This thesis explores the role played by Welsh-language newspapers in y Wladfa (the Welsh settlement in Argentine Patagonia) from its inception in 1865 until 1933. The newspapers are analysed to assess in which manner they contributed to creating and maintaining a particular kind of Welsh identity whose preservation was the founding principle of the Patagonian settlement, and how that particular sense of Welshness evolved through time. The various publications produced by the Welsh in Patagonia will also be used to identify whether there were any challenges from within the Welsh community to the values, culture and identity that the newspapers promoted. Of special interest is analysing the interaction of the Welsh settlers with the Argentine Central Government and its representatives in the Chubut Territory. The reactions of Welsh-Patagonian newspapers to the complexities of the socio-political and cultural changes that Argentina underwent towards the end of the nineteenth century until the 1930s will be identified in order to understand how the Welsh experience in Patagonia fits in with the designs of the Government to effectively incorporate the Patagonian region into the fold of the Republic, and how the nationalistic policies of the Argentine Government impacted on the Welsh community and its press. This thesis also looks at how the Welsh-Patagonian newspapers interacted with an international network of Welsh-language publications from a distant corner of Patagonia. This research thesis intends to be a contribution to the studies of the ethnic press, studies of the experiences of the Welsh overseas, and studies in the field of immigration and ethnic communities in Argentina –more specifically in the context of the Patagonian region.

This thesis identifies and discusses historical and literary sources describing four species in the process of reintroduction: lynx (Lynx lynx), large whale (esp. Eubalena glacialis), beaver (Castor fiber) and crane (Grus grus). The scope includes medieval and early modern texts in English, Latin, and Welsh written in Britain before the species went extinct. The aims for each species are: (i) to reconstruct the medieval cultural memory; (ii) to contribute a cohesive extinction narrative; and (iii) to catalogue and provide an eco-sensitive reading of the main historical and literary references. Each chapter focuses on a different species: 1. The chapter on lynxes examines some new early references to the lynx and argues that the species became extinct in south Britain c.900 AD. Some hard-to-reconcile seventeenth century Scottish accounts are also explored. 2. The chapter on whales attributes the beginning of whale hunting to the ninth century in Britain, corresponding with the fish event horizon; but suggests a professional whaling industry only existed from the late medieval period. 3. The chapter on beavers identifies extinction dates based on the increasingly confused literary references to the beaver after c.1300 in south Britain and after c.1600 in Scotland, and the increase in fur importation. 4. The chapter on cranes emphasises the mixed perception of the crane throughout the medieval and early modern period. Cranes were simultaneously depicted as courtly falconers’ birds, greedy gluttons, and vigilant soldiers. More generally, the thesis considers the levels of reliability between eyewitness accounts and animal metaphors. It examines the process of ‘redelimitation’ which is triggered by population decline, whereby nomenclature and concepts attached to one species become transferred to another. Finally, it emphasises geographical determinism: species generally become extinct in south Britain centuries before Scotland.

This thesis produces a definition of consonant mutations, a hitherto relatively unexplored phenomenon in typology, using a sample of languages from the Celtic and Uralic languages. It is defined using Canonical Typology. The base of the phenomenon is established as ‘functionalized consonant alternations’, with seven dimensions of variation: conditioning elements>no conditioning elements; sole functional indicator>accompanied by other morphemes; more than two grades>two grades; some effect on surrounding vowels>only affecting the consonant; only leniting>also non-leniting sound changes; word-initial/-final>word-medial placement; and less regular>more regular. It is also argued that mutations’ phonology is less important than their function.

Alexander I. Falilejevs Edition altwalisischer/altkymrischer Texte bietet eine erstmalige Zu-sammenstellung sämtlicher erhaltener Textzeugnisse dieser inselkeltischen Sprache. Sie datieren in die Zeit vor dem Jahr 1000 n.Chr. zurück. Jeder Text ist mit einem Glossar und einem ausführlichen linguistischen Kommentar versehen. Dieser Kommentar sowie die Einleitung liefern einen kompletten Überblick über den gegenwärtigen Wissensstand auf dem Gebiet des Altwalisischen. Der systematische Teil des Buches ordnet die linguistischen Formen (Phono-logie, Morphologie, Syntax) zu einem Abriß der altwalisischen Grammatik. Yves Le Berres Übersetzung der russischen Vorlage (Древневаллийский язык (Drevnevalliskiy yazyk), Moskau 2002) ins Französische ermöglicht der Forschung erstmalig einen Zugang zum Alt-walisischen in einer westeuropäischen Sprache. Das Altwalisische ist nicht nur für das Verständnis der anderen älteren inselkeltischen Spra-chen wichtig (Irisch, Bretonisch und Kornisch), sondern auch für die Entstehungsgeschichte des Englischen. Das Altwalisische war die erste Kontaktsprache der Sprecher des sich heraus-bildenden mittelalterlichen Englischen. / This book offers, for the first time, a complete collection of the textual documents known so far in the Old Welsh language. Dr. Alexander I. Falileyev’s edition of these documents is ac-companied by a running linguistic commentary as well as a glossary. The grammatical section of the book orders all the linguistic evidence found in these texts in a systematic form. Both, the textual evidence and the linguistic analysis allow a complete picture of the present state of the research on the Old Welsh language. Dr. Falileyev’s book originally appeared in Moscow in 2002 (Древневаллийский язык (Drevnevalliskiy yazyk)). It was updated by the author in 2007 and translated by Prof. Yves Le Berre (Brest) into French, so as to make this important work accessible to scholars not versed in the Russian language. The Old Welsh language is not only important for a wider understanding of the evidence of the other medieval Insular Celtic languages (Irish, Breton and Cornish), but also for the his-tory of English, as Old Welsh was the first language that speakers of nascent English were in contact with.

This dissertation contains a critical edition of the early Irish tale Aided Derbforgaill “the violent death of Derbforgaill”. It includes an introduction discussing the main thematic components of the tale as well as intertextuality, transmission and manuscript relationship. The edition is accompanied by transcripts from the three manuscript copies of the tale and textual notes. Aided Derbforgaill is an Ulster Cycle tale and belongs to a category of tales describing the death of prominent heroes, rarely heroines, in early Irish literature. Arriving in the shape of a bird to mate with the greatest of all heroes, Cú Chulainn, Derbforgaill is refused by Cú Chulainn on account of him having sucked her blood. Forced to enter a urination competition between women, and upon winning this, Derbforgaill is mutilated by the other competitors. The tale ends with two poems lamenting the death of Derbforgaill. This very short tale is complex, not only in its subject matter, but in the elliptical language of the poetry. Thematically the tale is a combination of very common motifs found elsewhere in early Irish literature, such as the Otherworld, metamorphosis and the love of someone unseen, and some rare motifs that are almost unique to this tale, such as blood sucking and the urination competition. The text also have clear sexual overtones.

The statutory education sector and health and social sectors are obliged to provide Welsh language services, either by teaching through Welsh-medium or Welsh as a second language or by providing an ‘Active Offer’ of Welsh language services. This thesis identifies that bilingual capacity in the workforce is vital to fulfilling these policies and that training the current workforce to increase their fluency and confidence to use Welsh is necessary to increase capacity. This thesis used questionnaire data obtained from participants on the sylfaen | foundation course of the Welsh National Sabbatical Scheme to investigate the course as a language capacity building and strengthening model, both to determine its effectiveness and best practices in increasing fluency and confidence to use Welsh by its participating English-medium primary school teachers; and its generalisability and applicability to the health and social sectors. A Sabbatical Scheme Model was proposed to senior officials in the social and health sectors in the Cardiff region and semi-structured interviews were undertaken of current Welsh language training and the perception of Welsh in the sectors. Based on these interviews, new questions were raised in terms of how the sectors are focusing on increasing fluency and confidence in using the Welsh language in work, with focus turning to either language capacity strengthening or language capacity building as opposed to a combination of the two. As a result, this thesis sets out conclusions regarding language capacity building versus language capacity strengthening, and how both are necessary in creating a strong bilingual workforce that can both actively offer and deliver Welsh language services.

Little research has been devoted to studying the interconnections between the ambiguous border identities along the so-called ‘Celtic fringe’ in the UK. It is important to explore whether, in the new context of the devolved Welsh and Scottish states, people resident in the border areas of Wales and Scotland will increasingly come to identify with the Welsh or Scottish “nation” and with its official “nationality”. Using the sociological approach advocated by Robert K. Yin, this thesis draws on ethnographical research to explore the precise nature of the relationship between contemporary national identity, nationalism, borderlands and football fandom. It examines supporters in three border towns: Oswestry (Shropshire), Hay-on-Wye (Powys), and Berwick-upon-Tweed (Northumberland). Focus groups were conducted with match-going supporters of Welsh league champions The New Saints of Oswestry Town, Scottish League Two side Berwick Rangers and Hay St. Mary’s Football Club, who compete in both the Herefordshire and Mid Wales leagues. Examining football fans’ expressions of identity, this study discusses national sentiment and explores identity – local, regional and national – in the England-Wales and England-Scotland border regions from a theoretical and comparative perspective. A detailed and grounded study of national identity and nationalism amongst fans in the borderlands of Wales and Scotland will appeal to academics and students of sports history and with interests in ethnography, the sociology of sport, football fandom, debatable borderlands and contemporary national identities.