The development of local language indicators

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The development of local language indicators

• Hywel Jones
• 25 June 2007

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able to speak Welsh
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Iaith Pawb Background

• Iaith Pawb Welsh Assembly Govts National
  Action Plan for a Bilingual Wales
• to develop, compile and publish a range of
  statistical indicators about Welsh language
  ability levels and usage patterns, trends and
  projections
• ...aim to develop language use survey techniques
  to gather information about levels of fluency in
  Welsh, visibility of the language and confidence
  in using Welsh in different situations

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Iaith Pawb Background

• The increased range of data will be used to help
  inform policy-making and prioritisation and will
  enable us to target, track, evaluate and review
  the effect of policies and programmes
• Target
• By 2011- more services, by public, private and
  voluntary organisations are able to be delivered
  through the medium of Welsh

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Response

• Project to develop local language indicators
• 2 aspects
• Organisational use of the language
• Social use
• Contracted with
• Centre for European Research Wales Dr Glyn
  Williams and Dr Delyth Morris

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Sociolinguistic theory

• Domains and diglossia
• Social networks
• Normativity and Normalisation

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Ofercat Catalan tool

• Language use contexts
• Signage
• Identification (façade signs)
• Informative
• Written communications
• Oral
• introductory (for identification)
• in response

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WLB approach (1)language use contexts

• Similar to Ofercat, but
• as well as language used, extended to record
  Courtesy.
• Oral tested face-to-face as well as by phone
• Only 3 categories of use recorded Welsh,
  English, and bilingual.

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WLB approach (2) Sectors distinguished

• Central government
• Local government
• Courts
• Health
• Voluntary sector
• (Excluded education and media)

• Businesses
• chains
• single units
• cafes and pubs
• Theatre
• Sports
• Transport

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WLB approach (3)Sampling

• Sample locations 6 selected Language Action Plan
  areas (small towns)
• By sector within location
• Complete coverage of central and local
  government, and courts
• 60-70 small and chain businesses, sampled on
  random walk
• at least 10 others, including largest health
  org.

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WLB approach (4) Fieldwork

• Method covert observation (mystery shopper)
• Longitudinal future-proofing
• Sites of observations grid referenced
• Dates and times noted
• Phone numbers and URLs noted

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Number of organisations observed

• 800 in total at 950 addresses

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WLB approach (6) Some issues

• Organisational sample frame built up from Yellow
  Pages and similar
• Post sampling linkage of records to organisations
• Appropriate definition of survey location e.g.
  treatment of out-of-town business parks
• Distinction between informational signage and
  advertisements
• More call centres mean location less important

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Linguistic Landscape

• The language of public road signs, advertising
  billboards, street names, place names, commercial
  shop signs, and public signs on government
  buildings combines to form the linguistic
  landscape of a given territory, region or urban
  agglomeration. Landry Bourhis, 1997)

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Signage roads
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Signage government
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Signage large businesses
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Signage small businesses
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Some results

• Note - no purposive weights, i.e. all items given
  equal weights

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Number of observations
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Proportion of services in Welsh or bilingual
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Visits first greetingProportion in Welsh or
bilingual
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Visits subsequent responseProportion in Welsh
or bilingual
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Phone calls first greetingProportion in Welsh
or bilingual
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Phone calls subsequent responseProportion in
Welsh or bilingual
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Thanks for listening
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