Modern Cornish
   HOME
*





Modern Cornish
Modern Cornish (''Kernuack Nowedga'') is a variety of the revived Cornish language. It is sometimes called Revived Late Cornish (RLC) or ''Kernuack Dewethas'', to distinguish it from other forms of contemporary revived Cornish. When Unified Cornish came under heavy fire in the early 1980s, various attempts were made to rectify its problems. While some supporters stuck with original or modified UC, two main schisms arose, that of Kernewek Kemmyn led by Ken George, and that of Modern Cornish, led by Richard Gendall. Unlike Kernewek Kemmyn, which tended to go to medieval Cornish for inspiration, Modern Cornish uses the latest known forms of Cornish from the 17th and 18th centuries from writers such as Nicholas Boson, John Boson, William Rowe, Thomas Tonkin and others, and Anglo-Cornish dialect words of Brittonic origin. Proponents of Kernewek Kemmyn claim that the later forms of Cornish are corrupt and anglicised, but supporters of Modern Cornish such as Cussel an Tavas Kernu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Cornish Language Revival
The Cornish language revival ( kw, dasserghyans Kernowek, lit='resurrection of Cornish') is an ongoing process to revive the use of the Cornish language of Cornwall, England. The Cornish language's disappearance began to hasten during the 13th century, but its decline began with the spread of Anglo-Saxon in the 4th and 5th centuries. The last reported person to have full knowledge of a traditional form of Cornish, John Davey, died in 1891. The revival movement started in the late 19th century as a result of antiquarian and academic interest in the language, which was already extinct, and also as a result of the Celtic revival movement. In 2009, UNESCO changed its classification of Cornish from "extinct" to "critically endangered", seen as a milestone for the revival of the language. Revival During the 19th century the Cornish language was the subject of antiquarian interest and a number of lectures were given on the subject and pamphlets on it were published. In 1904, the Celti ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Cornish Language
Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a revived language, having become extinct as a living community language in Cornwall at the end of the 18th century. However, knowledge of Cornish, including speaking ability to a certain extent, continued to be passed on within families and by individuals, and a revival began in the early 20th century. The language has a growing number of second language speakers, and a very small number of families now raise children to speak revived Cornish as a first language. Cornish is currently recognised under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and the language is often described as an important part of Cornish identity, culture and heritage. Along with Welsh and Breton, Cornish is descended from the Common Brittonic language spoken throughout much of Great Britain before the English language came to dominate. For centuries, until it was pushed w ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Unified Cornish
Unified Cornish (UC) (''Kernewek Uny '', ''KU'') is a variety of the Cornish language of the Cornish revival. Developed gradually by Robert Morton Nance during and before the 1930s, it derived its name from its standardisation of the variant spellings of traditional Cornish manuscripts. Nance's recommended spelling and grammar, based on Middle Cornish, soon supplanted Henry Jenner's system, which had been based largely on Late Cornish. Most of the older generation of Cornish users alive today would have started under this system. It was also the form originally used by Gorsedh Kernow, although they now use the new Standard Written Form. Criticism In the 1980s, Unified Cornish came under heavy criticism, leading to the creation of Kernewek Kemmyn (KK) and Modern Cornish (also called, Revived Late Cornish, "RLC"). Some Cornish speakers continued to employ Unified Cornish nonetheless. Unified Cornish, Revised In the 1990s, yet another variety emerged when Unified Cornish Revised ( ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kernewek Kemmyn
Kernewek Kemmyn (Common Cornish or "KK") is a variety of the revived Cornish language. Kernewek Kemmyn was developed, mainly by Ken George in 1986, based upon George's earlier doctoral thesis on the phonological history of Cornish. It takes much of its inspiration from medieval sources, particularly Cornish passion plays, as well as Breton and to a lesser extent Welsh. It was subsequently adopted by the Cornish Language Board as their preferred system. Like the earlier Unified Cornish, it retains a Middle Cornish base but aims to make the relationship between spelling and pronunciation more systematic by using an approximately morphophonemic orthography. In 2008, a survey indicated that KK users made up 55% of all Cornish speakers. The survey also showed that 21.5% of speakers continued to use the Unified system, and 14.8% were using Late Cornish. The orthography has drawn heavy criticism from several writers. In 1994, Charles Penglase berated the lack of authenticity in KK, al ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ken George
Kenneth John George is a British oceanographer, poet, and linguist. He is noted as being the originator of Kernewek Kemmyn, an orthography for the revived Cornish language which he claims is more faithful to Middle Cornish phonology than its precursor, (Unified Cornish). George has published over eighty items relating to Celtic linguistics, including several dictionaries of Cornish. His edition of the newly discovered Middle Cornish play was published by the Cornish Language Board in May 2006. George received a Commendation for this work in the 2007 Holyer an Gof awards. He has translated numerous hymns and songs into Cornish, and also the lyrics of ''The Magic Flute''. He has composed a substantial amount of poetry in Cornish, including the full-length play , in the style of the Ordinalia. George lives in Cornwall. As well as English, he speaks Breton, French and Cornish. George was formerly Principal Lecturer in Ocean Science in the Institute of Marine Studies at the Univer ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Richard Gendall
Professor Richard Roscow Morris "Dick" Gendall (12 April 1924 – 12 September 2017) was a British expert on the Cornish language. He was the founder of "Modern Cornish"/''Curnoack Nowedga'', which split off during the 1980s. Whereas Ken George mainly went to Medieval Cornish as the inspiration for his revival, Gendall went to the last surviving records of Cornish, such as John and Nicholas Boson, in the eighteenth-century. He taught at the University of Exeter. He was also a folk musician, and made several recordings with Brenda Wootton (e.g. ''Crowdy Crawn''), as well as a poet and writer in Cornish itself under the bardic name of "Gelvinak". Gendall founded Teere ha Tavaz, an organisation which seeks to promote the Cornish language in its ''Modern Cornish'' or ''Curnoack Nowedga'' variety. It is also a small publisher on, and in, the Cornish language. He died in Liskeard, Cornwall in September 2017 at the age of 93. He belonged to a Penzance family which moved to St Blazey wh ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Nicholas Boson
Nicholas Boson (1624–1708) was a writer in, and preserver of, the Cornish language. He was born in Newlyn to a landowning and merchant family involved in the pilchard fisheries. Nicholas's mother had prevented their neighbours and servants speaking Cornish to him, so he only became fluent in the language when he needed it for business with fishermen. He assisted both William Scawen and Edward Lhuyd in their recording of Cornish. Boson wrote three significant texts in Cornish: ''"Nebbaz gerriau dro tho Carnoack"'' ("A Few Words about Cornish"), between 1675 and 1708; ''"Jowan Chy-an-Horth, py, An try foynt a skyans"'' ("John of Chyannor, or, The three points of wisdom"), published by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, though according to Lhuyd written about forty years earlier; and ''The Dutchess of Cornwall's Progress'', partly in English and now known only in fragmentary quotations. The first two are the only known surviving Cornish prose texts from the seventeenth century. He is buried i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


John Boson (writer)
John Boson (1655–1730) was a writer in the Cornish language. The son of Nicholas Boson, he was born in Paul, Cornwall. He taught Cornish to William Gwavas. His works in Cornish include an epitaph for the language scholar John Keigwin, and the "Pilchard Curing Rhyme". He also wrote an epitaph for James Jenkins who died in 1710 and also wrote Cornish verse;Ellis, P. Berresford (1974) ''The Cornish Language and its Literature''. London: Routledge; pp. 110-11 and translated parts of the Bible, the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. The only known surviving lapidary inscription in the Cornish language (to Arthur Hutchens, died 1709), is also his work, and can be found in Paul Church where John Boson, his father, and their relative Thomas Boson are also buried. His work is collected, along with that of Nicholas and Thomas Boson, in Oliver Padel's ''The Cornish Writings of the Boson Family'' (1975). References *Matthew Spriggs, ‘Boson family (per. c. 1675–1730)’, ''Ox ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Anglo-Cornish
The Cornish dialect (also known as Cornish English, Cornu-English, kw, Sowsnek Kernowek) is a dialect of English spoken in Cornwall by Cornish people. Dialectal English spoken in Cornwall is to some extent influenced by Cornish grammar, and often includes words derived from the Cornish language. The Cornish language is a Celtic language of the Brythonic branch, as are the Welsh and Breton languages. In addition to the distinctive words and grammar, there are a variety of accents found within Cornwall from the north coast to that of the south coast and from east to west Cornwall. Typically, the accent is more divergent from Standard British English the further west through Cornwall one travels. The speech of the various parishes being to some extent different from the others was described by John T. Tregellas and Thomas Quiller Couch towards the end of the 19th century. Tregellas wrote of the differences as he understood them and Couch suggested the parliamentary constituen ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Cussel An Tavas Kernuak
Cussül an Tavas Kernôwek (formerly ''Cussel an Tavas Kernûak''; the Cornish Language Council) is an association founded in 1987 to teach, research and further the Cornish language in Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow), UK. Since the adoption of a Standard Written Form of Cornish (SWF) in 2008, it has worked closely with other bodies to achieve these aims. The Cussül encourages research into the Cornish of all periods but has a particular interest in developments after c.1600 and accordingly recommends a standard pronunciation based on c. 1600 to 1700. The Cussül largely draws its inspiration from those who attempted to save the language in the 18th century. The Cussül is run by volunteers and is a network of associates rather than a formal membership organization. See also * List of topics related to Cornwall The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cornwall: Cornwall – ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and most of these systems have undergone substantial standardization, thus exhibiting less dialect variation than the spoken language. These processes can fossilize pronunciation patterns that are no longer routinely observed in speech (e.g., "would" and "should"); they can also reflect deliberate efforts to introduce variability for the sake of national identity, as seen in Noah Webster's efforts to introduce easily noticeable differences between American and British spelling (e.g., "honor" and "honour"). Some nations (e.g. France and Spain) have established language academies in an attempt to regulate orthography officially. For most languages (including English) however, there are no such authorities and a sense of 'correct' orthography ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Periphrasis
In linguistics, periphrasis () is the use of one or more function words to express meaning that otherwise may be expressed by attaching an affix or clitic to a word. The resulting phrase includes two or more collocated words instead of one inflected word. The word ''periphrasis'' originates from the Greek word ''periphrazein'', which means ''talking around''. Periphrastic forms are a characteristic of analytic languages, whereas the absence of periphrasis is a characteristic of synthetic languages. While periphrasis concerns all categories of syntax, it is most visible with verb catena. The verb catenae of English (verb phrases constructed with auxiliary verbs) are highly periphrastic. Examples The distinction between inflected and periphrastic forms is usually illustrated across distinct languages. However, comparative and superlative forms of adjectives (and adverbs) in English provide a straightforward illustration of the phenomenon. For many speakers, both the simpl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]