Survival of Welsh lesson for Bretons

Press, 30 April 1981, Page 27

Survival of Welsh lesson for Bretons

NZPA’ Cardiff Now that the huge caravan sites are deserted, and the hills are bereft of the gaily coloured tents of summer campers, parts of Wales .have returned to. a resemblance of the Celtic kingdom which language idealists wish had never vanished. In the Lleyn peninsula or in the rural hinterland of Gwynedd or Dyfed, many people communicate throughout their workday in their native tongue, then pick up their children from Welsh schools before going home to listen to Welsh language ' radio or television programmes. In its way it is a remarkable tribute to linguisitic tenacity, for the language has survived not only infiltration from the attractive culture of its big neighbour but also attempts in the past to legislate it out of existence.

Extremists maintain that the “English Government” is still committed to a deliberate policy of killing the Welsh language, although the facts do not bear them out. In fact, successive post-war Administrations- have given increased aid to foster the language and now, with the battle for Welsh programmes on the fourth television channel won, it can fairly be argued that if the language dies it will be because of the apathy of the Welsh people.

Indeed, a common complaint by most Welsh people who do not speak the language is that the Welsh-speaking “Taffia” is so entrenched that English speakers are discriminated against, particularly on the news media and academic, circles. The success of tne fourth channel . campaign, where the Government was forced to honour a pledge it had: broken because of the ..death threat by- Mr Gwynfor Evans, has ■ motivated supporters of minority languages tn

the other .Celtic “nations.” In, France, the International Committee for the Defence of the Breton Language claims that the Government is by “hostility and trickery” flouting tjie right of the tongue to survive. Spoken by fewer than 500,000 people, Breton, introduced to the Armorican peninsula by Welsh and Cornish immigrants, is the only living Celtic language in continental Europe. According to the committee it has been discriminated against for centuries and its use forbidden in the classrooms, until a few years ago, on pain of ignominious punishment.

x Central to the committee’s complaint is that a cultural charter promised. to the Bretons in 1977 by the president of the Republic was withdrawn from discussions once the elections were over and won.

The Bretons complain that their language is disciriminated against in the news media, in the public service, and in education. Radio : Armorique, for example, broadcasts 5|

hours of Breton language programmes a week compared with 65 hours of Welsh on 8.8. C. Cymru. Television is accorded half an hour a weqk compared with a total of 13j hours of Welsh language programmes in Wales, soon to expand to more than 20 hours. In the public- services in Brittany, the language is totally excluded from public administration and requests for bilingual signposts are turned down. In education, no central funds are available, for Breton language nursery schools and only one hour a week is allowed in primary schools for the tongue to be taught. According to the committee, a recent survey showed that 30,000 pupils wanted .to learn Breton but were being denied the opportunity. When they consider these claims, and see the Welsh dragon flying over public buildings in the principality, language extremists in Wales might pause to consider the status of their language compared with that of Breton. ,