This event consists of talks by two outstanding scholars of the Welsh language, followed by questions from the audience.

 

Rhydychenese: O. M. Edwards, Oxford and Wales

Dr Lowri Hughes (1998, English and Modern Languages)

O.M. Edwards (1858-1920) made a lasting impression on Welsh identity. Many of the ideas and idioms that he so vigorously disseminated as author, editor and educationalist were shaped during the fruitful years that he spent at Oxford as a prize-winning student and popular Fellow. ‘O.M.’ found his ‘Welsh voice’ in the most English of establishments and the ideas and challenges he presented to his compatriots remain pertinent today.

Lowri Angharad Hughes read English and French at Jesus, followed by an MSt in Celtic Studies and DPhil with Professor Thomas Charles-Edwards. Her thesis, Writing the Welsh People: O.M. Edwards and the Shaping of Welsh Identity examines why certain ideas and ideals of national life become prominent. Since leaving Jesus, Lowri has applied her academic background to public policy and is regarded as one of the foremost specialists in the field of Welsh language policy and planning. She is regularly invited to sit on Government Advisory Boards and is currently Head of Policy and Development at Canolfan Bedwyr, Bangor University.

 

Which Welsh? Changing perspectives on the Welsh language in the eyes of the Oxford Welsh

Professor David Willis (Chair of Celtic, University of Oxford)

The early members of Oxford's Welsh Society, Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym, held widely differing views on how the Welsh language should be used and written and the relationship between the written language and the spoken dialects. This talk will examine some of these views in the context of developments later in the twentieth century, including work on mapping dialect variation in Wales today and the impact of language revitalisation efforts on the form of the language itself.

David Willis is Jesus Professor of Celtic at the University of Oxford. His research interests include the history and structure of Welsh and the other Celtic languages, historical and theoretical syntax, Slavonic languages and the history of English. He is the author or editor of a number of works including The Syntax of Welsh, Syntactic Change in Welsh, Continuity and Change in Grammar, and the two volumes of The History of Negation in the Languages of Europe and the Mediterranean. He is currently working on a book on the history of Welsh for Oxford University Press.

 

Date: Monday 1 March 2021

Time: 6:00 - 7:30PM GMT

Location: Zoom. Joining instructions will be sent to registered attendees following the deadline for registrations on Friday 26 February.

Tickets: Available for students, staff, alumni and friends of Jesus College; free of charge.

If multiple alumni are watching from the same location, only one place needs to be reserved. 

How to book: Online registration has now closed. Please contact the Events team to enquire if places remain (events@jesus.ox.ac.uk). 

 

To visit the pages for other events in the series, please click on the titles below:

Thomas Vaughan, Henry Vaughan, Magic, and Alchemy

11 March 2021, 6PM GMT

A tsunami in South Wales? The 1607 flood in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary

18 March 2021, 6PM GMT

Books & Histories- The Welsh College in the Reign of Elizabeth I

27 March 2021, 11AM GMT