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From: EURMXK@MVS.sas.com
Subject: Re: Manx / Cornish
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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 08:19:00 GMT
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In article <3ehh9h$44c@nntp.interaccess.com>,
fgao@flowbee.interaccess.com (John Henderson) writes:
 
>After reading postings about the Nova program, I recall hearing about
>groups of non-native Manx speakers teaching their children that language
>exclusively, essentially making it a "living" language once again.  I
>believe the same holds true for Cornish.  Anyone know anything about
>this?
>
>best wishes,     John
>
>p.s. this is my first time on this newsgroup, so hello to everyone!
 
The reference books I consulted unanimously said that Cornish had died
out at the end of the eighteenth century (its last speaker being the
well-known Dolly Pentreath of Mousehole who died in 1778). To my
surprise, however, I came across a footnote in a guide to South England
("Dumont Kunst-Reisefu"hrer Su"d-England, Ko"ln 1988") which indicated
that in 1987 there were about 200 people who spoke Cornish fluently and
another 800 who had a working knowledge of this language.  So there
seems to have been a revival of the language in our century. I contacted
the Cornish Language Board, and got a brochure which states - among
other things: "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 (1989) 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.
... 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. ..." According to the "Fischer
Weltalmanach '86" the former teacher Melvin Benetto published a novel in
Cornish in December 1984.
I don't know whether the address is still correct (because I wrote them
a couple of years ago), but you might want to contact:
 
Chy an Gell
9 Frith Road
Saltash
Kernow/Cornwall
PL12 6EL 
Great Britain
 
for further information.
 
Kind regards,
Manfred Kiefer
