The Cornish Language Revival Picks Up Speed

Cornish is a language that is “reawakening” according to most linguists.  The web page Ethnologue, which specializes in monitoring the status of the world’s languages, describes the current state of Cornish as follows: “Taught in some schools and used in periodicals with a current dictionary and grammar rules. There is also a Cornish language bible released in 2017. Religious services are held in Cornish with evening classes, correspondence courses, summer camps, children’s play groups, residential courses, and self-help groups. There is now a full-time Cornish language nursery school being set up. Since 2009 approximately 50 children between the ages of 1 and 7 have attended the setting for significant periods of time. The Agency for the language is the Cornish Language Board.  There are approximately 600 users (*) as reported by the 2011 census. The identity of the last speaker is hotly debated by scholars. Some sources say the last native speaker was Dorothy ‘Dolly’ Pentreath, who died in 1777.” (*) Since the results of the 2011 census the number of Cornish Speakers is difficult to assess.  The language is growing as Cornish phrases are coming into use and Cornish Language teaching Apps and Cornish Language social media proliferate. In a review of varied on-line sources, the consensus number of Cornish Speakers is estimated to be 13,000.

Supporting the growth of the Cornish language are the Gorsedh of the Bards of Kernow (Cornwall) which is an organization that exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall. The Gorsedh pursues this goal by preserving Celtic history and culture through poetry, song, dance, music, art and spoken word stretches back to the story tellers. The Bards of Gorsedh Kernow help maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall by studying their own Cornish history and the Cornish language and actively promote strong links between Cornwall and the Celtic Nations. https://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/

Record Numbers Successfully Studying Cornish: The Gorsedh Kernow have issued a statement celebrating the growth of the Cornish language. Citing the record number of students who have achieved the latest certification in the Cornish tongue, the Gorsedh statement pointed to a bright future for the efforts to revitalize Cornish. “We are so proud to congratulate our successful students, almost 15% up on last year, who are joining the growing number of people learning and taking exams in our precious Cornish language, Kernewek. The Council of Europe has long since recognized the Cornish people and the importance of our cultural assets, such as Kernewek, under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities” said Grand Bard Elizabeth Carne, “and once again we call on HM Government to honour their commitment to the Cornish people and reinstate funding to the Cornish language. I am so proud to congratulate our successful students, almost 15% up on last year, who are joining the growing number of people learning and taking exams in our precious Cornish language, Kernewek,” the Grand Bard continued,  “and as a Cornish language teacher myself I would like to encourage everyone to think about learning a little Kernewek to use in their everyday lives.” https://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/bards.html, https://celticlanguagesnews.blogspot.com/2019/03/record-number-sit-cornish-language-exams.html

The Remarkable Impact of one Woman on the Reawakening of the Cornish Tongue:  Gwenno Saunders is a Welsh musician who released a Cornish Language album, Le Kov (A Place of Memeory), in 2018. The impact was electrifying. The impact of the album on interest in the Cornish tongue has been widely acclaimed.  The Gorsedh Kernow went so far as to attribute the album’s release to the jump in the number of students sitting for the Cornish language certification exam, which in 2018 saw a record number of students certified in Cornish.(see above). Gwenno comes by her Cornish language credentials honestly. How many aspiring musicians have a father who is a noted Cornish language poet and a mother who is a Welsh language activist:” It’s in the blood – her mother was a Welsh-language activist, a member of pressure group Cymdeithas yr Iaith, who went to prison in the 1990s for defacing the Welsh Office”. In interviews Saunders has stated that she speaks to her son in Cornish. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180412-the-rebirth-of-britains-lost-languages, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/13/gwenno-saunders-le-kov-cornish-language-psych-pop-cornwall

The Brythonic Speaking Branch of the Celtic Tongue in about 600 AD - Modern Cornish, Welsh and Breton