Minority language abandonment in Welsh-medium educated L2 male adolescents: classroom, not chatroom

ABSTRACT

The education system has played a crucial role in Welsh language maintenance, with Welsh-medium education providing a central locus of language transmission. However, language transmission through education is not without pitfalls. This paper discusses the impact of top-down minority language transmission and the growing issue of formal domain dependency in Wales. We present results of 4 focus groups, undertaken with 19 male adolescent L2 speakers of Welsh. The key findings indicate that top-down formal-domain transmission has amplified the view of Welsh as a language limited to formal, ‘high’ domains, thus inhibiting language application among male adolescents. The inherent association of Welsh with formality as well as tradition and patriotism has led to cultural disengagement among the target group.

KEYWORDS:

• Inverted diglossia
• diglossia
• language maintenance
• minority language education
• Welsh
• language attitudes

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the head of sixth form of the target school for her compliance and flexibility, and to the moderator, Mr Siôn Dafydd Dawson, for his contribution and commitment throughout data collection. Our special thanks to the 2012–2013 sixth-form cohort for providing such lively, engaging and invaluable discussions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Community programme for 16- to 18-year-olds training voluntary, leadership, business and entrepreneurial skills. Notably lacks Welsh-speaking staff.

2. Informants refer to Maes B, a Welsh language pop music festival held annually in Wales during the National Eisteddfod week.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the pan-Wales ESF Convergence project led by Swansea University [Access to Masters].