User talk:Alexstep uk - Wikipedia

# User talk:Alexstep uk

### Dhiworth Wikipedia, an godhoniador rydh

Dynnargh dhiso jy, Alexstep uk! Meur ras a'th kevrohow dhe'n Wikipedi. Kosel y fydh pythow war an Wikipedi Gernewek, dre vras, hag yma pupprys spas dhe dus gwellhe ha lesa traow – yn py lytherennans pynag. Menyster an wiki ma ov vy, ytho roy dhymm notenn omma mars eus genes govynn a neb sort, ha gorthybi uskis orthis my a wra. Yma kevrennow troha folennow gweres yn tavosow erell omma. Yeghes da, ha wolkomm os'ta!
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Dynargh dhyso jy, Alexstep uk! Muer ras a'th kevrohow dhe'n Wykypedy. Cosel y fyth pythow war an Wykypedy Gernowek, dre vras, hag yma pupprys spas dhe dus gwellhe ha leja traow – yn py lytherednans pynag. Menyster an wyky ma of vy, ytho roy dhybm noten obma mars ues genes govyn a neb sort, ha gortheby uskys orthys my a wra. Yma kevrednow troha folednow gweres yn tavojow erell obma. Yaghes da, ha wolcum os'ta!

    ☮ yn-medh Owen. 19:09, 5 Meurth 2006 (UTC)

Hello Alex! You're joining a long and honourable tradition of Cornish-speaking Cardiffians. Thanks for your questions – I have an inordinate fondness for having my brain picked! The pronunciation is pretty similar to Welsh. Cornish doesn't use the letters dd ll rh ng – instead, these are dh l r. Vocalic w instead is ou; wy and oe both become o(e), which is pronounced [o:] like in South Welsh. y is always as in English myth (even when the vowel's long), not like Welsh Cymru or (North Welsh) rhydd. Oh, and Cornish has front rounded vowels, u and eu, pronounced the same as in French. ch means an English ch sound, not the Welsh one, which is indicated by gh. Oh, and Cornish has a consonantal y in words like yagh where you'll be used to seeing a consonantly i (iach).

Unfortunately, the first matter you must decide if you're learning Cornish is what variety you'd like to learn. There are three. (1) Kernewek Kemmyn probably has the most vigour at the minute, but the Unified people would dispute that. The spelling system is in my opinion the simplest and most user-friendly, but on the other hand some of its quirks strongly resemble Breton and look too 'foreign' to some people. The standard for Kemmyn spelling and grammar are supposed to be from about 1500. Kemmyn is also strongly allergic to English loan-words. (2) Unified and UCR. Everybody used Unified till the 1980s, but Kemmyn stole most of its thunder. Then in the late 90's, Nicholas Williams came along and completely changed Unified as well (hence UCR) – mostly an improvement, I would say. The new trend in UCR, in terms of grammar, is that everybody's big on 'Tudor' Cornish (circa 1550). UCR likes English loan-words better than Kemmyn, but not as much as Late. (3) Late Cornish is based on Cornish as spoken around 1700. It's more the way to go if you want to 'pick up Cornish where it was left off', but the spelling system is maddening (it's based on early modern English). Personally I'd use Late Cornish if its spelling weren't so annoying. As it is, I write Kernewek Kemmyn but pronounce it with a Late Cornish style (this is considered an acceptable variation).

The partisans of these three camps all hate each other, though for what reason I've never been able to determine. There's a movement afoot to reunite the three camps, which would be a welcome relief, but don't hold your breath.

Among Kemmyn lesson books, I can recommend Wella Brown's Skeul an Yeth series, which is a tad pricey but probably worth it. I don't recommend Graham Sandercock's Holyewgh an Lergh because I found it poorly organised and a bit light-weight. I'm not sure what's available in the other spelling systems; I know Williams came out with Clappya Kernowek, but I've never seen a copy. Knowing his style, I suspect it's probably well-crafted and professional with a tendency towards the pedantic and polemical. You'll also need a dictionary – Ken George's Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn Kres is fine for ordinary purposes (for advanced users, I'm told, the Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn Meur is indispensable). Williams' English-Cornish Dictionary is impressive, the parts I've seen; but until the Cornish-English half comes out, you'd do well with Robert Morton Nance's Gerlyver Noweth Kernewek ha Sawsnek, if you're learning Unified. For a grammar, Wella Brown's is top-notch; get the newest edition, it's easiest on the eyes (unless you want Unified, in which case there might still be some copies of the very oldest edition lying around somewhere...). I have absolutely no idea how good the Late Cornish materials are; these are probably the hardest to find.

Just Cornish stocks most of these materials. They could deliver to me in the US and Canada with no problem, so I'm sure they'll have no trouble with Cardiff!

As for me, I'm living in Chicago now, although I still regard Toronto as my spiritual home. I'm not Cornish, and I came to the language out of interest in Welsh (I've also studied Breton and Irish at various points). I suppose my reason for devoting so much energy to the Cornish Wikipedia is mainly the same as Edmund Hilary's for climbing Everest. But obviously I'm very interested in Cornwall as well as its neighbouring Celtic countries, particularly their history and languages.

Oh, yes, websites! Nearly forgot. There's now Kernewek Dre Gesroesweyth, or Cornish By Internet, based on the reputedly excellent Kernewek Dre Lyther (Cornish By Letter). Can't vouch for them one way or the other. Buy books, though, they're more satisfying! (When you get good enough you can read the news in Cornish online.) ☮ yn-medh Owen. 20:55, 15 Me 2006 (UTC)

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