industrial cities of northern and middle England. Welsh communities,
especially along the North Wales coast, found themselves inundated with a
flood of newcomers who were either too old to learn the language or
couldn't be bothered. Many of the younger couples had no idea that Wales
had a language of its own, or when they did find out were adamant that
their children be educated through the medium of English. Far more
significant was the fact that it was far too easy to get by perfectly well
in Wales without knowing a word of its language.
The whole north Wales coast, known as "the Welsh Riviera" became first a
weekend playground for, and then an extension of, Merseyside. The mid-Wales
coast, similarly was transformed by a huge influx of people from the
Midlands. LIverpool accents were more common in Llandudno than Welsh;
Birmingham accents common in Borth, or even Aberystwyth. The author vividly
remembers visiting a pub in Bangor where every customer but one could speak
Welsh, but all of whom used English to defer to a monolingual Englishman
(who had been in the area forty years without learning a single word of
Welsh). The same situation was found throughout much of North Wales.
The result of such massive invasions, often by retirees, certainly by those
with little incentive to learn Welsh was drastic. From almost a million
Welsh speakers in 1931, the number fell to just over 500,000 in less than
fifty years.despite the large increase in population. Strongholds of the
language and its attendant culture were crumbling fast, and it seemed that
nothing could be done to stem the tide. In 1957 occurred an event that
exemplified the situation: the Liverpool Corporation got the go-ahead from
Parliament to drown a valley in Meirionydd (Merionethshire) called
Tryweryn, which housed a strong and vibrant Welsh-speaking community. The
removal of the people of Tryweryn to make way for a source of water for an
English city convinced many in Wales that the nation was on its way to
extinction. The survival of the Welsh language seemed irreversibly doomed,
and no-one seemed to care.
Then something happened; someone seemed to care after all. At Pontarddulais
in 1962, at the summer school of Plaid Cymru, a new movement began. Mainly
involving a younger active post-war Welsh generation, many of them college
students, the Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society) decided
to take matters in their own hands to try to halt the decline of the
language by forcing the hand of the government. Saviors to many, scoundrels
and troublemakers to others, frustrated members of the Society had been
galvanized into action by a talk given on the BBC by Saunders Lewis in
February, 1962.
In his talk, entitled Tynged yr Iaith (Fate of the language) Lewis asked
his listeners to make it impossible for local or central government
business to be conducted without the use of the Welsh language. This was
the only way, he felt, to ensure its survival. Plaid Cymru could not help,
as it was a political party, so the banner was taken up by Cymdeithas yr
Iaith Gymraeg. At narrow Trefechan Bridge, Aberystwyth in February, 1963,
members of the society sat down in the road and stopped all traffic trying
to get into town over the bridge, or trying to leave town on the same
route.
Undeterred by prison sentences for disturbing the peace and for their
subsequent destruction of government property (mostly road signs), and led
by such activists as Fred Fransis, and folk-singer Dafydd Iwan, the society
began a serious campaign. In the face of much hostility from passivist
locals and prosecution from the authorities, Cymdeithas pressed for the
right to use Welsh on all government documents, from Post Office forms to
television licenses, from driving licenses to tax forms. In particular, the
society engaged in surreptitious night time activities, removing English-
only sign posts and directional instructions from the highways or daubing
them with green paint. All over Wales, in early morning, motorists were
faced with the green paint and daubed slogan that mysteriously had appeared
overnight. It became frustrating and expensive for local authorities and
the Ministry of Transport to keep replacing road signs.
Eventually, in 1963, faced with an ever-growing campaign, increased police
and court costs, destruction of government property, and the vociferous
demands for action by an increasingly angry and frustrated national
movement, the central government decided to establish a committee to look
at the legal status of Welsh. Its report, issued two years later,
recommended that the language be given "equal validity" with English, a
diluted version of which was placed into the Welsh Language Act of 1967.
There came about a new feeling in the land. The young people of Wales were
answering the call of Saunders Lewis; the older generation began to
reconsider their passiveness. Dafydd Iwan and many of his contemporaries
inaugurated a whole new movement in popular Welsh music, translating
English and American pops into Welsh, or writing stirring new lyrics and
music or protest. The popularity of mournful, funereal hymns sung by male
voice choirs found a competitor, the loud, heavy rhythms and rebellious
music of new bands. Groups such as Ar Log and Plethyn rediscovered ancient
Welsh folk music and brought it up to date. The National Eisteddfod entered
into the spirit, each year erecting a Roc Pavilion, where such groups could
attract the younger audiences. Wales began to finally shake off the shrouds
cast by the Methodist Revival of over a century before.
Since the 1960's, in the author's birthplace Flint and in other towns in
Clwyd, attempts to reintroduce the Welsh language in the schools have been
warmly welcomed by many of the townsfolk, and a whole new generation of
children who can speak, read and write Welsh may help ensure the future of
the language (and ultimately, of Plaid Cymru) in such heavily anglicized
areas. Other areas, such as the Cardiff region and the Valleys have already
experienced some growth in the numbers of those able to speak Welsh.
Factors for this increase include the rise of a Welsh bureaucracy; further
expansion of the Welsh-oriented mass media; the continued activities of
Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, with its appeal to the young generation; and
the effects of the Welsh Language Act of 1967. Perhaps most important is
the subtle change in attitude towards the language brought about by the
advantages that can be gained by its speakers in both social and economic
fields. Of crucial importance in winning the hearts and minds of the non-
Welsh speakers who have young children has been Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin
(the Welsh Nursery School Movement) founded in 1971.
In the anglicized areas of Wales, we may yet again read such sentiments as
that given by Sir Walter Scott, in a letter to his son, dated December,
1820:
You hear the Welsh spoken much about you, and if you can pick it up
without interfering with more important labours, it will be worth while
In the late 1990's, as we shall see, one of the more important labors of
many of the Welsh people has been to continue the fight to preserve their
language, and with it, much of the culture upon which it depends. To
preserve this language, the ancient, magnificent tongue of the British
people for so many, many centuries, will be indeed, a labor of love to make
up for so much past pain.
Supplement 1
Welsh Language Guide
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. The Welsh themselves are descendants of the
Galatians, to whom Paul wrote his famous letter. Their language is a
distant cousin to Irish and Scots Gaelic and a close brother to Breton.
Welsh is still used by about half a million people within Wales and
possibly another few hundred thousand in England and other areas overseas.
In most heavily populated areas of Wales, such as the Southeast (containing
the large urban centers of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea), the normal
language of everyday life is English, but there are other areas, notably in
the Western and Northern regions, (Gwynedd and Dyfed particularly) where
the Welsh language remains strong and highly visible. The Welsh word for
their country is Cymru (Kumree), the land of the Comrades; the people are
known as Cymry (Kumree) and the language as Cymraeg (Kumrige). Regional
differences in spoken Welsh do not make speakers in one area unintelligible
to those in another (as is so often claimed), standard Welsh is understood
by Welsh speakers everywhere.
Despite its formidable appearance to the uninitiated, Welsh is a language
whose spelling is entirely regular and phonetic, so that once you know the
rules, you can learn to read it and pronounce it without too much
difficulty. For young children learning to read, Welsh provides far fewer
difficulties than does English, as the latter's many inconsistencies in
spelling are not found in Welsh, in which all letters are pronounced.
THE WELSH ALPHABET: (28 letters)
A, B ,C ,Ch, D, Dd, E, F, Ff, G, Ng, H, I, L
Ll, M, N, O, P, Ph, R, Rh, S, T, Th, U, W, Y
(Note that Welsh does not possess the letters J, K, Q, V, X or Z, though
you will often come across "borrowings" from English, such as John, Jones,
Jam and Jiwbil (Jubilee); Wrexham (Wrecsam); Zw (Zoo).
THE VOWELS: (A, E, I, U, O, W, Y)
A as in man. Welsh words: am, ac Pronounced the same as in English)
E as in bet or echo. Welsh words: gest (guest); enaid (enide)
I as in pin or queen. Welsh words: ni (nee); mi (me); lili (lily); min
(meen)
U as in pita: Welsh words: ganu (ganee); cu (key); Cymru (Kumree); tu
(tee); un (een)
O as in lot or moe. Welsh words: o'r (0re); don (don); dod (dode); bob
(bobe)
W as in Zoo or bus. Welsh words: cwm (koom), bws (bus); yw (you); galw
(galoo)
Y has two distinct sounds: the final sound in happy or the vowel sound in
myrrh Welsh words: Y (uh); Yr (ur); yn (un); fry (vree); byd (beed)
All the vowels can be lengthened by the addition of a circumflex (д), known
in Welsh as "to bach" (little roof). Welsh words: Tдn (taan), lдn (laan)
THE DIPHTHONGS:
Ae, Ai and Au are pronounced as English "eye": ninnau (nineye); mae (my);
henaid (henide); main (mine); craig (crige)
Eu and Ei are pronounced the same way as the English ay in pray. Welsh
words: deisiau (dayshy), or in some dialects (deeshuh); deil (dale or
dile); teulu (taylee or tyelee)
Ew is more difficult to describe. It can be approximated as eh-oo or
perhaps as in the word mount. The nearest English sound is found in English
midland dialect words such as the Birmingham pronunciation of "you" (yew).
Welsh words: mewn (meh-oon or moun); tew (teh-oo)
I'w and Y'w sound almost identical to the English "Ee-you." or "Yew" or
"You": Welsh words: clyw (clee-oo); byw (bee-you or b'you); menyw (menee-
you or menyou)
Oe is similar to the English Oy or Oi. Welsh words: croeso (croyso); troed
(troid); oen (oin)
Ow is pronounced as in the English tow, or low: Welsh word: Rhown (rhone);
rho (hrow)
Wy as in English wi in win or oo-ee: Welsh words: Wy (oo-ee); wyn (win);
mwyn (mooin)
Ywy is pronounced as in English Howie. Welsh words: bywyd (bowid); tywyll
(towith)
Aw as in the English cow. Welsh words: mawr (mour); prynhawn (prinhown);
lawr (lour)
THE CONSONANTS:
For the most part b, d, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, and t are pronounced the same
as their English equivalents (h is always pronounced, never silent). Those
that differ are as follows:
C always as in cat; never as in since. Welsh words: canu (Kanee); cwm
(come); cael (kile); and of course, Cymru (Kumree)
Ch as in the Scottish loch or the German ach or noch. The sound is never as
in church, but as in loch or Docherty. Welsh words: edrychwn (edrych oon);
uwch (youch ), chwi (Chee)
Dd is pronounced like the English th in the words seethe or them. Welsh
words: bydd (beethe); sydd (seethe); ddofon (thovon); ffyddlon (futh lon)
Th is like the English th in words such as think, forth, thank. Welsh
words: gwaith (gwithe); byth (beeth)
F as in the English V. Welsh words: afon (avon); fi (vee); fydd (veethe);
hyfryd (huvrid); fawr (vowr), fach (vach)
Ff as in the English f. Welsh words: ffynnon (funon); ffyrdd (furth);
ffaith (fithe)
G always as in English goat, gore. Welsh words: ganu (ganee); ganaf
(ganav); angau (angeye); gem (game)
Ng as in English finger or Long Island. Ng usually occurs with an h
following as a mutation of c. Welsh words Yng Nghaerdydd (in Cardiff:
pronounced ung hire deethe) or Yng Nghymru (in Wales: pronounced ung
Humree)
Ll is an aspirated L. That means you form your lips and tongue to pronounce
L, but then you blow air gently around the sides of the tongue instead of
saying anything. Got it? The nearest you can get to this sound in English
is to pronounce it as an l with a th in front of it. Welsh words: llan
(thlan); llawr (thlour); llwyd (thlooid)
Rh sounds as if the h come before the r. There is a slight blowing out of
air before the r is pronounces. Welsh words: rhengau (hrengye); rhag
(hrag); rhy (hree)
The most common expressions that Welsh-Americans come across are Cymanfa
Ganu (Kumanva Ganee); Eisteddfod (Aye-steth-vod); and Noson Lawen (Nosson
Lowen)
While preparing the essay the following publications and resources were
used:
Publications by Professor R. Rees Davies, M.A., D.Phil. All Souls College,
Oxford:
1. The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415, Oxford, 1991
2. The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr (Oxford, 1995)
3. The Matter of Britain and the Matter of England, Oxford, 1996
Internet resources:
1. www.bbc.co.uk/history
2. www.planet-britain.com
