The Regional Languages of England and Wales: Welsh and Cornish

Abstract

Although Wales may be said to constitute a nation, England and Wales come under one heading, because prior to devolution Wales had been deprived of its own institutions ever since the Act of Union of 1536. Laws passed in England normally applied to ‘England and Wales’, and many still do since the Assembly is subordinate to Westminster. Even post-devolution, the concept of an ‘England and Wales’ unit lingers on. The 2001 census was problematic in this respect since it did not allow for ‘Welsh’ to appear in the nationality box, whereas it allowed for Gaelic, seen as a possible ethnic group in Scotland and Ireland, and also seen as a possible ethnic group in Northern Ireland.² In other words Wales was traditionally seen as closer to England than Scotland and Ireland, and it was this absence of separateness from England which led the Welsh language to becoming all important in defining Welsh-ness. Hence Gwyn Jones (1977) asserted in a radio lecture: ‘The disappearance or severe contraction of Welsh as a living tongue would be a national and human disaster, and to many Welshmen it would be the end of Wales — their Wales.’

I am indebted to Ian Jones of CAMOC’s international committee on museums of cities, for his comments on Welsh, and Jenefer Lowe, Cornish Language Development Manager, for her help with Cornish.