LANGUAGES AT RISK
IF you’re looking for a croeso in Wales or dynnargh in Cornwall you might need to hurry.
Both Welsh and Cornish have been included on a list of vulnerable and endangered languages. Cambridge University researchers have compiled the World Oral Literature Project - a database of languages that have disappeared in the recent past, and those that are currently at risk.
The database lists 19 languages spoken in the British Isles - including not just Welsh and Cornish but the likes of Scots and Scottish Gaelic, too.
A language is judged to be at risk if there is a combination of few speakers and little enthusiasm or support for learning it.
Cornish is spoken by just 2,000 people out of the total 561,349 population of Cornwall.
It is recognised as a minority language in the UK and is protected by the European Union.
This means that the EU can provide funds to support research into the language, or educational or multilingualism projects designed to preserve it.
Cornish had disappeared completely in the 18th century but a revival began in the early 20th century. The Welsh language is also considered vulnerable. It is currently spoken by around 874,700 people - less than a third (29.3%) of the Welsh population. However, that number has been on the rise.
The increase is largely due to the the introduction of the Welsh Language Commissioner (Comisiynydd y Gymraeg) in 2012, to promote and facilitate the language. Irish language is considered “definitely endangered”, according to the Cambridge researchers.
That’s despite it being recognised as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland.
The latest figures from the Census 2016 show that 1.7 million people – 39.8% of the Irish population – could speak the language.
Of those, only 73,803 – 4.2 % – used it daily outside of the education system. That is down by 3,382 since 2011.
Scots - the language of lowland Scotland - is spoken by 1.5 million people, or approximately 30% of the population.
At the moment, Scots is considered a vulnerable language.
Scottish Gaelic, spoken by just 57,000 people, is considered “definitely” endangered.
Languages spoken in the British Isles that have been made extinct include Manx - spoken in the Isle of Man until the death of the last native speaker in 1974 and Polari.
Polari is a mixture of English, Italian, Romani and other languages spoken by circus and carnival performers.
It was adopted by gay people at a time when homosexuality was illegal, to disguise their conversations from nonspeakers. When gay relationships were legalised, there was no longer a need to use the language and it fell out of general use.