The Cornish language started to decline in 1549 with the defeat of the Cornish in the Prayer Book Rebellion, an uprising in protest against the imposition by Edward VI of the use of the Book of Common Prayer in English. Up until this time everyone in Cornwall spoke only Cornish. This is sometimes referred to as The Cornish Holocaust, where ten per cent of the Cornish people were executed by the English state. The Cornish language - Kernewek - was virtually destroyed and links with our sister country Brittany severed.
The UK government agreed in 2002 to "take resolute action to promote the Cornish language" [Article 7(1)c] The Council of Europe."
http://www.agantavas.org.uk
<< ten per cent of the Cornish people were executed by the English state>>
I absolutely never knew that....but it's no surprise. The 16th Century...they were pretty bloodthirsty days then anyway, whatever the issue. They lopped off people's heads at the drop of a hat, if you'll pardon the expression.
The English took extreme measures to try and eradicate the Welsh language as recently at the late 19th Century but never to the extent of killing people! Not that I know of anyway...I will ask my friend in Anglesey.
The Sassenach attempts to kill off the Welsh language all crumbled to dust as you know. I hope the Cornish revive their language and that it gets similar status as the Welsh language has today. But only about 20% of the Welsh speak the language fluently anyway so I was told.
I so hope Cornish flourishes again and rises from the ashes like Phoenix.
Thanks Damian - this is from a local Cornish newspaper -
"The lessons of Scotland and Wales seem clear, though obviously not loud enough to be heard at Westminster, i.e. the more autonomy you give a Celtic nation, the easier it is to co-exist with it. Apart from Scotland's crazily expensive parliament building, everything else achieved by devolution seems to have worked out better than expected. Naturally we in Cornwall want to make our own decisions where we can, express our identity, and respect the differences between ourselves and England without needing to turn it into a confrontation. But the respect and trust has to flow both ways. Westminster has to learn when to let go. In our case it's an ongoing process of patience and persuasion."
see also
http://www.mebyonkernow.org
"Is it true that many Cornish people feel that they are actually entering England as soon as they cross the Tamar Bridge at Saltash? "
The last time I looked on the map, Tamar Bridge, Saltash and Cornwall are all in England, Cornwall is an English county and most Cornish people consider themselves English unless they are from outside of England.
Whenever I go to Penzance on a beach holiday or go for long walks around Dartmoor I never feel as if I am in another country, and 99% of Cornish people never feel as though they have entered a different country whenever they go and visit a different English county.
JMJ About the resurrection of a language
I tend to agree with you but there are two examples against what you say that the resurrection of Cornish is imposible. One is Hebrew in Israel which was implemented in a non-native speaking population and not spoken in Palestine anymore. The same linguist that managed to resurrect Hebrew went to Spain to resurrect Basque, which was almost dead. Nowadays most of the population under 30 is fluent in Basque although the number of native-speakers is still very low.
In my vew it all depend one the political means to implemneted in the educational systems and the will of the population to learn it and use it. The problem at the end is use. Basque has been succesful because young people know it but very few people use it. The lingua franca is still Spanish because as a common language of communication Spanish is more effective. (Much like Gaelic and English in Ireland). However, in Israel Hebrew is widely sppken because it is an effective way of communication between the inmigrants. I wonder if the inmmigrants that moved to Israel in the 40s and 50s had all been fluent in ENglish whether Hebrew would have been so successful.
In the case of Cornish, they may become something similar to Basque but they will never be a lingua franca like Catalan in Catalonia, because I agree that there are not enough native speakers and therefore English will always be more useful as a lingua franca in the Cornwall.
Adam,
Do you feel like you enter another country when you go to Scotland?
Cornish language is corny, just like French.
"Adam,
Do you feel like you enter another country when you go to Scotland?"
No, not really. Scotland is a part of the UK. But, unlike Cornwall, it's also not a part of England.
The Cornish regard themselves as Cornish first then British but not English.
Why can the English not accept this but instead want everyone to be like them ?
"The Cornish regard themselves as Cornish first then British but not English.
Why can the English not accept this but instead want everyone to be like them ? "
No they don't. Where's your proof? The Cornish are English, just like people in Norfolk or Derbyshire or Hampshire are English.
Do people in Derbyshire consider their nationality as being from Derbyshire first before English?
Cornwall is an English county, and most Cornish people consider themselves to be English and are proud to be English.
How often does a person from Cornwall travel to Hampshire or Surrey or Cumbria and people say "Hello, you people from Cornwall. Welcome to our country!"
Dinnae be so sully, Adam....of course that doesn't happen. But we up here definitely would say to people from Hampshire and Surrey: "Hello, welcome to our country!" Cumbria....well, maybe but unlikely.....they are literally on our doorstep in the first place. Go to Carlisle or over one the other side...in Berwick... and you hear just as many Scottish accents as you do English, especially in Berwick, which used to be in Scotland at one time anyway until the Sassenachs nicked it from us...true to style!
As for Cornwall.....I guess not...our sensors would pick up the fellow Celtic signals! :-) Just joking, pal! Chill out!
What are you trying to say? That Scotland should annex Cumbria and Northumberland?
Also, I doubt very much that the Cornish are as "Celtic" as the Scots and Welsh. They would be about the same as any other English county, as people from all over England have settled in Cornwall over hundreds of years.
<<as people from all over England have settled in Cornwall over hundreds of years>>
ADAM I grant you that..your are correct..Cornwall is a county people migrate to mostly because it's winter climate is milder than anywhere else and the seaside is on two sides and never more than a few miles away either side. Only a small percentage of the resident population are of true Cornish extraction. Maybe there maybe some sort of "bandwagon effect" among even incomers to Cornwall to establish a new identity because of Cornwall's original Celtic origin...a sense of "difference" in their adopted County and so they are learning this "strange" Celtic tongue.....Cornish...sorry..Kernow.
Scotland has no designs at all on either Cumbria or Northumberland.......we've never been plunderers! You could consider giving Berwick back to us sometime if you're feeling generous...or remorseful......FOC of course! Hey, did you know that technically, for some reason lost in the mists of history, Berwick-upon-Tweed is still at war with Russia? Ill try and fathom that one out sometime.
Take care my Sassenach friend!