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From: EURMXK@MVS.sas.com
Subject: Re: Manx / Cornish
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Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 08:21:00 GMT
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In article <kjp1003-160195153734@mac104.sidg.pwf.cam.ac.uk>,
kjp1003@hermes.cam.ac.uk () writes:
 
>In article <3f9jmk$duv@riscsm.scripps.edu>, misrael@scripps.edu (Mark
>Israel) wrote:
>
>> In article <3f7ife$7p9@overload.lbl.gov>, hughett@numbat.lbl.gov (Paul Hughett) writes:
>>
>> > The revived Cornish almost certainly differs substantially from the
>> > authentic (and extinct) Cornish and should not, IMHO, be called Cornish.
>>
>>    Do you also feel that modern Hebrew should not be called Hebrew?
>>
>> --
>> misrael@scripps.edu                   Mark Israel
>
>That is not the point surely. As Hughett indicates clearly, the important
>point is whether the language has a CONTINUOUS history. Therefore the fact
>that the language being spoken today has not been learned as a native
>language continuously throughout the generations is the reason for people
>doubting its claim to the title 'Cornish'. By the way, I was really
>interested to read what the Cornish language board had to say about the
>widespread use of the language. I grew up in Cornwall and was unaware of
>any such popularity!
 
I am attaching the full text of the brochure I got a couple of years
ago. It might answer some of the questions recently asked, it might
also pose new ones. At least, it might spur a good discussion.
 
Regards, 
M. Kiefer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A FEW WORDS ABOUT CORNISH
 
   Cornish is historically related to Breton and Welsh as common
descendents from the Brythonic branch of Celtic. It began to diverge
from Breton in the 6th century. However the two languages still
resemble each other in grammar and in vocabulary. For example:
    Cornish: Yeyn yw an gewer yn mis Genver;
    Breton:  Yen eo an amzer e mis Genver.
             (Cold is the weather in January)
    Cornish: Lavar an gwiryonedh dhe'm tas;
    Breton:  Lavar an wirionez d'am tad.
             (Tell the truth to my father)
   Cornish continued as a vernacular in Cornwall until the end of the
18th century when the last native speakers died. The Anglo-Saxon
conquest of Cornwall began at the beginning of the 8th century and in
this were the seeds of the decline of Cornish. Through the ensuing
centuries Cornish retreated gradually westwards.
   The language of the 15th century is known as Middle Cornish and it
is from this period that we have the Miracle Plays, religious works in
verse. In spite of the efforts of a group of enthusiasts living around
the Mount's Bay district in the last years of the 17th century and the
first decades of the 18th century, a group whose members corresponded
with each other, collected specimens of the spoken language of their
day, wrote in Cornish and attempted translations of the earlier
literature, by the end of the 18th century the decline of Cornish
reached its definite pint in the death of the well-known fisherwife
of Mousehole, Dolly Pentreath who died in 1778. Traditional fragments
lingered on even into the 20th century.
    The decline of Cornish is attributed to a number of causes but
the chief are, the apathy of the Cornish people themselves and social
and economic preference for English.
    Not until the third quarter of the 19th century was there any
further interest in Cornish. Then the 'celtic revival' inspired the
publications by scholars of most of the Middle Cornish literature.
    The revival itself is reckoned to date from the publication in
1908 of Henry Jenner's 'Handbook of the Cornish Language'. Jenner, a
Cornishman, was on the staff of the British Museum and he had studied
the Cornish manuscripts. He proposed that the language be revived
'carrying' on where it had left off'. Later workers realised that the
quantity and quality of the 'last remains' were not sufficient to make
this practicable and therefore used Middle Cornish as the basis for
Revived Cornish as it was called by the two leading revivalists,
Robert Morton Nance and A.S.D. Smith. this basis provided adequate
grammar and vocabulary. The phonology was derived from the description
of Late Cornish available in various authors, from Welsh and Breton
parallels and from the spoken English of West Penwith.
    The Gorsedd of Cornwall and the Federation of Old Cornwall
Societies, both bodies founded in the 1920's, were the organisations
chiefly engaged in the promotion of the language but in 1967 the
growing volume of work, in publishing books, in organising classes
etc. was handed over to Kesva an Taves Kernewek (Cornish Language
Board) which is today the body which carries the chief responsibility
for these aspects of language revival. In recent years, and at the
suggestion of P.A.S. Pool, associate membership of the Language Board
was instituted and associate members form Cowethas an Yeth Kernewek
(Cornish Language Fellowship). This is now an independent body with
close constitutional links with the Language Board. It is the Language
Fellowship which publishes 'An Gannas', a monthly, all-Cornish
magazine.
    Other bodies which are more or less concerned with the promotion
    of Cornish or with its study are:
       Institute of Cornish Studies   Royal Institution of Cornwall
       Mebyon Kernow                  Cornish National Party
       Cowethas Flamank               Dalleth
       Yeth an Weryn                  Agan Tavas.
    Various events are organised, for example, church services at
certain festivals, a residential weekend and other informal gatherings
to bring Cornish speakers together. Banks accept cheques made out in
Cornish. The support of T.V. and radio companies has been patchy but the
increasing production of video material by amateur and professional
groups is encouraging. At the date of writing there is a firm promise to
bring the Inter Celtic Festival of Film and Television to Cornwall in
1990. Some families are bringing up their children to speak Cornish as
their native tongue and the organisation Dalleth exists to support such
families. A number of primary schools introduce Cornish at some point in
the curriculum, usually as an optional spare time activity. There has
been a public examination at CSE for several years and since 1988 a full
GCSE examination is available. The County Council gives increasing
financial support and important grants have been made by the European
Commission.
    Two questions are frequently put by enquirers. The first is, 'How
many people speak Cornish today?' A recent estimate puts the number who
have had some formal tuition in Cornish at around two thousand but the
number of fluent speakers would be limited to a hundred or so. This
number is increasing as the emphasis is more and more on the use of
Cornish as an everyday language. The second question is, 'If
Cornish died out several hundred years ago, how do speakers today know
how to pronounce it 'correctly'?' The answer given by the first
revivalists has been stated above but recently there has been an
increasing unwillingness to accept their description of the phonology
of Cornish. Academics have questioned it and there are those who would
find late Cornish sound values more acceptable from an ideal point
of view. Dr. Ken George has carried out research on the historical
phonology of Cornish, research which gained him a doctorate at the
University of West Britanny in Brest. As a result we are now able to
describe the sounds of Cornish at its various stages with as much
accuracy as we are likely to be able to get. Dr. George has proposed a
revised system of pronunciation and spelling which would incorporate
this knowledge. These ideas are now being debated within the Cornish
movement. Adoption of change as proposed would require the publication
of an entirely new dictionary, something which is desirable in any
case, but would not require the replacement of existing texts
immediately.
   The aim of those in the Cornish language movement is to co-operate
in the promotion of Cornish as a medium of everyday communication.
Some link the revival of Cornish to administrative or political
independence, others see it purely in cultural terms. However it is
viewed, the future of Cornish depends on the active support of the
Cornish people themselves.
 
Wella Brown, April 1989.
 
The best single reference book in print is 'The Cornish Language and
its Literature', by Peter Berresford Ellis, Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1974.
