Developing Transformational Ways of Analysing and Representing Minority Languages: A Case Study of the Welsh Language

Currently, the main data source used is the census, leading to simple maps of the percentages of people able to speak Welsh being produced, which inform language policy and planning at national and local scales. These simplified maps of the Welsh language have raised awareness within Welsh Government and other organisations in Wales of the need to find alternative ways of representing Welsh-language geographies.

The project will be the first systematically to use GIS techniques to deepen our understanding of the geography of the Welsh language. The project will result in new methods for mapping the Welsh language, addressing an important gap in academic knowledge, with significant implications for language policy. The project will act as a model for mapping other European minority and regional languages.