Dr Robert Penhallurick

In 1968, David Parry, who had been trained at the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds (where he worked for the great dialectologist Harold Orton), embarked on a major project of mapping the distinctive English-language dialects of Wales: the Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects, or SAWD.

Under his direction, evidence was collected from informants throughout Wales. Audio recordings of informants’ speech were made, preliminary to producing descriptive and analytical studies of the materials.

Upon his retirement from Swansea University in 1995, David Parry left his collection of primary materials in the care of Robert Penhallurick, who has augmented it with his own collections.

The archive is available to researchers now at the British Library. Details of the recordings are available on the BL Sound Archive online catalogue  and the recordings are now available through the Listening and Viewing Service at the British Library's St Pancras site.  Six extracts from the Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects, along with transcripts, can be heard online at Sounds Familiar

Information about the Archive of Welsh English may also be obtained directly from Dr Robert Penhallurick at: R.J.Penhallurick@swansea.ac.uk