Standardising Cornish : the politics of a new minority language

The last recorded native speaker of the Cornish language died in 1777. Since the nineteenth century, amateur scholars have made separate attempts to reconstruct its written remains, each creating a different orthography. Later, following recognition under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2002, Cornish gained new status. However, with government support came the governmental framework of “New Public Management”, which emphasises quantifiable outcomes to measure performance. This built implicit pressure towards finding a single standard orthography, for greatest efficiency. There followed a six-year debate among supporters of the different orthographies, usually quite heated, about which should prevail. This debate exemplified the importance of standardisation for minority languages, but its ultimate conclusion saw all sides giving way, and expediency, not ideology, prevailing. It also showed that standardisation was not imposed explicitly within language policy, but emerged during the language planning process

How Narrow is Narrowcasting? Are regional dialects standardised for national TV?

This paper is about the representation of minorities in mass media, and the tension between fully representing the diversity of that group and remaining accessible to the widest possible audience. The case study is the Welsh-language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm, and whether the regional dialects of Welsh are ‘toned down’ to ensure comprehensibility for all Welsh speakers. The first aim of the article is to bring language into the discussion of how minorities are represented in Public Service Broadcasting (PSB). A second and more general aim is to open up a frame for further research into the tensions that arise in representing local diversity and harnessing national/group identity. As a contribution to the sociology of globalisation, this article will be looking for a middle ground between the totalising ‘McDonaldisation’ thesis – where all cultural diversity is eradicated – and equally strong counterclaims about the vigorous reassertion of diversity (e.g. Katz and Liebes, 1990). I argue that neither is correct, and that we are facing a much more gradual and incipient erosion of cultural diversity as local minority cultures are packaged in global media forms; and that this must be understood as a constant ongoing process with a historical trajectory, not an end point that is ever ‘reached’ – either by total homogenisation or by persistent diversity. The case of local dialects in PSB therefore serves as an exemplar of the limitations in showcasing diversity within minorities in mass media

(Re)defining linguistic diversity: What is being protected in European language policy?

Linguistic diversity is complicated. It involves two main elements: a headcount of “languages”, plus variation and variability within and between them. In this article we show how language policy in Europe claims to protect diversity but falls short on these two measures. Our legal analysis examines the institutional politics of the European Union, details of accession, and institutionalisation of multilingualism. We describe the manifestation of a multilevel language hierarchy: working languages are topmost, then official languages, then non-official languages. This largely privileges national languages, principally English. Meanwhile allochthonous (‘immigrant’) languages are discounted, despite outnumbering autochthonous (‘indigenous’) languages. Our legal analysis therefore suggests an early stumble for linguistic diversity: even limited to a headcount of “languages”, most are neglected. Next, our sociolinguistic analysis examines the Council of Europe’s approach to protecting minority languages. We show how diversity can decline even among protected languages, using two case studies: Cornish, a young revival; and Welsh, an older, more established revival. The Cornish revival could only proceed after agreement on singular standardisation. Meanwhile the internal diversity of Welsh has declined significantly, fuelled by the normative reproduction of its standard form in education, and by sharpened social pressures against local dialects. Moreover, by comparing the EU and the Council of Europe, we aim for an overarching argument about “European language policy”. We conclude that linguistic diversity is neglected, through exclusion of most of the languages spoken in Europe, and pressures on language-internal diversity within protected languages. Linguistic diversity is something richer and more complex than the limited goals of existing policies; it transcends language boundaries, and may be damaged by planned intervention

The dawn of the human-machine era: a forecast of new and emerging language technologies

New language technologies are coming, thanks to the huge and competing private investment fuelling rapid progress; we can either understand and foresee their effects, or be taken by surprise and spend our time trying to catch up. This report scketches out some transformative new technologies that are likely to fundamentally change our use of language. Some of these may feel unrealistically futuristic or far-fetched, but a central purpose of this report - and the wider LITHME network - is to illustrate that these are mostly just the logical development and maturation of technologies currently in prototype. But will everyone benefit from all these shiny new gadgets? Throughout this report we emphasise a range of groups who will be disadvantaged and issues of inequality. Important issues of security and privacy will accompany new language technologies. A further caution is to re-emphasise the current limitations of AI. Looking ahead, we see many intriguing opportunities and new capabilities, but a range of other uncertainties and inequalities. New devices will enable new ways to talk, to translate, to remember, and to learn. But advances in technology will reproduce existing inequalities among those who cannot afford these devices, among the world's smaller languages, and especially for sign language. Debates over privacy and security will flare and crackle with every new immersive gadget. We will move together into this curious new world with a mix of excitement and apprehension - reacting, debating, sharing and disagreeing as we always do. Plug in, as the human-machine era dawn

Speeding up or reaching out? : efficiency and unmet need as policy priorities in Wales

The Welsh Assembly, a devolved legislature in the UK, and its executive the Welsh Government, have a distinctly intensive commitment to equality – emphasising universality with weighty obligations on public services. This article uses the ‘discourse-historical approach’ (DHA) to critically review an eleven-year social service reform strategy (produced in 2007), and to weigh up the priorities of fiscal efficiency and universal equality. We refer to these competing priorities as ‘speeding up’ and ‘reaching out’, respectively. Our findings show an imbalance towards the former, largely sidelining the possible value of services to those currently under-served. The article discusses this mismatch in respect of the dominant policymaking framework of ‘New Public Management’ and its emphases on productivity, efficiency, and quantifiable accountability. We also show the value of DHA in analysing ‘fights for dominance’ – in this case between competing discourses within a flagship policy document. Keywords: Discourse-historical approach, social exclusion, social policy, social services, Wales, Welsh Governmen

One You Lincolnshire Interim Evaluation Slide deck

Description of the RE-AIM evaluation framework Research Design and Methodology Interview and Focus Group Results Findings, Implications and Next Step

RE-AIM Evaluation of One You Lincolnshire Integrated Lifestyle Service: Interim Report

Introduction: Many unhealthy behaviours such as tobacco smoking, poor diet, harmful alcohol use, and physical inactivity tend to group. In England, around a quarter of people are engaged in three or more unhealthy behaviours, contributing to a higher risk of ill health. Interventions, known as integrated lifestyle services (ILS), encourage sustained health changes and reduced costs. There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of ILSs in rural settings and factors that impact implementation. One You Lincolnshire is a non-NHS provider working with GP practices, community care services and local charities to offer online, digital lifestyle support for individuals with long-term health conditions. Methods: This study aimed to identify the impact of addressing unhealthy behaviours for an individual through One You Lincolnshire (OYL), establish how OYL has been implemented, and highlight any potential risks and challenges that may impact the intervention in the future. This presentation will give an overview of the key findings from phase 1 of the evaluation, which used a mixed-method approach and was co-produced with a multi-stakeholder group. The study had a total of 53 participants, including Service Users (n = 24), Health Professionals (n= 9), One You Lincolnshire staff (n=17) and Stakeholders (n=3). Key Findings: Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes in service delivery and implementation. From the interviews and focus groups, the key findings were as follows:  - Online delivery model offered much greater accessibility for a wide range of clients in rural areas.​  -Once referred, an integrated service model decreased barriers for stigmatised health needs such as smoking cessation or alcohol reduction.​ -A legacy of decommissioning services led to apprehension for some health professionals to adopt the model. The results from phase 1 highlight that digital service delivery during the covid pandemic may increase accessibility for individuals with long-term health conditions. Also, participating in multiple pathways suggest an increase in sustained long-term changes.  Conclusion: Integrated lifestyle services could be an effective model to tackle co-morbidities with opportunities to work with community partners to develop robust care pathways. However, there are still challenges in adopting the model by GP practices and the need to further explore the service's health outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Implications: These findings will be used to make real-time changes to One You Lincolnshire service delivery and contribute to a broader body of research on the implementation of ILS in rural settings. One limitation of the study was the dropout of some participants between survey and interview, resulting in fewer service users' perspectives than desired. However, phase 2 will focus on a more extensive dataset to triangulate the findings

Abstracts from the NIHR INVOLVE Conference 2017

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