Is Cornish a real language or simply an artificial language?
From what I can gather Cornish has been "revived" from studying Old Cornish literature and estimating pronounciation. At a certain point the language did die out, along with records of how it really sounded.
However, despite this, is Cornish really any less of a language than Modern Hebrew is? Essentially Modern Hebrew came from studying old hebrew tests and estimating pronounciation. Today Hebrew is considered very much a real language, but essentially its a revived language.
Cheers
Who cares.
Though I would love to learn it.
If the comeback of Cornish is itself working off from written old Cornish, then, in which way is Cornish an artificial language. Do you not mean, they know how Cornish looks and stuff but are guessworking it's sound?
There are Cornish language revival groups who speak the language among themselves and there may possibly be a Cornish-medium primary school to instill the language in youngsters. If the revivalists speak Cornish with their own kids then I suppose they must be a new-age of native speakers.
I'm not sure if Hebrew actually died out, but it was certainly rescued from a hopeless position. But I suppose it was something of a special case. Come to think of it, the most common language among the inhabitants of the new Israeli state was probably German. Now that would have been a bitter pill to swallow!
german
and
genocide
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bitter
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pill
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swallow
and
Namibia
hehehehe
Cornish is as much a "real language" as Modern Hebrew is. At the time of the Jews moving back to Palestine, none spoke Hebrew as a first language, and those who did speak it, spoke only what was written about in their holy scriptures. There was no word for "gasoline" or "steam engine" (or "clitoris" for that matter--the Modern Hebrew word translates to "tickle spot") in Ancient Hebrew, they all had to be created for Modern Hebrew.
What about swearwords? Is it true they all swear in Russian?
I'm sure i remember a dacde or two ago hearing on the news that the last Cornish native speaker had died. Is it being revived now?
As I understand it, Breton is an old offshoot of Cornish, or at least an offshoot of one of the Brythonic Celtic languages, since the Breton-speaking people of France apparently originally came from southern Britain. Perhaps if there is actually a revivalist movement, they could team with the Bretons to guide pronunciation, and pick up modern usage words?
<< Perhaps if there is actually a revivalist movement, they could team with the Bretons to guide pronunciation, and pick up modern usage words? >>
-- It's just what they did. Revived Cornish was given a pronouciation strongly similar to Breton, especially as far as the un-British front rounded vowels are concerned:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_language#Vowels
<<I'm sure i remember a dacde or two ago hearing on the news that the last Cornish native speaker had died. Is it being revived now?>>
Aren't there any records from the speach of that native speaker?
I'm sure the last Cornish speakers died in the early 1800s. Perhaps you're thinking of the last remaining Manx speaker who passed away in 1974. Recordings of his speech were made, there are a couple of snippets on YouTube.
fraz, after a little research, I think you're right. It seems the last stalwart monoglot Cornish speaker dies in the late 18th century. Many Cornish speakers survived longer, but they were (as I understand) bilingual. Perhaps I am remembering the last Manx speaker, but I already knew a little about that man and so I guess my brain is playing tricks on me.
It's encouraging that they're teaching neo-Cornish in schools again. If kids can master languages as remote from English as Cornish is, then they should find Euro-languages (except Basque..) a breeze!