Research

The Focus

Rather than trying to compare data on all six Celtic languages, I decided to work with the two largest – Irish and Welsh – and one smaller one on which I have created a dataset of my own, Cornish. I was particularly interested in these languages because of the way they have been used to express, “Hey, we aren’t all English around here.”

The Republic of Ireland has tried to push the Irish language as a key part of a national identity. Road signs have English and Irish on them, and any citizen of the Republic of Ireland has the right to treat with the Irish government in Irish. This movement began with the revolutionary nationalists of the 19th century and was realized by their 20th century descendants. However, even as the population of the Republic of Ireland moves toward pre-Famine level populations – and perhaps even a realization of the Good Friday Agreement’s allowances for reunification with Northern Ireland – the use of Irish is on the decline. I wanted to know a little bit more about that decline.

Wales, on the other hand, does not have as bloody a recent history as the Republic of Ireland. Wales has been a part of the United Kingdom for centuries, with a devolved assembly and representatives in the Westminster Parliament. Their non-violent interactions with the English coupled with their Celtic identity are very intriguing.

Finally, Cornwall is a county of England, occupying the southwestern portion of the English coast. A Cornish identity has taken root there, and there is a movement to create a Cornish Assembly like the one in Wales. However, these efforts are slow to progress against the bureaucracy of the United Kingdom. I interned at the USF Special Collections department and got to interact with some primary source material on the Cornish literary revival, and I was able to create a small database from that interaction. It does not give a complete picture of the Cornish language revival of the 20th century, but it does serve as an interesting glimpse into what could be very stimulating future research.

What I am After

  • Utilizing census data, I want to get a picture of how many people have some knowledge of these three Celtic languages.
  • Also, what kind of trends can be identified in their changes over time?
  • How prevalent are non-English British languages in the United Kingdom?
  • And finally, where do we see the most publications in the Cornish language revival?