The research presented here is a sociological investigation into civil society in Wales with specific focus on the idea of a Welsh civil society and its relation to the boundaries surrounding bilingualism and the position of the Welsh language. The thesis examines the premise that the mobilisation of a Welsh civil society is one that is both facilitated and/or compromised by the relationship between bilingual/Welsh speakers and monolingual/non-Welsh speakers. The civility of this relationship is analysed in terms of the relative accommodations or non-accommodations made by respective speakers. The literature review in chapter one introduces the concept of civil society and provides an outline of dominant theoretical perspectives. Chapter two traces the emergence of the concept of civil society to the context of Wales in which reference to both its historical and contemporary mobilisation is made. Chapter three concentrates specifically on the social situation of the Welsh language and the divisions surrounding it. Chapter four provides a conceptual framework for empirical
investigation by linking the concept of civil society to language contact and the level of interaction between respective language groups. Chapter five outlines the fieldwork undertaken and the methods used. Chapters six to eight explore the relationship in a systematic and rigorous way by drawing on the empirical data generated.
The empirical investigation begins by outlining the position of Welsh language
activists in promoting and defending the boundaries of Welsh speaking society. This is then contrasted with a case study of adult learners of Welsh. The findings presented here suggest that a bilingual civil society, as opposed to a civil society comprising of two relatively divided language groups, requires the participation of non-Welsh speakers in mutual linguistic accommodation, although this does not necessarily involve learning Welsh. Rather, mutual accommodation is conceived as a gradient which may vary from setting to setting. Such mutual linguistic accommodation is then examined through a case study of the Countryside Council for Wales in which non-Welsh speaking staff are involved within a Welsh language training scheme. Potential for future research developments building on these investigations is then considered in
the concluding chapter.