<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
While the field of fan studies is constantly growing, it has been scarcely researched in relation to minority languages and language revitalisation. In this paper we have undertaken to explore the small and previously unexplored realm of Welsh-language fanfiction, focusing on the motivations to read and write it. The aim was to explore the possible role of fanfiction in language revitalisation by investigating a relationship between these motivations and the cultural and national identity of the authors and readers, as well as their attitude towards the Welsh language. The article presents the results of a study conducted in 2022 through the use of online surveys on a sample of readers of Welsh-language fanfiction found on the Tumblr platform, and semi-structured interviews with authors of fanfiction posted on Archive of Our Own. The study revealed that the decision to participate in the fandom was strongly connected to the cultural, and in particular linguistic identity of authors and readers, and to a much lesser extent to their national identity. Two out of three major motivations emerging from the study: a wish to broaden the use of language online and the wish to learn it can be connected with language revitalization. Engagement with fanfiction was perceived as an accessible form of leisure available in Welsh and as a safe space for both learners and native speakers to creatively use the language without fear of criticism, which suggests the importance and possible use of fandom in language revitalisation. However, the study also points to some difficulties in developing a fan community around Welsh fanfiction, mostly due to technical limitations and the small amount of popular media created originally in Welsh.
</abstract>

Welsh Language Fanfiction in Light of Welsh Cultural and National Identity and Language Revitalisation

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This article examines the character of Efnisien in the Second Branch of the medieval Welsh collection of stories known as the <italic>Mabinogi</italic>. From the mid-nineteenth century until the present day, Efnisien has proved a troubling character for critical analysis. A preliminary examination shows that typologically, due to his antagonistic irrationality, he shares traits with both trickster and psychopathic figures. After highlighting these aspects of his characterisation, the article moves on to an analysis of Efnisien’s function in the text. It is observed that Efnisien’s irrationality is incongruous with the contingency and social relevance of the other characters’ actions. He is shown to be the erratic, motivational force within catastrophe, and as such, to personify the inexplicable nature of such life-altering events and lend meaning to uncertain circumstances. From a Žižekian analytic perspective, he functions as a repository figure of ideological excess enabling the rationalization of incomprehensible trauma and securing the fictive narrative in which meaning is produced. Efnisien – trickster, psychopath, figure of excess – is thus shown to be vital to the production of meaning in the Second Branch of the <italic>Mabinogi</italic>.</abstract>

Efnisien’s Trickster Wiles: Meanings, Motives, and Mental Illness in the Second Branch of the <italic>Mabinogi</italic>

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> This paper focuses on palatalisation in Irish spoken by Dublin-based bilinguals with English as their first language. As opposed to previous researches in Irish phonetics and phonology, this study examines new speakers of Irish, whose speech was recorded in November 2014. All informants were born and raised in Dublin, lived either in the city or in the neighbouring counties and demonstrated sufficient fluency in Irish, i.e. had no problems with reading, could actively participate in conversation and give detailed answers without switching to English. Computer analysis of their data has shown that even though in traditional Irish dialects palatalisation is not position-bound, there is a correlation between palatalisation of a consonant and its neighbouring vowel quality in the speech of Dublin bilingualsdue to English influence andother factors.</abstract>

Palatalisation in Dublin Irish, or How to Speak Irish with a Dublin Accent

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> This article reports on a controlled study carried out to examine the possible benefits of editing Machine Translation and Translation Memory outputs when translating from English to Welsh. Using software capable of timing the translation process per segment, 8 professional translators each translated 75 sentences of differing match percentage, and post- edited a further 25 segments of Machine Translation. Basing the final analysis on 800 sentences and 17,440 words, the use of Fuzzy Matches in the 70-99% match range, Exact Matches and Statistical Machine Translation was found to significantly speed up the translation process. Significant correlations were also found between the processing time data of Exact Matches and Machine Translation post-editing, rather than between Fuzzy Matches and Machine Translation as expected. Two experienced translators were then asked to rate all translations for fidelity, grammaticality and style, whereby it was found that the use of translation technology either did not negatively affect translation quality compared to manual translation, or its use actually improved final quality in some cases. As well as confirming the findings of research in relation to translation technology, these findings also contradict supposed similarities between translation quality in terms of style and post-editing Machine Translation. </abstract>

Productivity and quality when editing machine translation and translation memory outputs: an empirical analysis of English to Welsh translation

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The attribution of names is a significant process that often highlights concerns over identity, ideology and ownership. Within the fields of minority languages and Celtic Studies, such concerns are especially pertinent given that the identities in question are frequently perceived as under threat from dominant cultures. The effect of concerns caused by this can be examined with reference to revived Cornish, which became divided into three major varieties in the later twentieth century; by examining the names of these varieties, we can draw conclusions about how they are perceived, or we are invited to perceive them. The motivations of those involved in the Cornish language revival are equally reflected in the names of the organisations and bodies they have formed, which equally contribute to the legitimation of revived Cornish. This paper examines both these categories of name, as well as the phenomenon of Kernowisation, a term coined by Harasta (2013) to refer to the adoption of Cornish personal names, and here extended to the use of Cornish names in otherwise English-language contexts. Examining the names that have been implemented during the Cornish language revival, and the ways in which they are used or indeed refused by those involved, gives us an insight into the various ideologies that steer the revival process. Within the context of the precarious nature of Cornish and Celtic identity, we can identify the concerns of those involved in the Cornish revival movement and highlight the role of naming as an activity of legitimation, showing how the diversity of names that occur reflects an equally diverse range of motivations and influences.</abstract>

Names, Varieties and Ideologies in Revived Cornish

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>A recent discussion of Arthur and Wales prompts a reply, using up-to-date research. It offers these surprising conclusions. Arthur really existed: he is not a myth or a legend, but historical. He will not have been Welsh, but a North Briton, and perhaps a Strathclyder. His battles, fought against other Britons and not the English, can all be located in southern Scotland and the Borders. Camlan, where Arthur fell, can be securely dated to 537 (after the Welsh annals) and situated north of Carlisle on Hadrian’s Wall (as proposed in 1935 by O. S. G. Crawford). The battle of Mount Badon in 493 will, however, have nothing to do with Arthur or North Britain. It was a British victory over the English, fought near Swindon and perhaps at the hillfort of Ringsbury overlooking Braydon Forest. Proponents of a Northern Arthur, like Rachel Bromwich (1915-2010) and Charles Thomas (1928-2016) can thus be vindicated against those rejecting a Northern Arthur, like Professor Kenneth Jackson (1909-91) of Edinburgh.</abstract>

The Early Welsh Cult of Arthur: Some Points at Issue

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article is centred around a detailed review of D.H. Frost’s new (2023) critical edition and translation of the Cornish and Latin text <italic>Sacrament an Alter</italic>, in both its theological/historical and its philological/linguistic aspects. First, Dr Frost’s exposition of his text’s remarkable background is placed against the constantly changing character of official Tudor ideology, and the ecclesiological lens through which he views his material discussed. Points from his linguistic analysis (including revivalist reconstructions) are then examined and, prompted by Frost’s portrayal of the state of Cornish-language literacy in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, similarities are adduced with the known situation of near-contemporary Manx Gaelic. Traditional Cornish went into ultimately terminal decline, but Manx went on to receive both the Prayer Book and the Bible in translation; Cornwall’s disadvantage in not constituting a diocese in its own right is suggested as a significant factor in the contrasting fates of the two small Celtic languages in question. Finally, attention is drawn to the potentially striking efficacy of small networks of dedicated scholars, whatever their time and place.
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Language and Religion in Tudor Cornwall: The Testimony of <italic>Sacrament an Alter</italic>

Review

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Through an analysis of three selected case studies, this study unveils how Ogham’s integration into contemporary narratives generates fresh layers of meaning and revitalises this ancient alphabet. The chosen focus on Alfredian fanfiction offers a contextualised exploration of the role of this ancient Irish script in shaping novel interpretations, bridging historical languages with the digital age, and shedding light on how fan communities reconfigure cultural heritage across temporal and geographical boundaries within the dynamic landscape of internet culture. By employing a comprehensive approach, this research elucidates the intricate interplay between Ogham, historical narratives, and contemporary fan creativity, providing valuable insights into how this ancient script sparks innovative meanings and propels narratives within the digital realms of fan culture.
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“ᚁ Is Beith and Means Birch” – <italic>An Exploration of Ogham in Online Fanfiction Featuring King Alfred the Great</italic>

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Manx, the Goidelic language of the Isle of Man, has no extant traditional native speakers. However, thanks to the efforts of language activists and others involved in language revival, there exists a community of around 2200 people who claim competence in the language (Isle of Man Government 2021), of which a smaller portion will have advanced competence in Manx. All members of the Manx speaker community could be described as ‘new speakers’, having acquired this revitalized minority language primarily through means other than first language transmission in the home (O’Rourke, Pujolar, and Ramallo 2015: 1).
The members of the Manx new speaker community, despite many having acquired “a socially and communicatively consequential level of competence” (Jaffe 2015: 25) in the traditional language of the Isle of Man, vary in terms of their national, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. Postmodern approaches to sociolinguistics challenge the assumption of a straightforward link between identity, especially national identity, and linguistic practice. The complexity of the relationship between language and identity is especially evident in cases of multilingual minority language communities – such as the extant Celtic-speaking communities.
The present paper explores the relationship between identity and language use among Manx new speakers. It discusses the following specific question: How do new speakers of Manx understand and identify with ‘Manxness’? The paper uses a corpus of sociolinguistic interview and ethnographic observation data gathered from fieldwork among the Manx new speaker community as part of the author’s PhD thesis. The researcher, a Manx new speaker herself, spent six months gathering data, both through traditional sociolinguistic methods, such as interviews and questionnaires, and through ethnographic methods, namely participant observation in various contexts. The analysis of this novel spoken corpus offers a much-needed view into identity and language use in a 21st-century Celtic language community that lacks extant native speakers.
</abstract>

Manx Speakers, Language, and Identity

Review: <italic>Sylfeini Cyfieithu Testun: Cyflwyniad i Gyfieithu Proffesiynol</italic> by Ben Screen, Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru 2021, 266 pp

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>For some years now, Welsh has been taught as a foreign language outside Wales, most especially in other Celtic countries, central Europe – and Poland. The first courses were established in the Catholic University of Lublin in the 1980s, and this provision has expanded over the years to include a Celtic language specialisation within the Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Relying at first on teachers from Wales to provide instruction in Welsh, the Centre for Celtic Studies is increasingly producing new, competent speakers/users of Welsh among the Poles. An obvious question to be asked concerns motivational issues – why, on the eastern edges of the European Union, are there people willing to put the effort into learning a language from the far west of Europe, when they have, in some cases, little contact with regular users of Welsh? Through the use of focus group interviews, the present study attempts to discover what motivates Polish students to study Welsh in a context of limited direct contact with the speakers of the language and limited, indirect access to Welsh language and culture.</abstract>

Motivational Factors in the Acquisition of Welsh in Poland

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> In this article the role of different ideological viewpoints concerning corpus development within the Manx revival movement in the second half of the twentieth century is explored. In particular, the work of two prominent figures is examined: the Celtic scholar Robert L. Thomson, who published extensively especially on Manx language and literature, and also contributed to the revival, particularly as editor of several pedagogical resources and as a member of the translation committee Coonceil ny Gaelgey, and Douglas Fargher, a tireless activist and compiler of an English-Manx Dictionary (1979). Broadly speaking, Thomson was of a more preservationist bent, cautious in adapting the native resources of the language and wary of straying too far from attested usage of the traditional language, while Fargher was more radical and open especially to borrowing from Irish and Scottish sources. Both were concerned, in somewhat different ways, to remove perceived impurities or corruptions from the language, and were influenced by the assumptions of existing scholarship. A close reading of the work of these scholar-activists sheds light on the tensions within the revival movement regarding its response to the trauma of language death and the questions of legitimacy and authenticity in the revived variety. Particular space is devoted to an analysis of the preface of Fargher’s dictionary, as well as certain features of the body of the work itself, since this volume is probably the most widely consulted guide to the use of the language today. Finally, it is argued that the Manx language movement today would benefit from a reassessment and discussion of the ideological currents of the past and present, and a judicious evaluation of both the strengths and weaknesses of existing reference works.</abstract>

Scholarship and Language Revival: Language Ideologies in Corpus Development for Revived Manx

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The paper discusses several aspects of immersion and bilingual education systems in Brittany, France and in Lower Lusatia, Germany. Their role in the process of becoming a new speaker of a minority language is exemplified by the Diwan immersion education model in Brittany and the Witaj project in Lower Lusatia concerning the Sorbian people. Taking into consideration the different sociolinguistic situation of both groups, the level and reasons for language shift, the existing language policy in France and in Germany, both educational models are presented. I analyze some factors that influence the possible success or failure of these two models, such as: the linguistic environments, teaching systems, the roles of teachers, the minority language attitudes of pupils, their language practices, the availability of extracurricular activities in the minority language, and the existence of different types of communities of practice. All these factors influence pupils’ language choices and practices. Not all language learners will use a minority language in the future, since it depends on the conscious decision of each person. The distinction between language learners and minority language new speakers can thus be justified.</abstract>

Language Learners or New Speakers: The Transfer of the Breton Diwan Immersion Education Model to the Lower Sorbian Witaj Project

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This article presents the results of a small-scale research conducted for a master’s thesis on the motivation to learn Irish on the part of university students and members of the Gaelic society <italic>An Cumann Gaelach</italic>. In the light of questionnaires’ results and interviews, the emphasis is placed on the links between motivation, identity, and potential key moments in learners’ lives. Using an AMTB-type questionnaire (n=45), the author puts to the test Dörnyei’s Motivational Self System theory (2005) in the context of the learning of Irish by looking at the correlation between the motivational intensity of 45 students and six variables (Ideal L2 Self, Ought to Self, Ideal L2 Community, Instrumentality, Parental encouragement, and Role of teachers). The notion of Ideal L2 Self, or the capacity to picture oneself speaking an L2 in the future, clearly appears to be strongly correlated with the respondents’ motivational intensity (r=.75 p&lt;.01), in accordance with Dörnyei’s model. However results concerning extrinsic factors differ from previous research, putting forward distinctive features of the learning of minority languages. The second phase of the research looks at the language learning narratives of three <italic>An Cumann Gaelach</italic>’s members through the qualitative analysis of three interview transcripts. The results clearly show that time spent in Irish summer colleges are linguistic <italic>mudes</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_scp-2016-0003_ref_018_w2aab2b8b2b1b7b1ab1ac18Aa">Pujolar and Puigdevall 2015</xref>), or key-moments, which triggered the interest in the language for the three students interviewed.</abstract>

Successful Learners of Irish as an L2: Motivation, Identity and Linguistic <italic>Mudes</italic>

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