- Chapter Forty -
of what is now a consensus, not hitherto articulate among both language communi-
ties, that Welsh should be given official status. Already, there is agitation for another
language act of a more positive nature. Under the new act the Welsh Language Board
will become a statutory body .nominated by the Welsh Office. After five years of
considerable and significant work it is a matter of regret that government did not take
the Board's proposals as a baseline for the new act.
I suspect that when the new chairman of the Board was approached to consider
the post, which he subsequently accepted, he had good reason to believe that the act
would be far more powerful than the diluted version which has reached the statute
book.
The devious arm of central government has, once again, prevailed, adding another
component to the democratic deficit.
The governmental and bureaucratic mills grind 'exceeding slow' and are in
constant need of lubrication by individuals and groups at grass-root level. It is felt
that the Welsh Office does not truly identify itself with the language cause. It
has been forced to recognize it, compelled to respond to it and persuaded, somewhat
reluctantly, to be active in its support and promotion. Despite positive gestures, of
which there have been many, the establishment is still suspect. After all, politics is so
much a matter of expedience, whereas the language is a matter of survival for the
committed.
In order to discover the linguistic identity of the kind which I have sought to
articulate one has to dig beneath the surface. The superficial gloss is obvious enough
in the tourist shops, the tourist publications and the predictable cliches (Figure 40.7).
Beneath this layer of veneer lie veins of encouragement and significance.
There are thousands of adults who are attending classes to learn Welsh as a sec-
ond language. At the other end of the age range is the phenomenal growth of Welsh
language medium education notably in the traditional anglicized areas of industrial
south-east and north-east Wales. The fulcrum of the concern for the language has
shifted from what was the 'heartland' of the west.
Figure 40.7 Welsh dragon.802