Spelling row could see Cornish go west
Fight between rival camps threatens cash to fund revival
Steven Morris
Saturday July 23, 2005
The Guardian
The government money is on the table and the political will in Whitehall and Europe is apparently growing to help Cornish speakers turn their native tongue into a viable, living language.
But there is one stumbling block: Cornish speakers cannot agree on how their language should be spelt.
Three main groups who have driven forward the revival of Cornish are at loggerheads over how the language should be written.
The issue has become so divisive that yesterday two of the groups called for an independent panel of linguists to be appointed to referee the row.
A conference is being organised in September at which the warring factions will again try to agree on how Cornish - or, depending on your fancy, Kernewek, Kernowek, Kernuak or Curnoack - should be spelt.
Until a single system is agreed, it will be difficult to launch a credible language programme across Cornwall. Disputes over issues such as road signs and place names will also continue to slow the spread of the language.
Last month the government announced that it would fund the language by up to £80,000 a year for three years - but the worry is that the cash flow will dry up if agreement over spelling cannot be found.
Paul Dunbar, a director of a Cornish bookshop in Liskeard which stocks dictionaries, Bibles and children's books in one version of Cornish, said the development of the language was important at a time when many local people argue that they should have more independence from England.
"The language has tremendous importance for Cornwall," Mr Dunbar said. "It's an icon of identity. It's the one thing that is uniquely, undeniably Cornish."
He expressed frustration that the spelling problem was holding the language back: "There's certainly more heat than light in the debate."
His feelings about the champions of rival systems? "It varies from murderous to totally pissed off."
The revival of Cornish began to gather pace in the 1920s when a version which came to be known as Unified Cornish was reconstructed using language found in medieval miracle plays and borrowing from related Celtic tongues such as Welsh and Breton.
Forty years ago, as interest grew, the Cornish Language Board was formed. Some members felt Unified Cornish was inaccurate and came up with a new system, with different spellings, Common Cornish.
In the mid 1980s, another splinter group set up the Cornish Language Council and championed a third system, Modern Cornish, based not on medieval manuscripts but the way the language was last spoken in the 1700s.
The row over whose system was best began in earnest. It has not yet come to blows, but the quality of debate has not always been scholarly.
The factions understand each other when they speak Cornish, but do not seem to comprehend why their rival groups insist that their spelling system is correct.
Ray Chubb, secretary of Agan Tavas (Our Language) which supports Unified Cornish and an updated version of it called Unified Cornish Revised, accused the supporters of Modern Cornish of "mucking around with historical sources" and claimed that Common Cornish speakers had the arrogant attitude that their system was perfect.
George Ansell, a supporter of Common Cornish, said that version was easiest to teach. "If people can't agree, it will become a Darwinian situation - the survival of the fittest."
Mr Ansell, who chairs a language strategy group set up by Cornwall county council, said the debate often became overly personal. "People have invested a lot of time and effort in the various forms and do not like to see their work challenged."
It is nigh on impossible to judge which group is best placed to survive, as nobody agrees on how many people use each version. In all, it is thought that several hundred people speak Cornish reasonably fluently and a few thousand have some knowledge of it. Two secondary schools and a handful of primary schools have begun to teach Cornish.
Neil Kennedy, who is in the Modern Cornish camp, said: "It may sound absurd that a language which not many people speak has several different spellings, but that is what we face. We have to find a way of working together to sort it out."
The groups supporting Modern and Unified Cornish issued a statement yesterday saying that there was a "historic" opportunity for the movement to build a "thriving Cornish language", and called for an independent advisory panel.
Professor Philip Payton, director of the Institute of Cornish Studies, said the dispute threatened long-term support from Westminster. "Some sort of agreement is necessary. Otherwise it gets confusing at best and at worst faintly ridiculous."
Origins in history of Celtic Britain
In 1935, listeners to the BBC were puzzled but interested by a music programme from Plymouth. When the BBC explained that the St Austell choir was singing in Cornish, it was bombarded by requests to know more. Even the Cornish seemed to have forgotten about their historic tongue.
Cornish is a direct descendent of the language spoken by Celts who settled in Britain before the Roman conquest.
As Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Norman invaders confined the Celts to Cornwall (as well as Wales, Scotland and Ireland), the language developed regional dialects.
By the 9th century, certainly, there is concrete evidence of a distinctive language in Cornwall, and it is believed that by 1200 it was spoken by most of its people.
But simultaneously, use of English was spreading into the east of Cornwall; the Reformation sped up the decline when Edward VI decreed that the Book of Common Prayer be used in Cornish churches; rebellions by the Cornish were put down.
By the start of the 17th century there were few monoglot speakers left, mostly in the far west. The reputed last one, Dolly Pentreath, died in 1777.
Bilingual speakers could be found until the late 19th century, but the region's sinking economic fortunes were mirrored by its language's continued decline.
Asked why the Cornish should learn Kernewek, the father of the revival movement, Henry Jenner (1848-1934), had a simple answer: "Because they are Cornish."
www.guardian.co.uk
Fight between rival camps threatens cash to fund revival
Steven Morris
Saturday July 23, 2005
The Guardian
The government money is on the table and the political will in Whitehall and Europe is apparently growing to help Cornish speakers turn their native tongue into a viable, living language.
But there is one stumbling block: Cornish speakers cannot agree on how their language should be spelt.
Three main groups who have driven forward the revival of Cornish are at loggerheads over how the language should be written.
The issue has become so divisive that yesterday two of the groups called for an independent panel of linguists to be appointed to referee the row.
A conference is being organised in September at which the warring factions will again try to agree on how Cornish - or, depending on your fancy, Kernewek, Kernowek, Kernuak or Curnoack - should be spelt.
Until a single system is agreed, it will be difficult to launch a credible language programme across Cornwall. Disputes over issues such as road signs and place names will also continue to slow the spread of the language.
Last month the government announced that it would fund the language by up to £80,000 a year for three years - but the worry is that the cash flow will dry up if agreement over spelling cannot be found.
Paul Dunbar, a director of a Cornish bookshop in Liskeard which stocks dictionaries, Bibles and children's books in one version of Cornish, said the development of the language was important at a time when many local people argue that they should have more independence from England.
"The language has tremendous importance for Cornwall," Mr Dunbar said. "It's an icon of identity. It's the one thing that is uniquely, undeniably Cornish."
He expressed frustration that the spelling problem was holding the language back: "There's certainly more heat than light in the debate."
His feelings about the champions of rival systems? "It varies from murderous to totally pissed off."
The revival of Cornish began to gather pace in the 1920s when a version which came to be known as Unified Cornish was reconstructed using language found in medieval miracle plays and borrowing from related Celtic tongues such as Welsh and Breton.
Forty years ago, as interest grew, the Cornish Language Board was formed. Some members felt Unified Cornish was inaccurate and came up with a new system, with different spellings, Common Cornish.
In the mid 1980s, another splinter group set up the Cornish Language Council and championed a third system, Modern Cornish, based not on medieval manuscripts but the way the language was last spoken in the 1700s.
The row over whose system was best began in earnest. It has not yet come to blows, but the quality of debate has not always been scholarly.
The factions understand each other when they speak Cornish, but do not seem to comprehend why their rival groups insist that their spelling system is correct.
Ray Chubb, secretary of Agan Tavas (Our Language) which supports Unified Cornish and an updated version of it called Unified Cornish Revised, accused the supporters of Modern Cornish of "mucking around with historical sources" and claimed that Common Cornish speakers had the arrogant attitude that their system was perfect.
George Ansell, a supporter of Common Cornish, said that version was easiest to teach. "If people can't agree, it will become a Darwinian situation - the survival of the fittest."
Mr Ansell, who chairs a language strategy group set up by Cornwall county council, said the debate often became overly personal. "People have invested a lot of time and effort in the various forms and do not like to see their work challenged."
It is nigh on impossible to judge which group is best placed to survive, as nobody agrees on how many people use each version. In all, it is thought that several hundred people speak Cornish reasonably fluently and a few thousand have some knowledge of it. Two secondary schools and a handful of primary schools have begun to teach Cornish.
Neil Kennedy, who is in the Modern Cornish camp, said: "It may sound absurd that a language which not many people speak has several different spellings, but that is what we face. We have to find a way of working together to sort it out."
The groups supporting Modern and Unified Cornish issued a statement yesterday saying that there was a "historic" opportunity for the movement to build a "thriving Cornish language", and called for an independent advisory panel.
Professor Philip Payton, director of the Institute of Cornish Studies, said the dispute threatened long-term support from Westminster. "Some sort of agreement is necessary. Otherwise it gets confusing at best and at worst faintly ridiculous."
Origins in history of Celtic Britain
In 1935, listeners to the BBC were puzzled but interested by a music programme from Plymouth. When the BBC explained that the St Austell choir was singing in Cornish, it was bombarded by requests to know more. Even the Cornish seemed to have forgotten about their historic tongue.
Cornish is a direct descendent of the language spoken by Celts who settled in Britain before the Roman conquest.
As Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Norman invaders confined the Celts to Cornwall (as well as Wales, Scotland and Ireland), the language developed regional dialects.
By the 9th century, certainly, there is concrete evidence of a distinctive language in Cornwall, and it is believed that by 1200 it was spoken by most of its people.
But simultaneously, use of English was spreading into the east of Cornwall; the Reformation sped up the decline when Edward VI decreed that the Book of Common Prayer be used in Cornish churches; rebellions by the Cornish were put down.
By the start of the 17th century there were few monoglot speakers left, mostly in the far west. The reputed last one, Dolly Pentreath, died in 1777.
Bilingual speakers could be found until the late 19th century, but the region's sinking economic fortunes were mirrored by its language's continued decline.
Asked why the Cornish should learn Kernewek, the father of the revival movement, Henry Jenner (1848-1934), had a simple answer: "Because they are Cornish."
www.guardian.co.uk