Languages in the United Kingdom

   

The United Kingdom has no official language. English is the main language and the de facto official language, spoken monolingually by an estimated 95% of the UK population.

However, some nations and regions of the UK have frameworks for the promotion of autochthonous languages. In Wales, English and Welsh are both widely used by officialdom, and Irish and Ulster Scots enjoy limited use alongside English in Northern Ireland, mainly in publicly commissioned translations. Additionally, the Western Isles region of Scotland has a policy to promote Scottish Gaelic.

Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which is not legally enforceable, the UK Government has committed itself to the promotion of certain linguistic traditions. Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish are to be developed in Wales, Scotland and Cornwall respectively. Other native languages afforded such protection include Irish in Northern Ireland, Lowland Scots in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where it is known in official parlance as "Ulster Scots" or "Ullans" but in the speech of users simply as "Scotch", and British Sign Language.

Statistics

According to the most recent census, Welsh is spoken by about 20% of the population of Wales, giving it around 600,000 speakers. However, there is some controversy over the actual number who speak Welsh. Some statistics choose to include people who have studied Welsh to at least GCSE standard, not all of whom could be regarded as fluent speakers of the language. Unlike Scottish Gaelic, which is sometimes viewed as a regional language even in Scotland itself, but like many other minoritised languages, Welsh has for a long time been strongly associated with nationalism, making it harder to get an accurate and unbiased figure for how many people speak it fluently.

Scottish Gaelic has about 60,000 speakers according to the 2001 census (roughly 1% of the population of Scotland). In Northern Ireland, about 7% of the population speak Irish Gaelic according to the 2001 census (around 200,000 speakers) and 2% regional forms of Scots according to the 1999 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (around 30,000 speakers). Alongside British Sign Language, Irish Sign Language is also used. Cornish is spoken by roughly 3,500 people (about 0.6% of the population of Cornwall). Lowland Scots is spoken by 30% of the Scottish population according to the 1996 estimate of the General Register Office for Scotland (approximately 1.5 million speakers), but it is debatable how accurate this estimate is, for a number of reasons (Which are?). British Sign Language is understood by less than 0.1% of the total population of the UK.

Status

A number of bodies have been established to oversee the promotion of the regional languages: in Scotland, Bòrd na Gàidhlig oversees Scottish Gaelic. Foras na Gaeilge has an all-Ireland remit as a cross-border language body, and Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch is intended to fulfil a similar function for Ulster Scots, although hitherto it has mainly concerned itself with culture. In Wales, the Welsh Language Board has a statutory rôle in agreeing Welsh language plans with official bodies.

Kesva an Taves Kernewek, the Cornish Language Board, has local government involvement but does not enjoy statutory status.

Controversies

Of all the languages of the UK, perhaps it is Cornish which suffers the most controversies and/or misconceptions. For example, it is commonly claimed in literature to be dead! Or that the entire body of speakers are 'learners'. Certainly, a number of children are being brought up to speak the language, and their Cornish may be viewed as being analogous to the position of speakers of the revived form of Hebrew. Cornish has also had great problems with factionalism, a problem that nearly all minority languages face to a degree.

The second debate is that of language vs dialect. Although for many people, this is resolved one way or another, public perception is still very much divided. For example, are Scottish and Irish Gaelic, dialects of the same language or languages in their own right? In this case, they are generally viewed as being separate, but the relationship of Ulster Scots and Lowland Scots is much more controversial, not to mention that of Lowland Scots and English. While in Continental Europe, various closely related languages/dialects often get official recognition and support, in the UK there is a tendency to view closely related vernaculars as a single language. Even British Sign Language is mistakenly thought of as a form of 'English' by the public sometimes, and not a language in its own right. Because the boundaries are not always so clear cut, this leads to great problems in estimating numbers of speakers.

In Northern Ireland, the use of Irish Gaelic and Ulster Scots is sometimes politically loaded. This is despite both Protestants and Roman Catholics, and/or Unionists and Nationalists having used both in the past. Some resent Scottish Gaelic being promoted in the Lowlands, although it was present in at least some parts.

The regional varieties of English within England itself receive little or no public support, and are often used for comedy purposes within the UK media. The dialects of Northern England share some features with Lowland Scots that Southern England's do not.

Public funding of minority languages continues to produce mixed reactions, and there is sometimes resistance to their teaching in schools. Proficiency in them varies widely.

Languages in the United Kingdom

Native

Immigrant

Historic

See also



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