IV.

Welsh

Welsh (Cymraeg) is the native language of Wales, and the most flourishing of the modern Celtic languages. It co-exists with English in most parts of the country and has done so for centuries in some parts, especially in north-eastern and south-eastern Wales. It is strongest in rural parts of north-western and south-western Wales, though even here few Welsh-speaking monoglots exist today. The 1991 census reported just over half a million Welsh speakers, or over 18 per cent of the population of Wales. The 2001 census showed an increase in Welsh speakers to a little more than 20 per cent, with around 28 per cent of the population being able to understand Welsh. However, while Welsh speakers are on the increase in urban settings, in some rural areas of the north and west they are declining.

English began to make serious inroads into Wales as far back as the Anglo-Norman period, since when it has enjoyed a privileged official status almost until the present day. On the other hand, Welsh found a stronghold in the Church from the time of the Reformation onwards; and the model of the Welsh Bible (1588) helped a dignified, supra-dialectal, “literary” form of Welsh to emerge. This co-exists to the present day with a scattering of spoken dialects.

Early Welsh literature is contained mostly in manuscripts dating from the 12th to 14th centuries, with a few early items taking the written record back to the 9th century. As to the literature itself, some of it is considerably older than the 12th century. The oldest stratum deals largely with the “Old North”, and according to some scholars was actually composed in North Britain (that is, in what is now southern Scotland) in the 6th century. At all events, a rich medieval manuscript literature of poetry and prose survives. Welsh attained print in the later 16th century in the context of the Reformation, and religious writings have continued to be prominent in publication from then on. In December 2002, after 81 years, the fourth volume of a Welsh dictionary was finally completed.

Identification of the language with national identity, and anxiety at perceived threats to both, received added focus when the 1870 Act of Parliament establishing a universal state education system failed to make provision for education in the Welsh medium. A resistance movement was engendered. In the 1960s, in the face of growing exposure to English culture through various media, this gained a new urgency. Since then, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) and other groups have campaigned with considerable success on behalf of the language. This pressure has led to increased Welsh-medium education, Welsh road-signs, a Language Act (1993), including the requirement that public bodies develop policies with regard to the language, and much enhanced Welsh-language broadcasting—especially through the television channel Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C).