The Welsh Language,
From its origins to near extinction and the contemporary revival
"Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon: A nation
without a language is a nation without a heart."
Despite this, beyond the borders little is
known of Wales and its language, as a small country of just 3.5 million
inhabitants it is often overlooked as an extension of England, and many people
do not realise it as an officially bilingual nation with its own perplexing
narrative.
So what is the story of the Welsh language;
how did it come to be that even the proudest Welshman still might find himself
without his native tongue; and what is changing people’s attitudes towards this
subject?
A Brief History:
Welsh belongs to the Brythonic group of
languages, it is descended from the proto-Celtic tongues spoken across Iron Age
Central Europe during the Hallstatt period, around 700BC at the time of the
Romans. Its closest relatives are Manx Gaelic, Irish, Cornish and Breton. As
the Celtic people were driven back by the Romans the languages became isolated
and continued to evolve in distinct dialects.
Celtic languages are defined in two groups,
as p-Celtic (Cornish, Breton and Welsh) and as q-Celtic (Gaelic, Irish). This
means they have different tones and a speaker from one group will have a lot of
difficulty understanding the other. Welsh and Irish are the principle survivors
of the gradual migration of the Germanic tongues that later became English.
The first records of what we recognise as Old
Welsh appeared during the 9th and 11th Centuries
respectively in some literature; and it continued to evolve into medieval Welsh
in the 12th and 14th Centuries. The great Welsh myths of
the Mabinogi can be traced to this time, although they probably existed in
spoken word long before, and are still well known and loved today. For more on the Mabinogi, click here.
By the time of the 14th and 16th
Centuries, Welsh had become quite prolific in arts, literature and poetry, and
in 1588 the first Welsh bible was published, setting a universal standard that
became Late Modern Welsh, which is much unchanged in the modern day.
The Decline:
The Welsh language began to decline among the
population at the time of the industrial revolution, in the 1850’s as many as
90% of the 1.5 million peoples of Wales used the dialect, but as migrant
workers crossed over from England the concentrations of speakers began to
steadily dilute.
A law created at the time of Henry VIII meant
that only the English language could be used in courts, administration and
business; and the use of Welsh was actively discouraged in education. Welsh
people conceded to speak English as a means of employment and a better future.
Census data shows a rapid decline over the
next 100 years:
1891 - 1.5 million population 54.4% spoke
1911 - 2.5 million population 43.5% spoke
1931 - 2.5 million population 36.8% spoke
1961 - 2.5 million population 26.0% spoke
By the end of the 1960’s, just 20% of the
population knew the language. In 1962, former Plaid Cymru leader Saunders Lewis
made a speech over the radio, calling for people to refuse to complete official
forms, pay taxes or licences and to be ready to accept fines and prison
sentences if they could not use their native language.
In his words, this message, “restoring the
Welsh language is nothing less than a revolution. It is only by revolutionary
means that we can succeed.”
Welsh Now:
The Welsh political party, Plaid Cymru, formed
in 1925 to fundamentally support the Welsh language, and today they are a key
part of the Welsh government.
The first protests came from students associated with the
Welsh Language Society in 1963, where they blocked traffic on Trefachan Bridge
in Aberystwyth, and more peaceful demonstrations followed during the 1960’s and
70’s. Road signs were vandalised as the English name equivalents of towns were
covered up with stickers demanding translation.
In 1977 the Welsh radio station, Radio Cymru
was established, but in 1979 the then Conservative government went back on
their pre-election promise to provide a Welsh language TV channel, and as a
result, the former Plaid Cymru president threatened to go on a hunger strike.
Fearing more protests, the government conceded to create the channel, and in
1980 the plans for S4C were announced, the station launched on November 2nd,
1982.
Following this success, pressure mounted
again to create a new and concrete Welsh Language Act, and after a long
struggle, it was eventually granted in 1993. This Act assured for the first
time that Welsh and English were to be treated equally in the public services.
Since the Welsh Assembly Government was
formed, there has been a bigger focus on the revival of the language, and much
needed investment into its future.
In the 1990’s it became compulsory for all
children in Wales to study Welsh up to the age of 16 and in 2001 the first rise
in speakers occurred for more than 100 years, most significantly within the
5-24 age group, creating a great sense of optimism. The number of speakers has now stabilized at 20%, around 600,000 people in a country of 3.5 million.
Nowadays, you can see and hear Welsh
everywhere in Wales, it is an inherent part of the culture and actively
encouraged within communities, education and the arts, and there are bilingual
schools and colleges, as well as Welsh language theatres and festivals.It is an ongoing flight to keep the language alive, and the future remains uncertain, but the Welsh language remains indicative in its role in shaping this nation.
Sources:
Images courtesy of Wiki Commmons
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