Handbook of the Cornish Language
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O-TYPE VOWELS in CORNISH Dr Ken George
GEORGE 2013 2ovowels O-TYPE VOWELS IN CORNISH by Dr Ken George Cornish Language Board 1 A B S T R A C T Evidence from traditional Cornish texts and from place-names is used to trace the development of the two o-type vowels, /o/ and / ɔ/. Recent denials by Williams of the existence of two long o-type vowels are refuted. Further evidence shows a difference between /o/ and / ɔ/ when short, and by inference, when of mid-length. The significance of this for the spelling of the revived language is briefly discussed. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 /ɔ/ and /o/ In George (1984), I showed that there were two o-type vowels in Middle Cornish (MidC), which will be denoted /o/ and / ɔ/. /o/, from Old Cornish (OldC) /ui/ and /ɔ/ from OldC / ɔ/ were separate phonemes. Support for their separateness, when followed by [s], [z], [ θ] and [ ð] appears in three different historical orthographies, in rhymes and in place-names. (The evidence in other phonetic environments, particularly when followed by nasal and liquid consonants, is weaker, and is reviewed below). My discovery has gained wide acceptance, but has been persistently attacked by Nicholas Williams. In Williams (2006), he devoted a whole chapter (31 pages) to the case of the long stressed vowels, concluding: “Middle Cornish never contained two separate long vowels /o ː/ and / ɔː/. 2. The distinction … between troes ‘foot’ and tros ‘noise’ is unjustified.” In this paper, the evidence for the two o-type vowels is reviewed in detail, and the reasons for Williams’ erroneous conclusion are examined. -
Summer 2015 E-Newsletter Dear Reader, Welcome to the Summer
Summer 2015 e-newsletter Dear Reader, Welcome to the summer edition of our e-newsletter. The newsletter covers news from Cornwall Record Office and the Cornish Studies Library and is sent out quarterly. If you know anyone who would like to subscribe, please ask them to send a blank email to [email protected] with ‘Subscribe to E-newsletter’ in the subject line. We hope you enjoy this edition and have a lovely summer. Kind regards, The Archives and Cornish Studies Team NEWS Kresen Kernow – Trustee’s Visit As you may have read in our previous e-newsletters, we submitted a funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a new archive centre for Cornwall, on the former Redruth Brewery site, back in April. We will learn if we’ve been successful with the bid this summer, so wish us luck! You can read all about the project proposals by visiting www.cornwall.gov.uk/kresenkernow. On June 17th we were joined at the site by David Heathcoat-Amory, HLF Trustee and former MP. He heard all about the project and enjoyed a tour of the site; he will report back to the national board about the project’s progress. Lanhydrock project Participants in the Lanhydrock Volunteer Cataloguing Project have been hard at work continuing with their aim to create a new catalogue for the Lanhydrock Robartes collection. The updated catalogue is now live in the public domain, searchable through the Record Office online catalogue under the reference number ‘CL’. Volunteers involved with stewarding and other activities at the house were invited to help catalogue deeds, rentals, correspondence, plans and industrial records from the collection on-site in the estate house. -
Historical Background of the Contact Between Celtic Languages and English
Historical background of the contact between Celtic languages and English Dominković, Mario Master's thesis / Diplomski rad 2016 Degree Grantor / Ustanova koja je dodijelila akademski / stručni stupanj: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences / Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Filozofski fakultet Permanent link / Trajna poveznica: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:149845 Rights / Prava: In copyright Download date / Datum preuzimanja: 2021-09-27 Repository / Repozitorij: FFOS-repository - Repository of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Osijek Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Osijek Diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer i mađarskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer Mario Dominković Povijesna pozadina kontakta između keltskih jezika i engleskog Diplomski rad Mentor: izv. prof. dr. sc. Tanja Gradečak – Erdeljić Osijek, 2016. Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Odsjek za engleski jezik i književnost Diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer i mađarskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer Mario Dominković Povijesna pozadina kontakta između keltskih jezika i engleskog Diplomski rad Znanstveno područje: humanističke znanosti Znanstveno polje: filologija Znanstvena grana: anglistika Mentor: izv. prof. dr. sc. Tanja Gradečak – Erdeljić Osijek, 2016. J.J. Strossmayer University in Osijek Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Teaching English as -
A Handbook of the Cornish Language: Chiefly in Its Latest Stages, with Some Account of Its History and Literature Henry Jenner Frontmatter More Information
Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-04702-9 - A Handbook of the Cornish Language: Chiefly in its Latest Stages, with Some Account of its History and Literature Henry Jenner Frontmatter More information CAMBRIDGE LIBRARY COLLECTION Books of enduring scholarly value Linguistics From the earliest surviving glossaries and translations to nineteenth-century academic philology and the growth of linguistics during the twentieth century, language has been the subject both of scholarly investigation and of practical handbooks produced for the upwardly mobile, as well as for travellers, traders, soldiers, missionaries and explorers. This collection will reissue a wide range of texts pertaining to language, including the work of Latin grammarians, groundbreaking early publications in Indo-European studies, accounts of indigenous languages, many of them now extinct, and texts by pioneering figures such as Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Ferdinand de Saussure. A Handbook of the Cornish Language ‘Why should Cornishmen learn Cornish?’ asked Henry Jenner (1848–1934) in the preface to this 1904 publication, dating from the beginnings of the Cornish revival. Jenner admits that ‘the reason ... is sentimental and not in the least practical’. Born in Cornwall, but raised in south-east England, Jenner worked at the British Museum from 1870 to 1909 and was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He eventually retired to Cornwall where he became a leading figure in establishing the Old Cornwall Societies and the Gorseth Kernow. The Handbook begins by marshalling the evidence for the use of the Cornish language from the middle ages to the eighteenth century, and listing the manuscripts and books in which it is preserved. -
Summary of Sensory Team Manager Duties
Link to thesis website Chapter 6 Competing speech communities Chapter 6 Competing speech communities The final chapter of this section focuses on the evolution of folk tradition, and the new spaces created for performance, within the Celto-Cornish movement through the latter half of the twentieth century to the current era of festival culture and Pan- Celticism. It makes the case that the Celto-Cornish movement and the folk revival that arrived in Cornwall in the sixties represent different speech communities, which competed for ownership of oral folk tradition and the authenticity it represented. It must be also be recognised that there is a third speech community with a stake in the celebration of tradition, the local community within which it takes place. One outcome of these competing speech communities is the way in which the same folk phenomena will be used to express quite different identities. The Padstow May Day festivities for example are a celebration that firstly represents a sense of the towns community1 and secondly a Celto-Cornish tradition2 but at the same time is used as an icon by the English Folk Dance And Song Society.3 Underlying this discussion, however, must be the recognition that identity is chaotically unique for each individual and each group of individuals, all of which are at the centre of a “complex web of being”.4 In order to pursue this argument it is first necessary to revisit and examine more closely what is meant by a speech community and how this might affect performance and meaning within oral folk tradition. -
The Cornish Language in Education in the UK
The Cornish language in education in the UK European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning hosted by CORNISH The Cornish language in education in the UK | 2nd Edition | c/o Fryske Akademy Doelestrjitte 8 P.O. Box 54 NL-8900 AB Ljouwert/Leeuwarden The Netherlands T 0031 (0) 58 - 234 3027 W www.mercator-research.eu E [email protected] | Regional dossiers series | tca r cum n n i- ual e : Available in this series: This document was published by the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism Albanian; the Albanian language in education in Italy Aragonese; the Aragonese language in education in Spain and Language Learning with financial support from the Fryske Akademy and the Province Asturian; the Asturian language in education in Spain (2nd ed.) of Fryslân. Basque; the Basque language in education in France (2nd ed.) Basque; the Basque language in education in Spain (2nd ed.) Breton; the Breton language in education in France (2nd ed.) Catalan; the Catalan language in education in France Catalan; the Catalan language in education in Spain (2nd ed.) © Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism Cornish; the Cornish language in education in the UK (2nd ed.) and Language Learning, 2019 Corsican; the Corsican language in education in France (2nd ed.) Croatian; the Croatian language in education in Austria Danish; The Danish language in education in Germany ISSN: 1570 – 1239 Frisian; the Frisian language in education in the Netherlands (4th ed.) 2nd edition Friulian; the Friulian language in education in Italy Gàidhlig; The Gaelic Language in Education in Scotland (2nd ed.) Galician; the Galician language in education in Spain (2nd ed.) The contents of this dossier may be reproduced in print, except for commercial purposes, German; the German language in education in Alsace, France (2nd ed.) provided that the extract is proceeded by a complete reference to the Mercator European German; the German language in education in Belgium Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning. -
Adapting a Welsh Terminology Tool to Develop a Cornish Dictionary
Proceedings of the 1st Joint SLTU and CCURL Workshop (SLTU-CCURL 2020), pages 235–239 Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2020), Marseille, 11–16 May 2020 c European Language Resources Association (ELRA), licensed under CC-BY-NC Adapting a Welsh Terminology Tool to Develop a Cornish Dictionary Delyth Prys Language Technologies Unit, Bangor University Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales {d.prys}@bangor.ac.uk Abstract Cornish and Welsh are closely related Celtic languages and this paper provides a brief description of a recent project to publish an online bilingual English/Cornish dictionary, the Gerlyver Kernewek, based on similar work previously undertaken for Welsh. Both languages are endangered, Cornish critically so, but both can benefit from the use of language technology. Welsh has previous experience of using language technologies for language revitalization, and this is now being used to help the Cornish language create new tools and resources, including lexicographical ones, helping a dispersed team of language specialists and editors, many of them in a voluntary capacity, to work collaboratively online. Details are given of the Maes T dictionary writing and publication platform, originally developed for Welsh, and of some of the adaptations that had to be made to accommodate the specific needs of Cornish, including their use of Middle and Late varieties due to its development as a revived language. Keywords: Cornish, Welsh, lexicography, language revitalization Among the Cornish language community’s core 1. Background requirements was the creation of an up-to-date lexical resource, available in an online format, and easily Welsh and Cornish are two closely related languages belonging to the P-Celtic language group. -
When the Cornish Person Looks Closely Into the Mirror of the Cornish
Historic legacies and modern challenges: the Cornish language If the Cornish person looks closely into the mirror of the Cornish language they might find contemporary Cornwall staring right back out at them. For the Cornish language mirrors the doubts and uncertainties confronting Cornwall at the beginning of the second millennium. The language has a proud history, dating back to Cornwall’s first millennium, a time of shadowy and insubstantial Cornish kings and independent kingdoms. Familiar placenames such as Trewassa, Carnglaze, Rescorla, Creegbrase, Bosullow provide everyday reminders of our Celtic and non-English roots. Yet the texts of the language are heavily suffused with English borrowings even from the earliest miracle play cycle of the 1300s. The reality is that Cornwall, since the ninth century, has been to a greater or lesser degree influenced and structured by its powerful neighbour to the east – England. And so has the Cornish language. For example, words such as pont or nant, which retained that form in Cornish’s sister languages Welsh and Breton, changed to pons and nans in Cornish well before the fourteenth century, an early effect of the influence of English. For centuries the language was marginalised and despised, a thing of no worth, low- status gibberish fit only to call the pigs to their food. However, like Cornwall, the language has been patronised and romanticised in more recent times. Since the 1870s Cornwall has been buffeted by a storm of signifiers as the artistic and literary metropolitan gaze settled on what it perceived as a primitive and simple folk whiling their time away in age-old harmony with the environment on the fringes of ‘civilised’ Europe. -
Pdf Shop 'Celtic Gold' in Peel
No. 129 Spring 2004/5 €3.00 Stg£2.50 • SNP Election Campaign • ‘Property Fever’ on Breizh • The Declarationof the Bro Gymraeg • Istor ar C ’herneveg • Irish Language News • Strategy for Cornish • Police Bug Scandal in Mann • EU Constitution - Vote No! ALBA: COM.ANN CEILTFACH * BREIZH: KFVTCF KELT1EK * CYMRU: UNDEB CELTA DD * EIRE: CON RAD H GEILTE AC H * KERNOW: KtBUNYANS KELTEK * MANNIN: COMlVbtYS CELTIAGH tre na Gàidhlig gus an robh e no I a’ dol don sgoil.. An sin bhiodh a’ huile teasgag tre na Gàidhlig air son gach pàiste ann an Alba- Mur eil sinn fhaighinn sin bidh am Alba Bile Gàidhlig gun fheum. Thuig Iain Trevisa gun robh e feumail sin a dhèanamh. Seo mar a sgrìohh e sa bhli adhna 1365, “...dh’atharraich Iain à Còm, maighstir gramair, ionnsachadh is tuigsinn gramair sna sgoiltean o’n Fhraingis gu TEACASG TRE NA GÀIDHLIG Beurla agus dh’ionnsaich Richard Pencrych an aon scòrsa theagaisg agus Abajr gun robh sinn toilichte cluinntinn Inbhirnis/Inverness B IVI 1DR... fon feadhainn eile à Pencrych; leis a sin, sa gun bidh faclan Gaidhlig ar na ceadan- 01463-225 469 e-mail [email protected] bhliadhna don Thjgheama Againn” 1385, siubhail no passports again nuair a thig ... tha cobhair is fiosrachadh ri fhaighinn a an naodhamh bliadhna do’n Righ Richard ceann na bliadhna seo no a dh’ aithgheor thaobh cluich sa Gàidhlig ro aois dol do an dèidh a’Cheannsachaidh anns a h-uile 2000. Direach mar a tha sinn a’ dol thairis sgoil, Bithidh an t-ughdar is ionadail no sgoil gràmair feadh Sasunn, tha na leana- air Caulas na Frainge le bata no le trean -
Holiday Party on ZOOM December 5
Holiday Party on ZOOM December 5 FALL 2020 ZOOM MEETING October 17, 2020 was a HUGE success. On October 17, 2020 – the PNCS Group met remotely through Zoom, and it was a successful endeavor that included a unique activity to Celebrate Cornwall. The attendance was terrific with twenty-two members joining in, including Mickey Sieracki, our webmaster, who lives in South Carolina, Judy Berg, a Charter Member, who lives in Fullerton, California, and one member from Ashland, OR, William “Nick” Nicholas. Nick became a member in July 2004 but was never able to make it to a meeting. Bob called on each person to talk about their Cornish connections. We have Chris and Val Ensor, new members, to thank for the idea of having a meeting remotely and for all their hard work at putting together Celebrate Cornwall. We heard from several people that attended about how much they enjoyed the meeting. The following is an email, from Chris which sums up the comments I heard after the meeting. Congratulations … PNCS Board and Members on planning and managing yesterday’s uplifting meeting. It was very moving hearing about so many family histories and journeys from Cornwall to the US. Also, how delighted everyone was at the opportunity to come together. COVID has at least done us a good turn in encouraging us to find a way to hold a gathering without dis- tance and travel barriers. Several members would never have made it to a meeting in either OR or WA. Al- so, thanks to Zoom, just one meeting rather than two was enough. -
BRENDAN Mcmahon Folklore, Loss, and Social Change in Nineteenth
Folklore, Loss, and Social Change in Nineteenth Century Cornwall BRENDAN McMAHON Introduction: the historical context The nineteenth century was a period of unprecedented social and economic change, at least in France and England. From France emerged the possibility of political transformation, which was to have profound historical consequences, and from England the no less momentous possibility of industrial transformation, forces which combined to create a triumphant liberal capitalism, which consolidated and extended its power in the latter half of the century.1 Britain, where much of this process began, was of course a scene of unprecedented social and industrial change at this time. Between 1831 and 1901 the population increased by ten percent in each decade, and cities grew disproportionately: when Victoria came to the throne only five towns in England and Wales had a population of more than 100,000; by the end of the reign, there were twenty three.2 Cornwall too was transformed: the population increased from 192,000 to 322,000, though it fell during the last three decades of the century due to recession and emigration, as we shall see.3 Cornish people played a big part in the transformation of Britain, and the wider world, and it would be hard to imagine the Industrial Revolution without Humphry Davy, Richard Trevithick, and the countless Cornish engineers and miners who made the wheels turn, everywhere from Mexico to South Australia.4 The landscape itself was changed forever. At the beginning of the century Cornwall was the world’s biggest copper producer, and technological innovation caused both copper and tin production to soar; old mines were re-opened and between 1800 and 1837 the number of workings rose from seventy five to over 200. -
"Bringin' the Dunkey Down from the Carn:” Cornu-English in Context
“Bringin’ the Dunkey Down from the Carn:” Cornu-English in Context 1549-2005 – A Provisional Analysis Alan M. Kent (Open University, United Kingdom) 1. Introduction They do tell ’ow Jan ’ad a lil dunkey an kept’n spragged out up Carnmenellis; everybody knawed there was only furze an browse up there, so somebody said to Jan, “Ere. Jan. ’Ow ee come kaype yer dunkey up Carnmenellis? There edn much for’n aate up there, you.” “No,” said Jan. “Edn much for’n aate you – but ee got some ’ansome view!” (Tan- gye 1995: 19f.) In the three previous volumes of The Celtic Englishes, there has been com- paratively little discussion of Cornu-English. Aside from some perceptive re- marks from Payton, in a chapter mainly devoted to the ideology of the Cornish Language Revival (1997: 100-122), no new significant scholarship has emerged. My purpose in this chapter is to offer provisional corrective – metaphorically, bringing Jan’s dunkey down from the Carn – and offer a reassessment of the state of Cornu-English speech and writing within a historical context from 1549 – roughly the period that the English language began to rapidly replace Cornish in the territory of Cornwall, through its subsequent development as the primary linguistic group, to an examination of its current status. I write as an observer and commentator, but also a practitioner of Cornu-English writing. The section quoted at the start of this chapter is from a typical Cornu-English story titled “The Wrasslin’ Match” by Michael Tangye, a prize-winning story in the Dialect Prose competition from the 1994 Cornish Gorseth,1 yet we note that narratives such as this, are for the most part, relatively unchanged from their nineteenth-century counterparts.