- Chapter Forty-One -
official Report on the Welsh Language Today and, in 1965, of a further official report
on the Legal Status of the Welsh Language, the first Welsh Language Act was passed.
This provides inter alia that 'in any legal proceeding in Wales ... the Welsh language
may be spoken by any party, witness or other person who desires to use it',
that Welsh versions of official documents or forms 'may' (i.e. not 'must' or 'shall')
be provided at the behest of the appropriate minister, and that 'anything done in
Welsh' on the basis of such documents 'shall have the like effect as if done in English'.
The 1967 Act has had far-reaching effects, extending beyond the field of the use of
Welsh in legal and official business to which its scope is technically limited. One
effect has been a vastly increased use of welsh by such public or recently privatized
bodies as the Post Office, British Rail, electricity and gas companies, by banks and
building societies, by political and other organizations in their publicity material,
and, though as yet only to a limited extent, by supermarkets and other commercial
concerns.
Though much was achieved for Welsh in the wake of the 1967 Act, proponents of
the language feel that it has not ensured a totally satisfactory role for the language in
public life. The next step forward occurred in July 1988 with the setting up by the
Secretary of State for Wales of the Welsh Language Board, whose terms of reference
were stated as being 'to promote and develop the Welsh language and advise on
matters requiring legislative action'. This the Board has interpreted as entrusting to
it, inter alia, the tasks of 'assisting public and private bodies and individuals in
the use of the language, and of promoting it in their activities' and of 'advising the
Secretary of State on matters relating to the Welsh language' (Welsh Language Board
1989: 2). In February 1991, the Board published specific proposals for a new Welsh
Language Act. It identified as particular inadequacies of the 1967 Act 'its failure
to declare that in Wales the Welsh language shall be equal in status to the English
language' and 'its failure to make effective provision for greater use of the language
in the public sector' (Welsh Language Board 199 1: 3).
The position accorded to Scottish Gaelic in public life is in no way comparable to
that enjoyed by Welsh. The Western Isles Islands Council, which covers most of the
Gaelic-speaking area, has in the last ten years adopted a policy of encouraging
the use of the language in those fields for which it has responsibility, but as far
as central government is concerned, and outside the field of education (see below),
it is almost as if the language did not exist. The position is fairly summarized in a
1986 document prepared for the European Commission by the Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana (Commission of the European Communities 1986: 176):
Certificates of civil status and publications regarding the same are not available
in Gaelic .... Gaelic has virtually no place in Government .... Citizens with an
understanding of English ... are not entitled as of right to use Gaelic when
defending themselves in court.
The status of Breton is inferior even to that of Gaelic in that, quite simply, 'Breton
has no official role in administration' (Humphreys 1992: 259) apart from 'its rather
cosmetic use on signs'. The most that the author of the words just quoted can find
to say on the positive side is that the departement of Cotes d' Armor 'has gone some
way towards bilingualizing roadsigns in the Breton area, while certain banks issue