Welsh Journals

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Twin, with a burst of laughter, said, "Old Isaac thinks they fight in squares in France", Sam turned on him with "That's how we fought every battle I've been in". Twm was taken aback, he tried to regain his ground, but the sympathies of the company were with the man with the wound- stripe. "Tell us, Sam", said one, "how you did it". "No", said Sam, "old Isaac can tell it so much better". The other night, as I passed the shoemaker's LINGUISTIC BIMETALLISM IN WALES Sir,-The recent Report on "Welsh in Educa- tion and Life" suggests a few observations from the standpoint of an Englishman who has settled in Wales, and has learnt, perhaps rather imper- fectly, to read and speak the Welsh language. The greatest hindrance to acquiring Welsh is the existence of two varieties of the language, namely, the literary language, which is the same for all parts of Wales, and the spoken "llafar gwlad", which differs according to locality. Any attempt on the part of the "naturalised" settler in Wales to speak literary Welsh is likely to provoke merriment, so that, unless Welsh is to be for him a dead language, he must also acquire the patois of the district. In this respect, Welsh occu- pies a singular position, for, so far as I am aware, in all other Western nations the literary language is at once available for spoken intercourse. I venture to suggest that the use of dialect in spoken Welsh is a real obstacle to giving the language that prestige for which the Report so earnestly pleads. The scholarly historical intro- duction shows that, after Tudor times, Welsh only survived as a spoken language among the humbler classes of society. As a consequence, the modern Welshman, no matter how learned in his native language and literature, uses in daily life the speech of the peasantry of his locality, and must inevitably experience constraint in spoken intercourse with his compatriots from other parts of Wales. The difficulty in the way of foreigners acquir- ing the language, and the speech barriers erected between Welsh speakers from different dialect provinces are perhaps not the least of the evils arising from the privileged position of "llafar gwlad". To quote from the Report: The tend- ency is far too common to regard Welsh as a beloved vernacular, a homely speech, the use of which puts people at their ease in company by making little demand on the usual courtesies of social intercourse". Wales may congratulate her- shop, I glanced in. There was a full company, and Isaac was holding forth, with Sam Glanrhyd foremost among the listeners. When my ears caught the familiar phrase and Welling- ton ordered the front rank to kneel down I knew that the Great War, like its predecessors, had gone out of fashion, and that life at the shoe- maker's shop, at any rate, had reverted to its normal course. CORRESPONDENCE self on the literary revival of the past quarter century, but the same masters who touch per- fection in the written tongue use "llafar gwlad" for their spoken intercourse. I cannot avoid the impression that this linguistic bimetallism is one of the chief detractions from the prestige of Welsh-from its prestige among foreigners, and from its prestige among the rising generation of educated Welshmen. Judged by the standards of the literary lan- guage, spoken Welsh appears to be too liable to degenerate into slovenliness of speech and, per- haps worse, to invite corruption by the unneces- sary use of English words. That Welsh should assimilate words from other languages is a sign of vitality, but that Welshmen should use English words when there are good Welsh words avail- able seems unpardonable. The Report imposes the conviction that Wales dare not contemplate the loss of her language, and suggests many expedients whereby this calamity may be averted. The whole problem, however, appears to be one of prestige-I make no apology for reiterating the word. Welsh will not occupy a worthy place as the language of a cultivated nation while her intellectual classes descend to a lower plane for their daily speech. The Welsh are a democratic people, but their language, if it is to recover its lost prestige, must be an aristocratic language. If "llafar gwlad" is to be the only medium of intercourse, not all the brilliance of modern Welsh literature will save the language from the fate of Manx and Cornish. I do not know how far it is practicable for literary Welsh to displace "llafar gwlad" in ordi- nary speech. He who first makes the experiment may have to encounter a certain amount of ridi- cule. Yet I feel convinced that the idea is worthy of consideration. It is offered in no spirit of criticism of Welsh, but rather from an earnest wish to see the ancient language occupying a more honoured place.-Yours, etc., G. W. ROBINSON. University College of North Wales, Bangor, Dec, 19th, 1927.