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The Welsh Language: A Cultural Revival

© Sarah Stevenson

When a language dies, an enormous part of culture irrevocably dies with it. Sadly, this situation is all too common nowadays, which is why the situation of the Welsh language is so intriguing. As recently as half a century ago, the language was considered to be dying. But thanks to the efforts of language advocates from the community level all the way to the government, the situation is no longer so dire. This linguistic and cultural revival has been a tremendous success, but the story isn't well known to the general public, many of whom aren't even aware of the language's existence. I look forward to relating the story of the Welsh language to interested readers, beginning with this synopsis.

Welsh? What's That? Welsh is a language in the Celtic family, and it's no surprise if you haven't heard much about it. The only native Welsh speakers are located in the region of Wales, in Great Britain, and in a small area of Patagonia, Argentina. Though many Welsh speakers reside in England, the U.S. and elsewhere, Wales is the original home of the language. Still, despite developing in close proximity to the English language, Welsh is not as closely related to English as one might assume.

Today's spoken Welsh (Cymraeg) is a descendent of Early Welsh, which appeared very early on indeed; probably in the 6th century A.D. However, the roots of Early Welsh can be traced to the Celtic branch of the Indo-European languages. Around 700 B.C., the Celts expanded into western Europe from their homeland in southern and eastern Europe. At the same time, the Roman Empire was also expanding, and the Celtic languages present in Britain at the height of the Roman Empire (the Brythonic languages) were the precursor to Early Welsh as well as Cornish.

Though the last native speakers of Cornish lived in the late 19th century, Welsh is very much a living language, though still struggling. A 1995 survey published by the Welsh Office showed that 21.5% of Wales' population speak Welsh, and 55.3% of those consider Welsh to be their first language. This shows a slight increase from the 1991 Census, which revealed that 18.7% of the population spoke Welsh.

A Continuing Struggle Though these figures may seem low, there is much reason to be optimistic about the future of Welsh. The past 30-40 years have seen a significant increase in the number of young Welsh speakers in particular, thanks to persistent advocacy on the social and governmental levels. Probably the most important milestone in recent history was the Welsh Language Act of 1993, which deemed that the Welsh and English languages are equal by law. Also on the governmental level, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) and Plaid Cymru (the Welsh political party) have worked tirelessly since their establishment in the 1960s to promote Welsh language issues to the British government.