Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)

Fitzpatrick, Tess; Morris, Steve; Mills, Theo

doi:10.1111/ijal.70183

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Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)

Tess Fitzpatrick, Steve Morris

, Theo Mills

International Journal of Applied Linguistics

Swansea University Authors: Tess Fitzpatrick, Steve Morris , Theo Mills

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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/ijal.70183

Abstract

As with many research strands in linguistics, word association (WA) literature is dominated by English language data. This paper (i) explores the extent to which methodologies developed to date are applicable to other languages – specifically, Welsh (Cymraeg) – and (ii) investigates what WA analysis...

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Published in:	International Journal of Applied Linguistics
ISSN:	0802-6106 1473-4192
Published:	Wiley 2026
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71688

first_indexed	2026-03-31T10:56:08Z
last_indexed	2026-04-28T04:31:41Z
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Language-specific features that facilitate understanding of WA processes, such as grammatical mutation and inflection, are also reported. Bilingual data associations were categorised to obtain “profiles” for each dataset. Systematic differences between the profiles for each task (Welsh and English) were identified. 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spelling	2026-04-27T14:59:58.5821086 v2 71688 2026-03-31 Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh) 9597ef45279e137ada70fc75832a45de Tess Fitzpatrick Tess Fitzpatrick true false c696b0282208e9edd88c35b049a8c8d8 0000-0003-3789-1233 Steve Morris Steve Morris true false 6ca7c4c6f0a0e3afb0a5f4cec0a2ef13 Theo Mills Theo Mills true false 2026-03-31 CACS As with many research strands in linguistics, word association (WA) literature is dominated by English language data. This paper (i) explores the extent to which methodologies developed to date are applicable to other languages – specifically, Welsh (Cymraeg) – and (ii) investigates what WA analysis can reveal about lexical organisation and retrieval in bilinguals’ two languages; its minoritised language context means that Welsh speakers are bilingual with English. Two complementary datasets are used. The first comprises responses to 900 Welsh cues from 85 expert users of Welsh, and forms the basis of the first Welsh language WA norms list. The second is bilingual, comprising responses from 85 Welsh speakers and learners to two lists of 100 cue words, one in Welsh and one in English. Language-specific methodological challenges emerge, including management of mutated word forms, diacritics and orthographic variation. Decisions relating to these as the first dataset was converted into a norms list (now informing Welsh language teaching materials), are documented. Language-specific features that facilitate understanding of WA processes, such as grammatical mutation and inflection, are also reported. Bilingual data associations were categorised to obtain “profiles” for each dataset. Systematic differences between the profiles for each task (Welsh and English) were identified. A pairwise comparison of profiles revealed that while individuals’ profiles are distinct from each other, their own profiles are similar across each of their two languages; this closeness is most pronounced in expert users of Welsh. Journal Article International Journal of Applied Linguistics 0 Wiley 0802-6106 1473-4192 bilingual lexicon; mental lexicon; minoritised languages; Welsh; word associationCymraeg; cysylltu geiriau; geirfa’r meddwl; ieithoedd lleiafrifoledig; lecsicon dwyieithog 22 4 2026 2026-04-22 10.1111/ijal.70183 COLLEGE NANME Culture and Communications School COLLEGE CODE CACS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) This research was supported by AHRC Research Grant AH/Y003020/1.Data collection was supported by WJEC/CBAC and by Swansea Univer-sity’s SPIN programme. 2026-04-27T14:59:58.5821086 2026-03-31T11:47:05.9443283 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics Tess Fitzpatrick 1 Steve Morris 0000-0003-3789-1233 2 Theo Mills 3 71688__36613__294435e690bc412b875654e18a522e9f.pdf 71688.VoR.pdf 2026-04-27T14:57:33.5937797 Output 785769 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)
spellingShingle	Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh) Tess Fitzpatrick Steve Morris Theo Mills
title_short	Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)
title_full	Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)
title_fullStr	Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)
title_full_unstemmed	Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)
title_sort	Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)
author_id_str_mv	9597ef45279e137ada70fc75832a45de c696b0282208e9edd88c35b049a8c8d8 6ca7c4c6f0a0e3afb0a5f4cec0a2ef13
author_id_fullname_str_mv	9597ef45279e137ada70fc75832a45de_*_Tess Fitzpatrick c696b0282208e9edd88c35b049a8c8d8__Steve Morris 6ca7c4c6f0a0e3afb0a5f4cec0a2ef13_**_Theo Mills
author	Tess Fitzpatrick Steve Morris Theo Mills
author2	Tess Fitzpatrick Steve Morris Theo Mills
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container_title	International Journal of Applied Linguistics
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doi_str_mv	10.1111/ijal.70183
publisher	Wiley
college_str	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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department_str	School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics
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description	As with many research strands in linguistics, word association (WA) literature is dominated by English language data. This paper (i) explores the extent to which methodologies developed to date are applicable to other languages – specifically, Welsh (Cymraeg) – and (ii) investigates what WA analysis can reveal about lexical organisation and retrieval in bilinguals’ two languages; its minoritised language context means that Welsh speakers are bilingual with English. Two complementary datasets are used. The first comprises responses to 900 Welsh cues from 85 expert users of Welsh, and forms the basis of the first Welsh language WA norms list. The second is bilingual, comprising responses from 85 Welsh speakers and learners to two lists of 100 cue words, one in Welsh and one in English. Language-specific methodological challenges emerge, including management of mutated word forms, diacritics and orthographic variation. Decisions relating to these as the first dataset was converted into a norms list (now informing Welsh language teaching materials), are documented. Language-specific features that facilitate understanding of WA processes, such as grammatical mutation and inflection, are also reported. Bilingual data associations were categorised to obtain “profiles” for each dataset. Systematic differences between the profiles for each task (Welsh and English) were identified. A pairwise comparison of profiles revealed that while individuals’ profiles are distinct from each other, their own profiles are similar across each of their two languages; this closeness is most pronounced in expert users of Welsh.
published_date	2026-04-22T06:27:28Z
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Word Associations in a Minoritised Language: The Case of Cymraeg (Welsh)

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