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The '''Welsh Not''' (also '''Welsh Knot''', '''Welsh Note''', '''Welsh Stick''' or '''Cwstom''') was an item used in Welsh schools in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to stigmatise and punish through flogging<ref>''The Atlas'' – Saturday 22 January 1848 (page 6)</ref> children who were heard using the [[Welsh language]]. |
The '''Welsh Not''' (also '''Welsh Knot''', '''Welsh Note''', '''Welsh Stick''' or '''Cwstom''') was an item used in Welsh schools in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to stigmatise and punish through flogging<ref>''The Atlas'' – Saturday 22 January 1848 (page 6)</ref> children who were heard using the [[Welsh language]]. |
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Typically the Not was a piece of wood, a ruler or a stick, often inscribed with the letters "WN". This was given to the first pupil to be heard speaking Welsh. When another child was heard using Welsh, The Not was taken from its current holder and given to the latest offender. Whoever was in possession of The Not was encouraged to pass it on to any of their Welsh-speaking classmates by informing the teacher that they had caught someone else speaking Welsh. The pupil in possession at the end of the day was subjected to [[School corporal punishment|corporal punishment]] or other penalty (some reports suggest the punishment was administered at the end of the week, or at the end of each lesson). |
Typically the Not was a piece of wood, a ruler or a stick, often inscribed with the letters "WN". This was given to the first pupil to be heard speaking Welsh. When another child was heard using Welsh, The Not was taken from its current holder and given to the latest offender. Whoever was in possession of The Not was encouraged to pass it on to any of their Welsh-speaking classmates by informing the teacher that they had caught someone else speaking Welsh. The pupil in possession at the end of the day was subjected to [[School corporal punishment|corporal punishment]] or other penalty (some reports suggest the punishment was administered at the end of the week, or at the end of each lesson). This was to encourage pupils not to speak Welsh. |
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==Language policy== |
==Language policy== |
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In reality the use of the Welsh Not was primarily used by the Welsh in Welsh run schools prior to the [[Elementary Education Act 1870|Education Act 1870]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Reports of the commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales|year=1847|page=19|chapter=Part 3: North Wales, comprising Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Meirioneth and Montgomery – Report|chapter-url=http://digidol.llgc.org.uk/METS/SEW00004b/frames?part=body&div=19&locale=en&mode=reference}}</ref> |
In reality the use of the Welsh Not was primarily used by the Welsh in Welsh run schools prior to the [[Elementary Education Act 1870|Education Act 1870]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Reports of the commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales|year=1847|page=19|chapter=Part 3: North Wales, comprising Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Meirioneth and Montgomery – Report|chapter-url=http://digidol.llgc.org.uk/METS/SEW00004b/frames?part=body&div=19&locale=en&mode=reference}}</ref> |
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===Effects=== |
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The effect of The Not was to stigmatise the use of the Welsh language among children, and engender the idea that English, as the preferable [[medium of instruction]], was the language of moral progress and opportunity, further playing out the long-term effect of the Language Clause in [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542|The Act of Union]] 1536. The practice and wider social changes of the nineteenth and the beginning of the 20th century saw many Welsh speakers come to view the speaking of Welsh as a disadvantage.<ref name="BBC not">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/language_education.shtml|title=Welsh and 19th century education|publisher=BBC|access-date=21 May 2014}}</ref> |
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Although no direct correlation can be made to use of the Welsh Not and the decline of those speaking Welsh, the decline of its use well into the 19th and 20th century and the long term stigma attached to the use of the language, clearly shows it had an effect.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/home-truths-decline-of-welsh-language/|title=Home Truths: the decline of the Welsh language|website=openDemocracy}}</ref> The [[1911 Census]] showed that by the beginning of the 20th century the numbers of those speaking [[Welsh language|Welsh]] were dramatically declining. 43.5% of its now 2.5 million population in [[Wales]] spoke Welsh, with 35% of those being bilingual in Welsh and English. |
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This was a decrease compared to the [[1891 United Kingdom census|1891 census]] which reported that out of a then 1.5 million populous, nearly 50% (49.9%) spoke the language; 34.8% being [[bilingual]] in both English and Welsh, and 15.1% being [[Monolingualism|monoglot]] (compared to 8.5% being monoglot in the 1911 census). |
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The [[1921 census]] also recorded a further decrease in the number of the populous who were able to speak the Welsh language, with now only 38.7% being able to speak it and only 6.6% of that percentage being Welsh monoglots. |
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However it must be considered that the use of the Welsh Not and the oppression of the Welsh language is only part of the reason why the numbers of those who spoke Welsh declined.{<ref>https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/21358707/2018OwenSAPhD.pdf</ref> If the treatment of the Welsh language in the education system was the decisive reason for its decline, it would be difficult to justify the variety of concentration of the language regionally within the country. |
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The [[1921 Census]] does show that 87.8% of individuals could Speak Welsh in [[Anglesey]], while in [[Cardiff]], the Capital of Wales, only 5.2% of individuals could speak the language. Some have used this to suggest the Welsh education system (being standardised) must therefore not be the key variable in keeping the language alive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/30485|title=Welsh Speakers in 1921|website=Peoples Collection Wales}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://martinjohnes.com/tag/schools/|title=schools|website=Martin Johnes}}</ref> |
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However this is reductive and in reality, this discrepancy may be attributed to the multi-cultural nature of Cardiff. With many in 1921 not being native to the country and of diverse ethnic/language origins. Anglesey is more of a monoculture and so would have sustained a higher proportion of Welsh speakers at that time. |
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===Discouragement of use with disabled children=== |
===Discouragement of use with disabled children=== |
Revision as of 17:29, 16 August 2021
"Endeavoured to compel the children to converse in English by means of a piece of wood. Offenders to be shut in after school hours."
Extracts from the Llansantffraid Board School log book. 8 February 1870.[1]
The Welsh Not (also Welsh Knot, Welsh Note, Welsh Stick or Cwstom) was an item used in Welsh schools in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to stigmatise and punish through flogging[2] children who were heard using the Welsh language.
Typically the Not was a piece of wood, a ruler or a stick, often inscribed with the letters "WN". This was given to the first pupil to be heard speaking Welsh. When another child was heard using Welsh, The Not was taken from its current holder and given to the latest offender. Whoever was in possession of The Not was encouraged to pass it on to any of their Welsh-speaking classmates by informing the teacher that they had caught someone else speaking Welsh. The pupil in possession at the end of the day was subjected to corporal punishment or other penalty (some reports suggest the punishment was administered at the end of the week, or at the end of each lesson). This was to encourage pupils not to speak Welsh.
Language policy
The restriction of the use of the Welsh language began with the enactment of the Act of Union 1536 by Henry VIII.[3]
Within the Walls of Westminster, the removal of the language was further widely discussed, which is evident in the published 'Parliamentary Papers – Volume 16' [1844], which reads; 'as far as your experience goes, there is a general desire for education, and the parents are desirous that their children should learn the English language?--Beyond anything.' and later reading mentions: 'There is the greatest anxiety to catch one another speaking Welsh, and there is a cry out immediately, "Welsh not."' [4][5]
The publication of the Reports of the Commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales 1847 also carried this sentiment, noting its opinion that the state of education was severely inadequate compared to that of English education. Children who only spoke Welsh were taught by English speaking teachers and were taught through the use of English written textbooks. Due to its negative depiction of Wales, the report became more commonly known as Brad y Llyfrau Gleision, or the Treachery of the Blue Books. This was mainly due to its openly suggestive attitude towards the removal of the Welsh language in its entirety, describing the Welsh language as an "evil" thing.[6] Humphreys described the report as drawing "a dark picture of ignorance and, what was much worse, immorality".[7] An editorial in the Times Newspaper in 1866 described the language as "the curse of Wales" and a "dead language". It was also described as a barrier to the Welsh in joining civilisation.
The report's commissioners came across one example of the use of a Welsh Not during their inquiry. Their report condemned its use as educational nonsense and as promoting dishonesty.[8] They wrote...
"Among other injurious effects, this custom has been found to lead children to visit stealthily the houses of their school-fellows for the purpose of detecting those who speak Welsh to their parents, and transferring to them the punishment due to themselves."[9]
In reality the use of the Welsh Not was primarily used by the Welsh in Welsh run schools prior to the Education Act 1870.[10]
Discouragement of use with disabled children
As recently as 2000, a few therapists, health visitors & other healthcare staff employed by the state were advising parents not to speak to their disabled child in Welsh, thinking that speaking two languages would disadvantage them, these views were unfounded, which only caused grievances among families.[11]
In a published scientific paper titled; Language profiles of Welsh-English bilingual children with Down syndrome (2021) it concluded that there were no adverse side-effects to language developments to disabled children growing up speaking bilingually in both Welsh and English.[12]
History
"Cannot get the children from the habit of talking in Welsh; the school as a whole is backward in English."
Extracts from the log book of the British School, Aberaeron. Written by the head teacher. 5th November, 1880.[1]
Origin
The use of "The Not" was recorded as early as the 18th century, Although associated primarily with the enactment of the Education Act 1870. There is strong evidence of numerous incidents in both Anglican and Nonconformist schools throughout Carmarthen, Ceredigion and Meirionnydd, it was commonly known as the cwstom, the 'Welsh stick' or the 'Welsh lead' (if a lump of lead was used).[13][14]
Cultural impact
The use of the Welsh Not created a stigma in using the Welsh Language. However work from groups such as the Welsh Language Society after the passing of the Education Act 1870 tried to fight for the right to speak Welsh and learn through the medium of Welsh in schools, and to advocate bilingualism in classrooms. Although their campaigning resulted in the encouragement of teaching Welsh History and Geography within schools, the Education system continued to become further dominated by the English system.[15]
Later use
"The speaking of Welsh in school was strictly forbidden; any boy or girl guilty of the offence was given the Welsh Not, which he or she handed on to the next offender, the unfortunate one who held the Welsh Not at the end of the school session becoming the scapegoat who bore the punishment for the sins of all.
Mother, being a lively child, was in frequent possession of the Welsh Not, but was never allowed to pay the penalty; a chivalrous boy cousin always asked for it in Welsh and took the punishment himself."
Account of the writer's mothers experiences in The Welsh Outlook, May 1931.[16]
The use of the Welsh Not appears to have decreased with the introduction of compulsory education in the later decades of the 19th century. After the school boards were absorbed by the county councils following the Local Government Act 1888, instruction in Welsh became the norm in primary schools in Welsh-speaking areas. However, incidents of the Welsh Not were still reported.[17]
Owen Morgan Edwards describes his experience of the Welsh Not in school in Llanuwchllyn in his book Clych Atgof.
Susan Jones, Member of Parliament for Clwyd South, claimed in 2010 that the use of the Welsh Not, including caning as the punishment, persisted in some schools in her constituency until "as recently as the 1930s and 1940s".[18]
See also
Similar policies in other countries
- Vergonha (French suppression of regional languages), and specifically le symbole in French schools.
- Dialect card Hōgenfuda (方言札, "dialect card"), suppression of Ryukyuan languages and dialects of the Tōhoku region in Japan.
- Beatings were used in a similar fashion by American Indian boarding schools through the 1960s, perhaps even later.
- In Canada,
- Beatings were used in a similar fashion by the Canadian Indian residential school system.
- Canadian gaelic was suppressed by use of the "maide-crochaidh" "hanging stick"
- Russification, policies in Imperial Russia and Soviet Union.
- The White terror, a Taiwanese policy from 1949 to 1987 that suppressed non-Mandarin languages within Taiwan.
References
- ^ a b "Welsh Not". Ceredigion County Council. 18 September 2007.
- ^ The Atlas – Saturday 22 January 1848 (page 6)
- ^ "BBC Wales - History - Themes - The 1536 Act of Union". BBC.
- ^ Parliamentary Papers – Volume 16, p102.
- ^ "Parliamentary Papers". 1844.
- ^ Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of Education in Wales. London. 1847.
- ^ Penhallurick, Robert (1993). "Welsh English: A National Language?". Dialectologia et Geolinguistica. 1.
- ^ The Welsh Language and it's Social Domains. p. 439.
- ^ Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of Education in Wales. London. 1847.
- ^ "Part 3: North Wales, comprising Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Meirioneth and Montgomery – Report". Reports of the commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales. 1847. p. 19.
- ^ ;"WELSH IN THE HEALTH SERVICE The Scope, Nature And Adequacy Of Welsh Language Provision In The National Health Service In Wales : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- ^ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106126
- ^ The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press 2006
- ^ "Welsh Language Bill [Lords] (Hansard, 26 May 1993)". api.parliament.uk.
- ^ Khleif, Bud B. (1976). "Cultural Regeneration and the School: An Anthropological Study of Welsh-Medium Schools in Wales". International Review of Education. 22 (2): 177–192. ISSN 0020-8566.
- ^ "The Welsh Outlook". May 1931.
- ^ John Davies, A History of Wales, Penguin, 1994, ISBN 0-14-014581-8, p 455
- ^ Lowther, Ed (29 June 2010). "A bevy of maidens". BBC News. Retrieved 9 December 2012.