Langue et identité : une enquête sociolinguistique menée dans huit écoles galloises portant sur les attitudes envers le gallois et l’anglais

Abstract

Based on a questionnaire survey carried out among young Welsh speakers in several regions of Wales, the article provides a brief overview of the prevailing perceptions of the Welsh language and its future. What emerges is a clearly more unfavourable image among non-speakers than among speakers of Welsh. But this divide is also compounded by social contrasts: young people from working-class backgrounds are more likely to be monolingual English speakers than those from middle-class backgrounds. This fuels a certain lack of interest in Welsh among them, along with a rejection of standard English, the variety of the dominant classes.

Keywords

• sociolinguistics
• Welsh (language)
• English (language)
• linguistic representations
• standard language