Threats Faced by the Welsh Language in Wales during 1874 and 1914 - Article Example

Running Head: WELSH LANGUAGE Welsh Language [Name Of Student] [Name Of Institution] WELSH LANGUAGE INTRODUCTION The report of the education commissioners for Wales in 1847 has long been recognized as the starting point for the growth of nationalist sentiment in Wales. The commissioners attacked the backwardness and immorality of the Welsh, and ascribed the prevalence of these characteristics to the strength of the Welsh language and of nonconformity. The report precipitated a widespread defensive reaction. As Prys Morgan writes, however, although the barricades were manned by anglicans as well as dissenters, the former were dismissed by the leaders of nonconformity as 'aliens' (Carter, 1999). 'Welshness' had become internalized, the exclusive property of dissenters and Welsh-speakers; nationalism, in Kenneth Morgan's words, arose from this 'fight against contempt rather than physical oppression' (Edwards, 2002). AIM In this paper I will discuss the threats that were faced by the Welsh language in Wales during 1874 and 1914. SOCIOLINGUISTIC HISTORY OF WALES Here I would like to commence on the discussion of the sociolinguistic account of Wales in terms of `Anglicisation' (i.e. the increase of English), and the associations amid this development and the sociohistorical forces of modernization, industrialization, and instruction (Carter, 1999). This is balanced by the linguistic explanation of `Premature Welsh English' and `Contemporary Welsh English'. The increase of English in Wales was one of `supremacy' and `language swing', worsened by the Acts of Union in 1536 and 1542, whilst Welsh laws and traditions were eliminated and the English language increased pre-eminence in regulation and organization. In Wales, the politicization of language was escorted, if not headed, by the firm of English-speaking communities at the front position of deal activities, setting up `an invasive linguistic split' (Geertz, 2003) connecting the towns qua dealing centers and the country undeveloped districts. Afterwards, the endorsement of English in teaching was used to upshot `the proposed termination of Welsh', a progression in which the Welsh gentry were surely very complicit. By the ending of the seventeenth century English had grown to be generally recognized in the Marches of Radnorshire, Breconshire and Monmouthshire (Henderson,1996). Following the 1563 Act for the Translation of the Bible and also the Divine Service into the Welsh Tongue, Welsh was expectant in church, although that `yielding a holy responsibility to the Welsh language, at the same time as withholding a worldly role for it, the condition shaped what was to be an efficient language barrier involving the gentry and the common man and, afterward, amid the leading businessmen and the work-class for about almost two centuries. As delayed as the closing stages of the eighteenth century the majority of Wales stayed monolingual Welsh, even though the invasion of English sustained beside the eastern border of the Marches. As a consequence, at that moment a comparatively steady progression of language dispersal took position in the inhabitants (Carter, 1999). All through the nineteenth century, nevertheless, the practice of Anglicisation was significantly encouraged by industrialization in the southeast, urbanization, and, from 1888, the institution of group education. With the expansion of commerce, approached the in-migration of English orators, and a swift swing via bilingualism towards monolingualism in English, as a consequence `The ascend of the English language in Wales can be articulated as the overturn of the riches of the Welsh language, and the unalterable progress of English.' Consequently, the proportion of monolingual English narrators in Wales grew from 63% in 1921 to 81% in 1981 (Carter, 1999). Nowadays, 100 % of the population successfully converses in English; and, even though of continuing language trustworthiness towards Welsh in several societies, the prospect endurance of Welsh is endangered, as Welsh orators are now in a phase of `in-between bilingualism', and the increase of English is hastened by the mass media, predominantly press, broadcasting, small screen, and motion picture (Edwards, 2002). Having thus recognized a description for the sociohistorical surroundings to English in Wales, lets proceed to talk about Early Welsh English, with detailed indication to the characterization of the Welsh by the legendary playwright Shakespeare and supplementary Elizabethan playwrights. There is slight confirmation of Welsh English preceding the twentieth century, as English was `assumed principally by the high class', who clearly understood the prospective of English as an appliance of communal progression within the structure of the British polity (Carter, 1999). As a consequence, there is rebuff `Anglo-Welsh' fictional custom to contrast with the admittedly skinny, `outer' symbols of `Welsh English’ that we discover in the workings of Shakespeare and his colleagues. Likewise in non-literary manuscripts, such as wills, or private letters, there is slight verification of any features typical of a Welsh English multiplicity of the language per se, and that individuals or even examples of early on Welsh English manuscripts that do survive show `universal dialect features', although there is a need of archival study in this part (Geertz, 2003). The official multiplicity of Welsh English as moving speedily towards customary English claiming that in grammar and dictionary, recognized practice must, of requirement, form itself on normal English usage; in accent, Welsh English has accepted the group varieties of the English of United Kingdom. The individual features of diversities of Welsh English and the stage of phonology, grammatical details such as morphology, characteristic, fronting, ownership, and universal vernacular features, and expressions have been discussed widely (Roberts, 1998). DISCUSSION The past that was commemorated by the activities of men such as Gohebydd, however, was a very specific one: it was that past which dissented politically and religiously from England and anglicanism. And the importance of the subscription movement was that it also embraced contemporary causes that linked that history with a very specific set of grievances in the present (Carter, 1999). In 1862, for example, a subscription was raised to relieve the occupants of Soar chapel in Montgomeryshire, allegedly turned out by the Conservative landowner, Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, on whose land the chapel was built, when he discovered that two of the deacons had voted for the Liberal candidate at that year's by-election. In 1865, subscriptions were raised to pay for a commemorative portrait of David Williams of Castell Deudraeth, who had stood unsuccessfully for Merioneth in both 1859 and 1865; whilst other figures presented with testimonials included two nonconformist ministers who had had long careers a radical journalists, David Rees of Llanelli (editor of Y Diwygiwr) in 1866 and Samuel Roberts of Llanbrynmair, (editor of Y Cronicl) in 1867 (Carter, 1999). The effect of the subscription campaigns, read against the broader background of Baner's championship of Liberal causes, was both to create a distinct historic pedigree for what it always referred to as the 'Welsh nation' and to locate that 'Welsh nation' firmly within the contemporary political world. And from here, it was argued that the Welsh nation, though as real as those of Scotland or Ireland, and having problems as real as either, was not properly represented in parliament. Baner ran several leading articles on the subject, condemning the fact that, though Wales boasted of being a 'nation of nonconformists', she allowed her representation to remain in the hands of Conservatives and anglicans (Gellner, 2003). Something beyond the proper representation of nonconformist interests, however, was implied by the newspaper's rhetorical flourishes: 'The English choose Englishmen, the Scots choose Scots, the Irish choose Irishmen', declared Baner in 1862, 'why do the Welsh not choose Welshmen?' Only thus, argued the paper, could the Welsh 'nation' ever gain the respect of other nations (Carter, 1999). And other agitations were afoot, such as that to secure a national university. No other country of similar size in Europe was without one, argued its promoters: it was a 'national want', for which a provision 'truly national' must be made. These ideas had, therefore, gained a wide circulation within Wales by the mid-1860s. In 1866, however, they were given concrete form in a series of articles written by Henry Richard, for the Morning Star (Henderson,1996). The articles, which were translated for the Baner and drew widespread praise within Wales, were published under the collective title, Letters on the Social and Political Condition of the Principality of Wales, a year later. Richard, a native of Cardiganshire, had been an independent minister but resigned his ministry in order to concentrate upon politics. (Henderson,1996) As secretary of the Peace Society, and an active member of the Liberation Society, he was at the heart of radical politics in England. What is interesting about his Letters is the extent to which the two halves of his heritage combined to produce an original synthesis. As we shall see, many of his observations about Wales came straight from the stock-in-trade of British radicalism, including his basic model of life in the principality as involving 'the people' versus 'the aristocracy'. Richard's analysis was made unique, however, by the extent to which it was modified in the course of defending his countrymen from the charges made by the education Commissioners in 1847. Richard's Letters emerged as the blueprint for a Welsh nation and its political requirements (Davies, 1999). Richard's view of the Welsh people illustrated well the influence of the 1847 Report (Davies, 1999). The commissioners, as noted above, had argued that the Welsh were immoral, and that this stemmed from their stubborn adherence to the Welsh language and to nonconformity. To Richard, however, the Welsh people were a classless 'nation', known as the 'werin', whose shared cultural and religious habits lent them, as a nation, a unique moral homogeneity. The Welsh language he presented as the foundation of a flourishing literary culture, as witness both the large number of newspapers circulating in the principality and the eisteddfod tradition (Gellner, 2003). Nonconformity, meanwhile, had so far instilled into the 'werin' a sense of virtue that crime was almost unknown in the principality: indeed, the dissenting ministers were regarded as the 'unpaid policemen of the countryside' (Wyn, 2001). In Richard's Letters, therefore, the 'people' of the British radical tradition had become defined in a narrower, cultural sense: to be 'Welsh', a member of the 'werin', required something more than simple residence or birth within the geographical boundaries of Wales (Davies, 1999). In keeping with his radical origins, however, Richard explicitly juxtaposed the 'werin' with the traditional enemies of the people, the aristocracy. Yet here, too, the model was adapted to the particular purposes of Wales. The consequence of the Welsh people having been defined in cultural terms, was that the corresponding unfitness of the aristocracy also took a cultural form unique to Wales. Although many of the aristocracy had been born in Wales they were certainly not 'Welsh' in Richard's understanding of the term. On the contrary, the aristocracy were defined in terms diametrically opposed to those of true Welshmen: whereas the latter spoke Welsh, were nonconformists and found a natural political home in the Liberal Party, the aristocracy were English-speaking, anglican and Conservative (Wyn, 2001). This sense of cultural alienation from the people of the nation was central to Richard's explanation of the aristocracy's unfitness to lead the Welsh nation. The signs of this unfitness Richard enumerated in great detail. He dwelt at length upon the ills that beset the 'werin'. As tenants, they were depicted 'writhing under the harrow of an arrogant and tyrannical landlordism' in everyday estate matters. In political terms, their condition was equally wretched: all, by virtue of their nonconformity and adherence to the Welsh language were naturally, claimed Richard, Liberals (Roberts, 1998). Yet the tories repressed all opposition, be it of speech, conscience, worship, trade or voting. This, Richard, conceded, was equally typical of the aristocracy in England, but in Wales, he argued, the tories' intimidation was employed 'in more severe and summary forms, and with more open and daring defiance of justice and decency' (Davies, 1999). Their hostility to the people of Wales thus established, Richard moved on to demonstrate how ill-suited the aristocracy were to represent the nation in parliament. And, in contrast to the list of votes against the 'common weal' attributed to William Bulkeley Hughes examined in the previous section, Richard instanced a series of measures of interest to the nonconformists alone which the aristocracy had failed to support, including church rates, the admission of dissenters to Oxford and Cambridge, and the burials question. Their position as the nation's parliamentary representatives was, he concluded, 'utterly anomalous and unsatisfactory' (Wyn, 2001). In Richard's Letters, therefore, the traditional radical canon familiar from the 1852 election was refined by two decades of national self-defense provoked by the 1847 commissioners' damning report. The result was a hybrid at once distinctively radical, but also uniquely Welsh, tailored to the key cultural characteristic of life in the principality, the ubiquity of nonconformity, and the principal reality of political life, the domination of the aristocracy (Roberts, 1998). This much was made clear in Richard's closing call to arms. The only way that the Welsh could shrug off the oppression of the landlords was to return men to parliament who shared their cultural imperatives and could thus represent the nation properly. Yet the achievement of this would undoubtedly require the blood of martyrs: it was scarcely to be anticipated that the aristocracy, so vindictive at the best of times, would meet such an unprecedented challenge to their authority with equanimity. As Richard warned his readers, those who sought liberation on his terms might have to pay a high price: 'it may be their [the people's] duty to suffer for political, as it was their fathers' to suffer for religious freedom', he wrote (Davies, 1999). The martyrs would, however, be sacrificed for a distinctively Welsh cause, and Richard underlined this with a parting shot, as he quoted an old Welsh cry: 'Trech gwlad nag Arglwydd' -- 'A Land is mightier than its Lord' (Wyn, 2001). CONCLUSION In the concluding context, I would like to say that according to my research and study, only very little items have appeared into Welsh English as of Celtic, e.g. eisteddfod, hwyl, Caerffili, and so forth. Additional items supposed to be characteristic of South Wales are of `undetermined foundation', such as pleasure, in He's got a pleasure in cricket; or neat as in He's got a neat career. Welsh English, as a separate language, is a intermediary occurrence which is predominantly connected with dominantly bilingual societies, similar to those in the southwest and the north, the recent leaning is towards growing monolingualism, and with the intention of assuming that, Welsh English will gradually more come to be characterized as a dissimilar pronunciation, relatively than as a dialect, though its dictionary and fluent usage will no suspicion carry on to be considerably distinguished from further varieties of English in the Great Britain, if not so then at least in language. 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