Kernowek Standard
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Kernowek Standard (KS, ''Standard Cornish''), its initial version spelt Kernowak Standard, is a variety of the spelling of revived Cornish. It has two specifications, the first of which was published as a draft proposal in March 2007, and the second of which was published as a practical orthography in May 2012.


Kernowak Standard (KS1)

Its first iteration, then spelt Kernowak Standard and now designated KS1, was developed gradually by a group called ''UdnFormScrefys'' ('Single Written Form') as part of the Cornish language community's process of agreement on a
Standard Written Form The Standard Written Form or SWF ( kw, Furv Skrifys Savonek) of the Cornish language is an orthography standard that is designed to "provide public bodies and the educational system with a universally acceptable, inclusive, and neutral orthograph ...
(SWF) for Cornish through the public body
Cornish Language Partnership The Cornish Language Partnership ( kw, Keskowethyans an Taves Kernewek , ) is a representative body that was set up in Cornwall, England, UK in 2005 to promote and develop the use of the Cornish language. It is a public and voluntary sector part ...
. It was published as a proposal in a series of revisions, Revision 11 of which was released to the Cornish Language Commission on 26 March 2007. Revision 15 was published on 22 June 2007. Revision 16 was published on 14 November 2007. Its principal authors were
Michael Everson Michael Everson (born January 9, 1963) is an American and Irish linguist, script encoder, typesetter, type designer and publisher. He runs a publishing company called Evertype, through which he has published over a hundred books since 2006. His ...
, Neil Kennedy and
Nicholas Williams Nicholas, Neco, Nico or Nick Williams may refer to: Sportsmen *Nick Williams (fullback) (born 1977), American NFL football player, a/k/a Nick Luchey *Nick Williams (rugby union) (born 1983), New Zealand rugby league and rugby union player *Nick Wil ...
.The orthography was meant to adhere to two basic requirements which the group identified with: to be based on orthographic forms attested in the Cornish literary scribal tradition, and to have an unambiguous relationship between spelling and sounds. To embrace both Middle and Late Cornish forms, Kernowak Standard took as its foundation the late Middle Cornish play ''Creation of the World'' by William Jordan (1611). On 14 October 2007, during the process of agreeing a
Standard Written Form The Standard Written Form or SWF ( kw, Furv Skrifys Savonek) of the Cornish language is an orthography standard that is designed to "provide public bodies and the educational system with a universally acceptable, inclusive, and neutral orthograph ...
for Cornish, Kernowak Standard (as KS1) was designated to provide a key source of input into the new SWF, along with another orthography,
Kernewek Kemmyn Kernewek Kemmyn (Common Cornish or "KK") is a variety of the revived Cornish language. Kernewek Kemmyn was developed, mainly by Ken George in 1986, based upon George's earlier doctoral thesis on the phonological history of Cornish. It takes much ...
.


Kernowek Standard (KS)

After the publication of the specification of the agreed Standard Written Form, members of ''UdnFormScrefys'', after scrutinising the published description, decided to form a new, public group, called ''Spellyans'' ('Spelling'). This group undertook to study the SWF, to determine what shortcomings it might have, and to propose and implement solutions to those shortcomings. The group identified what they saw as a number of inconsistencies, ambiguities, and errors, and discussion on an online discussion list led to the publication of a number of texts in the resulting orthography, Kernowek Standard, designated as KS and not KS2, culminating in the publication of the Bible in Cornish and a comprehensive grammar, ''Desky Kernowek''Williams, Nicholas. 2012. ''Desky Kernowek: A Complete Guide to Cornish''. Cathair na Mart: Evertype. on 1 May 2012. Before the
Standard Written Form The Standard Written Form or SWF ( kw, Furv Skrifys Savonek) of the Cornish language is an orthography standard that is designed to "provide public bodies and the educational system with a universally acceptable, inclusive, and neutral orthograph ...
was reviewed in 2013, KS was described by its proponents as a proposal for a number of changes to be made to the SWF. The following changes were proposed, none of which were ultimately adopted by the
Cornish Language Partnership The Cornish Language Partnership ( kw, Keskowethyans an Taves Kernewek , ) is a representative body that was set up in Cornwall, England, UK in 2005 to promote and develop the use of the Cornish language. It is a public and voluntary sector part ...
during the SWF's review: *The supporters of KS argue that the SWF inherited what the group calls an "inconsistency" from
Kernewek Kemmyn Kernewek Kemmyn (Common Cornish or "KK") is a variety of the revived Cornish language. Kernewek Kemmyn was developed, mainly by Ken George in 1986, based upon George's earlier doctoral thesis on the phonological history of Cornish. It takes much ...
with regard to the distribution of the letters ⟨i⟩ and ⟨y⟩ outside monosyllables. For example, the SWF currently has ''palys'' 'palace' and ''gonis'' 'work', but it also has ''kegin'' 'kitchen' and ''kemmyn'' 'common', even though the final sound is the same. Supporters of the current distribution argue that it is etymological and maintains the correct sound when suffixes are added (singular ''kegin'' becomes plural ''keginow''). *The group also argues that the SWF is ambiguous and inconsistent in its use of ⟨u⟩, which can be pronounced a number of ways. KS proposed the use of ⟨û⟩ for , e.g. ''frût'' 'fruit', to prevent confusion with another ⟨u⟩ sound that can be pronounced either or (e.g. ''tus'' 'people'), and ⟨ù⟩ for short , e.g. ''pùb'' 'every', also to prevent confusion with the ⟨u⟩ above. *The addition of the digraphs ⟨ai⟩ , to distinguish from ⟨ay⟩ and ⟨ey⟩ , and ⟨au⟩ () to distinguish from ⟨aw⟩ . *The principal devisor of Kernowek Standard, Nicholas Williams, argues that current use of the graphs (-v⟩ and ⟨-dh⟩ in final unstressed position results in incorrect pronunciation. He maintains that a consonant switch between stressed and unstressed final position should be made, stressed ⟨-v⟩ and ⟨-dh⟩ switching to unstressed ⟨-f⟩ and ⟨-th⟩ respectively, similar to the SWF's current ⟨g⟩/⟨k⟩ and ⟨b⟩/⟨p⟩ switch. *Correction of an inconsistency between ''menydh'' 'mountain' (Welsh ''mynydd'') and ''nowyth'' 'new' (Welsh ''newydd''). In KS, both are spelt with -th because they are in final unstressed syllables. During the SWF review, the spelling of ''nowydh'' was accepted for the SWF. The supporters of KS argue that this was the wrong one of the two choices.


References


External links


Creation of the World
from Wikisource

''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' in Cornish, the first book published in KS.

the first complete translation of the Bible in Cornish, published in 2011. {{Cornish language Cornish language Cornish language revival