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From: gmb@onions.natcorp.ox.ac.uk (Glynis Baguley)
Subject: RE: EU Policy on Language
Message-ID: <1995Feb21.161511.11745@onionsnatcorp.ox.ac.uk>
Originator: gmb@onions.natcorp
Sender: gmb@natcorp.ox.ac.uk (Glynis Baguley)
Organization: British National Corpus, Oxford University, GB
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 16:15:11 GMT
Lines: 31

In article <3iajkn$9it@bertha.gssec.bt.co.uk> cwilson@gssec.bt.co.uk (Colin Wilson) writes:
> In article <1995Feb16.104421.1197@onionsnatcorp.ox.ac.uk>, gmb@natcorp.ox.ac.uk 
> (Glynis Baguley) writes:
> |> 
> |> Much easier for Monsieur Hunt to study the UK, a long-established
> |> multilingual democracy right on his doorstep!
> 
> Ceci est une blague, n'est-ce pas?
> 
> Which languages are used in the UK's "democratic" institutions, apart from
> English?

Well, this isn't quite what I said. The UK is certainly multilingual,
and is, conventionally speaking, a democracy. Welsh has, I believe,
about 3/4 million native speakers, and in Welsh-speaking areas, the
language has some sort of official status. I don't know the details,
but for example knowledge of Welsh is a requirement for some jobs, and
some official publications, such as local authority material, are
produced in both languages.

Welsh is not used in parliamentary debate, of course. I believe
there's some ancient law that forbids it. But I imagine that some
local council meetings are conducted in Welsh.

There are still some Scottish Gaelic speakers, and of course various
languages spoken by immigrants: Gujerati, Urdu, Punjabi, Polish etc.
-- 
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{      Glynis.Baguley@oucs.ox.ac.uk     }
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