Gunwalloe - Church Cove
View across Church Cove in Gunwalloe at the base of the Lizard Peninsula.
The church is St Winwalloe with it's distinctively seperate bell tower and surrounding Tamarisk hedge....
newlyn house
Wonderfully painted frontage....
rogers tower
A folly built 18th C, for Mr Rogers, a local landowner....
Dyth da and meur ras is Kemmyn while marplek is UCR (marpleg is Kemmyn).
UCR = Deth da and murrasta or muer ras.
Unified Cornish revised = Unys Amendys.
The third version spoken of is Modern Cornish.
All three are said to have their respective merits. The slight differences in spelling means that all 3 can be read and understood if you are fluent in one.
Confused; never mind have 8 pints of Skinners and then you'll be 'maga fur y semlant avel hos ow meras orth comol taran' (looking as wise as a duck looking at a thunder cloud - in UCR)
Of great importance is that beer is Korev in Kemmyn and Corev in UCR.
Apologies Lyskerrys, I did not translate your perfect Kernewek. I guess there will be a lot of discussion on the final official form chosen, which is no bad thing if a decision is made quickly.
"Meur ras" is Kemmyn, the other two are Unified. As AndyQ stated, the difference is only in the writing. Whichever system is used, Cornish is Cornish. There are some differences between speakers but that is the case in any language. Kemmyn (Cornish for "common") was introduced in 1987, if I remember correctly, and represents a phonemic system i.e. one where the letters consisently correspond to the speech sounds they represent. It is now the most widely used system, both in terms of people currently learning the language and in print. It is also the system I personally favour; in my opinion Unified tries too hard to look like English. For example the /k/ phoneme can be represented by k, c or q depending on which letter follows (as is the case in English). Kemmyn takes a more consistent and systematic approach (sticking to "k" in this case), and I also feel it gives a characteristic unique "look" to the written language, in a similar way in which written Welsh is instantly recognisable as Welsh (although we might not understand the words).
My 2p-worth: I learnt Kemmyn because that was what was being taught where I started lessons, no other reason, but I do find that its phonetic / phonemic spelling makes learning it much easier as you immediately know how to pronounce a written word. As we are trying to get as many people as possible to learn Cornish, an easier and consistent spelling system is surely an advantage.
OTOH, I appreciate people's concerns that it doesn't reflect historical spellings, and would be happy to change to a system closer to Unified if it was necessary to reach a consensus.
My take on Modern is that it has become more Anglicised and the grammar abbreviated or compressed (not sure if that's quite how to describe it!). As a Kemmyn speaker I can understand Unys speakers with no problem but Modern is different enough to cause me problems. Check out the Kernewek Wikipedia front page for examples of Kemmyn (top left), UCR (top right), Modern (bot left), and Unified (bot right). http://kw.wikip...ki/Main_Page
There is now momentum behind the drive to reach agreement on a single system, and there is going to be a meeting in September to try and further this. The new funding money means that a sort of Language Manager can now be appointed who will hopefully be able to oversee the process of reaching an agreement.
As for 'perfect Kernewek' Mike , not so sure about that - not enough time to keep up the practise!
My head says Common, my heart says Modern (mainly due to the sound - just loved Dick Gendall's pronounciation) and I started out learning Unified many years ago. At one point got fed up with the arguements and then realised it was probably an indication of a dynamic revival and a positive thing (even though frustrating at times). Now finding it hard to find the extreme enthusiasm I once had, but always pleased to hear of its progress onwards and upwards thanks to the hard work of the few.
When Caxton invented the press, that's when the arguments over languages started.
Robert Cawdrey in 1602 had this problem when he set about the first dictionary of having to write things as they sounded taking into account regional dialects.
This is the process that Kernewek is now going through.
The putting down of English onto paper is why the spellings are sometimes way off the present-day pronunciation (e.g. the spelling of "Gloucester" reflects the way it was said a few hundred years ago, as the written word stayed fixed when the usage changed). Lots of languages have been updated and modernised: French, Irish, Norwegian, American English etc., which is why I'm not bothered about preserving precisely the Kernewek spellings of 400 years ago (which in any case were phonetic to the individual writers). Better to make it reflect current usage and be regular and easy to learn. Thanks to the variation of OUGH in Cough, Bough, Though, Through and Thought, I've also come round to being in favour of a very light touch of regularising within British English spellings... *ducks*
For my 2p-worth, I tend to agree with Jo and Lyskerrys. I started off learning Unified, I even have a Grade 1 CSE in Cornish, from when I was at school!
But I find Common (Kemmyn), much better and more logical from a learning point of view. In fact, the more Cornish I learn the better Kemmyn actually seems.
However I'm just glad the language has more recognition and that as a whole it can continue to move forward, if need be using more than one spelling system.
Academics, academics, academics, these people are the problem with all the squabling. I say let the speakers and learners decide which one should be used, i personally think Kemmyn, but i'd go along with the majoritys choice.
I reckon it'll be run as a lunchtime only course, probably with minimal attendance from the kids.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, but I can't see the youth of today getting all that behind it.
Look at Latin for example, an incredibly useful language (albeit dead) not just for learning but the other applications are tremendously useful, too. And this has been dropped by and large due to a lack of demand.
Given the reluctance of most of the population to speak a second modern language, I'd be really really surprised for this to work.
Just out of interest, does anyone know how much funding per year the other British minority languages receive compared with the 80k for Kernow and will Cornish now be represented on the British-Irish Council for "Indigenous, Minority and Lesser-Used Languages" ?
Cymraeg/The Welsh Language
Gaelg / The Manx Language
Gaidhlig / Gaelic in Scotland
An Ghaeilge/ The Irish Language
Guernesiais/Guernsey-French
Jèrriais / The Jersey Language
Ulstèr-Scotch / The Ulster Scots Language
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, not so sure about that - not enough time to keep up the practise!