Acceso usuarios
Stephen May
Any minority language policy must overcome two key difficulties if it is to be successfully implemented at state level. One is institutional - how can a minority language be legitimated and institutionalised in the public or civic realm when this has always been regarded previously as the preserve of the majority language? The other is attitudinal - how can a minority language gain sufficient support from majority language speakers for it to be accepted (and spoken regularly) as a state language? In this paper, I will explore these two difficulties, and the potential for their resolution, by discussing recent institutional developments in Welsh language policy in Wales - notably, the (1993) Welsh Language Act and the (1988) Education Reform Act - and by examining the attitudes and responses to such developments of a cohort of Welsh teacher trainees. The empirical data, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, will show that while minority language policies can garner considerable support at a general level, as is the case now in Wales, more specific aspects of bilingual policy remain openly contested. The latter is particularly so when aspects of minority language policy, such as bilingual requirements for public sector employment, appear to impinge on individual citizenship rights.
