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History
Before the
late sixth Century there was no difference between Old Cornish and Old Welsh.
Then the Anglo-Saxons pushed further westward and the two groups of the
Ancient Britons were separated in the year 597. This separation resulted in the
evolution of two distinct languages, a third language evolved from the
Britons who went to live in Brittany.
By 1066
Cornish was spoken throughout Cornwall, by the late 17th Century only a few speakers were
found in the far west. In the 15th and 16th century the
Cornish Rebelled against the English Government and as a result were
slaughtered loosing many thousands of native speakers. The introduction of
the English Prayer book was terrible for the Cornish as many people in Cornwall knew no English and had understood the Latin.
The Cornish rebelled against this but were brutally crushed. Many Cornish,
who went to England to fight, learned English and when they
returned stuck to speaking English, preferring to be seen as English rather
than Cornish.
Cornish was dying because of the attitude towards it by the
English. Sad but true, English society viewed the Cornish Language as a
quaint peasant language and one that should not be spoken by anyone of any
standing within society. This attitude was prevalent within Cornish itself.
Cornish speakers refused to pass on the Cornish language to their Children
insisting they learned only English and even in some cases they changed their
name to a more English sounding one. For
instance Trellil became Thomas.
In the late 17th Century a group of scholars wrote and
studied to preserve as much of the language as they could. The works of one
of them can be viewed on this site by looking at the Bible pages. We all owe
them a great debt. The last native speaker of Cornish was John Davey who died in 1893 after the seeds of the revival had
begun.
But the Cornish Language is a survivor. Its reported death was a
classic example of media spin. Dolly Pentreath was
one of the last native speakers of Cornish but not the last. There have
always been people within Cornwall that have had knowledge of Cornish. Today more people speak
Cornish that at any time in the last 250 years.
The
Revival
The revival began 100 years ago. The first Handbook of the
Cornish language was published in 1904. In order to overcome erratic spelling
within the language a new spelling system was devised called Unified. This
was the main form of the language revival until the 1980’s when Dr Ken George
created a new phonemic spelling system known as Kemmyn in order to overcome
the problems within the Unified system. The Cornish language Board decided to
switch to this radical spelling system. Others preferred to stick to Unified,
whilst others preferred to work with Modern Cornish, the spelling of 18th
Century Cornish, when it had last been used as a community language. (Unified
and Kemmyn were based on Cornish C. 1500).
The story does not end there for Nicholas Williams a Celtic
Language Professor at Dublin University developed Unified Cornish Revised (UCR) in
order to solve the problems within Unified and also as a replacement for
Kemmyn that he felt was a serious mistake. However in the 16 years since
Kemmyn was officially adopted it shows no sign of being abandoned and if you
wish to read about the arguments of orthography I suggest reading Cornish for
the 21st Century, which counters Nicholas Williams’s arguments
that he made in his book Cornish Today. Unified is still being spoken by many
of those who preferred not to switch to Kemmyn whilst a number have adopted
UCR. Unfortunately whilst appreciating the merits of UCR I do find a major
drawback is that there are only two books published in UCR, the other UCR
material are all textbooks. Please note that for those people wanting to study
Cornish Language Board exams they are all in either Kemmyn or Unified. They
do not recognise UCR.
So, which is the best system to use? Essentially they are all
Cornish, sound virtually similar, but look radically different. In Kemmyn
‘Why’ is spelt ‘Hwi’ and ‘Whee’ in Modern. Seems
confusing doesn’t it? Thankfully there are a number of books and CD-Roms to help you learn, but none of them give you all the
information you need, which is which to use.
Eurotalk’s Learn Cornish has both Kemmyn and UCR as does Teach Me Cornish
published by Cambridge Educational & Sain.
Neither actually says why there is more than one spelling system nor do they
give you the advice necessary to help you choose. Eurotalk
is only helpful for the serious beginner as it is little more than a small
interactive dictionary, Teach Me Cornish is more advanced, but probably
slightly harder to use, I would recommend Teach me Cornish as it gives you
more to work with!.
The main thing to remember is it is better to learn Cornish in
any form than no Cornish at all.
Kemmyn is a phonemic system in that the words are written as they are
spoken, so this makes it much easier to learn.
Unified is a more traditional form but harder to learn. People still use
this system because it is based on traditional spelling and was the basis for
the revival for many years. Although it began to be questioned in the 80’s as
to its accuracy.
Unified Cornish Revised is a better version of Unified based on serious
Celtic studies.
Modern Cornish (also known as Late) is the last genuine form of Cornish, the
form of the language used last.
A secondary, yet major, consideration is
the back up materials.
Websites
For a list of Cornish websites look at our links page.
Dictionaries
Unified, UCR and Kemmyn all have dictionaries in print. The
Unified one has a smaller vocabulary with little or no up to date vocabulary
relevant for the 21st century. The excellent UCR dictionary is
recommended, but unfortunately it is currently out of print and is only
English to Cornish. The Cornish to English one is planned. There is a list of
amendments and correction of errors on the publisher’s website, but it is a
pity that it wasn't proof read before publication especially as the
publishers spent a lot of time criticising George's dictionary for the very
same reason. The Kemmyn dictionary is a more reasonable price, and has a
decent size and up to date vocabulary with both English to Cornish and
Cornish to English. Most importantly the Kemmyn dictionary is much easier to
use. It takes a new approach to the presentation of information that as a
learner I have found invaluable. For example when a plural adds to the
existing word it is listed as +yow, but when a letter or letters are removed
in the plural it is shown as -yow. Clear, simple and precise without any
confusion or need to reach for a book on grammar. It also uses a different
font for Each section clearly differentiating between the two.
Courses
There is KDL (Kernewek Dre Lyther –
Cornish by letter), which is learning via e-mail. The first lesson can be
done on their site free.
If you go to the Kernewek Dre Lyther site (See links) you can try
the Kemmyn course. The advantage of this course is that you can do it via
e-mail with a course tutor at a ridiculously cheap price. It’s not difficult
to do; you just need a little self-discipline!
Bible
The New Testament is available in UCR, Unified and in Kemmyn.
Films
Hwerow Hweg (Bitter Sweet), in Kemmyn, is the only full-length film in
Cornish. Not the greatest production standards but made with enthusiasm and
by people with a love of the language. The major mistake was to make it on
video and not on film.
Music
There is plenty of music available in Cornish. Warlinnen has its
own music library, all in Cornish! Amongst the best Cornish bands, are Naked
Feet and Rachael and Common Ground. Both bands sing in both English and
Cornish.
Which system do I use?
Whichever one you feel most comfortable with. On the links page
there is a link to the Kemmyn course website and on this site you have a UCR
course which is free to download. Try both and see which one you prefer.
Alternatively there are numbers of internet groups and forums where you can
learn Cornish. Ultimately there is a desire for a compromise form, taking the
best of all systems and creating a single system. Unfortunately this is
unlikely to happen within the foreseeable future, so perhaps it is best to
adopt one of the existing forms and accept that as the standard and then all
work together to the benefit of the community.
If you need any more information then just Email: info@cornishlanguage.co.uk
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