Welsh vs' Welsh: Language as a group marker in intra vs intergroup relations

1
Welsh vs. Welsh Language as a group marker in
intra vs intergroup relations

• Gerard Kennedys 3rd year project (sup. Spears)
• Research questions, rationale
• Welsh language can be a basis for group
  membership
• Welsh speakers vs Non-Welsh speakers
• Creates an intergroup context, ingroup vs.
  outgroup audiences
• How does each group address ingroup and outgroup
  audience?
• Strategic effects (the SIDE model) Identity
  performance
• Identity claims stronger to an outgroup (OG)
  audience
• Conciliatory claims
• May try to seek approval, stake identity claims
• Contesting claims
• May try to contest OG identity claims aims
• How do speakers vs. non speakers orient to
  language use?

2
Welsh vs. Welsh Language as a group marker in
intra vs intergroup relations

• Design
• All Welsh participants (N97)
• 2 (Welsh speakers vs. Non-Welsh Speakers) x
• 2(Audience Welsh speaking researcher vs.
• Non-Welsh-speaking researcher).
• Measures
• Identification
• Attitudes to language (daily vs. symbolic use)
• Attitudes to Welsh institutions, political actions

3
Welsh vs. Welsh Language as a group marker in
intra vs intergroup relations

• Some selected strategic audience effects
• Conciliatory claims Telling the (outgroup)
  audience what they want to hear? (Graphs 1-3)
• Contesting claims Telling the audience what we
  want them to hear? (Graphs 4-5)
• Different priorities for language use (Graph 6)
• with conciliation (from Welsh speakers)
• and contestation (from Non-Welsh speakers)
• to outgroup audience (Graph 7)

4
1. I think the Eistedfodd is important
culturally for everyone in Wales (conciliatory?)
5
2. I join in the singing of the National Anthem
on match days (conciliatory?)
6
3. I would like to identify more with Wales
(conciliatory?)
7
4. The Welsh language is widely used in Wales
nowadays (contesting?)
8
5. Welsh is only a social language with no real
benefits (contesting?)
9
6. Language Daily vs Symbolic use It is
important for welsh to be used for
10
7. Daily vs Symbolic language use to an OG
audienceFor Welsh speakers (conciliatory?) and
Non-Welsh speakers (contesting?)
Welsh Speakers
Non-Welsh Speakers
11
Welsh vs. Welsh Summary of results

• Conciliatory claims
• Both groups stake claims to consensual markers of
  Welshness when addressing the outgroup (Graphs
  1-3), i.e.
• Eistedfodd, singing national anthem,
  identification
• Contesting claims
• Both groups contest issues around language when
  addressing the outgroup (Graphs 4-7), e.g.
• Both groups downplay how widespread Welsh is to
  the outgroup (but for different reasons?)
• Welsh speakers affirm the value of Welsh to
  Non-Welsh speakers
• Non-Welsh speakers accentuate the priority of
  symbolic use to Welsh speakers

12
Welsh vs. Welsh Some (premature) conclusions

• Strategic identity claims (identity
  performance) may become particularly important
  in front of an outgroup audience when the basis
  for identity is contested (e.g. where a
  linguistic basis for identity is disputed)
• It may then be important to affirm or prove
  identity on consensual (uncontested,
  non-linguistic) markers of identity to the
  outgroup
• It may also be important to contest identity in
  domains where language use is central (the source
  of contestation), especially to the outgroup
  audience