PERCEPTIONS OF THE STRENGTH OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND WELSH CULTURE IN THE CHUBUT PROVINCE, ARGENTINA
PERCEPTIONS OF THE STRENGTH OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND WELSH CULTURE IN THE CHUBUT PROVINCE, ARGENTINA
The Welsh in the Chubut Province, Argentina, have long been of interest to researchers. For many years, there has been a growing interest in the historical and sociological development of the region, as evidenced by the need for an academic conference regarding the Welsh in Patagonia.
This presentation will adopt a sociolinguistic perspective regarding the Welsh in Patagonia, discussing the subjective perceptions of Chubut Province residents of the strength of the Welsh language and of Welsh culture in their surroundings.
Drawing upon the theories and taxonomy of Vitality, suggested by Giles, Bourhis and Taylor (1977), a questionnaire was developed to uncover the subjective perceptions of Welsh language and culture in the Chubut Province. This questionnaire was distributed between September and November 2004 in the seven urban areas originally included in the Welsh Language Teaching Scheme with 371 completed questionnaires being returned by inhabitants of these municipalities. The distribution of the questionnaires included a wide cross-section of society to reflect perceptions of the strength of the Welsh language amongst the society as a whole and not just the Welsh community.
This presentation will concentrate upon important questions relating to the current perceptions of the strength of Welsh language and Welsh culture and perceptions of the prevailing historical and future trends. Analysis of the questionnaire results has shown generally positive trends in informants’ responses with significant differences in responses uncovered in relation to the informants’ affiliation to the Welsh community, fluency in oral Welsh, location, the strength of the Welsh community network in their hometown and whether or not they live in a rural or urban environment. Some significant differences exist according to the informants’ age and the region of the province in which they live.