Language
| 'In Cornwall is two speches the one is naughty Englyshe and the other Cornyshe speche And there may be many men and women the which cannot speake one word of Englyshe but all Cornyshe' Andrew Borde, Book of Knowledge 1542 The last Cornish speaker was, it is recorded, one Dolly Pentreath of Mousehole. Dolly died in 1777 and is popularly believed to have been 102 years old. In an article based on extensive research Dr Jan Pentreath, writing in Cornish World, suggests Dolly was in fact one Doartye Pentreath who died aged 85. Suffice it to say that Dolly, or Doartye, definitely existed and remains a flag carrier for Kernewek, the language of Cornwall. The language nearly died with the death of Dolly, but this strong, poetic, lilting language, alien to English tongues, is undergoing a resurgence led by people across Cornwall and the world who refuse to let it slip into extinction. Graham Sandercock (pictured) is chairman of the Cornish Language Board and a former chairman of the Cornish Language Fellowship. He is also editor of the monthly Cornish language magazine An Gannas. He is both passionate and yet reassuringly realistic about the future of Cornish. There is a perception of the Cornish language movement as the domain of wispy-bearded recluses who sit late into the night musing over ancient manuscripts, muttering to themselves and forgetting to wash. It is an image the real promoters of the Cornish language are keen to dispel - but they are also keen to recognise the contribution of the early pioneers of the language revival. 'Twenty-five years ago the language was about people who probably were not academics but who were hobbyists, and they were perhaps eccentrics', admits Graham Sandercock. 'Perhaps they did do some damage in terms of image but they also set the foundations.' 'To me the language underpins Cornish identity,' he states. 'It's the most important single distinguishing feature. Everything else is important but the language is the most identifying single feature of the Cornish as a distinct cultural, geographical, political group.' | ||||||||||||||||||
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