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At the start of the 20th
century, the Welsh language was spoken by almost half of the population
of Wales. By 1991, although the number of people able to speak the
language was still more than half a million (508,098), this represented
just 18.7% of the Welsh population. The Swansea Valley is one of
the areas in Wales where the Welsh language is still fluently spoken
and it can be said to have a character, and to some extent a dialect
, that is all its own. Our literature loving holidaymakers will
be pleased to known that Welsh language literary classics are now
being translated into English for the first time.
The language
of Wales, more properly called Cymraeg in preference to Welsh (A
Germanic word denoting "foreigner"), belongs to a branch
of Celtic, an Indo-European language descended from something first
spoken on the steppes of central Asia. Its nearest cousins are Breton
and Cornish.
The language as spoken today is descended directly from early Welsh,
which emerged as a distinct tongue as early as the sixth century
AD. It is thus the oldest living language of Great Britain and among
the oldest in Europe.
The Act detailing the absorption of Wales into the English state
under Henry VIII was the first to refer to the Welsh language: the
people of the same dominion have and do daily use a speche nothing
like ne consonaunt to the naturall mother tongue used within this
Realme, and laid down that English should be the only language
of the courts of Wales, and that the use of Welsh would debar one
from administrative office. Its explicit intention was: utterly
to extirpe alle and singular the sinister usages and customs of
Wales. These provisions were symbolically repealed by the 1993
Welsh Language Act.
Discouragement of Welsh. Welsh
was forbidden in schools in the early twentieth century. Anyone
caught speaking Welsh had to wear a "Welsh Not", a piece
of wood on a leather strap, known as a cribban, that would be passed
on if someone else was heard speaking the language. At the end of
the day, the child still wearing the cribban was beaten. The older
generation in Wales still remember this practice and it is hardly
surprising that use and proficiency of the language plummeted. In
1851, 90% of the Welsh population spoke Welsh. Every decade the
figures dropped spectacularly - 49.9% in 1901, 37.1% in 1921, 28.9%
in 1951 and 18.9% in 1981. Then for the first time ever, the percentage
of Welsh speakers rose, still around the one-fifth mark but showing
the most marked increase amongst the lower age groups, those most
able to ensure its future.
The language's survival
is a remarkable story, especially considering the fact that the
heart of English culture and its language - the most expansionist
the world has ever seen - lies right next door.
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