The Midterm 28 Feb, 2012The midterm will be in this classroom, and will take all of the class time. (approx. 1h 15mins).

You will be provided with exam books.Write in ink.

The Midterm 28 Feb, 2012 You will be asked to answer three questions. Ten marks each =30% final mark. They will be short essay answers. There will be a choice of six questions Based closely on the work we have done in

class (Powerpoint presentations). Also on the chapters from the two books:

The Midterm 28 Feb, 2012 The Last of the Celts (Introduction, chapter 1,

5, 6) Rebuilding the Celtic Languages (II,i The

Case of Welsh, III, iii Scottish-Gaelic in Scotland).

There will not be questions specifically on the book chapters, but information in them can be included in your answers.

Wales- Cymru- yr iaith/the language

Bilingualism in Wales

In 2001, 20.5 % of the population spoke Welsh.

What will the percentage be in the results of the 2011 census?

S4C- the campaign- late 70s TV studios were occupied. TV masts were climbed and put out of action.

(Blaenwern) Destruction of BBC and HTV property. Prison sentences. (Fred Francis). The Annan Report 1977

S4C- the campaign The Annan Report recommended setting up a

Welsh language TV channels when funding was available.

Jac L Williams: ‘this would put the language in a ghetto’.

1979: all the main political parties promised in their manifestos that they would put all the Welsh language programmes on one channel.

S4C- the campaign After the May 1976 election in which

Margaret Thatcher (conservative) won, the new Home Secretary (Interior Minister) announced that they would not proceed with the Welsh channel.

This led to a wave of protest in Wales, by many organisations and individuals.

S4C- the campaign 78-80 Putting TV transmitters out of action. Refusal to pay TV licences. Gwynfor Evans’s ‘threat’.

Gwynfor Evans (leader of Plaid Cymru) threatened to go on hunger strike unless the Government reverted to their original electoral promise.

The Government announced on 17 Sept 1980 that the Welsh Channel would be set up after all.

1965- at an earlier point The Hughes-Parry Report on Welsh in Public

Life. Recommendations. It recommended equal validity for Welsh in

speech and in written documents, both in courts of law and public administration in Wales.

Legislation and the Welsh Language

1942, 1967, 1993, 2011

Legislation to protect and promote Welsh- 1967

Although there had been an Act of Parliament in 1942 which gave very restricted rights to Welsh-speakers in courts of law, serious legislation with regard to the Welsh language only begins in 1967. The 1942 act stipulated that a person must demonstrate that they would be seriously disadvantaged by speaking English.

(five years after the famous Saunders Lewis lecture).

Welsh Language Act 1967 The Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 had made

English the only language in the law courts, and other areas of public administration.

Most of the population only spoke Welsh. The 1967 act was the first to really make any

change to that situation. It put Welsh on an equal footing with English

in public life.

Welsh Language Act 1967 This Act gave some rights to use the Welsh language

in legal proceedings in Wales (including Monmouthshire).

Authorisation was given to produce Welsh versions of any document allowed or required by the Act. Government Departments began providing documents in Welsh.

The Act did not include all of the recommendations of the Hughes-Parry Report (1965).

Welsh Language Act 1967 It was an Act which focussed mainly on legal

proceedings in court. It is proper that the Welsh language should be

freely used by those who so desire in the hearing of legal proceedings in Wales.

Those who wished to speak in Welsh in court were required to notify the court in advance.

Welsh Language Act 1993 The 1967 Act was focussed on legal

proceedings. However, it encouraged a growth in Welsh language use in Government Departments (forms), and enabled local councils (‘cities’) to provide many bilingual signs.

The 1993 Act put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector.

Welsh Language Act 1993 This act established that in the course of

public business and the administration of justice, so far as is reasonably practicable, the Welsh and English languages are to be treated on the basis of equality.

What did this Act aim to achieve?

Welsh Language Act 1993 Set up the Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh

Language Board) answerable to the Secretary of State for Wales.

http://www.byig-wlb.org.uk/Pages/Hafan.aspx Its duty is to promote the use of Welsh and ensuring

compliance with the other provisions. Gives Welsh speakers the right to speak Welsh in

court proceedings.

Welsh Language Act 1993 Obliges all organisations in the public sector to

provide services to the public in Wales to treat Welsh and English on an equal basis.

Later, the Board became answerable to the Welsh Assembly.

The National Assembly requires public bodies in Wales to prepare Welsh Language Schemes which demonstrate their commitment to the ‘equality of treatment’ of the two languages.

Welsh in WalesAct 2011

confirms the official status of the Welsh language; creates a new system of placing duties on bodies to

provide services through the medium of Welsh; creates a Welsh Language Commissioner with

strong enforcement powers to protect the rights of Welsh speakers to access services through the medium of Welsh;

establishes a Welsh Language Tribunal;

Welsh in Wales Act 2012 gives individuals and bodies the right to appeal

decisions made in relation to the provision of services through the medium of Welsh

creates a Welsh Language Partnership Council to advise Assembly Government on its strategy in relation to the Welsh language;

allows for an official investigation by the Welsh Language Commissioner of instances where there is an attempt to interfere with the freedom of Welsh speakers to use the language with one another.

First Welsh language commissioner

Meri Huws Office of the Welsh Language Commissioner (as of March 2012)

First Welsh language commissioner Meri Huws had been the Chairperson of the

Language Board (which had been critisized for being side-lined in the recent language legistation process).

There were some questions about her transition from that position to her new position in March 2012. (fresh approach?)

Welsh Language Board 1993-2012 An important statistical report was published in mid

February 2012 by the outgoing Board. Meirion Prys Jones –chief executive His comments about the future of the Welsh

languages: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17002698 He critisizes the Welsh Assembly re its attitude to

the Welsh language. "I think it's a growing language in some ways, but as

a community language it's dying’

Meirion Prys Jones: "THE LANGUAGE, ALTHOUGH IT'S FLOURISHING IN SOME

WAYS, IT'S STILL IN THE CONTEXT OF HAVING TO LIVE WITHIN THE SHADOW OF A VERY LARGE MAJOR LINGUA FRANCA ACROSS THE WORLD AND TO KEEP SOME KIND OF EVEN PLAYING FIELD THERE HAS TO BE AN INVESTMENT IN TERMS OF IDEAS AND INNOVATION.“

Demographics of Wales, 2001-place of birth

Wales: 75.39% England: 20.32% Scotland: 0.84% Northern Ireland: 0.27% Republic of Ireland:

0.44%Welsh language - 21.7%

Indian/British Indian: 0.28%

Pakistani/British Pakistani: 0.29%

Bangladeshi/British Bangladeshi: 0.19%

Other Asian: 0.12% Black: 0.25% Chinese: 0.40% No tick box given for an

ethnicity of Welsh.