ABSTRACT

The Welsh Government’s Welsh language strategy, Cymraeg: A million Welsh speakers [Welsh Government. 2017a. Cymraeg 2050: A Million Welsh Speakers. Cardiff: Welsh Government], aims to increase the numbers of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050. The creation of new Welsh speakers and immersion education form an integral part of the Welsh Government’s language revitalisation strategy and this study revisits new Welsh speakers from the Rhymney Valley, South Wales in 2016/2017 a decade on from the 2006 research study [Hodges, R. 2009. “Welsh Language Use Among Young People in the Rhymney Valley.” Contemporary Wales 22: 16–35. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/uwp/cowa/2009/00000022/00000001/art00004]. This longitudinal research provides further insights into their continuing language journeys, and indicates there has been a sustained reduction in this group’s use of Welsh by 2016/2017 due to factors relating to fluency, confidence and a lack of opportunities to use Welsh. However, the results indicate that new speakers play an important role in influencing family language transmission and in increasing language awareness within the workplace. This paper calls for further longitudinal research on new Welsh speakers’ language journeys so that this group may be appropriately supported as they make a crucial contribution to language revitalisation in Wales.

摘要

威尔士政府的威尔士语言策略，辛克拉（Cymraeg）：100万威尔士语使用者[威尔士政府。2017a。Cymraeg 2050：百万威尔士演讲者。加的夫：威尔士政府]，目标是到2050年将威尔士讲者的数量增加到100万。创建新的威尔士讲者和浸入式教育是威尔士政府语言振兴战略不可或缺的一部分，本研究从Rhymney重新审视了新的威尔士讲者2016/2017年，南威尔士山谷，距2006年的研究已经过去了十年[Hodges，R.2009。“威尔士谷地年轻人使用威尔士语言。” 当代威尔士22：16-35。http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/uwp/cowa/2009/00000022/00000001/art00004]。这项纵向研究为他们的继续语言之旅提供了进一步的见解，并指出由于流利程度，自信心和缺乏使用威尔士语的机会等因素，到2016/2017年，该小组对威尔士语的使用持续减少。但是，结果表明，新演讲者在影响家庭语言传播和提高工作场所的语言意识方面起着重要作用。本文要求对新的威尔士讲者的语言之旅进行进一步的纵向研究，以使这一群体得到适当的支持，因为他们为威尔士的语言振兴做出了重要贡献。