As an artist exploring British Identity, its history and its complexities, I find the languages fascinating.
We have English, Scots, Welsh, Scots Gaelic, and Cornish. If we’re going to include Ireland (1) in it, then we also Irish and Manx (though unfortunately that died). Historically we also have Norn, a type of hybrid of Norse and Gaelic that was developed in the Viking times, though that also died a death.
But I’m going to focus on Welsh, the oldest language spoken in Britain (2).
You can’t really avoid Welsh when talking about Britishness, its one of the four countries (3) that make up the United Kingdom. Its vibrant history is both idolized and romanticized. Thought to be full of druids and wizards, it is a magical place to go. I recommend going to the many Neolithic sites, Pentre Ifan is one of the best. It is so different to the rest of Britain that of course you fall in love.
But with all that, things haven’t been so pleasant, and that’s why Cymraeg interests me so much.
So why am I learning Welsh? Isn’t it a useless language compared to English? Why not focus on more useful languages like Spanish, French or German (4)? My first answer would be ‘shut up’. My second would be put into several sections.
One: I love language.
This one is simple; language is a tool for both communication but also observation. The many tongues all over the world have histories and contexts that shape the way we see, different uses of hierarchy and ownership for example. Welsh is interesting with this as Cael (to have) isn’t always used for ownership, rather the object is with the subject.
I have a dog.
Mae ci gyda fi (literally: ‘Is a dog with me’)
I don’t think this works for everything (5), but that’s a really different way of looking at objects, like each has its own agency (6). But my point sticks, foreign languages are fascinating in how they observe the world.
Two: Ancestry.
This one is always tricky, because when you bring bloodlines and histories into discussions of identity, you get some weirdos. Especially in England, which absolutely sucks (I’ll talk about that later). But I do have a Welsh connection, far enough for it to be forgotten but close enough to see it was important.
Everyone who has ethnic ties to Britain will likely have Welsh in them (Welcome to genetics). The Welsh I’m talking about would be the ones who assimilated into the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during the Heptarchy (7), conflict didn’t wipe out the Britons(8). What happened definitely included pillaging, but also the intermarriage between both occupier and native. So most modern day English people would be part Welsh Briton, and consequentially Romano-British (9).
But I also have people who are Welsh, at least I think so, in my family tree. Down Wardour Street in the early 1800’s, there lived Owen Griffiths and Jane Hughes. They had a daughter called Elizabeth Griffiths who had a son called James Charles Griffiths Chapman. They made me, and what interests me is that they clearly felt that Griffiths was important enough to add to his name. It’s like they wanted him to keep in mind where he came from. I can’t say this with absolute certainty, of course (10), but it is a connection.
The other is that I went to the place that has my surname, Handley, which is up by Chester. It’s up by North Wales, and historically would have been home to Romans and Britons (11). So what I can infer is that if I am from there (12) then it’s likely I had ancestors who were part of a big bilingual scene. English and Welsh spoken in the same town to help with things like trade. So naturally I’m interested in that aspect.
Three: Politics
This might be annoying for some people, but I like diversity. Stability for me can be translated into stagnation (13). So, anything that injects something that shakes the pot a bit is welcomed with open arms. This of course (10) leads me to look at the world holistically, and it’s mad to think that we allowed any kind of homogeny to exist. People move around all the time in history, present day, and (just a prediction) in the future. We cannot be the same, as we are always adapting and changing.
Saying that, there’s a difference between migration and colonisation. As an Englishman, I can’t really escape this fact. The world uses English for a lot of administration and is the official language of many countries that are not England. Why? Oppression and suppression of anything indigenous to put it bluntly. To spread ‘civilisation’. We call it the British Empire, but it was primarily English (14) with officers who privileged the occupier over the native. So English is the overlord with local languages dying, resulting in more of the same.
The first to be affected by this was the Welsh. Or Cymru to be precise. The language slowly died in the east (15) before only being spoken in Wales, Cornwall and Cumbria (16), but it wasn’t until the Normans that the real shit happened. People were encouraged to move to Monmouthshire so that the English crown could control it more. Think ‘colony’ because it was. In fact, most of South Wales doesn’t speak much Welsh, it’s more centred in the North now.
But it gets worse! After this, there were moves to have churches only conduct services in English and there were even punishments for speaking Welsh in schools, things like the Welsh Knot. It discouraged the learning of Welsh and promoted a more cohesive population that only spoke English. This was a knife in the stomach of Welsh, but it was not dead (17).
With this, Welsh Traditions were also falling to the wayside, meaning that both the tongue and the culture was being eroded. This is a story shared all over the world where Imperialism latched it’s claws on.
So, I’m learning Welsh for this reason also, to diversify the British tongue away from the dominance of English. It’s likely to go nowhere globally, but I feel I have a moral obligation to celebrate it. Welsh is a beautiful language, just like so many around the world! English should not be the only thing spoken here on this island, we have so much to choose from, and the active eradication of any other way of communication is categorically bad (18). Being the same is not a good thing, because if we get rid of our differences, we cannot learn what is wrong. We cannot improve. We cannot grow as a people (19).
So yeah, it’s a complex issue, maybe for another blog, but something I feel strongly with.
Conclusion:
Britain is a strange beast. It’s been a land that has had a lot go on in a small amount of time. But in that time, we’ve forgotten where we’ve come from (20). We are so much more interesting than what Britain stands for now. And to that end, I have to speak Welsh.
My interest in history and historic styles of art has shown me that you can reignite these cultures and perspectives, it only takes effort and education. That’s what I’m trying to do, as well as showing the intricacies of the past. It’s not simple, and we look at the people of the past, not as humans like us, but as primitives. I think this is a terrible way to think of history, as it promotes an inevitability of falls and rises that only really benefit those in charge.
Like, it’s not even a ‘um-er’ situation. If we are to actually celebrate what it means to be British, it means to diversify the voices that call this place home. There should not be a correct way to speak in a certain place, we’ve seen how that works in the past as well as the present. France is pushing for a single way to speak French (the Parisian at the cost of the multiple dialects and offshoots in the south), and I hope that it fails.
I have to learn Welsh. I have to learn Cornish(21). I have to learn Gaidhlig. For my family, ancestors, and the cultural health of Britain (22).
(1) For this bit, I prefer not to call what we know the British Isles ‘The British Isles’, but rather the Insular European Isles. Can’t remember where I heard this so no source, but it does steer clear of that little problem.
(2) It has changed of course, but has been here before Latin, English and Gaelic forced themselves over here.
(3) I am pissed off that Cornwall is not included in it. Arguably Wales was not a country for long period, only a principality, but that does not excuse its sidelining. Justice of Kernow.
(4) I want to learn all of them. Probably not fluently, but enough to have conversations with strangers.
(5) Still learning.
(6) Must point out, I’m talking about abstract objects, not dogs. Dogs are not objects, they are friends.
(7) Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia, Kent, Essex, Wessex, Sussex (I put all the sex’s at the end as I’m immature). Where is Nessex? Norfolk likes to keep it in the family, so no one’s invited.
(8) In ‘Y Gododdin’, its claimed that many millions of Saxons died from Northumbria to Liverpool. That’s a big front with a ridiculous number of dead. Sounds cool though.
(9) If we’re going to talk about ancestry, the Romans controlled Britain. There’s evidence of Africans were in the Roman military (Moors at Hadrian’s wall) and administration (Ivory Bangle Lady of York), so to say that there is no chance that Britain ever had a black presence just doesn’t add up. Also, it predates the English, so grow up.
(10) Or ‘wrth gwrs’
(11)Another interesting thing about places by the River Dee, there was a history of Irish Raiders. After the Romans left, many groups took their chance to gain land. Vikings as well, but a tad later.
(12)My father’s father’s father’s etc. When it comes to it it’s not so much of a connection but a clearer picture of people moving. I am not claiming to own Handley, I’ve been there and I was a little bored of it. Little to do.
(13)Ok, so big statement there. I’m not saying that stability is bad, but if everyone does the same things and stays in the same place, either the people are about to die (of boredom or old age) or the culture.
(14)I find it annoying that you have Scotland walking around like it did nothing. They benefited from Imperialism just like England but conveniently they can curtail that fact by the oppression by England. Most of the highland clearances were done by Clan chiefs trying to get more for their land, separating the people from the homes they had made. There was no loyalty to the people, but they expected people to move because of their hierarchical position. Then they send their children to London where they live for the rest of their lives without ever going to their ancestral lands. As you can tell, I’m not a fan.
(15)There’s an interesting debate if the east spoke a more Germanic language, as the Belgae did seem to have a grip in Britain at the time of Julius Caesar. You then have the injection of Latin that might have led to a more Romantic language there, like French.
(16)There was a Celtic P language present in Cumbria until the 12th century. The kingdom of Strathclyde is evidence of this, until the Gaels and Angles took it over. But that’s why it’s called Cumbria; Cymru (Wales), Cumbria (Also Wales).
(17)Cornish was already dead, with the last speaker dying in 1790(?) and Irish was being hampered by the famine, that was caused by exportation rather than dependence. How can we not be annoyed at the famine? It wasn’t caused only by crop failure, but capitalist interests. As an Englishman, to think that it was done under the name of the country that also went through removals through the same interests leaves a horrid taste in my mouth.
(18)I am, of course (10), talking globally. I’m trying to keep it to Welsh and Britain, but with a global empire that did so much cultural damage that you can’t ignore it. I can’t ignore it. The languages of America and Australia (to name two Western-centric names of places) need recognition as Welsh, Gaidhlig or Kernowek.
(19)Globally again.
(20)Where we come from. I mean the diversity of the historic presence of humans on the land we call Britain now.
(21)I’m learning Welsh first as it’s meant to be easier. I have morals, but I’m pragmatic.
I think I’m going to go into my complex relationship with England at some point. But to keep it short, the ruling class fucked up the world under the banner of England for profit. That association has now tainted what it means to
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