Volume 2009, Issue 195

In this article we argue that Alan Thomas's (1982) ideas about the linguistic conditions for language death were ahead of his time, and in fact anticipated those of a prominent code-switching theorist, Myers-Scotton (1998). Both scholars postulated similar stages representing language shift, and both could be interpreted as presenting a scenario for language shift in Welsh–English bilinguals towards monolingualism in English. The ideas of the two scholars are tested empirically by our analysis of a sample of Welsh–English data in order to determine whether or not the linguistic conditions favouring language shift or language death can be found. Our analysis shows that the data are clearly at the first stage, classic code-switching in Myers-Scotton's (1998) terms, with Welsh providing the main grammatical frame, while English provides some content words and phrases. We argue that this stage is associated with stable bilingualism, especially if the socio-political circumstances favour that stability. We then present evidence that the recent socio-political climate has favoured the revitalization of Welsh, and suggest that there is no cause for pessimism about the future of Welsh, although “eternal vigilance” is necessary.

This article is based on ethnographic research on literacy carried out with young bilinguals, aged 16–19, in North Wales from 2005 to 2007. Here, we present case studies of five young people who were enrolled in a bilingual vocational course in agriculture in a local college and who were planning to make a living for themselves on the land and to create a workplace for themselves where Welsh could be used. All five of these young people were working in land-based industries, on a part-time basis, as they pursued their studies at college. The main focus of this part of our investigation was on the ways in which literacy, in Welsh and in English, mediated the work they did on the land. This work included running their own businesses on the family farm or smallholding, collaborating with older members of the household (parents or grandparents) in handling the farm paperwork and the digitised record keeping, and searching the Web for funding opportunities to initiate agri-environmental schemes or land improvement projects. In analysing the ethnographic and textual data from this part of the project, we show how the young people's language choices and literacy practices were shaped by the nature of the land-based enterprises they were involved in. Some were reading and writing predominantly in Welsh for local clients, some were engaged in bilingual literacy practices, and others made predominant use of English. We also show how the local literacy practices of these young people and their families were bound up with global changes in agriculture, with changes in the everyday work routines of farmers, and with changes in the literacy practices and uses of texts in contemporary workplaces.

This article focuses on attitudes to language and identity in Caernarfon, a town in the Welsh language “heartland” county of Gwynedd. While the salience of language in attitude and identity varies, it plays an important role where different language groups come into contact. We argue that diglossia, far from indicating social consensus with respect to code alternation, indicates conflict, especially in cases of colonisation, with the attendant language dominance of the colonising group, such as occurred in Wales. Although current language attitudes (in terms of cognitive, affective, and behavioural components) are fragmented in Wales generally, critical historical events remain salient in Gwynedd. Against this background, we examine attitudes through analysing three recent episodes where language is implicated, together with a set of interviews. The conclusion is that while the role of the Welsh language in Welsh identity is equivocal, Welsh speakers in Caernarfon are (in line with conflict theory) contesting hitherto English domains. The implications of these findings for the Welsh Assembly Government's language policy are examined.

This article presents the main findings of a study investigating common linguistically defined stereotypes of speakers of Welsh who have acquired Welsh through Welsh-medium education in south-east Wales (second-language speakers). In the sociolinguistic contexts of language shift and language conflict in Wales, which have heightened purist attitudes towards an idealised standard variety and towards the traditional dialects, some negative attitudes towards second-language speech and second-language speakers have come to the fore in Welsh-language public discourse and among the general Welsh-speaking population. Eighty-five respondents, representing a reasonable cross-section of the Welsh-speaking population, evaluated the spontaneous speech of four female second-language speakers from south-east Wales and two first-language speakers from less Anglicised areas. Data were collected on scales relating to perceived language competence, perceived ethnicity, and evaluations of social attractiveness and prestige. Results suggest that Welsh speakers stereotype south-eastern second-language speakers of Welsh according to their perceived language competence.

In Wales, there is considerable concern that an inadequate proportion of young children are being brought up speaking Welsh in the home, particularly in homes with only one Welsh-speaking parent, to ensure the future vitality of Welsh as a language of the home, family, and community. This article investigates to what extent young children's Welsh language socialisation in “mixed-language” families depends on whether the mother or the father is the Welsh speaker. On the basis of the first stage of a longitudinal ethnographic study, we found that Welsh-speaking parents who valued Welsh highly were more likely to create opportunities for their children's Welsh language socialisation in the home. This would appear to be true for both Welsh-speaking mothers and fathers in mixed-language households.

Drawing upon the theories and taxonomy of vitality, suggested by Giles, Bourhis, and Taylor (1977), a questionnaire was developed to uncover the subjective perceptions of Welsh language and culture in the Chubut Province. This questionnaire was distributed between September and November 2004 in seven locations with 369 completed questionnaires being returned by inhabitants of these municipalities. The distribution of the questionnaires included a wide cross-section of society to reflect perceptions of the strength of the Welsh language among the society as a whole and not just the Welsh community. This article concentrates upon important questions relating to the current perceptions of the strength of Welsh language and Welsh culture and perceptions of the prevailing historical and future trends. Analysis of the questionnaire results shows positive trends in informants' responses linked to the informants' affiliation to the Welsh community, fluency in oral Welsh, and location. Some significant differences exist according to the informants' age and the region of the province in which they live.

A total of 956 informants with links to Wales — from Patagonia, North America, and Wales itself — completed a questionnaire investigating their Welsh identities and affiliation, their images of Wales, their engagement with Welsh cultural practices, and their perceptions of the ethnolinguistic vitality of the Welsh language and of domain priorities for the use of Welsh. These three groups produced systematic variation across many of the issues in this study. Overall, for example, the North Americans oriented their Welshness to Wales itself, and in particular in the history and heritage of Wales, while the Patagonians and the Welsh anchored their Welsh identity within their own contexts, and with less focus on the history and heritage of Wales. The results offer insights into the complexity of “home” and “diaspora” relationships, historical and geo-cultural differences, and their impact on Welsh cultural authenticity and ethnolinguistic subjectivities.

This article examines the factors that have led to a shift to Spanish in the Upper Necaxa Totonac communities of east-central Mexico. Despite the fact that Spanish and Totonac have been in contact since before the eighteenth century, the shift to the majority language has only occurred in the past four decades. I will show that this shift resulted from the combination of long-standing negative attitudes towards indigenous cultures with new social and economic conditions, namely the establishment of Spanish-language schooling and a shift to a cash-based economy. The proximate cause of the linguistic “tip” to Spanish was not so much the desire to speak the majority language as the increased opportunities to do so.