Revived Middle Cornish

I, Qwynegold, am writing this article while self-studying Cornish online, as a way of sorting out what I have learned. Maybe others will have use of this as well? I'm expanding the article little by little as I progress in my study. I'm using the online course Kernewek Dre Lyther (KDL), so most references will be of that. There are also some references to the PDF An Outline of the Standard Written Form of Cornish.

Revived Middle Cornish Kernewek
Spoken in:	Cornwall, United Kingdom
World:	Earth
Total speakers:	3,500 (all varieties of Cornish)
Genealogical classification:	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Brythonic Cornish
Basic word order:
Morphological type:
Morphosyntactic alignment:

Phonology and Orthography

There are many different varieties of revived Cornish, and several different orthographies, most notably Unified Cornish (UC), Kernewek Kemmyn (KK) and Standard Written Form (SWF). Kernewek Kemmyn and SWF are presented in the table below.
SWF has something called traditional graphs. For example /ks/ is normally written <KS> in SWF, but it can be substituted for the traditional graph <X>. SWF without traditional graphs has a more straightforward, one-to-one correspondence between letters and phonemes, while the traditional graphs emulate how Cornish was written during the middle ages. SWF also has something called variant graphs, letters and digraphs that vary depending on which variant of Cornish is being written. Only the variant graphs that are relevant for Revived Middle Cornish are included in this table.

Kernewek Kemmyn and SWF

Kernewek Kemmyn	A	AW	AY	B	CH		D	DH	E	EU	EW	EY	F	G	GH	H	HW	I	IW	J	K	L	M
SWF						CK
SWF with traditional graphs																	WH	I/Y1			C/K2
Pronunciation	/a/	/aʊ/	/aɪ/	/b/	/t͡ʃ/	/k/	/d/	/ð/	/ɛ/	/œ/	/ɛʊ/	/ɛɪ/	/f/	/ɡ/	/x/	/h/	/ʍ/	/i/	/iʊ/	/d͡ʒ/	/k/	/l/	/m/
Kernewek Kemmyn	N	O	OE	OU	OW		P	KW	R	S	SH	T	TH	U		V	W6	KS	Y	Y	YW
SWF			O/OO3	OU/OO4		OY									UW							Z
SWF with traditional graphs								QW		C/S5								X
Pronunciation	/n/	/ɔ/	/o/	/u/	/ɔʊ/	/ɔɪ/	/p/	/kw/	/r/	/s/	/ʃ/	/t/	/θ/	/y/	/yʊ/	/v/	/w/	/ks/	/j/	/ɪ/	/ɪʊ/	/z/

¹Final unstressed /i/ is spelled with <Y>, but /i/ in other contexts is spelled with <I>.
²<C> is used before <A O U L R>, <K> is used in other contexts.
³SWF spells both long /ɔ/ and /o/ ([ɔː] and [oː]) with <O> in some words, while short /ɔ/ and /o/ ([ɔ] and [ɤ]) are always spelled with <O>.
⁴It is unclear when <OO> stands for /o/ and when it stands for /u/.
^5
6SWF has two examples of words where an intervocalic <W> is pronunced as [ʊ] as it forms a diphthong with the previous vowel. But it does not specifically say that <W> cannot ever be [w] in intervocalic position. KDL does not mention anything about it either in its PDFs, and the audio files are inconsistent, pronuncing it [ʊ] in some words and [w] in others.

Allophony

Vowels are long when stressed and followed by at most one short consonant, other than /p/ or /t/.

• /a/ has the allophone [ə] when unstressed, [a] when followed by a geminate, and [aː] when stressed according to KDL. According to SWF it is [a] when unstressed or in monosyllabic words in the following positions: _p, _t, _Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}; and [aː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_(C)# !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /aʊ/ has the allophone [aʊ].
• /aɪ/ has the allophone [aɪ].
• /b/ has the allophone [p] word-finally unless it is, without a pause, followed by a word beginning with a vowel. The allophone [b] appears in all other contexts.
• /t͡ʃ/ has the allophone [tʃ].
• /d/ has the allophone [t] word-finally when not followed by a word beginning with a vowel. However, if there is a pause after the word ending with /d/, it will be pronunced [t]. The allophone [d] appears in all other contexts.
• /ð/ has the allophone [θ] word-finally unless it is, without a pause, followed by a word beginning with a vowel. The allophone [ð] appears in all other contexts.
• /ɛ/ has the allophone [ɛ] when unstressed or followed by a geminate, and [ɛː] when stressed or followed by a single consonant. SWF defines the allophone [ɛ] as appearing when unstressed or in monosyllabic words in the following positions: _p, _t, _Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}; and the allophone [ɛː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_(C)# !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /œ/ seems to only have the allophone [œː] according to KDL and Wikipedia. SWF defines the allophone [ɛ] as appearing when unstressed; [œ] seemingly in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_p, ˈ_t, ˈ_Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_Cː, ˈ_CC; and [œː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_(C)# !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /ɛʊ/ has the allophone [ɛʊ].
• /ɛɪ/ has the allophone [ɛɪ].
• /f/ has the allophone [f].
• /ɡ/ has the allophone [k] word-finally unless it is, without a pause, followed by a word beginning with a vowel. The allophone [ɡ] appears in all other contexts.
• /x/ has only the allophone [x] according to KDL. According to SWF it is [h] intervocalically, and [x] elsewhere. It is in complimentary distribution with /h/ everywhere but word-initially or after a consonant.
• /h/ has the allophone [h].
• /ʍ/ has the allophone [ʍ].
• /i/ has the long allophone [iː], and the short allophone [i] according to SWF, while KDL and Wikipedia seem to suggest that it doesn't have a short counterpart.
• /iʊ/ has the allophone [iʊ]. KDL seems to suggest that it is [iːʊ], but that might stem from a confusion about the difference between length and tenseness, as this is not supported by its sound files.
• /d͡ʒ/ has the allophone [d͡ʒ].
• /k/ has the allophone [k].
• /l/ has the allophone [l].
• /m/ has the allophone [m].
• /n/ has the allophone [n]. KDL does not mention anything about nasal assimilation, but that does not mean that it does not exist.
• /ɔ/ has the allophone [ɔ] when followed by a geminate or consonant cluster, and allophone [ɔː] elsewhere. SWF defines the allophone [ɔ] as appearing when unstressed or in monosyllabic words in the following positions: _p, _t, _Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}; and the allophone [ɔː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_(C)# !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /o/ has the short allophone [ɤ] and the long allophone [oː]. SWF defines the allophone [ɤ] as appearing when unstressed or in monosyllabic words in the following positions: _p, _t, _Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}; and the allophone [oː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_(C)# !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /u/ seems to only have the allophone [uː] according to KDL and Wikipedia. SWF seems to define the allophone [u] as appearing when unstressed or in monosyllabic words in the following positions: _p, _t, _Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}; and the allophone [uː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_(C)# !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /ɔʊ/ has the allophone [ɔʊ].
• /ɔɪ/ mostly the allophone [ɔɪ], but according to SWF it can be [ʊɪ] in a few open monosyllabic words. KDL does not mention the existence of a phoneme /ɔɪ/, and <OY> seems to be pronunced as two vowels, /ɔ/ and /ɪ/, in hiatus.
• /p/ has the allophone [p].
• /r/ has the allophone [r] according to KDL. But according to Wikipedia it is [ɾ].
• /s/ has the allophone [s] word-initially and before a voiceless plosive, [sː] when geminated, and [z] elsewhere.
• /ʃ/ has the allophone [ʃ].
• /t/ has the allophone [t].
• /θ/ has the allophone [θ].
• /y/ seems to only have the allophone [yː] according to KDL and Wikipedia. SWF defines the allophone [ɪ] as appearing when unstressed; [y] seemingly in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_p, ˈ_t, ˈ_Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_Cː, ˈ_CC; and [yː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_(C)# !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /yʊ/ has the allophone [yʊ]. It is only found in three different roots. KDL does not recognize this phoneme at all.
• /v/ has the allophone [f] word-finally unless it is, without a pause, followed by a word beginning with a vowel. The allophone [v] appears in all other contexts.
• /w/ has the allophone [w].
• /j/ has the allophone [j].
• /ɪ/ has the short allophone [ɪ] and the long allophone /ɪː/. SWF defines the allophone [ɪ] as appearing when unstressed or in monosyllabic words in the following positions: _p, _t, _Cː, ˈ_CC !{_sp, _st, _sk}; and the allophone [ɪː] in monosyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_#, ˈ_C !{_p, _t}, ˈ_s{p, t, k}, as well as in polysyllabic words in the following positions: ˈ_$C, ˈ_$s{p, t, k}.
• /ɪʊ/ has the allophone [ɪʊ].
• /z/ has the allophone [z].

Initial Mutation

In Cornish, some words cause the initial consonant of the following word to change. This is called mutation. There are five different types of mutation in Cornish, called soft, breathed, hard, mixed and mixed after Th, referring to the sound changes involved. These are numbered 2-6, and are usually just referred to by their number. For example dhe² means that the word dhe causes soft mutation in the following word. This table shows which sounds change into what in different mutation states. An empty cell means that no change happens, and a dash means that the sound is elided. For example the word gramasek becomes ramasek in second state (soft) mutation.

Mutation Table

1 Unmutated	2 Soft	3 Breathed	4 Hard	5 Mixed	6 Mixed after Th
B	V		P	F	V
Ch	J
D	Dh		T	T	T
G+{a, e, i, y}	-		K	H	H
G+{o, u, ro, ru}	W		K	Hw	W
G+{l, r}	-		K
Gw	W		Kw	Hw	W
K	G1	H2
M	V			F	V
P	B1	F
T	D1	Th

¹No change if the previous word ends with S or Th.
²No change if followed by L, N or R.

Morphology

Nouns

There are two genders in Cornish: Masculine and feminine. The majority of all nouns are masculine.

Articles

There was a word unn that was sometimes used as an indefinite article in old Cornish texts, but Revived Cornish seldomly use any indefinite article. There is a definite article, an. It is often conjoined with other words, e.g. y'n (in the), ha'n (and the). This article causes second state mutation in a following singular feminine noun.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st person	my I	ni we
2nd person	ty you	hwi you
3rd person	ev he/it	i they
	hi she/it

These are subject pronouns used in nominative sentences (with the particles a² and Re²).
Cornish has a T-V distinction, in that hwi can also be used as a polite form of address towards a single person. But this usage is become more and more uncommon in modern language.

Personal Pronouns Combined with gans

	Singular	Plural
1st person	genev with me	genen with us
2nd person	genes with you	genowgh with you
3rd person	ganso with him/it	gansa with them
	gensi with her/it

Gans (with) combines with the personal pronouns. So for example "I work with them" translates as My a ober gansa rather than *My a ober gans i. See also Possession.

Personal Pronouns Combined with dhe²

	Singular	Plural
1st person	dhymm to me	dhyn to us
2nd person	dhis to you	dhywgh to you
3rd person	dhosho to him/it	dhedha to them
	dhedhi to her/it

Dhe² (to; at) also combines with the personal pronouns. So for example "I sent a letter to you" translates as My a dhannvonas lyther dhis rather than *My a dhannvonas lyther dhe ty. See also Possession.

Yma soedhva dhyn ni ynwedh!
yma	soedhva	dhyn	ni	ynwedh
be	office	we.LAT	we	also
We have an office too!

The pronoun can be repeated in its uncombined form to add greater emphasis.

Adjectives

Adjectives follow the noun they modify. Adjectives following singular feminine nouns take mutation form 2.

Verbs

Tense

Present tense is unmarked. Some verbs take the suffix -as, and some take -is, for forming the past tense. And some verbs are irregular.

Verb Tenses

Type of Verb	Present Tense	Past Tense
-as	Ty a dhannvon You send	Ty a dhannvonas You sent
-is	Ty a gews You speak	Ty a gewsis You spoke
Irregular	Ty a woer You know	Ty a wodhva You knew

Aspect

For perfect aspect, see Re² - Perfect Aspect Particle.

Verbal Nouns (Infinitives)

Infinitives, or verbal nouns or verb-nouns as they are usually called in Cornish grammar, are derived in a variety of ways from the verbs basic form.

Copulas

Cornish has two copulas: One that tells who, what or how something is, and one that tells where something is. The former one is yw in the third person singular form.

An vro yw Pow Frynk.
an	AGR\bro	yw	Pow.Frynk
DEF	AGR\country	be.3SG	France
The country is France.

A third person singular subject pronoun may be dropped when yw is used, in which case yw is placed after its complement.

Ki yw.
ki	yw
dog	be.3SG
He/she/it is a dog.

Yma is the copula that tells where something is. Yma is usually placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Yma Truru yn Kernow.
yma	Truru	yn	Kernow
be	Truro	in	Cornwall
Truro is in Cornwall.

No distinction is made between "is" and "there is" as in English.

Yma gwerthji y'n dre.
yma	gwerthji	y'n	AGR\tre
be	shop	in.DEF	AGR\town
There is a shop in the town.

Particles

A² - Positive Polarity Item

The particle a² is used before verbs in nominal sentences to mark for affirmative polarity.

Hi a skrif dhe goweth.
hi	a	skrif	dhe	AGR\koweth
she	PPI	write	to	AGR\friend
She writes to a friend.

Ny² - Negative Polarity Item

Ny² is used for marking negative polarity. Sentences with ny² are considered to be verbal and not nominal. Ny² is only used with third person singular subjects.

Ny gews ev Sowsnek.
ny	AGR\kews	ev	Sowsnek
NPI	AGR\speak	he	English
He doesn't speak English.

Usually the subject is placed after the verb. It can be placed before also, in which case the subject is strongly emphasized.

My ny werth lyvrow.
my	ny	AGR\gwerth	lyvrow
I	NPI	sell	books
I don't sell books (but someone else might).

When a subject is emphasized like this, the past tense suffix of the verb agrees with the subject. (No agreement happens when the verb is positive, in present tense, or if the subject follows the verb.)

Re² - Perfect Aspect Particle

Re² is used instead of a² for forming the perfect aspect. It can be used with both present and past tense, but not with negative polarity. In negative verbs, simple and perfect are simply not distinguished.

My re oberas yn soedhva.
my	re	ober-as	yn	soedhva
I	PRF	work-PST	in	office
I have worked in an office.

A - Vocative Particle

A is optionally used before names when calling out to someone. For example a letter may begin with A Yowann ker - Dear Yowann.

Syntax

Word Order

In some constructions in Cornish, a word may be moved to the beginning of the sentence to give it more emphasis. Ev yw ki and ki yw ev both mean "it is a dog", but the latter sentence adds more emphasis to the word dog - "it is a dog and not some other animal". See also Ny² - Negative Polarity Item and Can and Cannot.

Possession

There is no genitive morpheme in Cornish. Instead possession is shown by simply placing the possessor after the possessee.

Kok an pyskador.
kok	an	pyskador
fishing.boat	DEF	fisherman
The fisherman's fishing boat.

Have-constructions, e.g. "X has Y", are construed as yma Y dhe² X.

Yma kok dhe byskador.
yma	kok	dhe	AGR\pyskador
be	fishing.boat	to	AGR\fisherman
A fisherman has a fishing boat.

This literally translates as "there is a fishing boat to a fisherman". Dhe² combines with personal pronouns however.

Yma chi dhodho.
yma	chi	dhodho
be	house	he.LAT
He has a house.

There is another construction very similar to yma Y dhe² X, but with gans (with) instead of dhe². It describes a looser association than actual ownership.

Yma myrgh gans benyn.
yma	myrgh	gans	benyn
be	daughter	with	woman
There is a woman with a daughter.

Gans also combines with pronouns.

Yma myrgh gensi.
yma	myrgh	gensi
be	daughter	with.her
She is with a daughter.

Can and Cannot

"I can" translates as y⁵ hallav, and "I can't" as ny² allav. Both call for a verbal noun.

Ny allav triga omma.
ny.allav	trig-a	omma
I.cannot	live-INF	here
I can't live here.

Y hallav skrifa dhis yn skon.
y.hallav	skrif-a	dhis	yn.skon
I.can	write-INF	2SG.LAT	soon
I can write to you soon.

Y⁵ hallav implies that one can do something because of physical ability, or because one is allowed to. If one can do something because one has learned to do it, usually y⁵ hwonn or my a² woer is used instead. My a² woer makes a nominal sentence, and emphasizes the subject, while y⁵ hwonn is more neutral.

Y hwonn kewsel Kernewek.
y.hwonn	kews-el	Kernewek
I.know	speak-INF	Cornish
I can speak Cornish.

My a woer kewsel Kernewek.
my	a	woer	kews-el	Kernewek
I	PPI	know	speak-INF	Cornish
I can speak Cornish.

Verbal Nouns with Adjectives

A sentence of the form "I am happy/sad to VERB", for example "I am happy to learn Cornish", makes use of the following construction: Lowen/trist ov vy dhe² VERB-INF.

​ Lowen ov vy dhe dhyski Kernewek.
lowen	ov.vy	dhe	AGR\dysk-i	Kernewek
happy	I.am	to	AGR\learn-INF	Cornish
I am happy to learn Cornish.

Trist ov vy dhe wertha ow hi.
trist	ov.vy	dhe	AGR\gwertha	ow	AGR\ki
sad	I.am	to	AGR\sell.INF	my	AGR\dog
I am sad to sell my dog.

References

This article is one of quite a few pages about Natlangs. Indo-european natlangs: Balto-Slavic Natlangs: Czech * Russian Celtic Natlangs: Revived Middle Cornish * Pictish Germanic Natlangs: North Germanic Natlangs: Norwegian West Germanic Natlangs: Anglo-Saxon * Dutch * English (Old English * Middle English * Modern English * Scots) * German (High German * Low German) Indo-Iranian Natlangs: Pahlavi Italic Natlangs: French * Italian * Latin * Spanish Debated: Cimmerian Uralic Natlangs: Finnish * Khanty * Mansi * Mordvinic * Proto-Uralic Altaic (controversial): Japanese Sino-Tibetan Natlangs: Uto-Aztecan Natlangs: Nahuatl - Isolate Natlangs: Basque * * Hypothetical/debated Natlangs and Natlang families: Danubian * Europic (obsolete)