- The Celtic Languages Today -
media, is much improved. It is certain that many children who will be born in the
early decades of the twenty-first century will be brought up to speak Welsh as either
a first or a second language: it will depend on them whether or not, by the end of the
century, Welsh is in a stronger position than Irish and Scottish Gaelic are now.
NOTES
I The distribution of the language according to the 1981 census is presented with stark
clarity by the maps and accompanying commentary in Aitchison and Carter 1985.
2 See Office of Population Censuses and Surveys 1983.
3 See Registrar General Scotland 1983.
4 See Central Statistics Office 1985. ,
5 For a fuller coverage of the fields dealt with in this paragraph see 0 Murchll 1985: 35-6,
and 1992: 48-9.
6 For a survey of the use of Breton in the Catholic Church throughout the twentieth
century, see Humphreys 1991: 106-1 I.REFERENCES
Aitchison, J. and Carter, H. (1985) The Welsh Language 1961-1981: an interpretative survey,
Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Bord na Gaeilge (1986) The Irish Language in a Changing Society, Dublin: Bord na Gaeilge.
Bowen, E.G. and Carter, H. (1975) 'The distribution of the Welsh language in 1971: an
analysis', Geography 60: 1-15.
Central Statistics Office (1985) Census of Population of Ireland, 1981, vol. 6: Irish Language,
Dublin: Central Statistics Office.
Commission of the European Communities (1986) Linguistic Minorities in Countries belong-
ing to the European Community, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the
European Communities.
Humphreys, H.L. (1991) 'The geolinguistics of Breton', in Colin H. Williams (ed.) Linguistic
Minorities, Society and Territory, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 96-120.
--(1992) 'The Breton language', in Glanville Price (ed.) The Celtic Connection, Gerrards
Cross: Colin Smythe, 245-75.
Lyon, ]. and Ellis, N. (1991) 'Parental attitudes towards the Welsh language', Journal of
Multilingual and Multicultural Development 12: 239-5 I.
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1983) Census 1981: Welsh Language in Wales,
London: HMSO.
6 MurchU, M. (1985) The Irish Language, Dublin: Department of Foreign Affairs and Bord
na Gaeilge.
--(1992) 'The Irish language', in Glanville Price (ed.) The Celtic Connection, Gerrards
Cross: Colin Smythe, 30-64.
Registrar General Scotland (1983) Census 1981: Gaelic report, Edinburgh: HMSO.
Roberts, A. (1991) 'Parental attitudes to Gaelic-medium education in the Western Isles of
Scotland', Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 12: 253-69.
Welsh Language Board (1989) The Welsh Language: a strategy for the future, Cardiff: Welsh
Language Board.
--(1991) Argymhellion ar gyfer Deddf Iaith Newydd / Recommendations for a New Welsh
Language Act, Cardiff: Welsh Language Board.813