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)
Genealogical classification:	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Brythonic Cornish
Basic word order:
Morphological type:
Morphosyntactic alignment:

Phonology and Orthography

*sigh*

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.[1] 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

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.[2] 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.

Adjectives

Adjectives follow the noun they modify. Adjectives following singular feminine nouns take mutation form 2.[3]

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.[4]

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.

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.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

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

The particle a² is used before verbs in nominal sentences to mark for affirmative polarity.[9]

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

Ny²

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. [10]

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.[11]

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.)[12]

Re²

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.[13]

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

Syntax

Word order

In some constructions in Cornish, a word may be moved to the beginning of the sentence to give it more emphasis.[14] 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.

Possession

There is no genitive morpheme in Cornish. Instead possession is shown by simply placing the possessor after the possessee.[15]

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.[16]

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	to.him
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.[17]

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.

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)