How can Cymraeg flourish following the 2021 census results?
From Planet 250
by Cynog Dafis and Mabli Siriol Jones
Our new regular feature brings together two people to discuss a contemporary topic, as a counterpoint to the toxic nature of much social media debate. Cynog Dafis and Mabli Siriol Jones, authors of Cymdeithas manifestos fifty years apart, offer an inter-generational reflection on different experiences in rural and urban Wales to detail ways forward for the language.
In 1978, while researching the linguistic impact of English in-migration into the Teifi Valley, I interviewed a number of in-migrants of a previous generation who spoke Welsh so fluently as to be practically indistinguishable from the native population. They included young people from London orphanages who were employed on local farms early in the twentieth century and Second World War evacuees.
All told a similar story. Within a few weeks they had acquired a smattering of Welsh and within a year were well-nigh fluent, using their new language among each other as well as with the locals.
Sign in to read moreAbout the author
Cynog Dafis originally taught English and campaigned for Welsh-medium education. He then entered electoral politics as an MP and was subsequently AM in the first National Assembly where he chaired the Education Committee. In 1972 he wrote Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s first manifesto which set out the range of policy changes considered necessary in order to enable the Welsh language to flourish.
Mabli Siriol Jones is from Grangetown. She has worked in politics, and as a campaigner for LGBT+ rights and progressive reform of the asylum system. She became involved in language campaigning in 2015 and was Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith between 2020 and 2022. She was one of the authors of Cymdeithas’s most recent manifesto in 2022, fifty years after the appearance of the first.
