1. Welsh-medium linguistics: Approaches and challenges
Peredur Davies, Bangor University
‘How to teach linguistics of Modern Foreign Languages’ workshop
Aston University, Birmingham
June 3rd 2011

2. Outline The Welsh language situation up to today
Welsh-medium linguistics at Bangor
Module example
Exercises example
Challenges faced in WM education
Some ways to combat these issues

3. The Welsh language (Watkins 1993, Jones 1993)
Celtic language, spoken in Britain for >1500 years
Flourished in its first millennium, but downturn in later centuries, e.g.
16th century Acts of Union
Non-Welsh migrants into Wales’s industry
English more socially attractive/administratively encouraged
Reduction in Welsh monolinguals in 20th C:
1901
1961
14% 0%

4. Current status of Welsh (Davies 2010)
Reduction in speakers reversed in 2001:
Decrease in monolingualism co-occurs with increase in Welsh-English bilingualism:
Increase in Welsh language maintenance since 1960s:
Welsh in public & private sector
Welsh in media (e.g. S4C, Radio Cymru, online)
Welsh in education
Highest increase in year-olds
1981
1991
2001
503,500
508,098
582,368
19.0%
18.7%
20.8%
1901
2001
69.8%
100%

5. Welsh in education (Lewis 2008)
First WM state primary schools set up in 1947; secondary schools in 1956
 Today: 20.3% of primary schools teach mainly through Welsh; 15.3% assessed through Welsh at KS3 (2007 stats)
Welsh compulsory (as native language or second language) until GCSE
Pupils generally taught together in primary but streamed into L1 vs. L2 in secondary

6. Welsh in higher education
Historically, only in (some) Welsh lit/lang departments
2011: Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol:
“[Their] main aim is to increase, develop and broaden the range of Welsh medium study opportunities at universities in Wales” (colegcymraeg.ac.uk)
WM undergraduate & postgraduate funding
WM fellowship and lectureship funding
Across all Welsh universities, incl. Bangor

7. Linguistics at Bangor
WM Teaching Fellow (me) employed since 2009; hope for long-term provision
Only university to offer linguistics undergraduate modules through Welsh
Students can take WM modules if they can understand spoken Welsh; modules optional as replacement for EM modules
WM = only 5 modules out of ~18 students take during a BU degree course

8. Overview of WM provision
cf. EM module Language and Society
1st year:
Y Gymraeg a chymdeithas [Welsh and society]
Disgrifio’r Gymraeg [Describing Welsh]
2nd year:
Ieithyddiaeth Gymraeg [Welsh linguistics]
3rd year/MA:
Sosioieithyddiaeth Gymraeg [Welsh sociolinguistics]
Agweddau ar ddwyieithrwydd [Aspects of bilingualism]
cf. EM module Describing Language
Lectures together, seminars separately

9. Rationale for WM provision
i.e. What are Welsh speakers interested in?
 Based on ‘hot topics’ in Welsh psyche:
History, dialects, standard vs. nonstandard
Language (= English) contact, maintenance, the future of Welsh
Important to distinguish WM provision from EM provision—modules not just “WM versions” of existing modules

10. Module example Ieithyddiaeth Gymraeg [Welsh linguistics]
Phonology & orthography of Welsh
Mutation in Welsh
Morphology of Welsh
Nonstandard Welsh syntax
Welsh and typological universals
Lexicon of Welsh
Linguistic corpus planning in Welsh
Language maintenance and language contact
Language change, loss and death
Making use of language resources
Grammar
Minority language / Bilingualism issues

11. What this module allows students to do
Build on existing linguistic knowledge and use previously learnt skills (in 1st year etc.)
Describe Welsh with reference to linguistc theory
Give students familiarity with Welsh linguistic resources
Consider Welsh in its (inter)national context
Compare Welsh with other languages and linguistic communities

12. Resources  In-class exercises
Corpora, e.g. Siarad Bangor
Analyse nonstandard speech
Analyse code-switching / borrowings / contact effects
Discourse analysis
Dialectal studies, e.g. Linguistic Geography of Wales (Thomas 1976), Welsh Dialect Survey (Thomas 2000)
Analyse dialectal variation
Analyse diachronic change (vocabulary, etc.)
Use of EM resources (publications etc.):
Translanguaging activities  capitalise on students being bilingual

13. Challenges in WM linguistic teaching
Teaching and learning resources
Shortage of WM textbooks, studies
Old-fashionedness of existing provision
Numbers of students
Sometimes as few as 1 in a class
Students prefer to ‘blend in’ in larger EM classes?
Language ability:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Pessimistic self-perceived competence common
L1 vs. L2 speakers; passive bilinguals

14. Solutions? Teaching and learning resources  Numbers of students 
Use corpora / data sets
Encourage fieldwork
Produce original WM textbooks
Numbers of students 
Emphasise beneficial student-tutor ratio
Emphasise unique content of WM modules
Language ability 
CCC-funded terminology expert at Bangor
Make module bilingual, e.g. CS by tutor, use of translanguaging
Allow students to submit work in English (Bangor’s bilingual policy)

15. Conclusion
Identifying common cultural tropes allows us to produce unique and attractive modules
Present challenges include:
Increasing WM module take-up rate
Increasing general awareness of WM provision
 Finding new ways of making WM linguistics interesting, attractive and useful
Any suggestions you might have would be greatly welcomed!

16. References
Davies, P Identifying word-order convergence in the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals. Bangor University PhD thesis.
Jones, R. O “The sociolinguistics of Welsh” in The Celtic Languages, M. Ball with J. Fife (eds.), 536–605. London: Routledge.
Lewis, G “Current challenges in bilingual education in Wales.” AILA Review, 21, 69–86.
Thomas, A.R The linguistic geography of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Thomas, A.R. et al The Welsh dialect survey. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Watkins, T. A “Welsh” in The Celtic Languages, M. Ball with J. Fife (eds.), 289–348. London: Routledge.

17. Diolch yn fawr / Thank you very much
Dr. Peredur Davies
Bangor University 12/11/2018