A-dro dhe'n keskussulyans
About the conference
The first research conference for the Cornish language took place on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 October 2014 at Cornwall College, Pool, Cornwall with thanks to the College for hosting the event.
An towlen 2014
The 2014 programme
- [KEYNOTE] Ken MacKINNON: The Cornish Research Landscape
- Linus BAND: The Cornish compound verbs with ‘to be’
- Jon MILLS: Middle Cornish Lexical Register: the Role of Etymology
- Nicholas WILLIAMS: If in Cornish
- Oliver PADEL: The date and geography of assibilation in Cornish
- Gwawr McGIRR: Contextual Considerations: Setting the Scene for Cornish – Community Involvement in recent Welsh and Irish Language Policies
- Siarl FERDINAND: The Cornish Language Revitalisation: Learning from the example of Trebiñu/Treviño
- Alastair NICHOLSON: An investigation into the peripheral areas of created, and revived languages comparing and contrasting these with the peripheral areas of other languages at risk
- Stuart DUNMORE: Ethnolinguistic Revival? Identity and processes of iconisation in a post-obsolescent language
- Mike TRESIDDER: Hegemony, Occidentalism and scare mongering stories about the cost of dual signage: the Gordian knots that bind the language activists of Cornwall
- Elena BIRMANI: Vyajow a Kernewek – Translation journeys of some Cornish poetry
- John ROWE: Heteroglossia in Cornish Language Literature – the uniqueness of Enys Tresour
- Ken GEORGE: And so to zed
- Robyn PARRI: A Daily Dose of Cornish: the importance of the media to the Cornish revival
- Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek: Taves an Tir: a community research project
Linus BAND
University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies
The Cornish compound verbs with ‘to be’
The compound verbs with ‘to be’ are one of the most characteristic features of the British Celtic languages when comparing them to their Goidelic counterpart. Even within the Brythonic languages themselves the spread and productivity of this phenomenon differs, e.g. ‘to happen’ is a ‘to be’ compound in Middle Cornish (whar-fos) and Middle Breton (hoar-vout), but not in Middle Welsh (chwaru). Cornish is generally undervalued in historical linguistic research because of its tendency to merge phonological differences and its somewhat obscure spelling system. For those reasons Breton is often used in its stead. This is undeserved, however, and especially so when looking at the compound verbs with ‘to be’, where Cornish appears to have retained certain features that Breton has not, e.g. clewes ‘to hear’ as a ‘to be’ compound, and the 1sg. present subjunctive -ffif. My paper will therefore focus specifically on the situation of this class of verbs in Cornish and how it differs from its counterparts in its sister languages, Welsh and Breton. My data has been collected from a large corpus of digitalised texts and put in a database containing more than 7600 attestations of these ‘to be’ compounds in the British languages.
Download: abstract [pdf]
University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies
The Cornish compound verbs with ‘to be’
The compound verbs with ‘to be’ are one of the most characteristic features of the British Celtic languages when comparing them to their Goidelic counterpart. Even within the Brythonic languages themselves the spread and productivity of this phenomenon differs, e.g. ‘to happen’ is a ‘to be’ compound in Middle Cornish (whar-fos) and Middle Breton (hoar-vout), but not in Middle Welsh (chwaru). Cornish is generally undervalued in historical linguistic research because of its tendency to merge phonological differences and its somewhat obscure spelling system. For those reasons Breton is often used in its stead. This is undeserved, however, and especially so when looking at the compound verbs with ‘to be’, where Cornish appears to have retained certain features that Breton has not, e.g. clewes ‘to hear’ as a ‘to be’ compound, and the 1sg. present subjunctive -ffif. My paper will therefore focus specifically on the situation of this class of verbs in Cornish and how it differs from its counterparts in its sister languages, Welsh and Breton. My data has been collected from a large corpus of digitalised texts and put in a database containing more than 7600 attestations of these ‘to be’ compounds in the British languages.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Jon MILLS
University of Kent
Middle Cornish Lexical Register: the Role of Etymology
The corpus of Middle Cornish consists principally of miracle plays, a charter endorsement, a poem about Christ’s Passion, a translation of Bishop Bonner’s Homilies, a short chapter in Andrew Boorde’s Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge, and a few fragments. During the Middle Cornish period, many loanwords were introduced into the Cornish language as a consequence of language contact with Middle English; Old Norman French and Latin. This expansion of the Cornish lexicon resulted in a large number of synonyms which are distinguished according to their register. Selection among synonyms is conditioned by Field, Tenor and Mode. The paradigm of register used for this paper is that of Halliday, McIntosh, & Strevens (1964). Items of English etymology are used as a literary device to depict tyranny, to portray the discourse of certain evil characters in the miracle plays. Old Norman French loanwords expand the Cornish lexicon in the fields of government and administration, religion, art, learning, social life, chivalry, the military, medicine, law, food and fashion. Words borrowed directly Latin are principally used in ecclesiastical context. The etymologies of synonyms determines their register. In particular with regard to field and tenor.
Download: abstract [pdf]
University of Kent
Middle Cornish Lexical Register: the Role of Etymology
The corpus of Middle Cornish consists principally of miracle plays, a charter endorsement, a poem about Christ’s Passion, a translation of Bishop Bonner’s Homilies, a short chapter in Andrew Boorde’s Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge, and a few fragments. During the Middle Cornish period, many loanwords were introduced into the Cornish language as a consequence of language contact with Middle English; Old Norman French and Latin. This expansion of the Cornish lexicon resulted in a large number of synonyms which are distinguished according to their register. Selection among synonyms is conditioned by Field, Tenor and Mode. The paradigm of register used for this paper is that of Halliday, McIntosh, & Strevens (1964). Items of English etymology are used as a literary device to depict tyranny, to portray the discourse of certain evil characters in the miracle plays. Old Norman French loanwords expand the Cornish lexicon in the fields of government and administration, religion, art, learning, social life, chivalry, the military, medicine, law, food and fashion. Words borrowed directly Latin are principally used in ecclesiastical context. The etymologies of synonyms determines their register. In particular with regard to field and tenor.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Nicholas WILLIAMS
If in Cornish
If in Cornish
Oliver PADEL
The date and geography of assibilation in Cornish
The assibilation of the dental stops [t, d] to s is the most distinctive feature differentiating Cornish from Welsh and Breton in the medieval period (Welsh, Breton tad, Cornish tas ‘father’). But its date and nature are not fully understood; even the meaning of the written s (sometimes g or j) is uncertain. It is well known that place-names in west Cornwall usually (but not always) show the change, whereas most place-names in east Cornwall do not show it – but a few do. Various interpretations have been put upon the distribution of such spellings and their chronology. The paper will re-examine the chronology, distribution and context of such names, and what they tell us about the date of the change and the history of the language in east Cornwall.
Download: abstract [pdf]
The date and geography of assibilation in Cornish
The assibilation of the dental stops [t, d] to s is the most distinctive feature differentiating Cornish from Welsh and Breton in the medieval period (Welsh, Breton tad, Cornish tas ‘father’). But its date and nature are not fully understood; even the meaning of the written s (sometimes g or j) is uncertain. It is well known that place-names in west Cornwall usually (but not always) show the change, whereas most place-names in east Cornwall do not show it – but a few do. Various interpretations have been put upon the distribution of such spellings and their chronology. The paper will re-examine the chronology, distribution and context of such names, and what they tell us about the date of the change and the history of the language in east Cornwall.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Gwawr McGIRR
University of Ulster
Contextual Considerations: Setting the Scene for Cornish – Community Involvement in recent Welsh and Irish Language Policies
The research addresses the role of civil society through community organizations in securing the future of minority languages in the context of public policy, and adopts a comparative case study design to look at two minority language communities in Ireland and Wales, where it is government policy to support the Irish and Welsh languages using community
organisations. This ‘bottom-up’ approach is expected to direct and inform policy and, perhaps more critically, resources and expenditure.
The strength of Welsh and Irish as community languages in these heartland communities is coming under serious pressure, with declines evidenced in these areas in recent census returns. Language policy experts and community activists have pointed repeatedly to the importance of improving socio-economic infrastructure for these communities, in addition
to improvements to status needed for the two languages. Recent government strategies in policy to stabilize the languages in these heartland areas include the incorporation of ‘capacity-building’ strategies, in the hope that by increasing the organisational and institutional capacities of these communities (Taylor, 2011) – they can ‘empower’ these heartland communities. It is unclear exactly what is meant or understood by empowerment in these new policy documents-there is the possibility that the different stakeholders have different understandings of empowerment also.
Download: abstract [pdf]
University of Ulster
Contextual Considerations: Setting the Scene for Cornish – Community Involvement in recent Welsh and Irish Language Policies
The research addresses the role of civil society through community organizations in securing the future of minority languages in the context of public policy, and adopts a comparative case study design to look at two minority language communities in Ireland and Wales, where it is government policy to support the Irish and Welsh languages using community
organisations. This ‘bottom-up’ approach is expected to direct and inform policy and, perhaps more critically, resources and expenditure.
The strength of Welsh and Irish as community languages in these heartland communities is coming under serious pressure, with declines evidenced in these areas in recent census returns. Language policy experts and community activists have pointed repeatedly to the importance of improving socio-economic infrastructure for these communities, in addition
to improvements to status needed for the two languages. Recent government strategies in policy to stabilize the languages in these heartland areas include the incorporation of ‘capacity-building’ strategies, in the hope that by increasing the organisational and institutional capacities of these communities (Taylor, 2011) – they can ‘empower’ these heartland communities. It is unclear exactly what is meant or understood by empowerment in these new policy documents-there is the possibility that the different stakeholders have different understandings of empowerment also.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Siarl FERDINAND
University of Wales Trinity Saint David
The Cornish Language Revitalisation: Learning from the example of Trebiñu/Treviño
The region of Trebiñu or Treviño shows a number of similarities with Cornwall/Kernow regarding to language revitalisation. Trebiñu Enklabea belongs to the province of Burgos (Spain). Although Burgos is regarded as a main centre of the Spanish language and as a leader of ideological Spanish uniformism, Basque was spoken in Trebiñu until 1600s. For three centuries Spanish was the only language in the region. In 1975 a revival was initiated. Despite the Spanish-only politics of Burgos and the lack of need to speak Basque in any context, forty percent of the population of Trebiñu claim some competence in Basque. The success of the Basque revival in Trebiñu could provide many lessons to boost the Cornish Revival.
Download: abstract [pdf]
University of Wales Trinity Saint David
The Cornish Language Revitalisation: Learning from the example of Trebiñu/Treviño
The region of Trebiñu or Treviño shows a number of similarities with Cornwall/Kernow regarding to language revitalisation. Trebiñu Enklabea belongs to the province of Burgos (Spain). Although Burgos is regarded as a main centre of the Spanish language and as a leader of ideological Spanish uniformism, Basque was spoken in Trebiñu until 1600s. For three centuries Spanish was the only language in the region. In 1975 a revival was initiated. Despite the Spanish-only politics of Burgos and the lack of need to speak Basque in any context, forty percent of the population of Trebiñu claim some competence in Basque. The success of the Basque revival in Trebiñu could provide many lessons to boost the Cornish Revival.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Alastair NICHOLSON
Extracts taken from PHD Proposal to Leipzig University
An investigation into the peripheral areas of created, and revived languages comparing and contrasting these with the peripheral areas of other languages at risk.
I will assess the potential for the peripheral or multilingual areas of Lower Sorbian and Kernewek to support and promote language use. This will be done through researching other comparable languages, examining the way they have made use of their own peripheral areas, and looking for examples of good practice that can be transferred to innovative projects that
will support Kernewek and Lower Sorbian.
It could be argued that nearly all zones in reconstructed and created languages are multilingual, and that there are very few areas where other languages don’t intrude. However if you define their periphery as a place of primary contact with other language speakers, then we can recognise that these peripheral areas are distinct. These borderlands in smaller indigenous languages have already been studied by others such as Pietikainen, Kelly Holmes et al (2013). Their work shows that often speakers purposefully take advantage of their unique qualities, for example in promoting tourism, expressing youth culture, or reinforcing a sense of group identity.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Extracts taken from PHD Proposal to Leipzig University
An investigation into the peripheral areas of created, and revived languages comparing and contrasting these with the peripheral areas of other languages at risk.
I will assess the potential for the peripheral or multilingual areas of Lower Sorbian and Kernewek to support and promote language use. This will be done through researching other comparable languages, examining the way they have made use of their own peripheral areas, and looking for examples of good practice that can be transferred to innovative projects that
will support Kernewek and Lower Sorbian.
It could be argued that nearly all zones in reconstructed and created languages are multilingual, and that there are very few areas where other languages don’t intrude. However if you define their periphery as a place of primary contact with other language speakers, then we can recognise that these peripheral areas are distinct. These borderlands in smaller indigenous languages have already been studied by others such as Pietikainen, Kelly Holmes et al (2013). Their work shows that often speakers purposefully take advantage of their unique qualities, for example in promoting tourism, expressing youth culture, or reinforcing a sense of group identity.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Stuart DUNMORE
University of Edinburgh
[Delivered by Ken MacKINNON]
Ethnolinguistic Revival? Identity and processes of iconisation in a post-obsolescent language.
This paper considers the relationship of Cornish to sociocultural identity in Cornwall from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. When a variety under social and political pressure eventually succumbs to language shift, its role in representations of a distinct sociocultural identity might be expected to die with the medium itself (cf. Fishman 1991). Yet Edwards (2009, 2010) has observed that a sense of group cohesion can endure long after a communicative shift to another language has occurred, arguing, furthermore, that the obsolescent variety may itself retain a symbolic role in the maintenance of group boundaries. An obsolescent language may therefore retain ideological associations with the group as an ‘iconised’ symbol of identity in contexts of language shift (Irvine & Gal 2000; Bucholtz and Hall 2004). This paper asks what might subsequently occur in the situation of a revived, post-obsolescent language such as Cornish (Fishman 1991). The analysis I present is based on an examination of the historical record and a review of recent sociological and sociolinguistic research, with a view to examining past and present processes of iconisation in Cornish society. Attention will be drawn to the manner in which Cornish functioned as an icon of identity in the nineteenth century, through the ‘Cornish Revival’ of the twentieth century, to the present day Cornish language community.
Download: abstract [pdf]
University of Edinburgh
[Delivered by Ken MacKINNON]
Ethnolinguistic Revival? Identity and processes of iconisation in a post-obsolescent language.
This paper considers the relationship of Cornish to sociocultural identity in Cornwall from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. When a variety under social and political pressure eventually succumbs to language shift, its role in representations of a distinct sociocultural identity might be expected to die with the medium itself (cf. Fishman 1991). Yet Edwards (2009, 2010) has observed that a sense of group cohesion can endure long after a communicative shift to another language has occurred, arguing, furthermore, that the obsolescent variety may itself retain a symbolic role in the maintenance of group boundaries. An obsolescent language may therefore retain ideological associations with the group as an ‘iconised’ symbol of identity in contexts of language shift (Irvine & Gal 2000; Bucholtz and Hall 2004). This paper asks what might subsequently occur in the situation of a revived, post-obsolescent language such as Cornish (Fishman 1991). The analysis I present is based on an examination of the historical record and a review of recent sociological and sociolinguistic research, with a view to examining past and present processes of iconisation in Cornish society. Attention will be drawn to the manner in which Cornish functioned as an icon of identity in the nineteenth century, through the ‘Cornish Revival’ of the twentieth century, to the present day Cornish language community.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Mike TRESIDDER
MAGA
Hegemony, Occidentalism and scare mongering stories about the cost of dual signage: the Gordian knots that bind the language activists of Cornwall.
Once outside the close knit circles of mutual interest anybody who wants to talk about Cornwall in terms other than the clichéd ‘... it’s such a nice part of the country’ will struggle to find an audience. A distinct history, culture and language appear to count for little and rarely feature in the narratives of the main stream institutions and quangos concerned with representing and regulating life in Cornwall. Critical discourse such as ‘cultural hegemony’ and the process of ‘othering’ suggest explanations as to why this might be so. However, they seem to have little offer by way of bringing about a change in attitude. This presentation seeks to look at the frequently cited reasons for not engaging with Cornish history and language in such contexts and suggest the time may be right for a more socially political aware understanding. With post-colonial academics keen to move their discipline into a wider social sphere might the Cornish language community benefit from looking at how activists from beyond Europe ‘answer back’ to those in control?
Download: abstract [pdf]
MAGA
Hegemony, Occidentalism and scare mongering stories about the cost of dual signage: the Gordian knots that bind the language activists of Cornwall.
Once outside the close knit circles of mutual interest anybody who wants to talk about Cornwall in terms other than the clichéd ‘... it’s such a nice part of the country’ will struggle to find an audience. A distinct history, culture and language appear to count for little and rarely feature in the narratives of the main stream institutions and quangos concerned with representing and regulating life in Cornwall. Critical discourse such as ‘cultural hegemony’ and the process of ‘othering’ suggest explanations as to why this might be so. However, they seem to have little offer by way of bringing about a change in attitude. This presentation seeks to look at the frequently cited reasons for not engaging with Cornish history and language in such contexts and suggest the time may be right for a more socially political aware understanding. With post-colonial academics keen to move their discipline into a wider social sphere might the Cornish language community benefit from looking at how activists from beyond Europe ‘answer back’ to those in control?
Download: abstract [pdf]
Elena BIRMANI
University of Bologna
Vyajow a Kernewek – Translation journeys of some Cornish poetry
Among its various functions, translation can play a particularly crucial role in the contemporary globalised society. The operation of translating works written in a so-called minority language into an official national language is the testimony of the existence and the survival of such language and contributes to foster the variety of language and cultural identities. Literary works written in a language such as Cornish can circulate and acquire added importance through their translation into a European national language. This paper deals with some poetic texts by Cornish author Pol Hodge, their (self-) translation into English and their rendition into Italian.
Download: abstract [pdf]
University of Bologna
Vyajow a Kernewek – Translation journeys of some Cornish poetry
Among its various functions, translation can play a particularly crucial role in the contemporary globalised society. The operation of translating works written in a so-called minority language into an official national language is the testimony of the existence and the survival of such language and contributes to foster the variety of language and cultural identities. Literary works written in a language such as Cornish can circulate and acquire added importance through their translation into a European national language. This paper deals with some poetic texts by Cornish author Pol Hodge, their (self-) translation into English and their rendition into Italian.
Download: abstract [pdf]
John ROWE
University of Exeter
Heteroglossia in Cornish Language Literature – the uniqueness of Enys Tresour
Mikhail Bakhtin was both a renowned semiotician but also a literary analyst. His concepts of heteroglossia, dialogism, chronotope and the carnivalesque have been applied to many literary classics such as the works of Dostoevsky. The concept of heteroglossia is of particular use when analysing the role of multi-vocal, multilingual variations within a single language hence the Greek etymology hetero- “different” and glōssa language. This concept normally encompasses dialect, patios, and speech patterns of foreign nationals using another language e.g. Yiddish’s influence on New York slang etc. Within the work of Enys Tresour we find not a cultural invariance in a language but a historical invariance in the dialectic between the Modern Cornish (Kernuack Nowedga) of the pirates and the Standard Cornish (Kernowek Standard) of the other characters and the narrator. This is a unique example of how heteroglossia functions within a revived language e.g. in a trans-historical perspective. Also this is an attempt to introduce literary analysis into contemporary Cornish literature, an area which is ripe for expansion.
Download: abstract [pdf]
University of Exeter
Heteroglossia in Cornish Language Literature – the uniqueness of Enys Tresour
Mikhail Bakhtin was both a renowned semiotician but also a literary analyst. His concepts of heteroglossia, dialogism, chronotope and the carnivalesque have been applied to many literary classics such as the works of Dostoevsky. The concept of heteroglossia is of particular use when analysing the role of multi-vocal, multilingual variations within a single language hence the Greek etymology hetero- “different” and glōssa language. This concept normally encompasses dialect, patios, and speech patterns of foreign nationals using another language e.g. Yiddish’s influence on New York slang etc. Within the work of Enys Tresour we find not a cultural invariance in a language but a historical invariance in the dialectic between the Modern Cornish (Kernuack Nowedga) of the pirates and the Standard Cornish (Kernowek Standard) of the other characters and the narrator. This is a unique example of how heteroglossia functions within a revived language e.g. in a trans-historical perspective. Also this is an attempt to introduce literary analysis into contemporary Cornish literature, an area which is ripe for expansion.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Ken GEORGE
Cornish Language Board
And so to zed
Although it does not occur in Welsh (except dialectally, and in recent loan-words), the voiced sibilant [z] does occur in Breton (often written <z>) and in traditional Cornish (as shown by the use of <z> in texts from 1542 onwards). Yet most orthographies of revived Cornish do not use <z>, because (1) <z> was not used in Middle Cornish; (2) it has not been clear which groups of words may have contained [z]. Examination of six groups of words with Middle Cornish <s> indicates which were pronounced with [s] and which with [z]; minimal pairs show that the difference was phonemic. Modern orthographies would be improved by recognizing this difference; the simplest way to do it would be to use <s> for [s] and <z> for [z], though this would constitute a substantial change.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Cornish Language Board
And so to zed
Although it does not occur in Welsh (except dialectally, and in recent loan-words), the voiced sibilant [z] does occur in Breton (often written <z>) and in traditional Cornish (as shown by the use of <z> in texts from 1542 onwards). Yet most orthographies of revived Cornish do not use <z>, because (1) <z> was not used in Middle Cornish; (2) it has not been clear which groups of words may have contained [z]. Examination of six groups of words with Middle Cornish <s> indicates which were pronounced with [s] and which with [z]; minimal pairs show that the difference was phonemic. Modern orthographies would be improved by recognizing this difference; the simplest way to do it would be to use <s> for [s] and <z> for [z], though this would constitute a substantial change.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Robyn PARRI
A Daily Dose of Cornish: the importance of the media to the Cornish revival.
«An Newodhow», «Radyo an Gernewegva» and «Pellwolok Kernewek» – a positive step in the right direction. The difference and similarity between the current socio-communal situation of Cornish in relation to its media, and the Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish situation between the 1960’s and 2014.
Why a daily dose of Cornish counts – my experience of media listening from Ynys Môn, (Anglesey) 1960’s-2014.
A daily dose of Cornish – a familiarizing process, whatever you’re level of competence, if any, in the language, enhances you’re cognizance of Kernewek, consciously and sub-consciously. Hearing Kernewek daily ‘as she is spoken today’, deepens and broadens all speakers, learners and casual ‘listeners’ understanding of living Cornish, warts and all, and will help to develop future patterns of linguistic standards and competences, even if drives ‘purist’s spare.
Download: abstract [pdf]
A Daily Dose of Cornish: the importance of the media to the Cornish revival.
«An Newodhow», «Radyo an Gernewegva» and «Pellwolok Kernewek» – a positive step in the right direction. The difference and similarity between the current socio-communal situation of Cornish in relation to its media, and the Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish situation between the 1960’s and 2014.
Why a daily dose of Cornish counts – my experience of media listening from Ynys Môn, (Anglesey) 1960’s-2014.
- Welsh on Radio [Medium Wave, and VHF 1970’s plus], and [Terrestrial] T.V., (1960’s plus) and [Internet 2013-2014];
- Irish on Radio, (1960’s-2014), [Medium Wave and VHF 1970’s plus], [Terrestrial] T.V. (1970’s), [and Internet 2013/14];
- Scots Gaelic on Radio (1960’s-1970’s), [Medium Wave, winter months generally], and Internet (2013-14), [Radio and T.V.].
- Cornish on Radio, T.V. Video’s (2013-14), [Internet].
A daily dose of Cornish – a familiarizing process, whatever you’re level of competence, if any, in the language, enhances you’re cognizance of Kernewek, consciously and sub-consciously. Hearing Kernewek daily ‘as she is spoken today’, deepens and broadens all speakers, learners and casual ‘listeners’ understanding of living Cornish, warts and all, and will help to develop future patterns of linguistic standards and competences, even if drives ‘purist’s spare.
Download: abstract [pdf]
Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek
[Delivered by Dee Hunt]
Taves an Tir: a community research project
The most visible evidence of the Cornish language is in the continued presence of historical place names and family names. In the former, development of the language is preserved in field and settlement names in which principal features of the landscape, what used to happen there, or who owned the place are recorded; while family names can inform us about former occupations, physical characteristics and connections to places. In June 2014, Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek were awarded Heritage Lottery funding in order to carry out a two-year project in Cornwall using local volunteers to examine this evidence and present our findings to the wider community. This presentation describes the opening stages of the project.
Download: abstract [pdf]
[Delivered by Dee Hunt]
Taves an Tir: a community research project
The most visible evidence of the Cornish language is in the continued presence of historical place names and family names. In the former, development of the language is preserved in field and settlement names in which principal features of the landscape, what used to happen there, or who owned the place are recorded; while family names can inform us about former occupations, physical characteristics and connections to places. In June 2014, Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek were awarded Heritage Lottery funding in order to carry out a two-year project in Cornwall using local volunteers to examine this evidence and present our findings to the wider community. This presentation describes the opening stages of the project.
Download: abstract [pdf]
