The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/182280
FEATURES Diglot's campaign raised awareness of Cornish as a linguistic force to be reckoned with IN PRINT: Books in Scottish Gaelic at The Gaelic Books Council (left); and (inset) Diglot's 'Matthew ha'n Eskisyow Glaw' on texts available to him at the British Museum. Over the last century there has been a resurgence of interest in the language and culture, and in 2001, the Cornish language became protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Its written form was standardised in 2008. The Cornish Language Partnership estimates there to be hundreds of fluent speakers and thousands who are 'conversant', but the figures aren't clear. What is clear is that from within Cornwall, there is a fervent determination to protect and foster the language both in local communities and further afield. Mike Tresidder, Education Officer at the Cornish Language Partnership, explains: 'People are determined to keep the Cornish language going and the Standard Form enables greater strides to be made in developing the language publicly. But there is next to no budget for translating, promoting and teaching Cornish.' Unlike Welsh, its Brythonic counterpart, it is far from being compulsory in schools. However, about a quarter of primary schools now offer at least some Cornish. 'Part of the Cornish Language Partnership's strategy is to focus on early years and primary. We need to plant the seed as early as possible and encourage children to return to the language in the future,' says Tresidder. CELEBRATING CORNISH Locals dress up for the Obby Oss festival to mark the coming of summer Vol/52 No/5 2013 Movyans Skolyow Meythrin opened its first bilingual English/Cornish nursery school in 2010. It has been hugely popular with both children and parents, and the pre-school is increasing its number of sessions from one a week to three in order to meet demand from local families. Tresidder says there are plans for another nursery to open in East Cornwall in the near future. 'Cornish has captured people's imagination, and we're also becoming more professional in using it. It has developed a life as a marketing tool, and businesses love using it on signs and promotional materials,' he explains. 'Booksellers and publishers in Cornwall certainly feel a responsibility to look after the Cornish language. But the UK as a whole should be working to protect it – it's an important part of the European language culture and enriches our culture,' adds Gadd. 'The UK publishing industry should shoulder this responsibility also I think.' Oxford University Press recently responded to increasing customer demand and interest in local languages by publishing their bilingual visual dictionaries in a variety of Celtic languages, including Welsh and Cornish. According to Vineeta Gupta, a Publisher in OUP's Education and Children's division: 'Our market research shows that children are increasingly being exposed to these languages so we have a duty to respond to that and extend our range. We're now publishing our visual dictionaries in over 20 languages, ranging from Slovak, Slovene, Romanian and Czech, to Amharic for Ethiopia, Indonesian and Arabic. We felt to go global we also had a duty to go local.' Spreading the word Diglot Books' campaign proves just how much of an impact social media can have in protecting the rights of minority languages. 'People power is so important,' says O'Dornan. 'And it's also about the willingness of the younger generation to take up endangered languages and progress them. It's not just about old people speaking it – we need parents to encourage their children to take up minority languages.' The Welsh Government has launched a Welsh Language Technology Fund to increase online access to Welsh, and social media platforms Facebook and Twitter are available in the language. The responsibility of parents and communities in preventing the decline of Welsh is at the heart of the Welsh Language initiative Menter Cwm Gwendraeth. Cathryn Ings, their Business Manager, says: 'Booksellers and publishers have a very important role. What better way to spread the love of Welsh than to read it? There needs to be a choice of books in the medium of Welsh to appeal to a much wider audience.' Recent census figures reveal that the number of Welsh speakers in Wales is actually declining. Just 19 percent of the Welsh population speak it, compared with 21 percent in 2001. Among Welsh speakers aged 16 to 24, half consider themselves fluent but only a third use Welsh with their friends. Ings believes that these figures signal that it is time to change perceptions about Welsh. 'At the moment there's a certain amount of snobbery about Welsh – it's seen as the language of the middle-classes because those schools which offer it do very well in the OCTOBER/NOVEMBER The Linguist 25