Glossary

• archetype: A typical example. In Marriage of Convenience, Alex is the archetypal Welsh speaker growing up in an English-speaking area. Ian Rowlands is implying that his characters express wider issues and meanings and are not just individuals.
• assonance: the repetition of similar sounds in a line of poetry, often used to express the mood or tone. Gillian Clarke’s allusion to the Welsh tradition refers to the use of Cynghanedd, which is an ancient system of sound patterns within a line in Welsh-language poetry.
• dialect: Speech which is special to a particular region; for example, the dialect words from Merthyr used by Mike Jenkins.
• eclectic: Drawing on a range of views, images or styles; for example, the range and variety of new Welsh styles as discussed by Ed Thomas.
• half-rhyme: A similarity or echo between the sounds of two words. For example, ‘stars’ / ‘paws’ and ‘stone’ / ‘dawn’ from the poem ‘The Animal Wall’.
• hook: A narrative device at the end of a soap episode to encourage the viewer to watch the next episode.
• idiom: A word or expression peculiar to a particular context or dialect.
• irony: Humorous or slightly sarcastic use of words, intended to convey the opposite of their normal meaning.
• legend: A non-historical traditional story, often about supernatural and heroic subjects and usually with strong local connections.
• Mabinogion: The name given by Charlotte Guest to her translation of twelve medieval Welsh tales, the best-known being Pwyll, Branwen, Culhwch and Olwen.
• monologue: A dramatic speech given to a single character. For example, in Marriage of Convenience by Ian Rowlands, Alex tells us in a monologue about Wendy and her family.
• myth: A story which embodies the beliefs of a people concerning their origins, gods and heroes. Catherine Fisher speaks of myths as stories which essentially convey universal truths about human nature. Gillian Clarke calls myth a ‘layer of the imagination’.
• suffragette: A female advocate of women’s right to vote, especially in Britain at the start of the twentieth century.
• tag: A short scene after the credits in a television programme.
• terse: Brief and compact, almost abrupt. Peter Morgan uses the word to describe the style needed for writing television news.