Thank you VERY much for the information about Welsh, particularly that about phonetics. I am currently back in college to get certified to teach English (and History) and I have found myself really drawn to the folk tales of Great Britain--Anglo-Saxon, Irish and Welsh. I would LOVE to know the languages, but at this point, have limited myself to learning Old English. I just got a book yesterday on learning OE grammar.
Genealogy is my hobby and from what I can tell, almost all my lines lead back to either Anglo-Saxon England or possibly Celtish Cornwall. My husband's genealogy, from what we know, seems to be all German and English, yet he is dark enough that he was asked by a Morroccan if he was an Arab. When I mentioned this to our family doctor, he suggested that he looks like his Welsh patients, a group who recently immigrated to this country. I thought that was interesting.
My PAF geneology database goes back to 1420. About 4,000 people in the database. The Welsh geneology comes to a halt at 1777 around the village of Llanfihangel y Creuddyn. The Welsh maintained a patronymic family name structure until 1756 when the English forced the use of surnames. Many Welsh created surnames by making a genitive form of a forename. Robert->Roberts, John->Johns, Edward->Edwards. Some patronymic forms were anglicized. John ap Howell became John Powell. Rhys ab Owain became Rhys Bowen. The original patronymic forms were generally maintained in 3 generation format and associated with a specific house name. My great great grandfather's house in Ysbty Ystwyth was name "Tynewydd" which translates as "new house". The address used by my friends in Cwmystwyth is given by their house name "Afallon" rather than by a house number on a road. That is the norm in the back country of Wales.
Good luck in the pursuit of your studies. If I can be of assistance in finding resources around Wales for you, please feel free to ask.