Cornish language

For the Cornish-English dialect, see West Country dialects

Cornish
Kernewek, Kernowek, Curnoack
Native to	United Kingdom
Region	Cornwall
Native speakers	3,500 (estimate)
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Brythonic Cornish
Official status
Regulated by	Kesva an Taves Kernewek (KK), Agan Tavas (UC, UCR)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kw
ISO 639-2	cor
ISO 639-3	cor
ELP	Cornish

Flag of Cornwall

The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages (Brythonic also includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic). The Celtic languages of Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Manx are part of the separate Goidelic group. Cornish shares about 80% basic vocabulary with Breton, 75% with Welsh, 35% with Irish, and 35% with Scottish Gaelic. By comparison, Welsh shares about 70% with Breton. Cornish continued to function as a community language until the late 18th century, and was again revived early in the 20th century. As of 2006, it has been estimated that currently around 3,500 speak Cornish to a basic conversational level, and around 500 fluently. Perhaps a score or more children and young adults can be considered native speakers of Revived Cornish.

History

The proto-Cornish language came into being after the Southwest Britons of Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall became geographically separated from the West Britons of later Wales after the Battle of Deorham in about 577. The area controlled by the Southwest Britons was progressively reduced by the expansion of Wessex over the next few centuries. Around 930, Cornwall was finally defeated by the Saxon king Athelstan. However, the Cornish language continued to flourish well through the Middle Ages, reaching a peak of about 39,000 speakers (estimated by Ken George) in the 13th century.

The shifting of the linguistic boundary in Cornwall 1300-1750

At the time of the Prayer Book rebellion of 1549, which was a reaction to Parliament passing the first Act of Uniformity, people in many areas of Cornwall did not speak or understand English. (The intention of the Act was to replace worship in Latin with worship in English, which was assumed, by the lawmakers, to be universally spoken throughout England. Instead of simply banning Latin, however, the Act was framed so as to enforce English). In 1549, this imposition of a new language was sometimes a matter of life and death: over 4,000 people who protested against the imposition of an English Prayer book were massacred by the King's army. Their leaders were executed and the people suffered numerous reprisals.

The rebels' document claimed they wanted a return to the old religious services and ended 'We the Cornishmen (whereof certain of us understand no English) utterly refuse this new English'. (Altered spelling.) Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, replied to the Cornishmen, inquiring as to why they should be offended by services in English when they had them in Latin, which they also did not understand. Through many factors, including loss of life and the spread of English the Prayer Book Rebellion proved a turning-point for the Cornish language. Indeed, some recent research has suggested that estimates of the Cornish speaking population prior to the rebellion may have been low, making the decline even more drastic.

Early Modern Cornish was the subject of a study published by the Welsh linguist Edward Lhuyd in 1702, and differs from the mediaeval language in having a considerably simpler structure and grammar. Such differences included the wide use of Cornish's original genitive, ablative and locative cases, and the use of certain modal affixes that, although out of use by Llwyd's time, had a considerable effect on the word-order of mediaeval Cornish. The Mediaeval language also possed two additional tenses for expressing past events and an extended set of possessive suffixes. By this time the language was already arguably in decline from its earlier heyday, and the situation worsened over the course of the next century. It is often claimed that the last native speaker of Cornish was the Mousehole resident Dolly Pentreath, who died in 1777. Notwithstanding her supposed last words, "Me ne vidn cewsel Sawznek!" ("I don't want to speak English!"), she spoke at least some English as well as Cornish. The last known monoglot Cornish speaker is believed to have been Chesten Marchant, who died in 1676 at Gwithian. It does, however, appear to be true that Dolly Pentreath spoke Cornish fluently and may have been one of the last to do so before the revival of the language in the 20th century. There is also, however, evidence that Cornish continued, albeit in limited usage by a handful of speakers, throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century. In 1875 six speakers all in their sixties were discovered; some claim that John Davey who died in 1890 should be considered the last traditional speaker. Others, however, dispute this, saying that Alison Treganning, who died in 1906 was the last traditional speaker. Fishermen were counting fish in the Cornish language into the 1940s. It has been suggested by Cornish linguist Richard Gendall that some dialects of English spoken in Cornwall (especially the dialect of West Penwith, where traditional Cornish was last spoken) display strong lexical and prosodic influences from the Cornish language that almost certainly go back several centuries.

Revival

The first successful attempt to revive Cornish was largely the work of Henry Jenner and Robert Morton Nance in the early part of the twentieth century. This system was called Unified Cornish (Kernewek Unyes) and was based mainly on Middle Cornish (the language of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — a high point for Cornish literature), with a standardised spelling and an extended vocabulary based largely on Breton and Welsh. For many years, this was the modern Cornish language, and many people still use it today.

Shortcomings in Unified Cornish had to do in part with the stiff and archaising literary style Nance had employed, and in part with a realisation that Nance's phonology lacked some distinctions which must have obtained in traditional Cornish. In the 1970s, Tim Saunders raised a number of issues of communicative efficiency, but his initiative had no influence and later developments are entirely independent.

In the early 1980s, Richard Gendall, who had worked with Nance, published a new system based on the meagre prose works of Nicholas Boson and John Boson. This system, called Modern Cornish (Curnoack Nowedga) by its proponents, differs from Unified Cornish in using the English-based orthographies of the 17th and 18th centuries, though there are also differences of vocabulary and grammar. Gendall was not the first to perceive that the Unified Cornish standard did have some serious deficiencies, but his anglicised spelling was particularly unpopular, and his frequent revisions discouraged potential supporters.

In 1986 Ken George developed a revised orthography (and phonology) for Revived Cornish, which became known as Kernewek Kemmyn (lit. Common Cornish). It was subsequently adopted by the Cornish Language Board as their preferred system. It retained a Middle Cornish base but made the spelling more systematic by applying phonemic orthographic theory, and for the first time set out clear rules relating spelling to pronunciation. The revised system is claimed to have been taken up enthusiastically by the majority of Cornish speakers and learners, and advocates of this orthography claim that it was especially welcomed by teachers. Nevertheless, many Cornish-speakers chose to continue using Unified Cornish. Despite later criticism by Nicholas Williams (see below), Kernewek Kemmyn has retained the support of perhaps 80% of active Cornish speakers, according to the McKinnon Report, 2000, Table 3.2. The accuracy of this report is disputed by those who do not prefer Kernewek Kemmyn orthography.

In 1995 Nicholas Williams proposed an alternative revision of Unified Cornish known as Unified Cornish Revised or UCR (Kernowek Unys Amendys). This version adapted the spelling to fit a phonology reconstructed on the basis of Dr. Williams' theories, while keeping as close as possible to the orthographic practices of the medieval scribes. In common with Kernewek Kemmyn, it makes full use of Tudor and Late Cornish prose materials unavailable to Nance. Williams published his English-Cornish Dictionary in this orthography in 2000. Like the other orthographies, UCR also has its adherents and its detractors. It has not however become the standard for all users of Cornish, as its supporters had hoped.

In practice these different written forms do not prevent Cornish-speakers from communicating with each other effectively. Cornish has been successfully revived as a viable language for communication. Nevertheless there is still much scope for improving the standard and accuracy of the spoken language. The language is spoken mainly with the older generations, but is currently being taught at some Cornish primary and secondary schools.

Current status

In the 20th century a conscious effort was made to revive Cornish as a language for everyday use in speech and writing (see below for further details about the dialects of modern Cornish).

It is estimated that there are now approximately 3,500 speakers of Cornish (about 0.7% of the Cornish population) and 300-400 fluent speakers (about 0.07%). It is estimated that in excess of 5,000 more have some knowledge of basic phrases or could understand basic sentences. A few people under the age of 30 have been brought up speaking Cornish. They are all bilingual in English, and in daily life use English with non-Cornish-speaking people (see Code-switching).

Cornish exists in place names, and a knowledge of the language helps the understanding of old place names. Many Cornish names are adopted for children, pets, houses and boats. There is now an amount of Cornish literature, in which poetry is the most important genre, particularly in oral form or as song.

Cornwall County Council has, as policy, a commitment to support the language, and recently passed a motion supporting it being specified within the European charter for regional or minority languages.

There are regular periodicals solely in the language such as the monthly An Gannas, An Gowsva, and An Garrick. BBC Radio Cornwall and Pirate FM have regular news broadcasts in Cornish, and sometimes have other programmes and features for learners and enthusiasts. Local newspapers such as the Western Morning News regularly have articles in Cornish, and newspapers such as The Packet, The West Briton and The Cornishman also support the movement.

The language has financial sponsorship from many sources, including the Millennium Commission. Increasingly, churches have notices in Cornish and English. The take-up of the language is now becoming so widespread that language organisations are finding it difficult to keep up with demand. These organisations include (in alphabetical order) Agan Tavas (Our Language), the Cornish sub-group of the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages, Gorseth Kernow, Kesva an Taves Kernewek (the Cornish Language Board), Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek (the Cornish Language Fellowship), and Teere ha Tavas (Land and Language). One organisation, Dalleth, promoted the language to pre-school children. There are many popular ceremonies, some ancient, some modern, which use the language or are entirely in the language. The language has been officially recognised as one of the five languages of the British Isles. This recognition should lead to greater access to funds from a variety of sources. Some of the supermarkets, municipal buildings (including public lavatories and council chambers) and even nightclubs in Cornwall now have a limited use of Cornish signage, an initiative made possible by a generous EU language and cultural heritage grant.

Culture

See: Cornish literature

Cornwall has many other cultural events associated with the language, including the international Celtic film festival, hosted in St Ives in 1997, with the programme in Cornish, English and French. There have been many films, some televised, made entirely, or significantly, in the language. Some shops, such as Gwynn ha Du, in the town of Liskeard, sell books written in Cornish. Many companies use Cornish names. The overnight physician's service in Cornwall is now called Kernowdoc. Cornish is taught in some schools; it was previously taught at degree level in the University of Wales, though the only existing courses in the language at University level are as part of a course in Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter, or as part of the distance-learning Welsh degree from the University of Wales, Lampeter.

The Cornish language has been recognised as a minority language by the UK government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This follows years of pressure by interest groups such as Mebyon Kernow and Kesva an Taves Kernewek.

The first complete edition of the New Testament in Cornish, Nicholas Williams' translation of the Testament Noweth agan Arluth ha Savyour Jesu Cryst, was published at Easter 2002 by Spyrys a Gernow (ISBN 0-9535975-4-7); it uses Unified Cornish Revised orthography. The translation was made from the Greek text, and incorporated John Tregear's existing translations with slight revisions.

In August 2004, Kesva an Taves Kernewek published its edition of the New Testament in Cornish (ISBN 1-902917-33-2), translated by six Bards of Gorseth Kernow under the leadership of Keith Syed; it uses Kernewek Kemmyn orthography. It was launched in a ceremony in Truro Cathedral attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Celtic Congress and Celtic League are groups that advocate cooperation amongst the Celtic Nations in order to protect and promote Celtic languages and cultures, thus working in the interests of the Cornish language.

European recognition

On November 5, 2002 in answer to a Parliamentary Question, Local Government and Regions Minister Nick Raynsford said:

"After careful consideration and with the help of the results of an independent academic study on the language commissioned by the government, we have decided to recognise Cornish as falling under Part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The government will be registering this decision with the Council of Europe.

"The purpose of the Charter is to protect and promote the historical regional or minority languages of Europe. It recognises that some of these languages are in danger of extinction and that protection and encouragement of them contributes to Europe's cultural diversity and historical traditions.

"This is a positive step in acknowledging the symbolic importance the language has for Cornish identity and heritage.

"Cornish will join Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Scots and Ulster Scots as protected and promoted languages under the Charter, which commits the government to recognise and respect those languages."

Officials will be starting discussions with Cornwall County Council and Cornish language organisations to ensure the views of Cornish speakers and people wanting to learn Cornish are taken into account in implementing the Charter.

Sounds

The pronunciation of traditional Cornish is a matter of conjecture, but varieties of Revived Cornish are more or less agreed about the phonology they use.

The consonants of Revived Cornish

This is a table of the phonology of Revived Cornish as recommended for the pronunciation of Unified Cornish Revised (UCR) orthography, using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

	bilabial	labio- dental	dental	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	labio-velar	velar	glottal
plosive	p  b			t  d				k  g
nasal	m			n				ŋ
fricative		f  v	θ  ð	s  z	ʃ  ʒ			x	h
approximant				ɹ		j	ʍ  w
lateral approximant				l

The vowels of Revived Cornish

These are tables of the phonology of Revived Cornish as recommended for the pronunciation of Unified Cornish Revised (UCR) orthography, using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Short vowels

	Front vowels	Central vowels	Back vowels
Close	y
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid
Mid		ə
Open-mid	ɛ œ		ɔ
Near-open	æ
Open	a		ɒ

Long vowels

	Front vowels	Central vowels	Back vowels
Close	iː yː		uː
Near-close
Close-mid	eː øː
Mid
Open-mid			ɔː
Near-open	æː
Open			ɒː

Grammar

Cornish is a member of the Celtic branch of the Indo-European family of languages, and shares many of the characteristics of the other Insular Celtic languages. These include:

• Initial consonant mutation. The first sound of a Cornish word may change according to grammatical context. There are four types of mutation in Cornish (compared to three in Welsh and two in Irish). These are known as soft (b -> v, etc.), hard (b -> p), aspirate (b unchanged, t -> th) and mixed (b -> f).

Consonant Mutation in Cornish
(spelled as in Kernwek Kemmyn)

Unmutated consonant	Soft mutation	Aspirate mutation	Hard mutation	Mixed mutation
p	b	f
t	d	th
k	g	h
b	v		p	f
d	dh		t	t
g1	disappears		k	h
g2	w		k	hw
gw	w		kw	hw
m	v			f
ch	j

¹ Before unrounded vowels, l, and r (provided it is followed by an unrounded vowel).
² Before rounded vowels, and r (provided it is followed by a rounded vowel).

• inflected (or conjugated) prepositions. A preposition combines with a personal pronoun to give a separate word form. For example, gans (with, by) + my (me) -> genef; gans + ef (him) -> ganso.
• No indefinite article. Cath means "a cat" (there is, however a definite article: an gath means "the cat").
• For other grammatical characteristics of Cornish, see the section on grammar in the Welsh language article, until this section is finished.

Dialects

There are, essentially, four 'dialects' of Cornish. They are not dialects in the normal sense (though regional variations exist to some degree), but rather differences in the manner of revival.

See: Revival

It is also possible that a variety of Cornish was spoken in Devon as late as the 14th century: Then President of the Devonshire Association, Sir Henry Duke, said in 1922 that "various writers have made (assertions) of the continuance of British occupancy and of the British tongue in South and West Devon to a time well within the reigns of the Plantagenets. Risdon, for example, says that the Celtic tongue was spoken throughout the South Hams in Edward the First's time".

Examples

This table compares some Cornish words (written using UCR and Kernewek Kemmyn orthographies) with equivalents from its sister Brythonic languages of Welsh and Breton.

Cornish (UCR)	Cornish (KK)	Welsh	Breton	English
Kernowek	Kernewek	Cernyweg	Kerneveureg	Cornish
gwenenen	gwenenenn	gwenynen	gwenanenn	bee
chayr, cadar	kador	cadair	kador	chair
cues	keus	caws	keuz	cheese
mesporth	yn-mes	y ffordd allan/mas	er-maez	exit
codha	koedha	cwympo	kouezhañ	(to) fall
gavar	gaver	gafr	gavr	goat
chy	chi	tŷ	ti	house
gweus	gweus	gwefus	gweuz	lip
aber	aber	aber, genau	aber	mouth (river)
nyver	niver	rhif, nifer	niver	number
peren	perenn	gellygen, peren	perenn	pear
scol	skol	ysgol	skol	school
megy	megi	mygu	mogediñ	(to) smoke
steren	sterenn	seren	steredenn	star
hedhyw	hedhyw	heddiw	hiziv	today
whybana	hwibana	chwibanu	c'hwibanat	(to) whistle

Common phrases

Cornish	Pronunciation	English
Myttin da	'mitten dah'	"good morning"
Dydh da	'dith dah'	"good day"

See also

• The Wikipedia Cornwall Portal
• Languages in the United Kingdom
• List of topics related to Cornwall
• UK topics

External links

• An BurowCornish Language News Website
• Uniting the Cornish language
• Cornish Language Fellowship
• Agan Tavas—The Society for the Promotion of the Cornish language
• Cornish - The Cornish Language in education in the United Kingdom
• Bibel KernewekCornish Bible Translation Project
• The >>NEW<< Cornish edition of Wikisource
• International Celtic Congress
• English-Cornish Dictionary
• Testament Noweth—New Testament in Cornish
• Cornish-English Dictionary: from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition.
• Blas Kernewek - A Taste of Cornish - basic Cornish lessons hosted by BBC Cornwall
• Downloadable Machine Translation of the Entire Bible into Cornish with English Parallel Text
• Cornish today by Kenneth MacKinnon - from the BBC^
• The Ordinalia - A Synoptic Website

References

• Strategy for the Cornish Language
• Cornish Language Study - Cornwall County Council survey of Cornish teaching
• Cornish Language Fellowship FAQs