s - Wyższa Szkoła Filologiczna we Wrocławiu

140
Rhidian Jones
more anglicized the language would lose a rich repository of fluent and natural
speakers, not to mention the loss of domains.
Wales does not have demarcated communities where the language is officially
maintained, similar to the Gaeltachtaí in Ireland, and there is little political
support for such a policy in Wales. However, in local authority areas in the
north and west, Welsh is the main medium of education in primary schools and
Welsh is given precedence on road signs and place names which has the semantic
effect of emphasizing the Welshness of the areas.
2.3. Fluency
The numbers of Welsh speakers increased by 74 thousand between 1991
and 2001 according to the Census results, and the 2011 results will in all likelihood
indicate another slight increase due to the growth of Welsh language education
for children in the last 10 years. However, the ability to speak Welsh
fluently and naturally seems to have decreased.
An extensive survey by the Welsh Language Board, entitled 2004 Welsh
Language Use Survey (2006), found that only 57% of Welsh speakers considered
themselves fluent in the language, while the corresponding percentage in
1992 was 61%. Worryingly, in the age group 3–15 only 44% of Welsh speakers
were regarded as fluent in comparison with 72% of speakers over 65. It is relevant
to note that 73% of Welsh speakers aged 3–15 learnt Welsh at school
rather than in the home, which highlights the importance of education in sustaining
Welsh as a living language (2004 Welsh Language Use Survey 2006: 23).
However, many children do not use it outside the classroom and are not inclined,
or lack the confidence, to use it outside the domain of the school, and
this has an effect on fluency in this age group.
Language transferal within the home is a cause of concern which influences
fluency among children and young people. Among Welsh-speaking children
whose mother was the only parent who spoke Welsh, the survey found that 71%
learnt Welsh at home and the remainder learnt it at school. Among speakers
whose father was the only parent who spoke Welsh, less than half had learnt
Welsh at home (2004 Welsh Language Use Survey 2006: 23).
To summarize, the negative aspects, the precarious state of naturally Welshspeaking
communities, and the fluency of young Welsh-speakers are issues of
concern to the future and vitality of Welsh. In consequence, I will mention
briefly the reasons to be more positive about the future of Welsh.