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The Urban Hierarchy, Diffusion and the Welsh Language: A Preliminary Analysis 1901-71 STEPHEN W. WILLIAMS Department of Geography, University of Keele. (Revised March 1980: in revised form August 1980) Abstract Most studies which focus on large scale changes in the spatial distribution of the Welsh language imply to a greater or lesser ex- tent that anglicization has proceeded in a fairly uniform wavelike manner. However, in reality the pattern of diffusion is more complex. Thus, in addition to expansion and relocation types of diffusion evi- dence suggests that English was also being diffused through the urban hierarchy. The present paper provides a preliminary analysis of this hierarchical effect for the period 1901-1971. The analyses indicate that during the period the process of anglicization as it relates to urban centres has been distinctly hierarchical in nature. Further avenues of research are suggested. Introductíon The concept of diffusion is implicit in most recent studies which have» focused on large scale changes in the spatial distribution of the Welsh language. Thus, the visual evaluation and interpretation of maps produced from successive censuses (Williams 1937, Thomas 1956, Jones and Griffiths 1963, Bowen and Carter 1974, 1975) imply to a greater or lesser extent that anglicization, during the present century at least, has proceeded in a fairly uniform wave-like manner. Bowen and Carter write (1974,437):- The distribution pattern of the language has, since it was first studied, been dominated by the seemingly inexorable push of the divide between English and Welsh towards the west This process of the westward march of the language divide has continued through the intercensal decade. Indeed, it is apparent that if the English language is considered as the trait being diffused then the situation would appear to exhibit the six elements which Hägerstrand (1953) considers as being funda- mental to all spatial diffusion studies: (i) an area or environment; (2) a temporal dimension; (3) an item being diffused; (4) places at which the item is located at the start of a time period; (5) places at which the item is newly located at the end of a time period; (6) a path of movement. Within this diffusion perspective interpretation