Welsh in the Twenty-First Century

Description

This book analyses the state of the Welsh language at the beginning of the twenty-first century, with contributions from leading scholars in the fields of sociology and language policy.
The intention is to update our current understanding of Welsh as a living language; how its use, learning, understanding teaching, evolution and promulgation are developing in the brave new world of the twenty-first century where Welsh is spreading to the internet, electronic dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Sujets

• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Idioma galés
• Linguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Welsh

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 17 juin 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783164110
• Langue: English

Extrait

WELSH IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
WELSH IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Edited by
Delyth Morris
Er cof am fy nhad a mam, Arthur a Catherine Lloyd, Bryngwran
Delyth Morris, 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-7083-2299-4 e-ISBN 978-1-78316-411-0
The right of Delyth Morris to be identified as copyright holder of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Cover design: Olwen Fowler
Contents
Foreword Padraig Riag in
Introduction Delyth Morris
Language, Meaning and the Knowledge Economy Glyn Williams
From Act to Action in Wales Colin H. Williams
Increasing Bilingualism in Bilingual Education Colin Baker
Young People and their Use of the Welsh Language Delyth Morris
Children s Acquisition of Welsh in a Bilingual Setting: A Psycholinguistic Perspective Enlli M n Thomas and Robert Mayr
Welsh Speakers: Age Profile and Out-Migration Hywel M. Jones
Attitudes to Language and Bilingualism among English In-Migrants to North Wales Howard Davis, Graham Day and Angela Drakakis-Smith
Foreword
As an Irish academic whose primary interest concerns minority language policy, I have long been an intent observer of related research on the other side of the Irish sea. There are, of course, differences between the Irish and Welsh cases in terms of both the linguistic and policy context. But these differences are more than balanced by many historical and structural similarities. Thus I have been much more than a detached observer. I have learned a great deal from the theoretical schemes, methodological approaches and empirical findings of my Welsh counterparts. In time, this interest was strengthened and consolidated by friendships and collaborative research projects. For many reasons, therefore, it gives me great pleasure to contribute a foreword to this collection of papers. The professional rewards of reading a set of well-constructed papers are always, as in this case, enhanced by personal acquaintance with most of the authors and a sense that we share many of the same concerns regarding the language communities within which we all live and work.
In a piece that he wrote for the Annual Review of Sociology in 1985, Joshua Fishman saw virtue in the interdisciplinary nature of the field known as sociolinguistics or sociology of language. But he also lamented what he saw as the reluctance of one discipline, sociology, to accept co-responsibility for the development of the of the sociolin-guistic enterprise . Whatever justification there was to judge the relative contribution of the various disciplines in the United States between the 1960s and the 1980s in this fashion, I don t think that that the same could have been said about the state of the discipline in Wales or, indeed, Ireland in the same period or since. In 1975, a decade before Fishman wrote his review, Hechter had already published his study of Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British Development , a book in which he not only looked at the relationship between the economy, economic development, population movements and language, but also introduced the very useful concept of the cultural division of labour into sociology of language. In 1987 and 1988 two issues of The International Journal of the Sociology of Language, a journal of which Fishman was, and is, general editor, were devoted to Wales and Ireland respectively, and they included many contributions by sociologists and other members of the social science family of disciplines. I am not, of course, arguing that those trained in linguistics were not also contributing to the sociolinguistic enterprise in Wales, but simply that the social science perspective has been a prominent feature in the development of this field in Wales for many decades and, if we accept Fishman s assessment, this alone makes the nature and character of socioloinguistic research in Wales different from the United States.
The other distinguishing feature of the Welsh research represented in this volume is its engagement with, and concern for, contemporary policy issues. While the titles may suggest a predominantly academic interest, a closer reading will nearly always show a pronounced sensitivity for the well-being of the language community under study and the urgent need to design appropriate policy interventions. A few examples may suffice. The paper by Hywel Jones is a detailed piece of demographic research which examines the relationship between out-migration and the age of Welsh speakers. While any researcher could fully justify the selection of this research topic on academic grounds alone, the author in this case remarks towards the end that one stimulus for this analysis is the importance of the traditionally Welsh-speaking area for the future of the Welsh language . A second example can be seen in Delyth Morris s paper on young people s social networks and their use of language within those networks. Again the academic credentials of this piece are impeccable. Nonetheless, the reason the research was undertaken was because of concern that young people s knowledge of Welsh does not translate into use . This is, of course, also a critical policy issue in many minority language contexts. The remaining papers focus on topics of equal relevance to the concerns of policy-makers and the Welsh-language community in general. They include bilingual education, attittudes of in-migrants to language issues, acquiring Welsh in a bilingual setting, language and the knowledge economy and language-planning institutions and legislation. Even a more obviously theoretical piece, like Glyn Williams s reflections on language, meaning and the knowledge economy, also includes a discussion of the implication of his theorizing for education, language planning and the economy in Wales.
At the same time, it is necessary to stress that the sociology of language in Wales is no local matter. All of the research here draws on the resources of theoretical and methodological work worldwide and, confidently and deliberately seeks to enhance that corpus, while at the same time addressing local concerns. Thus the present volume continues the tradition of earlier work at many levels . It is interdisciplinary, but predominantly within the social science stable. All of the authors have already contributed a great deal to the development of the field, and the present volume shows both some of their present preoccupations as well as, in part, revisiting previous work. For the reader who is looking for an introduction to a well-developed body of research in the field of sociology of language and, at the same time, to a regional language community with no mean record in the field of policy innovation and implementation, the book is ideal. I wholeheartedly welcome it, and I compliment Delyth and her co-authors on their achievement.
Padraig Riag in Trinity College Dublin
Introduction
Delyth Morris
School of Social Sciences Bangor University
The idea for a collection of papers looking at the Welsh language at the beginning of the twenty-first century was first suggested by the economist Roy Thomas at a meeting of the Economics and Sociology Section of the University of Wales Guild of Graduates in November 2006. The imminent demise of the University of Wales as a federal institution meant that it was only a matter of time until the Economics and Sociology Section also ceased to exist, and it was felt that there was a need to mark the occasion. The section was established at the beginning of the 1950s, with the aim of discussing the economy and society of Wales, mainly through the medium of Welsh, and over the years it has published various papers on a number of relevant topics. It was felt therefore that a collection of papers which looked at the sociology of Welsh at the beginning of the twenty-first century would be a fitting tribute to the work of academics who had contributed to this respected forum for over fifty years. It was also noted that more than two decades had gone by since Glyn Williams edited the important edition of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language , on The Sociology of Welsh in 1987, and therefore it was felt that another collection of papers in this area was timely.
Glyn Williams is undoubtedly Wales s foremost sociologist of language, and the most astute analyst of the Welsh language in its European context. It is fitting therefore that the volume begins with his insightful paper on language, meaning and the knowledge economy. In this paper, he looks at the value of language in the new economy, while also showing how the traditional approach to the relationship between language, economy and society has changed over the years. Williams demonstrates how we have been obliged to reformulate our understanding of language and its relevance in our lives, and the way language can play a new and profitable role in this new context. He offers a perceptive analysis of the implications for the Welsh language in three important areas - education, language planning and the economy - arguing that we need to emphasize shared meaning in the teaching of languages rather than being preoccupied with issues of language purity . This is an issue that p