money and the parties and being interviewed by news-magazines as if our opinions mattered. It was, and still is, about hiding our chins.
[rhagor]

Mae Blogger newydd fwyta dwy neges. Prawf yw hwn.

Cipolwg ar Golwg

Mae gwefan newydd Golwg wedi cyrraedd. Braf i weld archif o erthyglau ar lein (ond do’n i ddim yn gallu dod ar hyd yr un am David Crystal o fis neu ddau yn ôl), a fforwm sgwrsio i ddarllenwyr. Bydd yn ddiddorol i weld sut bydd y safle yn datblygu ac a fydd darllenwyr Golwg yn ei defnyddio. [diolch i Dafydd]

Galar cystadleuol

Mae hyn yn greulon, ond fyddai Spike wedi’i fwynhau, dw’n siwr:

Politicians also expressed their sorrow at Spike’s passing. “I think we met, a few years ago,” Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters. “I remember he called me an arrogant bastard! He was so very good at irony, we all laughed.”

Ian Duncan Smith, however, laid the blame for Spike’s death squarely at the door of beleagured Transport minister, Stephen Byers. “Spike might have been alive today if the transport links between his home and London were better. I call on Mr Byers to reconsider his position.” Mr Byers made no comment but during the media interest surrounding Spike’s death announced the privatisation of pavements.
[rhagor]

Gwaith Maes

Mae Gwaith Maes yn gylchgrawn Cymraeg ei iaith sy’n cyhoeddi adnoddau i athrawon. Ar y wefan wnaeth yr erthyglau ar blant Castell y Waun a’r frân goesgoch yn tynnu fy sylw. Braf i weld gwefan Cymraeg gyda chynllun mor dda. [diolch i Robina]

Have you haved some tea?

Adolygiad NYRB o lyfr newydd Steven Pinker, Words and Rules:

The pleasures of Pinker’s book are in his accounts of the results of detailed scholarship and theories about particular words and forms. I, for one, did not know that medieval English had the regular past tense for have and make, haved and maked, but that the sheer frequency of the occurrence of these verbs led to our current shorter had and made.
[rhagor]

Cad-ddadpar defnyddiol i’r tro nesa cwyna rhyw ddysgwr pedantaidd am ffurfiau ar lafar i ferfau Cymraeg fel gâth am cafodd. Mae ieithoedd fel dwr, ceisio ffeindio ei lefel.

Mae bob dydd yn arbennig

Ar 5^ed Mawrth, 1954, a phedwar mis wedi marwolaeth ei hawdur mewn dinas ochr draw y sloe black sea, cyhoeddwyd drama ar gyfer lleisiau yn Llundain:

Listen. It is night moving in the streets, the processional salt slow musical wind in Coronation Street and Cockle Row, it is the grass growing on Llareggub Hill, dewfall, starfall, the sleep of birds in Milk Wood.
[rhagor]

Llwyau serch y cewri swrrealaidd?

Efallai mod i ar gyffuriau, ond mae ’na rhywbeth yng ngwaith cerlyn o gerfiwr William Kent sy’n f’atgoffa o lwyau serch. Yn enwedig yr un ’ma a’r un ’ma. Ydw i ar gyffuriau? Os dydw i ddim, falle bydd hi’n bosibl i annog rhyw Gymro-Americanaidd celfyddydlyd i brynu ei waith. Mae digon ar gael.

Like buried treasures, hundreds of Kent’s carvings—most standing taller than he—are stored under tarpaulins in his barn. They are everyday objects he re-creates in wood: giant shoehorns, pipes, ladles, vises, calipers, razors, safety pins, plugs, eyeglasses, corkscrews, shoes, lightbulbs, shell beans, bell peppers (one fashioned into a “Self Portrait With Erection”), octopods, reptiles, dental plates. This is not whittling on a grand scale but is, instead, a complicated artistic process that produces all of five or six complete works per year. Defying belief, most of his sculptures are carved from single pieces of wood purchased from sawmills.
[rhagor]

Lluniau Teuluol o Montana

Casgliad anhygoel o luniau un teulu yng Ngorllewin yr Unol Daleithiau, rhwng 1866 a 1969. Mae’r lluniau i gyd yn fawr, o safon uchel, ac yn cymryd sbel i lwthio. Mae’n werth aros amdanyn, ond mae ’na cymaint ohonyn nhw. Dim ond crafu'r wyneb dw i wedi wneud. Anhygoel.

Jack Ellis Haynes (1884-1962) is the subject of these photographs. They represent almost his entire life, missing only a combined period of three years between his birth and his death. He is seen in studio portraits and snapshots and in a variety of settings. The locations include the University of Minnesota and YNP, with many photographs concerning the Mammoth area of the park and the Haynes home and studio there. Additional photographs include snapshots of JEH receiving an Honorary Doctorate from Montana State University, working indoors and outdoors, and JEH performing an activity which was very much his own - smoking a cigar in a pipe.

[via consumptive]

Stori arall am brofiad dysgu Siapanaeg, o weflog gan rywun sy’n dysgu yn Siapan:

it was an excruciating hour an half, as we both sat their looking puzzled and scrunching up our eyebrows, knowing full well that all those words issuing forth from sensei's mouth should be within easy grasp. and to make it all worse, during some polite chit chat (in english) before class started, sensei learned that my wife is japanese. apparently, i should be fluent by now. i may have to cut my tongue out.
[rhagor]

Dw i am gasglu storïau fel hyn, i'w rhannu gyda fy myfyrwyr. Hefyd, dw i’n meddwl dylen nhw fy ngalw i sensei. [via prosiect pepys a plep]

Is-deitlo Tolkien

Trafferthion wrth is-deitlo Tolkien, yn Siapanaeg:

Gollum, the cave-dwelling creature drawn by the ring’s call, goes by a katakana rendering of his name in the movie, but was known as “gokuri” (the sound made when swallowing) in the book.

Likewise, Aragorn’s nickname of Strider was rendered in katakana, whereas the original translation referred to him as the more poetic “haseyo” (a person who runs fast). Toda worried that while die-hard fans of the book would feel more comfortable with haseyo, the general public would not understand its meaning, let alone be able to read the characters.

“There were many people who wanted to stick to the original Japanese translation,” said Toda, “but some things look really strange on screen. Subtitling isn’t a literal translation and you cannot translate word-for-word.”
[rhagor]

Owen Glendower

Adolygiad arddechog o Owen Glendower John Cowper Powys, gan Margaret Drabble, yn y Guardian ddoe:

This is in one sense a book of stirring Welsh patriotism. “The Welsh,” thinks our young hero, Glendower’s cousin Rhisiart ab Owen, “are certainly the most civilised people in the world.” Powys’s Wales is not parochial, and its people are not barbarians. They are Oxford-educated, they know Rome and Avignon and Constantinople, they read French and Latin, they debate theology and aesthetics, they ponder the future of the commonwealth and the universities and the coming rule of international law.
[rhagor]

Mae’r llyfr ar gael o Amazon.

Llyfrau gadawedig

Stori newydd gan Renee draw yn Berkeley am ei hamser gweithio yn llyfrgell Prifysgol Caersalem. Bydd y stori yn boenus i unrhywun sy'n caru llyfrau, yn enwedig unrhywun sy wedi gweld llyfrau yn cael eu dinistrio, am unrhyw reswm.

“EU courts Welsh [Tory] fury with leek rules”

Yn ôl y sôn yn y wasg Seisnig mae Cymry yn grac iawn am y ‘sarhad’ o Frwsel ynglyn â’n annwyl gennin ni. Diddorol bod yr unig Cymro sy’n grac am hyn yw Nigel Evans, AS i Gwm Riddle yn... Lancashire. Ydy’r Torïaid yn meddwl bod llysiau Cymreig yn fwy pwysig na democratiaeth Gymreig?

Naw balwn coch ar ddeg ar bedwar hugain...

Un peth sy’n taro bob dysgwr Cymraeg yw’r ffaith bod rhifau yn yr hen iaith yn anodd iawn, ac mae rhan fwya o Gymry yn eu hosgoi, gan ddefnyddio’r Saesneg. Yn ôl yr erthygl hon mewn cylchgrawn o Siapan, mae ’na reswm dda am wneud hyn:

Psychologist Alan Baddeley of Bristol University, England, uses the term “phonological loop” (PL) to describe what I call the mind’s ear. Baddeley and his colleagues measured the length of people’s phonological loops by measuring how many words they could keep in active memory. It turns out that PLs are limited by time, not by the number of words. For example, native speakers of Welsh who are bilingual in Welsh and English can keep more English numbers in mind than Welsh numbers. The reason is that it takes longer to say numbers in Welsh than in English. Some people’s PLs are longer than others, but generally people can remember as much as they can say in 1-1/2 or two seconds in languages in which they are fluent.

“No one will burn down houses...”

...meddai’r erthygl hon am ymgyrch Cymuned, yn y Guardian heddiw. Felly, pam dilynwyd yr erthygl gan restr o ddigwyddiadau dan y teitl Bombing Campaigns, gan gynnwys difyniad gan ‘Meibion Glyndyr’ [sic] am ‘white settlers’?

Oedd Elvis yn Gymro?

Mae’r dadl yn parhau, gyda tystiolaeth newydd yn cyrraedd bob dydd.

Ieithoedd Brodorol ar draws y Gymuned

Llyfr newyddd, golygwyd gan Barbara Burnaby a Jon Reyhner, ac ar gael mewn ffurf PDF (bydd fersiwn cigfyd yn cael ei gyhoeddu cyn bo hir). Llawer o stwff sy’n edrych yn diddorddol, ond mae rhaid i mi gysgu nawr. Rhywbeth i’r fory.

Steven Wright: in parentheses

Newydd ffeindio tudalen o ddyfyniadau Steven Wright:

If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?

Dw i ddim yn gwybod lot am Steven Wright, ond fe oedd llais y DJ yn Resorvoir Dogs. Gwelais i fe ar y teledu unwaith. Yr unig jôc dw i’n cofio yw’r un ble mae’n codi stand y meicroffôn, ei ddal fel ysgrifbin anferth ac yn ddweud, mewn llais bach pitw, “Dear Mom, still shrinking...”

Iaith a meddwl

Language and Thinking. Rhan o raglen radio Quirks & Quarks sy’n trafod y syniad bod iaith yn effeithio’r ffordd dyn ni’n meddwl. Gallwch lawrlwthio MP3 o’r rhaglen:

Does the language we speak really affect the way we think? Well, that’s been a hotly debated topic among scientists for almost a century – and it was one of the panel discussions at last week’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Among those who support the idea is Dr. John Lucy, a professor of human development and psychology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Lucy has studied the Yucatec Maya people of Mexico for the past 3 decades. And he believes their language – which does not use any form of the plural for its nouns – actually causes them to think about the world in a completely different way from English speakers.

[via kottke]

Culture != Diwylliant

Mae Ralph yn gwybod.

Cynllun newydd, eto.

Mae rhai pobl byth yn fodlon. Dweud y gwir, ro’n i wedi sylwi problemmau gyda hen gynllun ond ro’n i’n rhy ddiog i’w ail-gynllunio. Felly dw i wedi defnyddio un o batrymluniau Blogger. Ydy hyn yn haws i’w darllen?

Wyt ti wedi Fowlero?

Dw i wedi blogio’r hon o’r blaen, ond mae Fowlerism yn werth ail-drafod. Pete Fowler yw’r boi sy’n wneud clawrcelf SFA ac mae gwefan wych ’da fe, gyda llawer o bethau bach rhyngweithiol. Mae ’na gyfweliad gyda fe ar wefan Clwb Malu Cachu, ’fyd.

Bu farw Spike Milligan y bore 'ma. What are we going to do now?

Welsh for Zen

Erthygl ar John Cale, Super Furry Animals a Gorkys yn y cylchgawn Americanaidd In These Times:

Yet both bands have found a way to incorporate their national heritage into their music; both have recorded in Welsh, and often return to the language as a badge of pride as well as willful display of stubborn eccentricity and obscurantism. In a sense, the music they make is as much a part of their particular location as the Velvet Underground were to their own. The isolation of Wales mirrors the isolation of New York’s outsider scene of the late ’60s, enabling artists to gleefully make music free from the constraints of expectation.

Un i Maff: Death Metal Karaoke. [via blort]

Mae’r byd yn ddwrg, gyfeillion.

Tro nesa bydd un o’m myfyrwyr yn cwyno bod y Gymraeg yn rhy anodd, bydd ateb parod ’da fi. Dyw hi ddim mor anodd a Siapanaeg:

Japanese grammer is not for the faint of heart or weak of mind. What’s more, the Japanese also do not have any words for “me”, “them”, “him, or “her” that anyone could use without being incredibly insulting (the Japanese word for “you”, for example, when written in kanji, translates to“I hope a monkey scratches your face off”). Because of this, the sentence “He just killed her!” and “I just killed her!” sound exactly the same, meaning that most people in Japan have no idea what is going on around them at any given moment. You are supposed to figure these things out from the “context”, which is a German word meaning “you’re screwed”.

Ooooh, we're on the march with Arfon's Army
We're going to Division Two... Newydd ymuno â SportsFilter. Dw i ddim yn lico chwaraeon, ar y cyfan, ond ro’n i am rannu y clip bach ’ma gyda’r byd.

Llun o’r byd gan loeren newydd.

Clawback? Spread technology?

Mae hwn yn swnio fel swydd i Action Item!

Chwilio am rywbeth arbennig, syr?

Dw i wedi dwyn (a drysu) cannoedd o ymwelwyr i'r weflog gyda fy sillafiad unigryw o'r meme diweddaraf, Googlewacking [sic]. Mae'n debyg bod ni'n arbennig, wedi'r cwbl.

Fflintcentral. Elvis, yn Gymro?. Save the Welsh. Syniad da. Map Cymru, gyda swn. Blog gan ddysgwr sy'n cynllunio gemau cyfrifiadur.

Mae rhifyn newydd Y Triban Coch wedi'i gyhoeddi.

Dydy pawb ddim yn siarad Saesneg, wedi’r cwbl

Erthygl arall sy’n gwrthwyneb i honiadau David Crystal yn Golwg wythnos o’r blaen* am farwolaeth anochel ieithoedd lleiafrifol ar y we:

“The monopoly of the English language in the Internet world will soon be over,” says Elisabeth den Os, who led the EURESCOM project BabelWeb, which was finished last year. Researchers from the Netherlands, France, UK, Italy and Portugal co-operated in this project. The work was based on the assumption that small businesses as well as large corporations have to be able to provide multilingual Web-based services. Research has shown that customers stay twice as long on Web sites in their native languages and buy three times as much. The demand for multilingual Web sites is therefore high, but designing them is difficult.

* Hoffwn i gysyslltu â’r erthygl wreiddiol, ond wrth gwrs, does dim byd ar wefan Golwg. Aros am y grantiau angenrheidiol, falle?

Actio dros bontydd ieithyddol

Syniad gan actor o Montreal i helpu pobl sy’n byw mewn gwlad ddwyieithog weithio trwy gyfrwng eu hail iaith:

He came up with the idea when he realized he was having a tough time breaking into the French side of the business. Dunlevy speaks a fluent but accented French. On top of that, nobody in the French milieu knew who he was. “I spoke with some of my (French-speaking) actor friends and realized they were experiencing the same thing in English,” Dunlevy said. “(In the majority of cases) as soon as you have an accent, you don't get the role.”

Yn anaml iawn (am wn i) dych chi’n gweld actor sy wedi dysgu Cymraeg fel oedolyn yn chwarae unrhyw rôl mewn drama Gymraeg ei hiaith heblaw am rôl “Y Dysgwr”. Wrth gwrs, mae hwn yn adlewyrchiad o broblem llawer mwy na phrynder gwaith ymysg actorion sy'n ddysgwyr. Cwrddais i â dyn ddoe a’m gofynnodd “Cymro dych chi?” cyn iddo siarad Cymraeg â fi. Wel, Cymro ydw i, ie, ond Cymro yw fy nhad hefyd - fyddai ynteu ddim wedi deall y cwestiwn. Dw i'n nabod digon o Saeson a fyddai wedi'i ddeall - beth fyddai eu hymateb nhw? Yn yr un grwp o bobl, oedd Saesnes sy’n dysgu’r iaith ar hyn o bryd - roedd bron pawb yn defnyddio Saesneg â hi, er bod hi’n gwneud ymdrech enbyd i feistroli’r Gymraeg.

Llenyddiaeth mewn cymdeithasau marwaidd

Yn ôl awdur V.S.Naipaul nid oes angen llenyddiaeth ar gymdeithasau ‘marwaidd’:

Seeking to disagree with the Prime Minister on the plight of Indian writing in non-English languages, Naipaul said if the language authors had written great works, they would have become popular themselves.

Hanes y Gogleddwyr go iawn

Yr Inuit a'r Saeson, hanes y perthynas rhwng y ddau bobl. Lluniau gwych, ac adroddiadau cyfoesol yn y Saesneg wreidddiol:

And being ashore, vpon the toppe of a hill, he perceiued a number of small things fleeting in the Sea a farre off, whyche hee supposed to be Porposes, or Ceales, or some kinde of strange fishe: but comming nearer, he discouered them to be men, in small boates made of leather.

[via nutlog]

O, dyna garedig...

Ces i anrheg oddi wrth Yr Wniwn, sef copi tudalen ffrynt papur fy nyddiad geni.

Datgloi iaith: yr allwedd hon neu’r agoriad hwnna?

Erthygl diddorol am effaith iaith ar feddwl y siaradwr:

Outside of English, many languages give nouns a gender, a grammatical distinction that linguists have long considered to be without any real meaning. But in 2000 Boroditsky found that the system subtly changes a speaker’s experience of everyday objects. The word “key”, for example, is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish. Boroditsky recruited two groups of volunteers, native German speakers and native Spanish speakers, who spoke English well. She then asked them to name three adjectives to describe objects. She found a consistent pattern of German speakers using more masculine terms to describe the key - such as “hard, heavy, jagged” - while Spanish speakers favored more feminine descriptions, such as “golden, intricate, lovely.” Boroditsky said she is now considering studying how the design of bridges - a masculine word in Spanish, but a feminine word in German - differs between the two cultures.

[via kindall]

Geiriau o’r byd newydd

Wedi bod yn pori trwy archifau cylchgronau Americanaidd ar-lein am erthyglau diddorol. Dyma un: erthygl am ddatganoli gan Pamela Petro, awdur Travels in an Old Tongue:

Are the Welsh afraid of freedom? When James Callaghan's Labour government put the issue of limited self-rule to Wales, in 1979, voters trounced it by a ratio of four to one. Even the Welsh cited as reasons a historical strain of national timidity and a lack of self-confidence bred into the country through centuries of subservience. A visiting African journalist told a local reporter in 1997, “The colonial mentality is more firmly entrenched in your country than in any other I have been to.”

Un arall o’r un cylchgrawn: Should English be the Law?:

We have known race riots, draft riots, labor violence, secession, anti-war protests, and a whiskey rebellion, but one kind of trouble we've never had: a language riot. Language riot? It sounds like a joke. The very idea of language as a political force -- as something that might threaten to split a country wide apart -- is alien to our way of thinking and to our cultural traditions.

A dyma cyflwyniad at waith a bywyd John Cowper Powys:

To some readers, John Cowper Powys is a long-winded, bombastic bore and an almost pathological celebrant of oddball sex and chthonic realms. To most, he is an unknown quantity. His name seldom comes up in discussions of that dreary academic figment known as The Novel, and a number of well-read people of my acquaintance have never heard of him.

Beth am erthygl am ddwyieithrwydd, sy’n sôn am broblemau dysgwyr ail-iaith:

However determined their study of an adoptive language, however thorough their immersion in it, they eventually reach a plateau. At a dinner party conducted in the nonnative tongue, for instance, they may contribute to the table talk, but the best they can aspire to be is a bore. In such situations, as Evelyn Waugh observed, “there is no platitude so trite that a highly educated foreigner will not bring it out with pride.”

Rhywbeth bach yn wahanol, ac o ddiddordeb i fi achos daeth fy nghyn-wraig o’r dre yn y stori yw hanes arwyddion tafarndai yn Dedham, Massachusetts:

Tavern signs advertised the availability of food, drink, and lodging, but they were also meant to entertain and, sometimes, to broadcast the tavern owner's political sympathies. The use of tavern signs to display political alliances accelerated during and after the Revolution. But in Dedham, Massachusetts, in the late 1740s, tavern owner, almanac writer, physician, and common lawyer Nathaniel Ames used his sign to skewer five of the province's most powerful politicians: the justices sitting on the Superior Court of Judicature, Massachusetts’ highest court of law.

A dyma un sy'n f’atgoffa o’m dyddiau coleg (nid mod i’n hen hipi, ond wnes i sgwennu fy nhraetawd terfynol ar y Yippies), hanes Abbie Hoffman:

If you wanted to change society, you weren’t going to do it by lecturing people -— you would do it by employing the artillery of pop culture itself to puncture the lumbering, humorless establishment, by using anarchic, prankish, lysergic humor to radicalize the hippies and humanize the radicals.

“I can't close my eyes and make it go away...”

Mae ffilm Granada am ddigwyddiadau Sul y Gwaed wedi enill gwobr yn Berlin. Mae gan dudalen Y Guardian dolenni i sawl stori am y dydd, gan gynnwys eu hadroddiad gwreiddiol o fis Ionawr 1972.

Bydd Cyngres Astudiaethau Celtaidd Ryngwladol yn Aberystwyth rhwng 24ain a'r 30ain o Awst 2003. Digon o amser i chi baratoi, felly. [via'r Digital Medievalist]

Ydy hynny’n angenrheidiol?

Does dim sgiliau Photoshop gwallgo ’da fi, ond ’swn i’n gallu wneud pethau fel hyn, fyddwn i ddim. Achos mod i’n berson da.

Gartre gyda tywysog y tywyllwch

Ymunwch â teulu Ozzy Osbourne yn eu bywyd bob dydd. Dw i’n ffaelu aros.

Ecoleg a’r iaith

Ces i lythyr y bore ’ma gan Gymdeithas Adeiladu yr Ecoleg:

Dear Mr Davies, I note that your last cheque for £2.00 was written in Welsh. Our bank has agreed to accept it on this occassion, however I would point out that this could cause problemss if future cheques are sent in Welsh, especially if they are for larger amounts. I hope this does not cause you too much inconvenience.

Dw i wedi hala e-bost atyn nhw, heb dderbyn ymateb hyd yn hyn. [16/2/02] Maen nhw wedi ymddirheuro. Popeth yn iawn.

Mae’r byd yn fach, gyfeillion

A dyma fi, yn meddwl taw fi yw’r unig dyn barfog, sy’n byw yng Ngheredigion, cadw gweflog, hoffi Cardiacs. Sy’n aelod criw Metafilter. Sy’n hoffi Mervyn Peake. Sy’n 35 eleni. Ond nage.

Iaith y cwningod

Lapine yw iaith y cwningod yn nofel enwog Richard Adams, Watership Down, ac mae’n un o’r ieithoedd ffug sy’n cael eu rhestru gan langmaker.com. [via nutlog]

Mae’r trafodrefn yn ôl!

Dw i wedi dod ar draws trafodrefn sy’n cynnig fersiwn “yn eich iaith eich hunan”, YACCS. Bydd rhaid i mi gyfieithu yr interface, dw i’n aros iddyn nhw anfon y cyfeiriadau ataf. Bydd y rhai ohonoch â llygaid barcud wedi sylwi newidiadau bach yn ffurf y nodiadau ’ma. Yr holl “Postwyd gan...” ac yn y blaen. Y cynllun yw i gael mwy o bobl sy’n gallu postio i'r weflog, ac i symud tuag at greu gweflog gymunedol. Beth dych chi’n ei feddwl? Ydy’r byd yn barod am Metafilter Gymraeg? (Gall adael neges yn y blwch isod, neu fy ebostio gyda’ch sylwadau.)

Tynged yr Iaith - 40 mlynedd wedyn

Oedd Saunders yn llygad ei le? Ydy’r iaith ar ei ffordd i’w bedd neu beidio? Ymunwch â’r trafodiaeth ar wefan BBC Cymru a’r Byd.

Byw mewn byd Saesneg

Erkidjuk, an Iqaluit resident, speaks and reads Inuktitut. He’s picked up tidbits of English words during his 72 years. But he can’t read it.

The English words on food labels, business signs and household appliances are just letters to him: he doesn’t know what they mean.

In the bright, open kitchen in his Iqaluit apartment, caribou meat sits in a pot on the stove and there are pieces of bannock on the counter. Next to the bannock, there’s a white microwave.

Erkidjuk gestures to the appliance, focusing on the English words: "defrost," "entrees," "popcorn," he points out. "In some ways, it’s difficult not to read English. There are some items that don’t have Inuktitut words on them," he says.

O'r Nunatsiaq News - mwy o erthyglau am "Wythnos yr Ieithoedd" ar eu tudalen flaen ac yn yr adroddiad radio hwn.

Siaradwyr brodorol yn helpu achub ieithoedd brodorol

SIMNASHO - Michael and Cecelia Collins watch closely as Suzie Slockish writes on a marker board the words - kusi, kusi kusi, lakas, pinaq'inut'awas. Horse, dog, mouse, window.

The Sahaptin words are the gateway to a language of their ancestors - a language that could die out in a generation if young people don't begin speaking it in their everyday lives.

``It was our children who got us motivated to trying the classes,'' said Michael Collins, an accountant who lives with his wife and family on the sprawling sage and juniper-dotted Warm Springs Reservation. ``Our little daughter at 2 1/2 knew more of the language than we did.''

O'r Register Guard, Oregon, UDA.

Olrhain yr iaith fain yn Ynys y Crwban

Cymdeithas Tafodiaethoedd America - astudio'r iaith Saesneg yng Ngogledd America, ac ieithoedd eraill sy'n dylanwad arni, neu sy'n cael eu dylanwadu ganddi.

Diolch yn fawr, nawr cerwch nôl i'ch reservation, da chi.

Bydd rôl i bobl brodorol Utah yn seromoni agoriadol y Gemau Gaeafol Olympaidd. Fel yn Sydney 2000, bydd rôl yr indiaid i roi bach o liw amlddiwylliannol ar gyfer gwylwyr teledu ac ymwelwyr yn Salt Lake City, ond i beidio codi stwr am dir ac iaith a phethau felly. Hmm, pryd daw'r cystadleuaeth golff mawr i Gymru, eto?

Rhaglenni gwasgu ffeiliau yn gallu dod i adnabod ieithoedd gwahanol. [boingboing]

Googlewhack yw e, gyda H!

Ers i mi sgwennu am Googlewacking [sic], dw i wedi cael ugainau o ymwelwyr sy ddim, fel fi, yn gallu sillafu yn Saesneg. O leia mae esgus 'da fi. Dw i'n falch, sbo, bod pobl yn barod i roi glec ar ddolen i wefan sydd mor amlwg yn ddi-Saesneg. Roedd rhywun arall a daeth 'ma o Google yn edrych am storiau ysbyty i'w darllen ar y we. Pa fath o storiau, tybed?

Sali! Mali!

Lluniau o'r awyr

Mae hyn yn wych, lluniau o'ch ty o'r awyr. Dyma Maesymorfa - jyst uwchben ac i'r chwith o'r cylch coch. diolch Chris

Arian Cymreig

Dyma fi'n mynd ati i wneud cyfrifau Grwp CYFLE pan ffindais i erthygl ar arian Cymreig.

Gweflogau ar hap

Ro'n i wedi cael gwared o'r hysbyseb bach 'ma, ond wedi meddwl, rhoiais fe nôl. Dw i'n cael eitha lot o ymwelwyr trwy hysbysebion Blogsnob (eitha lot = mwy nag un y dydd) ac er bod nhw y rhan fwya ohonyn nhw ddim yn deall gair o'r hen iaith, dydy hi ddim yn peth drwg chwaith i atgoffa pobl bod ieithoedd lleiafrifol yn bodoli yn y byd blogio, nadife?

Camu'n ysgafn at y dyfodol

Braf i weld gwefan newydd Tony a Jane sy'n byw yn y ty crwn, rhan o gymuned Brithdir Mawr. Mae Parc Genedlaethol Arfordir Penfro am dynnu eu ty i lawr, er fod neb yn gallu ei weld o'r heol, dyn nhw wedi ei adeiladu gan ddefnyddio nwyddau lleol (costodd yr holl peth llai 'na £3,000), ac maen nhw'n dangos bod hi'n bosib i fyw bywyd ystyriol ac yn gyflawn heb dinistrio'r byd. Mae llyfr Tony yn werth ei ddarllen, hefyd.

Closer I am to fiiii-i-i-i-ne!

I unrhyw un sy wedi rhannu fflat gyda ffan cerddoriaeth gwerin/indie Americanaidd: Your Roommate Plays The Indigo Girls.

praystation

Dylwn i fod yn y gwely, ond dw i newydd ail-ddarganfod praystation a fydda i ddim yn gallu cysgu nes i mi archwilio byd Joshua Davis tipyn bach mwy.

Erthygl a chyfweliad â Evan Williams yn y Guardian heddiw. A dw i'n hoffi'r syniad 'ma: Googlewacking:

The aim of the game is to enter two words into the Google search engine and come up with just one result from Google's archive of more than three billion Web pages.

Byddai'r gêm 'ma yn hawdd iawn yn y Gymraeg, o'n i'n meddwl. Wedi'r cwbl, sech chi'n iachwr rwtsh sy'n canu'r delyn anobeithiol yn eich castell ffeirws, ble fyddech chi'n mynd am eich dolennau zeldman neu'ch trafodaeth fattist ond i'r weflog fwya poblogaid yng Ngheredigion? diolch i maff am y dolenni

Ai Saesneg yw "iaith y we"?

Yn Golwg wythnos diwetha, oedd erthygl yn dweud nad yw Cymraeg yn bodoli ar y we, a Saesneg yw iaith frodorol y cenedlaeth wedi'i wifrennu. Roedd y boi yn yr erthygl rhyw fath o arbenigwr, mae'n debyg, ond ces i'r argraff nad yw'n hala llawer o'i amser defnyddio'r offer mae'n e'n sgwennu amdanyn. Er enghreifft, oedd e'n honi nid oes chatrooms Cymraeg eu hiaith ar gael ar y we, ac mae hyn yn arwydd bod Gymraeg ar fin farw fel iaith fodern, neu rhywbeth. (Ydy unrhywun yn defnyddio chatrooms y dyddiau hyn? Ar wahan i ddynion canoloed sy'n esgus bod nhw yn eu harddegau ac sy'n cael seiba-secs gyda dynion canoloed eraill sy'n esgus bod nhw yn eu harddegau, hefyd. But I digress...) Yr awgrym oedd, dylai'r Doethion yn y Docs wneud rhywbeth i helpu plant y ganrif newydd cymryd eu cyfrifoldebau tuag at yr iaith o ddifri. Eniwei:

...what if this alleged absolute domination by the English language and its cultural implications were simply a transitory phenomenon, in its early stages and therefore reversible?

Mae digon o dystiolaeth o blaid y cred hwnna. A digon yn ei erbyn, chwarae teg. Ond nid ar y llywodraeth bydd y bai 'sen ni ddim yn creu ein diwwylliant ein hunain yn ein hiaithoedd ein hunain.

A fydd Blogger ar gael yn y Gymraeg?

Dw i wedi gofyn i Evan Williams a fydd hi'n bosibl i ddatblygu fersiwn Cymraeg o Blogger Pro. Ei ateb e:

Well, if we find a Java locale class for Welsh (I'm sure there is one), maybe we can integrate it. But I can quite take time to figure out how to write one just yet.

Tebyg bod pethau eraill 'da fe i boeni amdanyn nhw. Felly, cwestiwn cyntaf - oes 'na unrhywun sy'n darllen hwn sy'n gwybod beth yw Java locale class (dw i wedi ffindio cwpl o dudalennau, ond, fel ein ffrind Ifan ap Gwilym, does dim lot o amser sbâr 'da fi) ac os felly, sut i adeiladu un yn y Gymraeg? Unrhywun sy'n gwybod sut mae Google yn handlo pethau fel hyn? Rhowch wybod, da chi.

Reit, wel, mae'n gweithio - er fod gormod o Saesneg yn y negeseuon. Dw i'n rhy flinedig nawr i rhoi bocs tanysgrifio i mewn. 'Set ti am danysgrifio i'r rhestr bostio, hala e-bost at morfa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Dw i wedi sefydlu rhestr bostio - jyst sieco bod hi'n gweithio...

Croeso i MorfaBlog Pro...

Argraffiadau cyntaf:

• Rhestr o 92 iaith am dyddiadau ac yn y blaen, ond dim Cymraeg hyd yn hyn, er fod nifer o weflogau Cymraeg eu hiaith wedi dwbli dros y mis diwetha!
• Dim digon o gefnogaeth i'r Mac, o hyd, yn enwedig gyda shortcuts Javascript. Dylwn i ddysgu AppleScript a sgwennu fy shortcuts fy hunan, sbo, ond nawr mod i'n gwsmer sy'n talu, dw i eisiau gwasanaeth cystal â un Windows, damia!
• Dw i eisiau merlyn, hefyd.
• Hoffi'r bwlch teitl, ac un neu ddau welliannau yn y rhyngwyneb. Mae amser ymateb wedi gwella, hefyd (tybed mae Pyra yn defnyddio gweinyddion newydd i'r cwsmeriaid newydd.
• Peth gorau bydd yr opsiwn i hala negeseuon newydd trwy ebost at unrhywun sy'n ddigon dwl i danysgrifio i restr bostio (gwiliwch y lle ar y chwith...)

Ar y cyfan, dw i'n falch mod i wedi talu am y gwasanaeth newydd. Mae Blogger wedi bod yn rhad ac am ddim ers y dechrau, ac dydy $1 yr wythnos ddim yn ormod i ofyn am wasanaeth tipyn bach yn well.

A dyma ni. Blogger Pro. Wel, roedd hynny yn hawdd. Gawn ni weld beth gallwn ni neud gyda'r peth, 'te...

Newydd ail-gynllunio tipyn bach. Dw i wedi rhoi'r gorau i Blogback (y bylchau trafod) - a dw i'n symud i Blogger Pro cyn bo hir. Mwy o newyddion yn fuan.

A all iaith fod yn wampam?

Wampum served to engender further diplomatic contact; its presentation was a gesture that required a repricocal effort on the part of the recipient. Acceptance of the gift of wampum implied the acceptance of its message. In this way, wampum functioned like a certificate. This wampum belt is an abstract representation of an alliance between two peoples, signified by the straight path running between them.

Yma yn Llangrannog, lle mae llai na 30% o bobl y plwyf yn medru'r iaith, mae cynllun yn yr arfaith i droi hen gapel i ganolfan gelfyddydau neu ganolfan ddywylliannol neu ganolfan beth-bynnag-y-gall-pobl-gytuno-arno-fe. A fydd hi'n bosibl i greu rhywbeth Cymraeg a Chymreig ei naws heb godi y fath stwr dyn ni wedi gweld gormod ohono yn ddiweddar? Dw i'n cofio darllen erthygl yn Planet sbel yn ôl oedd yn awgrymu y bydd hi holl bwysig am ddyfodol yr iaith yng Nghymru i ddod â Chymry di-Gymraeg i mewn i'r cylch - a gan Cymry, o'n nhw'n sôn am bobl Cymru i gyd - 'sdim ots o ble wyt ti'n dod, ble wyt ti'n mynd, gyfaill? A all y Gymraeg fod ein wampam ni, 'te?