VariantsPut simply, the written sources for Cornish span several centuries and reflect different periods in the life of the language. In reviving Cornish, spelling systems have been devised which reflect different ideas on how we should use this knowledge to take Cornish forward into the future.The majority of Cornish literature appeared in the 1400s to 1700s and took the form of religious plays. Prose writings in Cornish date from 1550 to the end of the 1700s. The different dialects of Cornish put varying weights on this corpus of historic Cornish. A very simple guide to each one follows: Standard Written Form This standardised spelling of Cornish was established in 2008 to bring together users of all forms of Cornish and to be used primarily in education and public life. For further information about the Standard Written Form (SWF) follow this link to the Standard Written Form page. Unified Cornish This was introduced in the 1920s and was based on the grammar and spelling of the literature of the medieval period. Common Cornish Unified Cornish Revised A revision of Unified Cornish, UCR has amended the spelling to avoid potential confusions and to reflect further research. UCR takes as its source the Cornish of the Tudor texts rather than the mediaeval texts. Modern Cornish Modern Cornish aims to pick up the project of those who tried to save spoken Cornish in its latest phase. It is based on the period when prose writings appeared and on the pronunciation of the early 1700s. There are therefore some differences in both pronunciation and spelling between Modern Cornish and the three other dialects. All forms are mutually intelligible in the same way as dialects within English. |
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