The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects (SAWD) was commenced in 1968 under the direction of David Parry

David Parry (dialectologist)

David Parry is a British dialectologist. He received his education from the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds; working at the latter school for the renowned dialectologist Harold Orton. He then taught dialectology for almost three decades at Swansea University.Parry is best known...

 of University College, Swansea. The aim was to record the "conservative forms" of Welsh English

Welsh English

Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish refers to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh...

 spoken in rural locations in Wales. The methodology was based on that used in the Survey of English Dialects

Survey of English Dialects

The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differences were to disappear...

 carried out between 1950 and 1961. The survey analysed pronunciation, lexis

Lexis (linguistics)

In linguistics, a lexis is the total word-stock or lexicon having items of lexical, rather than grammatical, meaning. This notion contrasts starkly with the Chomskian proposition of a “Universal Grammar” as the prime mover for language...

, morphology

Morphology (linguistics)

In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...

 and syntax

Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....

 based on interviews with informants in ninety locations, who were to be over sixty years of age.

The results of the survey for south-east and south-west Wales were published as two volumes in 1977 and 1979. To these a companion volume on north Wales was added in 1991

A second (urban) phase (SAWD II) covering four towns in different parts of Wales was started by Robert Penhallurick in 1986. The towns chosen were Caernarfon

Caernarfon

Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...

, Carmarthen

Carmarthen

Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....

, Wrexham

Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

 and the Grangetown

Grangetown, Cardiff

Grangetown is a community in the south of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is one of the largest districts in the south of the city and is bordered by Riverside, Canton and Butetown. The River Taff winds its way through the area...

 area of Cardiff.

Robert Penhallurick (currently of the University of Swansea) is now the custodian of the SAWD Archive.

A similar survey on dialects in the South Wales valleys

South Wales Valleys

The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...

was later carried out by the South Wales Miners Library.