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Cornish (Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is a Indo-European historically spoken by the Cornish people. Cornish is revived language; it had no surviving native speakers at one point, but has recently been learned by many. It is becoming increasingly recognized by those in the United Kingdom, and is protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Cornish is descended directly from the Common Brittonic language spoken throughout many places in the United Kingdom before English became the dominant language. It was the number one language in Cornwall for centuries until English became the primary language, leaving Cornish behind. Nonetheless, Cornish functioned as a common community language in most parts of Cornwall until the late 18th century, and remained spoken in the home of several families throughout the 19th century, overlapping the beginning of revival efforts. Revival of the language began in the early 20th century. In 2010 UNESCO announced that its former classification of the language as "extinct" was "no longer accurate".

Since the revival of Cornish, many Cornish textbooks and works of literature on the language have been published, leading to a growing number of people studying the language. Today, 500 people use Cornish, while about 100 people speak it fluently. Several L1 speakers are under 20 years of age.

Classification

Cornish is classified as being Indo-European, Celtic, and Brythonic (Brittonic). Because it is one of the Brittonic languages, it constitutes a branch of the Insular Celtic section of the Celtic language family. A similar Brittonic language is Welsh. Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Manx are part of a separate Goidelic branch of Insular Celtic.

History

Cornish comes from the Common Brittonic spoken throughout the United Kingdom during the British Iron Age. As a result of westward Anglo-Saxon expansion, the Britons of the southwest were separated from those in modern-day Wales. The western dialects eventually evolved into modern Welsh and the what is now known as extinct Cumbric. Southwestern Brittonic emerged into Cornish and Breton, due to immigration in parts of the continent.

Old Cornish

During the Old Cornish period (about 800–1200), the Cornish-speaking area was mainly occupied by modern-day Cornish speakers. The earliest written document of Cornish is from this period; a 9th-century gloss in a Latin manuscript of De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boethius. Until it was classified as Cornish in the mid-1700s, the manuscript was believed to be in Welsh. During this time there was not much of a difference between Welsh and Cornish, especially "Old Cornish."

Middle Cornish

The Middle Cornish period was from about 1200–1600, where about 39,000 people were speaking Cornish. During this period, traditional Cornish literature flourished, reforming the language during its revival. Numerous plays were written by the canons of Glasney College, in hopes of educating the Cornish people about the Bible and Celtic saints.

Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity 1549 in 1549, but many people throughout Cornwall neither spoke nor understood English, which was an issue. The Act was supposed to replace worship in Latin with worship in English, but instead of solely banning Latin, the Act was framed so a way of enforcing English. The Prayer Book Rebellion broke out and ended in over 4,000 people (who protested against the enforcement of an English prayer book), being brutally murdered by Edward VI's army.

The Cornish rebels said that they only wanted to return to old religious services and refused the new English. Because of this massacre and the enforcement of English, the Prayer Book Rebellion proved a turning-point for Cornish.

Late Cornish

By the middle of the 17th century, spreading of the Cornish language to new generations had drastically declined.

The Late Cornish period took place from 1578 to 1800. Literature and other writing pieces from this period typically used English spelling since the majority of writers during that time had little to no exposure to Middle Cornish orthography. William Bodinar wrote a letter in 1776 using Cornish, which is considered today, to be the last written piece in Cornish.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, people became very interested in the Cornish language, specifically in the Middle Cornish literature. There was a new fascination with finding the last native speaker of the Cornish language. Although the language was on the decline, this new-found fascination in the late 19th Century, was the start of the revival for the Cornish language.

Modern Cornish

In 1904, Cornish cultural activist Henry Jenner published A Handbook of the Cornish Language. The publication of this book is often seen as the starting point of the Cornish revival.

The revival focused on reconstructing the language, such as new words for modern ideas, and recreating educational material that can teach Cornish to others. In the 1900s, Robert Morton Nance published his Unified Cornish system, based on the Middle Cornish literature, but while also extending the vocabulary. Nance's work became the basis for revived Cornish during most of the 20th century. However, Nance's archaic construction of the language became less appropriate for the revival, and so, research suggested that phonological distinctions were lacking in the Unified system.

Dissatisfied with the Unified Cornish, Ken George created a new system, Kernewek Kemmyn also known as Common Cornish. Similar to Unified Cornish, it had a Middle Cornish base, but used an orthography that was much more phonemic. It was quickly adopted by many Cornish speakers, but criticized by scholarly linguists for its phonological base. The early revival of Cornish caused many disputes because each newly developed system attempted to outdo the others.

Cornish was recognized by the UK government under the European Charter for Minority Languages in 2002. A process of unification was formed, which resulted in the Cornish Language Partnership in 2005 and agreement on a Standard Written Form in 2008. In 2010, UNESCO changed its classification of Cornish from "extinct" to "endangered". Cornish speakers saw this as a great achievement because their language had gone from dying to having been revived to some extent.

Modern-day Cornish is a revived language with its number of speakers gradually increasing.

Geographic distribution

Speakers of Cornish reside primarily in Cornwall. There are also some speakers living outside of Cornwall, particularly in the countries of the Cornish diaspora, as well as other Celtic nations. Estimates of the number of Cornish speakers vary according to the definition of being a speaker, and is difficult to accurately determine due to the individualised nature of language take-up. Nevertheless, there is recognition that the number of Cornish speakers is growing. One figure for the mean number of people who know a few basic words, such as knowing that "Kernow" means "Cornwall", was 300,000; the same survey gave the figure of people able to have simple conversations at 3,000. The Cornish Language Strategy project commissioned research to provide quantitative and qualitative evidence for the number of Cornish speakers: due to the success of the revival project it was estimated that 2,000 people were fluent (surveyed in spring 2008), an increase from the estimated 300 people who spoke Cornish fluently suggested in a study by Kenneth MacKinnon in 2000. In the 2011 UK census, 557 people in England and Wales declared Cornish to be their main language, 464 of whom lived in Cornwall.

Official status

Cornish is officially recognised as a minority language by the UK government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, a status it has held since 2002. The Cornish Language Partnership is the official body for promotion and development of the language in Cornwall.

Cornwall Council's policy is to support the language. A motion passed in November 2009 approved the council's use of Cornish. The policy notes the "place of the Cornish language as a unique cultural asset" and requires the council to promote Cornish in line with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. One effect of the policy is that worn out road signs are replaced by bilingual ones, but this plan has drawn some criticism.

In October 2015, Cornwall County Council announced that staff would be encouraged to use “basic words and phrases” in Cornish when dealing with the public.

In 2014 the Cornish people were recognised by the UK Government as a national minority under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The FCNM provides certain rights and protections to a national minority with regard to their minority language.

UNESCO's Atlas of World Languages classifies Cornish as "critically endangered". UNESCO has acknowledged that a previous classification of "extinct", which came under fierce criticism from Cornish speakers, "does not reflect the current situation for Cornish".

Phonology

The phonology of modern Cornish is based on a number of sources. The work of the linguist Edward Lhuyd who visited Cornwall in 1700 to record the language, as well as the modern Cornish dialect and accent of English, which got much of its intonation and sounds from the Cornish language, have provided a major source of input. Analysis of the traditional literature has also been used, as the Middle Cornish plays were often written in rhyming verse, and Late Cornish texts were written phonetically following English spelling conventions.

Consonants

Vowels

Grammar

The grammar of Cornish shares with other Celtic languages a number of features which, while not unique, are unusual in an Indo-European context. The grammatical features most unfamiliar to English speakers of the language are the initial consonant mutations, the verb–subject–object word order, inflected prepositions, fronting of emphasised syntactic elements, and the use of two different forms for "to be". Cornish nouns belong to one of two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, but are not inflected for case. Cornish has a variety of different endings to indicate the plural, and some nouns have a third collective form. Verbs are conjugated for tense and mood, which can be indicated either by inflection of the main verb, or by the use of auxiliary verbs.

As in other Celtic languages, Cornish lacks a number of verbs that are commonly found in other languages. This includes modals and psych-verbs; examples 'have', 'like', 'hate', 'prefer', 'must'/'have to', 'make'='compel to'. These functions are instead fulfilled by periphrastic constructions involving a verb and various prepositional phrases.

• Initial consonant mutation: The first sound of a Cornish word may change according to grammatical context. As in Breton, there are four types of mutation in Cornish (compared to three in Welsh, two in Irish and Manx, and one in Scottish Gaelic). These are known as soft (b > v, etc.), hard (b > p), aspirate (b unchanged, t > th) and mixed (b > f).

• inflected (or conjugated) prepositions: A preposition combines with a personal pronoun to give a separate word form. For example, gans (with, by) + my (me) → genev; gans + ev (him) → ganso.
• No indefinite article. Porth means "harbour" or "a harbour" (there is, however a definite article: an porth means "the harbour").

Culture

The Celtic Congress and Celtic League are groups that advocate cooperation amongst the Celtic Nations in order to protect and promote Celtic languages and cultures, thus working in the interests of the Cornish language.

There have been films such as Hwerow Hweg, some televised, made entirely, or significantly, in the language. Some businesses use Cornish names.

According to the sociologist Kenneth MacKinnon, Jenner wrote "There has never been a time when there has been no person in Cornwall without a knowledge of the Cornish language."

Cornish has had a significant and lasting impact on Cornwall's place names, as well as in Cornish surnames, and knowledge of the language helps the understanding of these ancient meanings. Cornish names are adopted for children, pets, houses and boats.

There is Cornish literature, in which poetry is the most important genre, particularly in oral form or as song or as traditional Cornish chants historically performed in marketplaces during religious holidays and public festivals and gatherings.

There are periodicals solely in the language such as the monthly An Gannas, An Gowsva, and An Garrick. BBC Radio Cornwall has a news broadcast in Cornish, and sometimes has other programmes and features for learners and enthusiasts. Local newspapers such as the Western Morning News have articles in Cornish, and newspapers such as The Packet, The West Briton and The Cornishman have also been known to have Cornish features. There is an online radio service in Cornish called Radyo an Gernewegva, publishing a one-hour podcast each week, based on a magazine format. It includes music in Cornish as well as interviews and features.

The language has financial sponsorship from sources, including the Millennium Commission. A number of language organisations exist in Cornwall: Agan Tavas (Our Language), the Cornish sub-group of the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages, Gorsedh Kernow, Kesva an Taves Kernewek (the Cornish Language Board) and Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek (the Cornish Language Fellowship)]. There are ceremonies, some ancient, some modern, which use the language or are entirely in the language.

Cultural events

Cornwall has had cultural events associated with the language, including the international Celtic Media Festival, hosted in St Ives in 1997. The Old Cornwall Society has promoted the use of the language at events and meetings. Two examples of ceremonies that are performed in both the English and Cornish languages are Crying the Neck and the annual mid-summer bonfires.

Study and teaching

Cornish is taught in some schools; it was previously taught at degree level in the University of Wales, though the only existing course in the language at University level is as part of a course in Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter. In March 2008, a course in the language was started as part of the Celtic Studies curriculum at the University of Vienna, Austria.

In 2015 a university level course aiming to encourage and support practitioners working with young children to introduce the Cornish language into their settings was launched. The Cornish Language Practice Project (Early Years) is a level 4 course approved by Plymouth University and run at Cornwall College. The course is not a Cornish language course, but students will be assessed on their ability to use the Cornish language constructively in their work with young children. The course will cover such topics as Understanding Bilingualism, Creating Resources and Integrating Language and Play, but the focus of the language provision will be on Cornish. A non-accredited specialist Cornish language course has been developed to run alongside the level 4 course for those who prefer tutor support to learn the language or develop their skills further for use with young children.

Cornwall's first Cornish language crèche, Skol dy'Sadorn Kernewek, was established in 2010 at Cornwall College, Camborne. The nursery teaches children aged between two and five years alongside their parents to ensure the language is also spoken in the home.

A number of dictionaries are available in the different orthographies (a dictionary in the Standard Written Form has yet to be published), including An Gerlyver Meur by Ken George, Gerlyver Kernowek–Sawsnek by Nicholas Williams and A Practical Dictionary of Modern Cornish by Richard Gendall. Course books include the three-part Skeul an Yeth series, Clappya Kernowek, Tavas a Ragadazow and Skeul an Tavas, as well as the more recent Bora Brav and Desky Kernowek.

Cornish studies

William Scawen produced a manuscript on the declining Cornish language that continually evolved until he died in 1689, aged 89. He was the first person to realise the language was dying out and wrote detailed manuscripts which he started working on when he was 78. The only version that was ever published was a short first draft, but the final version, which he worked on until his death, is a few hundred pages long. At the same time a group of scholars, led by John Keigwin (nephew of William Scawen), of Mousehole, tried to preserve and further the Cornish language. They left behind a large number of translations of parts of the Bible, proverbs and songs. This group was contacted by the Welsh linguist Edward Lhuyd who came to Cornwall to study the language.

Early Modern Cornish was the subject of a study published by Lhuyd in 1707, and differs from the medieval language in having a considerably simpler structure and grammar. Such differences included the wide use of certain modal affixes that, although out of use by Lhuyd's time, had a considerable effect on the word-order of medieval Cornish. The medieval language also possessed two additional tenses for expressing past events and an extended set of possessive suffixes. Edward Lhuyd theorises that the language of this time was heavily inflected, possessing not just the genitive, ablative and locative cases so common in Early Modern Cornish, but also dative and accusative cases, and even a vocative case, although historical references to this are rare.

John Whitaker, the Manchester-born rector of Ruan Lanihorne, studied the decline of the Cornish language. In his 1804 work the Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall he concluded that: "he English Liturgy, was not desired by the Cornish, but forced upon them by the tyranny of England, at a time when the English language was yet unknown in Cornwall. This act of tyranny was at once gross barbarity to the Cornish people, and a death blow to the Cornish language.".

Robert Williams published the first comprehensive Cornish dictionary in 1865, the Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum. As a result of the discovery of additional ancient Cornish manuscripts, 2000 new words were added to the vocabulary by Whitley Stokes in A Cornish Glossary. William C. Borlase published Proverbs and Rhymes in Cornish in 1866 while A Glossary of Cornish Place Names was produced by John Bannister in the same year. Frederick Jago published his English–Cornish Dictionary in 1882.

Literature

In 1981, the Breton library Preder edited Passyon agan arluth (Passion of our lord), a 15th-century Cornish poem. The first complete translation of the Bible into Cornish translated from English, was published in 2011. Another Bible translation project translating from original languages is underway. The New Testament and Psalms were posted on-line on YouVersion (Bible.com) and Bibles.org in July 2014 by the Bible Society.

A few small publishers produce books in Cornish which are stocked in some local bookshops, as well as in Cornish branches of Waterstones and WH Smiths, although newer publications are becoming increasingly available on the Internet. The Truro Waterstones hosts the annual "Holyer an Gof" literary awards, established by Gorsedh Kernow to recognise publications relating to Cornwall or in the Cornish language. In recent years, a number of Cornish translations of literature has been published, including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (2009), Around the World in Eighty Days (2009), Treasure Island (2010), The Railway Children (2012), Hound of the Baskervilles (2012), War of the Worlds (2012), The Wind in the Willows (2013), Three Men in a Boat (2013), Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (2014), and A Christmas Carol (which won the 2012 Holyer an Gof award for Cornish Language books), as well as original Cornish literature such as Jowal Lethesow (The Lyonesse Stone) by Craig Weatherhill. Literature aimed at children is also available, such as Ple'ma Spot? (Where's Spot?), Best Goon Brèn (The Beast of Bodmin Moor), three Topsy and Tim titles, and Briallen ha'n Alyon (Briallen and the Alien), which won the 2015 Holyer an Gof award for Cornish Language books for children. In 2014 An Hobys, Nicholas Williams' translation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit was published.

Media

In 1983 BBC Radio Cornwall started broadcasting around two minutes of Cornish every week. In 1987, however, they gave over 15 minutes of airtime on Sunday mornings for a programme called Kroeder Kroghen ("Holdall"), presented by John King, running until the early 1990s. It was eventually replaced with a five-minute news bulletin called An Nowodhow ("The News"). The bulletin was presented every Sunday evening for many years by Rod Lyon, then Elizabeth Stewart, and currently a team presents in rotation. Pirate FM ran short bulletins on Saturday lunchtimes from 1998 to 1999. In 2006, Matthew Clarke who had presented the Pirate FM bulletin, launched a web-streamed news bulletin called Nowodhow an Seythen ("Weekly News"), which in 2008 was merged into a new weekly magazine podcast Radyo an Gernewegva (RanG).

Cornish television shows have included a 1982 series by Westward Television each episode containing a three-minute lesson in Cornish. An Canker-Seth, an eight episode series produced by Television South West and broadcast between June and July 1984, later on S4C from May to July 1985, and as a schools programme in 1986. Also by Television South West were two bilingual programmes on Cornish Culture called Nosweyth Lowen

Music

English composer Peter Warlock, an enthusiast of the Celtic languages, wrote a Christmas carol in Cornish (setting words by Henry Jenner). Cornish musician Jory Bennett (born Redruth, 1963) has composed "Six Songs of Cornwall" for bass and piano, a Cornish song-cycle, settings of Cornish language poems by Nicholas Williams /trans. E. G. Retallack Hooper (f.p. Keele University, 7 May 1986). The Cornish electronic musician Richard D James has often used Cornish names for track titles, most notably on his DrukQs album. Gwenno Saunders is a multilingual Welsh-born musician and a Cornish speaker. Skwardya has produced four CD albums in Cornish in a modern pop/rock/blues/dance style.

Placenames and surnames

The Cornish language has had an impact on the toponomy of Cornwall, and has historically been used in surnames for the Cornish people. The following tables present some examples of Cornish placenames and surnames, and their anglicised versions:

Samples

From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

From Bro Goth agan Tasow, the Cornish anthem:

See also

• Anglo-Cornish, the Cornish dialect of the English language
• Bible translations into Cornish
• Cornish literature
• List of Celtic-language media
• Languages in the United Kingdom
• List of topics related to Cornwall
• Language revival
• The Cornish Language Council (Cussel an Tavas Kernuak)
• Manx, another revived Celtic language
• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
• Irish language revival

References

1. Funding boost to safeguard Cornish language announced
2. Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek wins Heritage Lottery Fund support
3. "Cornish gains official recognition". BBC News. 6 November 2002. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
4. ^ Diarmuid O'Neill. Rebuilding the Celtic Languages: Reversing Language Shift in the Celtic Countries. Y Lolfa. p. 240. ISBN 0-86243-723-7.
5. Beresford Ellis, Peter (1990, 1998, 2005). The Story of the Cornish Language. Tor Mark Press. pp. 19–25. ISBN 0-85025-371-3. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
6. ^ "Cornish language no longer extinct, says UN". BBC News Online. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
7. Archived 2015-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
8. Sims-Williams, P., 'A New Brittonic Gloss on Boethius: ud rocashaas', Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 50 (Winter 2005), 77–86.
9. Estimate by Ken George
10. Morris, Jonathan (19 May 2008). "Breakthrough for Cornish language". BBC News Online. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
11. "Standard Cornish spelling agreed". BBC News Online. 19 May 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
12. UK 2011 Census
13. Diarmuid O'Neill. Rebuilding the Celtic Languages: Reversing Language Shift in the Celtic Countries. Y Lolfa. p. 242. ISBN 0-86243-723-7.
14. "'South West:TeachingEnglish:British Council:BBC". BBC/British Council website. BBC. 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
15. ^ "First Cornish-speaking creche is inspired by example set in Wales". WalesOnline website. Welsh Media Ltd. 16 January 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
16. Archived 2009-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
17. UK 2011 Census
18. Mann, Petra (12 November 2009). "Council backs bilingual road signs". Western Morning News. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
19. "Dyslexic councillor says Cornish language road signs could prove dangerous for drivers". Plymouth Herald. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
20. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/07/cornwall-council-plans-to-encourage-staff-to-speak-cornish
21. "Cornish people formally declared a national minority along with Scots, Welsh and Irish". The Independent. 23 April 2014. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
22. Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Strasbourg, 1 February 1995
23. Rebuilding the Celtic languages By Diarmuid O'Néill (Page 222)
24. In a post on the blog Language Log. Retrieved 2 August 2011, the linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum reported that MacKinnon was quoting an edition of Jenner that is no longer available to him (Pullum's main concern was the impact of the triple negative in the cited sentence).
25. "RanG". Radyo.kernewegva.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
26. "Crying the Neck in Cornwall". Newquay.oldcornwall.org.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
27. "Bonfire". Redrutholdcornwall.org. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
28. http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/research/centres/ics/about/
29. "Kevren" (PDF). Maga. December 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
30. Ellis, P. B. (1974); pp. 82–94
31. Lhuyd, Edward (1707) Archæologia Britannica: giving some account additional to what has been hitherto publish'd, of the languages, histories and customs of the original inhabitants of Great Britain, from collections and observations in travels through Wales, Cornwal, Bas-Bretagne, Ireland, and Scotland; Vol. I. Glossography. Oxford: printed at the Theater for the author, and sold by Mr. Bateman, London
32. Ellis, P. B. (1974); pp. 100–08
33. Lhuyd, Edward (1702) in: Pietas Universitatis Oxoniensis in obitum augustissimi Regis Gulielmi III; et gratulatio in exoptatissimam serenissimae Annæ Reginæ inaugurationem. Oxonii: e Theatro Sheldoniano
34. Jago, Fred W. P. (1882) The Ancient Language and the Dialect of Cornwall. New York: AMS Press, 1983, (originally published 1882, Netherton and Worth, Truro), pp. 4 ff.
35. "Passyon Agan Arluth". Preder.net. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
36. "Holyer an Gof Awards". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
37. "Alys in Pow an Anethow". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
38. "Adro dhe'n Bÿs in Peswar Ugans Dëdh". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
39. "Enys Tresour". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
40. "Flehes an Hens Horn". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
41. "Ky Teylu Baskerville". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
42. "Gwerryans an Planettys". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
43. "An Gwyns i'n Helyk". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
44. "Tredden in Scath (Heb Gwil Mencyon a'n Ky)". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
45. "Alys y'n Vro a Varthusyon ha Der an Gweder-Mires". Kesva an Taves Kernewek.
46. "Karol Nadelik". Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek.
47. "Jowal Lethesow". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
48. "Topsy and Tim". Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek.
49. "Briallen ha'n Alyon". Ors Sempel.
50. "An Hobys, pò An Fordh Dy ha Tre Arta". Evertype. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
51. Martin Ball, Nicole Muller, The Celtic Languages, Psychology Press, 12 Nov 2012
52. "Cornwall – Connected – Hear the news read in Cornish". BBC. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
53. ^ Martin Ball, Nicole Muller
54. "An Canker-Seth". BroadcastForSchools.co.uk. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2013.

Bibliography

• Norris, Edwin, Sketch of Cornish grammar (1859)
• Stokes, Whitley, Gwreans an bys = The Creation of the world : a Cornish mystery (1863)
• F. W. P. Jago, A Cornish Dictionary (1887) English Cornish dictionary
• Jenner, Henry, A handbook of the Cornish language : chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature (1904)
• Williams, G. P, The preverbal particle Re in Cornish (1908)
• Ellis, Peter B. (1974) The Cornish Language and its Literature. ix, 230 p. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
• Ellis, Peter B. (1971) The Story of the Cornish Language. 32 p. Truro: Tor Mark Press
• Jackson, Kenneth (1953) Language and History in Early Britain: a chronological survey of the Brittonic languages, first to twelfth century a.D. Edinburgh: U. P. 2nd ed. Dublin : Four Courts Press, 1994 has a new introduction by William Gillies
• Sandercock, Graham (1996) A Very Brief History of the Cornish Language. Hayle: Kesva an Tavas Kernewek ISBN 0-907064-61-2
• Weatherhill, Craig (1995) Cornish Place Names & Language. Wilmslow: Sigma Press (reissued in 1998, 2000 ISBN 1-85058-462-1; second revised edition 2007 ISBN 978-1-85058-837-5)
  • —— (2009) Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-names ; edited by Michael Everson. Westport, co. Mayo: Evertype ISBN 978-1-904808-22-0
• Ferdinand, Siarl (2013). Brief History of the Cornish language, its Revival and its Current Situation. E-Keltoi, Vol. 2, 2 Dec. pp. 199–227

External links

• A Handbook of the Cornish Language, by Henry Jenner A Project Gutenberg eBook
• Cornish Language Partnership website
• Endangered Languages Project: Cornish
• A Cornish Internet radio station in nascent state featuring weekly podcasts in Cornish
• Spellyans – Standard Written Form Cornish discussion list
• UdnFormScrefys' site for the proposed compromise orthography, Kernowek Standard
• List of localized software in Cornish
• Blas Kernewek – A Taste of Cornish – basic Cornish lessons hosted by BBC Cornwall
• Cornish Language Fellowship
• Lyver Pysadow Kemyn (1980) Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Cornish
• Cornish today by Kenneth MacKinnon – from the BBC
• Bibel Kernewek Cornish Bible Translation Project
• An Index to the Historical Place Names of Cornwall

Dictionaries

• An English-Cornish Glossary in the Standard Written Form – Cornish Language Partnership
• An English-Cornish Glossary in the Standard Written Form (using traditional graphs) – Cornish Language Partnership
• Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum: a Dictionary of the Ancient Celtic Language of Cornwall by Robert Williams, Llandovery, 1865.

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