Cyflwyniad pwerbwynt ar thema Deddfwriaeth iaith: cyfleoedd i gyfieithwyr a gyflwynwyd gan Meinir Jones o swyddfa Comisiynydd y Gymraeg, yn ystod Cynhadledd Heriau Cyfieithu Heddiw a gynhaliwyd ym Mhrifysgol Aberystwyth ar 27 Hydref 2017.
Deddfwriaeth iaith: cyfleoedd i gyfieithwyr
(Citizenship, the Welsh Language Board, and marketing the Welsh language)
This paper offers a brief examination of the approach taken by the Welsh Language Board, as the principal language policy and planning body in Wales, to aspects of prestige planning and the Welsh language. It describes how devolution, and the recent, first ever, national review by the Welsh Assembly Government of Welsh language policy, provide the immediate context for the work of the Welsh Language Board. The key policy document resulting from that review, Iaith Pawb, is critically analysed and the relationship to it of prestige planning is identified. The Welsh Language Board’s practice of prestige planning is discussed in relation to the discourses of neo-liberalism and post-colonialism in a way that highlights the Board’s focus on consumers rather than citizens.
Least area partition of a cylinder into three parts
In this article, we determine and analyse possible solutions to the problem of partitioning a circular cylinder into three regions of equal volume using the least surface area. The solutions are related to the minimal energy arrangement of films in dry aqueous foam confined in a cylinder. We enumerate the possible solutions and use the numerical simulation software Surface Evolver to calculate the area in each case. We determine the least area configuration for all values of the aspect ratio of the cylinder. We find only four possible optimal solutions, each appropriate over different intervals of the aspect ratio, and give closed form expressions for each one.
Bilingual education in the twenty-first century: A review of the international context
With the publication of its Welsh-medium Education Strategy in April 2010, the Welsh Assembly Government recognised the leading role of Welsh-medium education in the field of bilingual education throughout Europe and the world during the last fifty years. As the system further develops with increasing numbers of pupils choosing bilingual education in Wales, it is emphasised that it is important to be aware of the patterns and models available in other bilingual communities that successfully integrate bilingualism or multilingualism into their provision so that we can understand their relevance to our particular situation in Wales. This article gives an overview of the most recent developments in bilingual education in an international context and considers the important issues that emerge as this type of education continues to develop to cater for the needs of pupils in bilingual and multilingual communities throughout the world in the twenty-first century.
Annie Ellis ‘Cwrt Mawr’, the Aberystwyth Canorion Society and traditional folksong in Wales
This article outlines the valuable contribution made by Annie Ellis (neé Davies) to the folksong revival in Wales and in particular her influence in the Aberystwyth/Cardiganshire district during the early decades of the Twentieth Century. It draws on original correspondence, fieldwork diaries, notated transcriptions, newspaper articles (in Welsh and French) and phonograph recordings from the National Library of Wales, the British Library, Bibliotèque Nationale de France and private collections. The following areas are discussed: Annie Ellis’s involvement in folksong related activities at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, including the establishing of the Canorion Society, folksong collecting competitions and performances of J. Lloyd Williams’s operetta, Aelwyd Angharad (Angharad’s Hearth). Six historically significant concerts of traditional Welsh music given by a quartet of undergraduate singers in Paris during March 1911, including performances at Le Lied en Tout Pays and the Richelieu Amphitheatre (Sorbonne). This visit represented the embodiment of the Entente Cordiale established between Britain and France during the years leading up to the First World War. Association with Madame Lucie Barbier (head of vocal studies at the University) and the positive response of the Parisian press. Ruth Lewis and Annie Ellis’s three day fieldwork visit to Landyssul, Pencader and the surrounding district in June 1913 and the outcome of their folk song collecting, including an evaluation of the texts and melodies collected. The article also highlights the role of one Edwardian woman in developing the cultural life of Wales and her attempts to promote Welsh traditional music on an international platform.
Understanding performance deficiencies in printed thick film EL lamps on paper
In order to examine new potential markets for printed electronics, a research study was undertaken to understand the performance of opaque substrate electroluminescent (EL) lamps. Opaque EL lamps are made possible by a PEDOT:PSS top electrode which replaces the ITO used in the conventional lamps. Screen-printed lamps were manufactured on four substrates (one plastic and three paper) and their performance was measured through brightness measurement. Generally, opaque substrate lamps were 50% less bright than a comparable ITO lamp. Further reductions in brightness were observed with the lighter and rougher papers. Additional layers of PEDOT:PSS increased sheet conductivity but reduced lamp brightness due to a reduction in layer transparency. As lamp size increased, the resistive nature of the PEDOT:PSS caused a significant reduction in lamp output, with a brightness of 25% of a comparable ITO lamp with an illuminated area of 5000 mm2. The relatively poor performance of the opaque lamps is derived not only from the reduced conductivity and transparency of the PEDOT:PSS compared to ITO, but is also caused by the topological nature of the phosphor particles which result in some phosphor material lying outside the electric field created between the two electrodes.
Regional government and civil society in Wales and Catalonia
Strengthening and revitalising democracy was a common rationale for establishing regional goverment in Spain and the United Kingdom. In this context, this article aims to assess the impact of regional government on the relationship between civil society and devolved government in Wales and in Catalonia. Based on case studies, the extent to which regional government structures promote civil society participation is assessed and regional government’s impact on the identity of civil society is analysed. Despite the differences, in both cases regional goverments undertook ‘top-down’ efforts to build civil society and the latter has contributed to the Catalan and Welsh nation-building projects. The findings draw attention to the potentially negative democratic implications arising from regional government and civil society relations and the effects of broader political culture.
(The nature of language acquisition processes in children: Marking grammatical gender in Welsh)
Research on the acquisition of grammatical gender has shown that in many languages children gain an early command of gender. Often in these languages gender marking is quite overt and provides a clear one-to-one correspondence between a marker and the gender encoded. In Welsh, however, gender marking is more complex. It is marked by mutations, a set of morpho-phonological changes that affect the initial consonants of words, and the mapping between mutation and gender is quite opaque. Two mutation types are used to mark feminine gender: both feminine nouns modified by the definite article and adjectives following feminine nouns undergo soft mutation, and the feminine gender of the possessive adjective ‘ei’ is marked by aspirate mutation of the modified noun. This paper presents two studies that examine children’s and adults’ productive command of gender as expressed in the mutation of nouns modified by the definite article, and adjectives modifying nouns. Children, between the ages of 4½ and 9 years old, and adults were invited to take part in the studies. First, a semi-naturalistic study was conducted to obtain knowledge about speakers’ usage of gender marking. A Cloze procedure was then used to elicit speakers’ production of masculine and feminine forms, with both real words and nonsense forms, in a variety of linguistic contexts. Some of these contexts provided cues to gender status, some did not. The data obtained indicated that the acquisition of the Welsh gender system is a long drawn-out process, and children have not mastered the system even by 9 years of age. Welsh speakers, even in adulthood, pay little or no attention to the possible cues present in the input. Results suggest that when a language has a complex gender system that is marked by opaque morpho-phonological processes the course of development is protracted and variable.
Esboniadur Cerddoriaeth Cymru
Cofnodion yn ymwneud â cherddoriaeth Gymraeg a Chymreig. Mae'r cofnodion yn deillio o'r Cydymaith i Gerddoriaeth Cymru (gol. Pwyll ap Siôn a Wyn Thomas), cyfeirlyfr awdurdodol sydd yn cwmpasu holl gyfoeth cerddoriaeth yng Nghymru o’r 6ed Ganrif hyd at y presennol. Ffrwyth prosiect cydweithredol rhwng Ysgol Cerddoriaeth a’r Cyfryngau ym Mhrifysgol Bangor a’r Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol yw’r Cydymaith i Gerddoriaeth Cymru. Cyhoeddir Cydymaith i Gerddoriaeth Cymru ar ffurf llyfr clawr caled gan wasg Y Lolfa, Talybont gyda chefnogaeth a chymorth ariannol Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
Esboniadur Drama Radio
Gwybodaeth drylwyr am dair drama allweddol: Siwan gan Saunders Lewis Tair gan Meic Povey Tŷ ar y Tywod gan Gwenlyn Parry
Health and lifestyle changes associated with ageing in rural communities: the emphasis on current concerns in ...
The rapidly ageing population has been identified as a major global challenge; within Wales there is a growing imbalance in the age-profiles of rural communities in particular. The demands of providing appropriate healthcare for a changing population are exacerbated by lifestyle changes associated with ageing, specifically low levels of physical activity, reduced exposure to the sun and compromised ability to synthesise vitamin D. This report focuses on two important health outcomes affected by these changes that are of increasing concern within Wales: diabetes (DM2: diabetes mellitus type 2) and falls incidence. The article critically reviews the evidence base pertaining to the relationships between physical activity, vitamin D, and both the pathogenesis of DM2 and falls incidence. Current interventions are discussed and a series of recommendations for service delivery within Wales’ rural communities are presented. We argue that there is a clear role for targeting these modifiable lifestyle factors in reducing the prevalence and severity of falls and diabetes, two growing areas of social and economic concern within Wales.
Litter on rural Welsh roads: A case study from Penisa’r Waun
701 pieces of litter were collected per kilometre from a small rural road in Gwynedd. The minimum annual ‘hidden’ cost of this litter – uncollected by the local authority – was £11.81 per kilometre. The comparable annual cost of such litter on small rural roads throughout Wales is £230,000. A substantial proportion of these costs could be eliminated through introducing a deposit system for cans and bottles. 13 specific companies were responsible for producing more than one quarter of all the litter collected. The Welsh Government could arrange an annual mitigation payment of £58,000 from them in order to defray the hidden costs of litter associated with their activities.