Kenneth John George is a British oceanographer, poet, and linguist. He is noted as being the originator of

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 muc ...

, an orthography for the revived

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, ...

which he claims is more faithful to Middle Cornish

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

than its precursor, (

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 spe ...

). 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 Kesva an Taves Kernewek ( Cornish for ''Cornish Language Board'') is an organisation that promotes the Cornish language. It was founded in 1967 by Gorseth Kernow and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. It is represented on the official lan ...

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 ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...

''. He has composed a substantial amount of poetry in Cornish, including the full-length play , in the style of the

Ordinalia The are three medieval mystery plays dating to the late fourteenth century, written primarily in Middle Cornish, with stage directions in Latin. The three plays are (The Origin of the World, also known as , 2,846 lines), (The Passion of Christ, ...

. George lives in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. 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

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

. George was made a Bard of

Gorsedh Kernow Gorsedh Kernow (Cornish Gorsedd) is a non-political Cornish organisation, based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall. It is based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Mo ...

in 1979, taking the Bardic name ('Tide Predictor'). This reflected one of his research interests in oceanography, the other being numerical modelling. He has over fifty publications in the oceanographic field, including the textbook ''Tides for Marine Studies'', which has sold over 1000 copies. George is a

representative committee member of the

Kesva an Taves Kernewek Kesva an Taves Kernewek ( Cornish for ''Cornish Language Board'') is an organisation that promotes the Cornish language. It was founded in 1967 by Gorseth Kernow and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. It is represented on the official la ...

(Cornish Language Board) which is a body promoting the Cornish language. George took early retirement in 2006, and has since been learning Japanese.

References

Academics of the University of Plymouth Bards of Gorsedh Kernow British male dramatists and playwrights British male poets British oceanographers Breton-speaking people Cornish language activists Cornish-language writers Cornish-speaking people Celtic studies scholars Cornish nationalists Dramatists and playwrights from Cornwall Poets from Cornwall Linguists from the United Kingdom Living people 1947 births {{Cornwall-stub