Wikipedia talk:Welsh Wikipedians' notice board/Archive 2014

Multiple reverts on Welsh people of Irish descent
Hi folks. I'm seeking some arbitration here on cases of reverts. I added the Category Welsh people of Irish descent to a number of Welsh people who - going by their surname - I thought it would be obvious that they were of Irish descent. They were:


 * Russell Coughlin
 * Phil Dwyer
 * Robert Duffy (footballer)
 * Richard Duffy
 * Frank Donovan
 * Steve Doyle
 * Brian Flynn
 * Bill Kelly (rugby league)
 * Jamie O'Hara (footballer)
 * Jake Cassidy
 * Joel Lynch

These, and a number of other edits such as William Connolly (VC) were likewise reverted by User:PeeJay2K3.

I am more than willing to believe that this is just a case of a fellow editor abiding by the rules, if zealously. I don't want to start an edit war. But I find it hard to believe that anyone could consider any of the above surnames as originating anywhere but Ireland


 * Burke
 * Cassidy (surname)
 * Connolly (surname)
 * Flynn
 * Hennessey
 * O'Shaughnessy
 * O'Sullivan
 * Lynch (surname)

and so wonder if said editor is being mischevious. Thus I am putting the issue before you. Is mise, Fergananim (talk) 16:51, 15 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Our discussion on the subject can be found here on my talk page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Fergananim#Tom_Burke
 * You should probably post this at WP:WALES, not here. – PeeJay 18:15, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

SSSIs in Wales
Llywelyn2000 has approached me to take a look at creating around 900 articles for Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wales. The results would look something like Llanbadrig - Dinas Gynfor.

I am planning to run a small test sample which I can list here for review and feedback for a week (or longer if anyone thinks it wise) before finishing the run. Any thoughts before I commit time to setting it up? --Fæ (talk) 16:35, 16 March 2014 (UTC)


 * As you can see, the model article is tagged for clean-up, so I hope the other articles will be better sourced or, at least, not turn into poorly sourced travelogues! Though being officially designated as 'Special'/important georgaphical areas I can't imagine anyone challenging the SSSI's notability. Sionk (talk) 19:22, 16 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I intend to take my time over testing and I hope to find alternative sources beyond those supplied so far by Llywelyn2000 that can be sensibly incorporated to make the articles a reasonable stab at start-class.
 * Note that the project has been requested from the technical perspective at Bots/Requests for approval/Faebot. Related comments are welcome as part of the discussion there. --Fæ (talk) 07:46, 17 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Just bear in mind that Wicipedia has few guidelines as such, but Wikipedia has a lot and they are much more strictly enforced. Deb (talk) 12:38, 17 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I think those tags praise with faint damns. Looking forward to seeing these articles in due course. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 02:58, 6 July 2014 (UTC).

Number of Welsh people who don't speak English?
I'm curious about this because I note that the article Welsh language has no figure. There is a figure for people living in Wales who don't speak English, but not for how many of those are actually Welsh, rather than some other nationality. I suspect the figure is close to zero, with most speakers whose first language is Welsh fully bilingual with English, as is the case here in N Pembrokeshire. The 2011 census, if it contains this info, doesn't want to give it up! Does anyone know? Tony Holkham (talk) 12:58, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * This question - or something similar - has been discussed more than once, I suspect under Welsh language. You could search the archives on the talk page, but for a starter, go to Talk:Welsh_language. The last comment in that threat is very pertinent; I know a nurse who works with old people, and she says that some old (Welsh speaking) people, under certain circumstances, revert to their mother-tongue, and can barely remember English at all. Hogyn Lleol (talk) 13:32, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that; I recognise the age aspect - my wife's mother was more and more comfortable with Welsh than with English as she got older. Unfortunately none of her children were encouraged to speak Welsh (her husband, although Welsh as well, didn't speak it), so don't do so now. I'm full of admiration for the fluent bilinguists (if that's a word?) round here, so just starting to learn myself. Cheers -- Tony Holkham (talk) 15:13, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
 * I should think the number is exceeding small. My divinity teacher only spoke Welsh until she was nine, but of necessity learned English, and was totally fluent when I knew her. The article remarks "Over the course of the twentieth century this monolingual population "all but disappeared", but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census."  I doubt that many would bring their children up "Welsh only",  and I would imagine that a good smattering of English would be absorbed even by someone living in a Welsh speaking household in a very Welsh speaking part of Wales. www.cascadilla.com/isb4.html 46. Minority Language Survival in Northwest Wales: An Introduction has. a graph of bi/monolingual speakers by percentage.  The general consensus seems to be that only a few of the very young, and a small proportion of the very old (some of whom have lost their English, as mentioned above) can be considered unable to communicate fluently in English.  All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 13:49, 5 July 2014 (UTC).


 * This item from 1968 may give some perspective. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 14:02, 5 July 2014 (UTC).


 * This is not a great source, but states that "there are no adult monoglot Welsh speakers nowadays". I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:37, 5 July 2014 (UTC)