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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 280

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Ideological Directions in Welsh Language Policy: A Discourse Historical Analysis

Authors: Sayers, Dave
Submitted by: Sayers, Dave (Åbo Akademi University, Finland)

The Welsh Government’s plan to ‘create a bilingual Wales’ is ambitious – aiming for significant increases in Welsh use across Wales, a country with no Welsh monolinguals, and including areas where everyday use of Welsh has become negligible. The plan is emblematic of the tension between city and countryside, given the growth of Welsh speakers in Welsh cities and continued decline in urban 'heartland' areas. How the devolved Welsh legislature promotes the Welsh language as a national icon therefore touches on the fractious territory of heritage, identity, authenticity and cultural survival – all politically charged issues in the context of post-devolutionary nation building.

This paper examines ideological orientations in three Welsh language policy documents – 'texts' which are informed and contoured by overarching national and international legislation. Discourse historical analysis (a form of critical discourse analysis) is used to weigh up their ideological orientations.

The orientations are categorised using De Schutter’s (2007) tripartite framework of language ideologies:

- ‘instrumental’ (language is a means to achieve other non-linguistic human capabilities);

- ‘constitutive’ (language influences identity);

- ‘intrinsic’ (language is valuable irrespective of human interests).

The findings show that the intrinsic ideology predominates significantly and consistently across the three texts. Action is planned not in the interests of human capabilities or even identity, but of the Welsh language as an independent entity. Furthermore, there are instances where potential discriminatory effects on non-speakers of Welsh are acknowledged, and explicitly justified within the pursuit of increase Welsh usage.

Overall, these ideological orientations make Welsh language policy quite unusual when compared to other areas of Welsh social policy (e.g. Sayers, Rock & Coffey, in prep.).

References:

De Schutter, Helder (2007). Language policy and political philosophy: On the emerging linguistic justice debate. Language Problems and Language Planning 31(1): 1–23.

Sayers, Dave, Frances Rock & Michael Coffey (in prep.). Speeding up or reaching out? Efficiency and unmet need as policy priorities in Wales.