The Annual Lectures on
Language
& Human Rights
at
University of Essex
Language and Human Rights
by Rhodri Williams
“Realising Language Rights in Policy and Practice:
the Revitalisation of the
Welsh Language”
Thurs 15 March 2012, 4:00pm
Room LTB-9,
University of Essex
Contact: Prof. Peter L Patrick
Sponsored by the Dept. of Language and Linguistics
Abstract of Lecture
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During 2010 the powers for legislating in the area
of Welsh language policy were
transferred from Westminster to Cardiff. Subsequently the National Assembly
for Wales has used its powers to pass a measure (the name given to
legislation in the Assembly) on the Welsh language. This lecture provides a
general perspective on the revitalisation of Welsh, and then describes the
recent work, reflecting on the particular challenges the issue has presented,
the record of success – and what remains to be done. |
About the Speaker
|
Rhodri Williams is
the first Director of Ofcom (the Office of
Communications) in Wales. He served three terms as chair of
the Welsh Language Board from 1997-2003. |
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Rhodri
Williams has been active in language politics for several decades. He first
came to prominence in the mid- 1970s whilst reading Philosophy at the
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. He led the Welsh Language Society’s
campaign for a Welsh language television service on the fourth channel and
served as its Chair from 1977 to 1979. As a result of his activities he was
accused of conspiring to damage television transmitters throughout England
and Wales and following two high profile court cases in Carmarthen Crown
Court was eventually found guilty and sentenced to two terms of six months
imprisonment. The second of the two trials made the headlines when it was
revealed that Special Branch officers had vetted the jury ensuring that only
one of the twelve jurors spoke Welsh. |
|
In
November 1982 the television service for which he and his colleagues had been
campaigning became reality and S4C was launched. Williams was by now working
as a journalist on Rebecca magazine
– a bilingual monthly publication focussed on investigative journalism –
and soon joined the current affairs team at ITV Wales
who supplied programmes to the new Welsh language channel. During 7 years at
HTV he worked as a journalist, presenter and series editor before leaving in
1989 to co-found an independent television production company which soon grew
to become the largest in Wales, Agenda
Television, now known as Tinopolois. |
|
In
1997 he was appointed to the Welsh Language Board (Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg,
link),
the body responsible for promoting the use of the Welsh language, by
the Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague MP. Shortly afterwards he took over the chairmanship of the Board
at the request of the then Secretary of State, Alun
Michael MP. He was subsequently re-appointed for two further terms by the
National Assembly for Wales. During this time Welsh Assembly Government
expenditure on support for the Welsh language doubled and the Government
published its first ever national strategy for the promotion of the language. |
|
In 2003, following the publication of the Communications Act and establishment
of the Office of Communications, Williams was appointed as its first Director
in Wales, a role he continues to perform. (Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition
authority for UK communications industries.) Today he also serves as
a member of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Ministerial Advisory Group on
Public Service Delivery, and a non-executive member of the Government’s Next
Generation Broadband Wales Project Board. |
About this Lecture
Series
|
In June 2003 this series of annual
public seminars began to bring to the public, in an accessible manner, the
views of leading scholars in this growing and critical area, and to further
develop consciousness of the importance of linguistic rights in the daily
life of millions of people around the world. |
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All talks are open to the
public, announced via media, and on the |
|
Members of the public, and of the
University community – from a wide range of disciplines, including Human
Rights, Linguistics, Modern Languages, Law, Government, Philosophy,
Sociology, the International Academy, the US Studies Program, and
International Relations – attend actively. We are grateful to the Department of Language and
Linguistics and the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, and other sponsors for their assistance, and especially to the
speakers themselves. |
|
For more
information on the topic of language and human rights, please see this
related webpage: Linguistic Human
Rights: A Sociolinguistic Introduction (PL Patrick) |
Previous Lectures
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Prof. John Edwards |
Nova Scotia |
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Prof. François Grin |
Geneva |
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Prof. Miklós Kontra |
Szeged |
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Prof. Fernand de Varennes |
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Dr. |
Armidale,
NSW |
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Profs. and Robert Phillipson |
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2004-5 |
Prof. José Antonio Flores Farfán |
www |
Mexico City |
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2003-4 |
Prof. Peter K. Austin |
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2002-3 |
Prof. Jan Blommaert |
Gent |
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Several of our speakers have
also been honoured with the prestigious international Linguapax award. |
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The primary sponsor of the lecture series at the University of
Essex since its inception has been the Department of Language and
Linguistics, through its seminar
series. From 2007 to 2011, the Human Rights Centre served as full co-sponsors of the now established series.
The commitment and assistance of Prof. John Packer, head of the |
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Other co-sponsors in various years have included the International
|
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Additional thanks go to Dr Doug Arnold, Prof Martin Atkinson, Lynn
Baird, Prof Simon Critchley, Prof Paul Hunt, Prof
Sheldon Leader, Dr Aletta Norval, Prof John Packer, and Prof Jane Wright, for
their assistance. |
Linguistic Human
Rights homepage
Dept. of
Language & Linguistics
Last revised 6 March
2012