UNIVERSITY OF EXETER, INSTITUTE OF CORNISH STUDIES
THE ANNUAL CAROLINE M. KEMP LECTURE 2003
"As Cornish as possible" - "Not an outcast anymore":
Speakers' and Learners' Opinions on Cornish.
Kenneth MacKinnon
An Independent Academic Study on Cornish
On 22nd. December 1999 I was remitted by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) to undertake an Independent Academic Study on Cornish in January and February 2000. As the result of parliamentary representations by Andrew George, M.P. for St Ives on an adjournment motion on 23rd. February 1999, the United Kingdom Government considered signing the European Charter for Minority or Regional Languages on behalf of Cornish. The study was to provide a body of factual information on Cornish which would guide the Government in its decisions. The study was managed by Government Office for the South West, and reported to DETR on 24th. March 2000. (1) By this time the Government had signed the Charter – but without the inclusion of Cornish - and ratified it on 27th. March 2001, again without inclusion of Cornish. Subsequently however, the Government announced that it would include Cornish in the provisions of the Charter. (2) In this it was doubtless guided by the Academic Study, but representations had also been made by Scottish and other sources through the Council of Europe Committee of Experts to the U.K. Government in 2002 concerning delay in its recognition of Cornish. The Government subsequently made an official declaration on 11th. March 2003, which was registered by the Council of Europe on 18th. March 2003, that the UK recognises that Cornish meets the Charter's definition of a regional or minority language for the purposes of Part II of the Charter. (3).
In the course of the Study three focus groups were held for speakers, learners and members of organizations of each of the three major language-varieties:
These meetings followed a common structure, prompted by a questionnaire exploring:-
A copy of the questionnaire is annexed to this paper.
Verbatim transcripts of these meetings are also annexed to this paper. They are reported and commented upon below in sequence of their date order. These texts provide a perspective on speakers’ and learners’ opinions and attitudes on Cornish, and current concerns regarding the language. This paper identifies salient issues arising out of this body of opinion and attempts further to discuss their implications.
Kemmyn / Common Cornish focus group: opinions, attitudes, issues
1) Language death ?The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 was seen as a major initial factor of language death. This was regarded as ‘The Cornish Holocaust’ in which 11% of the population – half the able-bodied male population – was killed. The language was also weakened by the ensuing severance of links with Brittany, and the refusal of a Cornish liturgy and scriptures by the Church. There had been substantial decline during the seventeenth century, and cessation as community speech in the eighteenth. Nevertheless, there was evidence for some continuity of knowledge of Cornish throughout the nineteenth century, such as oral tradition (counting in Cornish, knowledge of Lords’ Prayer), literary competitions, and continuing awareness.
2) RevivalThe revival with Jenner and Nance seemed to come at a time when the British Empire and its associated attitudes was at its height. This seemed to be a period of widening awareness at least, and if the revival did not ‘take off’ at that point, it was ‘taking off’ now in circumstances when there was some crisis of confidence in being English and what it was for. The revivalists could give direction and focus but they had not invented the consciousness or knowledge of the language. In the past the language had been a badge of peasant ignorance of west-country yokels. But now it was a measure of self-worth and community values, and a means of motivating people to do things they might never otherwise have thought themselves capable of.
Evidence of demand for information about Cornish was forthcoming, and there had been changes of attitudes over the past twenty years. One lady reported that, ‘The attitude changed very subtly over the years from the hostile.’ There was rising demand for attention to the language in the schools, going back to initiatives by Chirgwin in the 1930s, Talek’s school at Mount Pleasant, and pupils’ demands at Helston in the 1970s. Several of the informants were themselves involved in Cornish language activities in schools. These demands were now being met in many instances
3) Speakers and users today
There was a greater measure of consensus in this group than others on the numbers of actual speakers, and those with some knowledge of the language. Twenty years ago, maybe 20 – 40 persons might have an effective everyday ability in Cornish. Today that number was around 200. Knowledge at the level of a few words and phrases might be shared by about 3,000. This was fairly consensual too.
Cornish was also used for special registers (e.g. a lecture on the eclipse), and there was evidence produced of bilingual homes, and families where children were being brought up to speak Cornish. The point was emphasized that a Cornish community in the home had to be created in order for children to maintain the language.
4) Media and the arts
Respondents were themselves involved in a number of media and cultural activities, involving Cornish poetry readings, theatrical productions, video and film, live music, song contests, festivals, and record production. There was lively discussion on whether Objective One status might be able to assist these initiatives further. The view was emphasized that there existed a wealth of actual talent using the Cornish language for all these activities. It was not getting its due measure of recognition, nor official financial support.
5) Language varieties
People were aware of enmities in the past, but a more tolerant view now seemed general.. Concerning the different varieties, one lady said: ‘It’s up to them to produce their books, to support their classes, to resource their need.’ Some negative views were expressed about the role of academics regarding the language. But more positive notes were sounded on providing music for another group’s activities, and good conversational relations with folk there. The spelling argument had produced increased awareness of the language, and had not hindered mutual intelligibility.
6) For the future
Tourism and the influx of newcomers were seen as a risk of ‘Cornwall becoming sterilized and appearing the same as everything else.’ The language and culture ‘should be assisted and helped in every way so that we can keep up part of our uniqueness and … it does not become another area that is … just the same as anywhere else, which certainly it’s not.’ was one man’s view.
Another felt, ‘The best is yet to come.’ The final word remained: ‘Children learning Kernewek.’
Unified / Revised focus group: opinions, attitudes, issues
1) Continuity
Several members of the group provided evidence of known speakers and users of the language from the end of the eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth century. Thirty-two such people were known, including a case of transmission from a nurse circa 1790-1800 to an old man still living at the end of the nineteenth century. The Kelynack family of Newlyn also preserved traditional Cornish sayings and lore. There were even attempts to teach Cornish at the Cathedral School before the First World war.
Everyday knowledge of Cornish – especially in farming contexts – was attested by knowledge of the local names, field names, etc., and their meanings. There did seem to be some sort of ‘apostolic succession’ as this tradition became taken up by early revivalists, such as Lach-Szyrma, Jenner, Allin-Collins and Morton Nance. There was awareness too that Cornishmen had played a part in the revival of English in the later Middle Ages – and a feeling that it was appropriate now for the favour to be returned.
2) Identity
Motives for this revival echoed Jenner’s ‘simply because we are Cornish’. One man said, ‘It defines who we are.’ One lady said that ‘…in an ideal world… people would come up with what is their local language, what they feel to be their language, and ideally maybe a world language as well. In an ideal world everyone would have one that gave them their sense of personal identity and ability too…’ My view that this was the case for most of the world’s inhabitants, was rejoindered by one lady: ‘It’s only the English who can’t!’ Other points made in discussion focused on a sense of common Celtic identity: a helpful Irish enterprise adviser and a pilgrimage to Galicia.
Interest in Cornish was no longer seen as a nationalist or anti-English thing, so much as a cultural or identity thing, as opposed to being militant. Bilingualism is being seen not just as ideal – but normal. One view was that French, Spanish or German bilingualism was not going to involve people in Cornwall – ‘ the only other language in which the Cornish people will become bilingual is Cornish’
3) Power relationships
Cornish seemed at least to one man to enjoy ‘a colossal reservoir of goodwill’. Many people showed interest and encouragement to people learning the language. But there were still people who were not just indifferent but hostile: ‘…some people in senior positions who are definitely hostile and are on record as saying fairly unkind things about the language.’ Cases were cited of Cornish welcomes being removed from successful tourist literature and signage. One participant identified three distinct issues which he termed, ‘the elite dominance effect… of a few people who are exerting undue influence by the positions they hold…… the state education system which is not structured in a way which can engage with Cornish and ….the fear of being seen as a second rate citizen’.
One lady saw problem as, ‘… a power thing, isn’t it?, If you have no language, you have no power… consequently if we lost our language, then we’re powerless.’
This was seen historically as beginning with the replacement of Cornwall’s Cornish-speaking aristocracy by unsympathetic English gentry in the Civil War period, and the insistence on using English in social relations. A lady added: ‘ The interesting thing is that the language probably partly died out for the same reason people weren’t speaking the accent either. English has really become the language of power. You would have had to have learnt English to have got on.’There was stigma even today in using a Cornish accent or dialect. Hostility could still even result from passing a bilingual cheque.
4) Resources
Improvements in cultural infrastructure over the past twenty years were seen as: ‘Not a jot’ or ‘very few and far between’, ‘all bottom up – nothing top hand whatsoever’. ‘If you doubled the number of teachers ….you double the number of people taking Cornish…It is as simple as that…because the demand is so great.’ But ‘people teaching Cornish have no infrastructure to keep classes going’ … and if a teacher who gets no support has to move or retire, or becomes too old or too ill, things tend to collapse. Others blamed the National Curriculum for failing to provide for Cornish in the schools.
Another view was: ‘It’s got to come from the state education system…It’s the only infrastructure that’s capable of transferring the language to that number…I think we do extremely well as a language movement…every time someone runs a class ...there’s always people to populate it. One lady felt most parents would like their children to have the chance to learn some Cornish,. Another felt children might choose Cornish instead of French. Others were critical of the education authority for refusing a survey and for failing to provide for the needs of already bilingual children.
On the question of funding for language initiatives, one man said, ‘We contribute mightily to the Treasury, how about the Treasury contributing mightily to us?’ and compared the situation with that in Wales. There was discussion too on the prospects for better funding as the result of Objective One moneys becoming available. Raising the precedents of language-related initiatives in the Highlands and Islands being similarly funded, respondents thought that the Devon & Cornwall TEC structure would result in the funding and jobs going to Exeter and Plymouth. However, one respondent’s Cornish-related business initiative had been funded by Plymouth Enterprise. This respondent reported buoyant demand for his products – from all parts of the language movement.
Cornish was seen to suffer from having no official recognition, and that ‘…we seem to be coming to the end of the things that we can do off our own back. If we’ve written to people, we’ve lobbied people, we’ve given them documentations, we’ve spoken to them and we’ve looked for ways of trying to get funding and tried reasonably hard. And none of this is happening for us. So we are coming to the end of reasonably doing to just help jolly things along on their own.’
5) Numbers of speakers
There was considerable variability in the group’s impressions of how many people could manage an everyday conversation in the language, or speak on their own special field. There was even greater variability on how many people might know a few Cornish words and expressions. There was much better knowledge about the cases where people were actually using the language in home life and bringing up children to speak the language
One of the factors was seen as the geographical spread of speakers and the difficulties of developing registers of everyday life without geographically tight-knit communities. One lady thought that, ‘It’s not quite yet a critical mass.’ One man had taught himself to swear in Cornish. Others reported in using Cornish on building jobs and mending cars. One participant felt that the problems of inhibitions on the uptake of Cornish, in the media, and in calculating the numbers of speakers clearly called for a census.
6) Language varieties
Relations between speakers and users of the different language-varieties was reported generally as unproblematic. There had been difficulties arising out of ‘language-politicians’ in the past ‘in stirring things up’. But such personalities were seen now as individuals without a great deal of widespread support. One lady said, ‘…ultimately the survival, the nourishing of the language is bigger than anything these problems cause.’
One lady saw differences getting smaller and smaller.’ There might be problems with organizers but actual speakers of the different varieties come to our events and we go to theirs. The Carol Service was a unifying event for all. The Gorseth provided an institution which was thoroughly Cornish and where the language reigned supreme.
Differences were not always hard-and-fast: both Kemmyn and Late / Modern users might speak with Unified pronunciation whilst using their own orthographies. The different language-varieties were seen as ‘regional dialects’ by another respondent, who had an interesting view of the future of the language in these terms. One respodent explained: ‘What’s actually happened …political events have rumbled on … but people have tended just to get on … you have got this kind of upper, lower kind of thing going on… if left to its own devices … would settle down … and you’ll probably be left with a west Cornwall dialect that would… sound …a little bit like Late Cornish, crossed with Unified, and probably written like a cross between the two. And in the east you’ll proabably have something that sounds a bit like a cross between Unified and Kemmyn … maybe written like that.’
7) Public life and media
Cornish was reported as having featured in broadcasting and television. Since the end of Westward then the takeover of WestCountry by Carlton, Cornish was reported as having disappeared.. But TSW were thought to have done some. BBC Southwest were criticized as a public service broadcaster for not doing anything much for Cornish. Big events for Cornwall and Cornish were ignored. There had been more coverage for Keskerdh Kernow in Wales and other broadcasting areas than in Cornwall. There was however a five-minute news broadcast in Cornish on commercial radio..
The use of the language in public events was discussed. Local press dominance by the Mail Group was criticised as trivializing the language, and regarding it as academic, a little bit weird, ancient, historical, or nationalist. The millennium and the eclipse were discussed. Eclipse t-shirts in Cornish were reported as doing ‘ a roaring trade’. The prospects for a new university were not anticipated as an opportunity for the language.
8) For the future
Respondents saw the language as an opportunity for children. There were needs for teachers and publications. It could increase tourism. The last word was however, ‘I think it’s the children thing.’
Late / Modern Cornish focus group: opinions, attitudes, issues
1)
A) Decline.
Amongst the reasons put forward for the decline of Cornish were the Prayer Book Rebellion and loss of population which ensued, landowners and loss of a Cornish-speaking aristocracy, loss of people overseas, and second-class citizen status. . Some thought pockets of actual speakers survived. It made a lot of difference to perceptions whether you regarded the last native speaker as a Mousehole fishwife speaking a quaint peasant language, or a scholar who taught mathematics to mining engineers. There might have been a vested interest in nineteenth century antiquarians pronouncing survivals as ‘the last’, or languages as dead.
B) Revival
Revival was seen by one lady as claiming our right to a heritage, which had been taken away. Jenner’s views seemed to have been echoed in such responses to reasons for learning Cornish as, ‘Because I’m Cornish’ ‘Because I ‘m not English.’ ‘Identity, really.’ ‘I just want to be as Cornish as possible.’ ‘Tradition.’ ‘Because it it’s there to be learnt.’ Now there might be employment reasons for learning Cornish. One respondent sang Cornish in a choir when young. Now he wanted to know the meaning of what he sang. Respondents reported prejudice when they were at school. In the past, knowledge and interest in Cornish might have made one a subject of prejudice – but not now. In the past there were few opportunities to learn Cornish. One respondent complained classes were so dull he fell asleep.
Many complained of the neglect of Cornish history in their education. For example the Industrial Revolution in which Cornwall took a leading part, was completely overlooked. Similarly the Tudor period had also been ignored, in which there were several Cornish rebellions – with a language dimension – and in which there was great loss of life: up to half of Cornwall’s able-bodied male population. This was seen as an important initial cause of the language’s decline.
2. Identity
At one point there was a lively discussion whether closer political identity with Europe was in Cornwall’s or the language’s best interests. One respondent saw the English as having an identity crisis. He said, ‘They don’t like that now because their identity is getting lost. One lady did not want some German or Frenchman giving out silly directives. Another did not want ‘all those …people in Brussels earning an incredible amount of money tax free.’ Discussion then turned to Objective One, and the ways in which new opportunities from Europe might help the language. Help came to Cornwall as the result of Breton MEPs supporting Cornwall because they were aware of the language connection.
Respondents reported on awareness amongst those they knew of the language and its significance. People with knowledge of the language were no longer hiding it away. Speakers might openly use it at work and when they met. One lady said, ‘When I was growing up people were hiding it away from them.’ Another said, ’Made an outcast. Whereas now you’re not an outcast any more.’
There was much discussion on Cornish in both school level and other sectors of education. It had once been taught in a private school. It had also been a GCSE subject but changing regulations had meant that the Mode Three scheme had been lost. Adult classes had increased. A schools survey had once been refused. However, a survey on what was happening now was going ahead. Some adult classes were being held in people’s homes.
Children were being brought up to speak Cornish. ‘A couple of dozen,’ according to one man. Lack of opportunity to follow this up at school was blamed upon the National Curriculum. However, there were ways round this, and opportunities within it were discussed.
There was a great deal of variance on how many speakers and effective users of the language there might be. However, the group seemed fairly representative of present-day learners. One man said, ‘We’ve got a real cross-section….the obvious people that are missing tonight are all the ones who’ve got babies…that’s quite a high proportion.’ This was seen as the commonest reason for dropping out of classes. One lady said, ‘Many of us are shop workers.’ Others reported being in other working class jobs, and using Cornish with work-mates. One man said, ‘My Cornish came on in leaps and bounds with that.’ Another reported a similar experience and added, ‘People were stopping and listening to us.’ A man and a woman reported using Cornish in their social club. Many had experienced unemployment – and about three-quarters of the class had spent periods away from Cornwall for job opportunities.
Europe’s 53 or 80 million speakers of lesser-used languages were discussed in relationship to cultural tourism. Cornish in public signage, house and street naming were both seen as increasing since the 1970s. One lady said that, ‘…it was more like a middle class thing, and now it’s anybody and everybody who wants to.’
Cornish was also reported as being used in choirs, in festivals, such as Lowender Peran, in theatrical productions, such as Knee-High Theatre and The Riot. This had been taken outwith Cornwall, and one man said, ‘If it projects Cornish inside Cornwall, the more it’s projected outside of Cornwall, the stronger it is likely to get in Cornwall.’ There had also been co-operation between the various language groups in the European Bureau, in television initiatives, and in the County Council and local authorities’ framework agreement on the language.
9) Tripartite Split
Place names and road-signs led into discussion on the three present-day forms of the language Many felt that it was quite usual for languages to have different dialects. North Welsh and South Welsh were very different, and English had many dialects and standard forms.. Communication between the different forms of Cornish were not seen as a problem. There was discussion of signage for English Heritage sites and what form of Cornish should be used. One man said, ‘Why haven’t three lots got together and gone to English Heritage and said, ‘Look, there are three kinds of Cornish here. Can we sit down and work out how it’s going to be?‘
A more realistic view was added by another, ‘ We don’t really need to ..… we’ve just kind of almost agreed to differ now between ourselves in a short time, because we have tried desperately hard to reach an accommodation with each other and we’ve not been able to, and so we’ve just had to …. live with each other’s difference in terms of writing Cornish. … so when a group is approached by a body … and they want to translate something then the person …. the group they approach is …who provides the translation, and other people don’t complain about it. Others agreed that it was more important to see Cornish in the public domain than to argue what form should be used.
A standard form was seen by one man as a raison d’être to sort it out.. Another thought, ‘… there would be lots of practical advantages in having one written standard, but I don’t think it’s going to happen…That’s the real problem.’ There was extensive discussion on the problem, and one lady said, ‘But then, natural progression in time, people can only use one version or find it easier to use one version, that one is going to become more popular no matter what is chosen as being official,. So, common usage will dictate it eventually anyway.’
10) The Institutional abolition of Cornwall
A real present-day problem was identified in the loss of Cornwall’s institutions and public services ‘up country’, with police, breakdown and ambulance services not knowing where places were, protracted inquiry into how place-names were spelt, resulting not only in much inconvenience but also into life-threatening situations. As a result distinctively Cornish place-names were simply being removed from maps. Examples were cited. The possible future loss of the education authority was also seen as threatening the prospects of the language in the schools.
11) For the future…
Prospects for the language in the schools remained at the end perhaps the most salient way in which the future of the language could be sought. ‘What would ensure the future of the Cornish language? Teaching it to kids at school.’
IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The announcement of the Government’s intent to sign the Charter on behalf of Cornish was popularly taken as in indication that Cornish was now to enjoy ‘official status’. This is probably the first occasion that there has been any sort official recognition given to the language at governmental level. Whether that constitutes actual recognition of Cornish as an official language is a moot point, as Rob Dunbar’s view on this makes clear. (See end-note 2) In contrast, Gaelic had enjoyed mention in crofting, land court, education, broadcasting and nationality legislation going back to the nineteenth century, as well as an acceptance of its equal validity with English by the then Secretary of State, and Scottish Home and Health Department in 1970. (4) Nevertheless in the absence of specific language status legislation, its official status continued to be challenged until U.K. Parliamentary statements were made earlier this year (5), and draft bill measures were announced for implementation in the Scottish Parliament in the session 2003-2004. (6) As a next step on that route, Cornish needs to advance to Part III recognition under the European Charter.
Discussion in the three focus groups threw up a number of salient issues. Several of these deserve some further consideration. These are examined more closely below, in sequence from the prompts in the questionnaire.
Revival and Identity
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the period of heyday for the British Empire. Yet this was seen as the point in time where the Cornish Revivalists initiated a centrifugal, as opposed to a centripetal, movement. The language became symbolized as the most salient feature of a local identity. It is no surprise that this led a half-century later to the emergence of a political nationalism and the sense of Cornwall as a nation in cultural as well as political terms. Jenner’s ‘simply because we are Cornish’ was taking other dimensions. I have taken one respondent’s reason for learning Cornish, to be ‘as Cornish as possible’, as a headline for this paper. It epitomises much of what several others said.
The respondents who identified today as a period of opportunity for language revival tied this in with an awareness of decline of Empire and sense of identity crisis about being English. To parallel Ireland’s earlier situation, England’s adversity is Cornwall’s opportunity.
However other issues were tied in with language: community, individual self-worth, recovery of pride, and emergence from second-class status. Interest in things Cornish, and the language in particular were seen as being weird and peculiar not so very long ago. Not only language, but also accent and dialect were seen as stigmas, and as the badge of country bumpkinhood. Not so now. Quite the converse, in fact: there was a demand for Cornish in public life and education, and a thirst for knowledge. The lady who reported that things were being concealed in her earlier life felt she had been ‘Made an outcast. Whereas now you are not an outcast any more.’ This echoed the case I had encountered earlier outwith the focus groups of a house-keeping lady without formal qualifications or any marvelous job who had learned Cornish and got to a good standard. She said, ‘Now I can speak Cornish I really think I am a somebody. I’m not a nobody any more.’ This very much epitomises the highest aims of further and adult education.
A very sophisticated view was put by the lady who said that in an ideal world everyone would have their own language and a world language as well. My view that this might be quite normal for most of the world’s inhabitants was rejoindered that it is only the English who can’t. There may be several insights here. Anglophone societies – the Anglosphere – are notorious in resisting other languages and insisting everyone speaks theirs. Without Cornish, Cornwall is just one other amongst many English-speaking societies. With its own language it is distinctive, and (like ‘Galway Bay’) has its own ethnolinguistic culture and a metalinguistic awareness that the monolinguals do not know. Bilingualism is perhaps not so much an ideal as normal in the wider world. Cornish-English bilingualism was seen as a much more likely scenario than bilingualism involving our immediate continental neighbours.
Language, Community and Power.
Cornish as seen to possess a ‘colossal reservoir of goodwill’. It functioned too as the language of community – and not only in the past. However, there were still some inimical attitudes to be encountered – in some cases in positions of power and influence. Cornish signage might be resisted, Cornish welcomes cut out from tourist publicity, and Cornish in public places removed. One respondent identified three distinct issues relating to the inhibiting of Cornish in public life. These were;
Language was seen as the key to power by one lady: ’If we lost our language, then we’d be powerless.’
The Celtic dimension was identified as a source of strength. Assistance for Cornish enterprise had come from an Irishman in the case of a small one-person business, and from Breton MEPS in the case of Objective One. It is tempting to think of Edward Lhuyd three hundred years earlier on his peregrinations through Cornwall formulating the concept of a common Celtic identity shared by the very disparate non-English peoples of our archipelago. In 1707 his Archeologica Britannica gave these peoples a means of resisting assimilation as the Act of Union inaugurated the British state – and stole their ethnonym. Cornwall played its part in that. (7)
The Tripartite Split
The three current varieties of revived Cornish pose continuing problems. This study was conducted at a time when the very intense differences arising from this matter were certainly in abeyance. Some saw the protagonists as having lost a certain amount of sway, as people met across language-variety boundaries, and shared one another’s events. Such institutions as the church services – especially the Carol Service – were uniting factors. So was the Gorseth – the one institution where pre-eminently Cornish took pride of place.
How the situation might resolve itself in the future was explored by some. One man thought that regional dialects would emerge, with a West Cornwall dialect that would sound a bit like Late Cornish crossed with Unified, and in the east something that sounded like a cross between Unified and Kemmyn, and probably written like it. Another lady thought that a more ‘natural’ process would occur, whereby in time people would come to find it easier to use one version, and that is what would prevail.
But the lack of a common written standard is a real problem if the issues of increasing public use of Cornish is to be addressed. This was to some extent skated around by views such as English Heritage might approach a Cornish scholar in one movement or another, and that is the form that would get used. Some people thought the real issue was to get any sort of Cornish into public view, irrespectively. But when it does, the realities of the issue will arise, and maybe spark off controversies once again. The issue of name-signs in Cornish is already arising. In some cases the forms being used have no traditional spelling basis. Maybe a start could be made by trying to get an agreed policy on place-signs. In this regard the use of the placename archive would be valuable. The publication of Gover’s study for the English Place Names Society is long overdue and is one of those that EPNS have never yet published. It is a scandal – for without it we are very much in the dark. Oliver Padel is shortly to retire and commence further research and publication in this field. There are substantial bases in scholarship here which could be the foundation for advance in this area.
One voice expressed reservations with regard to academics and Cornish. Yet the linguistic issues of corpus planning have not yet been addressed in scholarly debate. So far this too has been quietly muted in view of past controversies. As a basis to this, the scholarly editing of the corpus of written Cornish of all periods needs to be advanced. It is putting the cart before the horse to attempt status planning before the spade-work of corpus planning has been thoroughly accomplished.
Education
Discussion focused on the setback for Cornish in education of the Mode Three GCSE scheme some years ago. School students are presently undertaking Language Board examinations, which are of course essentially adult-level in character. Subsequent developments since the study, such as at Hayle are to be watched with great interest. But the present tripartite nature of Cornish presents its difficulties. The County Council may accept Cornish as a ’plural language’ – but will all three varieties get a place in any school level provisions?
The National Curriculum was seen as a major cause for the marginalisation of Cornish in the schools. The present law of education in England regarding languages which may be taught greatly vitiates against Cornish. In the hierarchy of: English, other European member-state languages (which includes Letzebürgisch), and other world and classical languages, Cornish simply has no place. This needs attention if Cornish is even to have the toe-hold of being taught as a second language, leading somewhere in terms of recognized qualifications. Cornishmen had once helped England to retain its language. Now was the opportunity for the favour to be returned.
Further problems result from lack of resources and infrastructure, discontinuities as teachers (many voluntary) withdraw for all sorts of good reasons, and lack of good-quality teaching schemes, language packs, audiovisual resources and books. There should be ways of getting round the National Curriculum, such as in minority time, local studies and the like. But if Cornish is to have some real advance in these areas in the short-to-medium term, planning, in-service training and production of teaching materials is essential. Modern technologies, inter-site video, internet and new advances in distance learning techniques could all play their part here.
One of the big problems for Cornish in the schools is critical mass. Demand is growing – but is widely spread out. That is why so far preschool initiatives have been hindered: not enough takers in any one area.
The numbers game
The methodology of the study was insufficient to make up for the lack of a census question, or in its absence a properly-funded research study of speakers, learners, users of the language and of public attitudes towards it. The lack of a census was specifically identified in one group. Subsequent to the study, a Cornish question on the 2001 Census was refused through ‘lack of space’ on the form It may be recalled however that there was in fact a blank space where the Welsh question was printed in Wales. Much of the discussion on language problems both by respondents in this study and in wider forums is uninformed without a census or a properly-resourced study on these lines. The Independent Academic Study was a useful initial inquiry. It now needs to be followed up by a use and attitudes study.
Public life and media
Since the Independent Academic Study, several initiatives it identified have ceased. One was the biggest slice of the funding cake. I do not know whether anything else in its field has replaced it. This type of adhockery – turning taps on, turning taps off – is no way to develop cultural infrastructure. The identification of much talent being exercised in the media, arts, and cultural life sphere calls for a study and a policy for the Cornish Language Arts. It is a resource that Cornwall needs to nurture, and is moreover of considerable economic significance. Unfortunately without its own institutions this is difficult.
The language has enabled Cornwall to punch above its weight internationally. The Inter-Celtic Film and TV Festival, the Inter-Celtic Song Contest – and securing Objective One status are all good examples. The language means that Cornwall is not just another English county. Today Cornwall faces another set of problems. We now turn to that challenge.
The institutional abolition of Cornwall
The land that is ‘Cornwall, as an entire state, hath at divers time enjoyed sundry titles, of a kingdom, principality, duchy and earldom..’ - Carew’s words from 1602. (8) It has subsequently enjoyed and still does, the status of a shire county – but now faces the prospect of becoming a mere district whose council will exercise few indigenous powers.
There are language-dimensions of this issue from both perspectives. The loss of police, breakdown, public utilities and emergency services from being based in Cornwall to remote centers of power elsewhere has resulted in delays as people try to identify locations and spell names – all utterly unfamiliar to their remote hearers. If these services are to take responsibility for local services they will need local familiarization. They do not get it. There is a language dimension to this. Earlier this year the anticipated fatality resulting from this situation has now occurred.
Likewise cultural infrastructure is controlled by institutions outwith Cornwall over which Cornwall has no say or sway. Cornwall does not even have its own dedicated MEP. Luxemburg of similar size has six. Names are being taken off maps because they are un-English, and difficult for English speakers to spell or pronounce. We had that too in Scotland before devolution. If there is a case for enhanced rather than downgraded status for Cornwall, the language dimension may be one of the trump cards to play.
For the future
The language could increase tourism. Prospects for cultural tourism have widened with the European Union. The language and culture could save and enhance the character of Cornwall. But above all other issues, each group saw the prospects of the language as lying crucially within the schools. They all concluded on that note. ‘Children learning Kernewek’, education seen as the only institution which could effectively deliver revival, ‘Teaching kids at school’. ‘It’s the children thing.’
For my own part, I would finally echo those who said that we have done very well as a language movement in making provisions, but we have come to the end of what we can do from our own resources. The language movement has over the past century, raised itself by its own bootstraps, and has performed small miracles on a shoestring – often sel-financed. The movement is progressing and it has reached the stage where it can legitimately claim a share in the provisions which modern society makes for its cultural infrastructure. Languages and cultures are today supported by massive investment in the media, mass communications, education and the means of public administration. That this may be done for a majority language and culture is very much taken for granted, and maybe not seen as such – but it occurs nevertheless anyway, and everybody pays for it. Cornish speakers, learners and supporters also pay taxes, both local and national. They too are entitled in an open and participating democracy for their share of contributions be spent on their fair share of the cake. One respondent said that, ‘We contribute mightily to the Treasury. Now it is the time for the Treasury to contribute mightily to us.’ Another spoke of English returning the favour whereby Cornish had helped secure its place and future in the society of a past time. The Cornish language movement can justifiably expect its own fair share to be returned to it. Such measures, if forthcoming, will need some form of co-ordination and planning. This calls very clearly for the creation of a language development agency, and that implies too a language planning body. These are questions not for a far-distant future. They are already upon us, as Cornish is being increasingly assisted from public funds.
I return in the end to the issue of self-value and self-worth, and recall the lady who was reported to me as nothing out of the ordinary, but having learned the language to a good standard, she felt ‘ Not a nobody any more!’
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Dolina MacLeod of Lews Castle College, Stornoway, for undertaking transcription of the three focus group recordings, for which I am very grateful.
I am very grateful also to Dr. Bernard Deacon, Lecturer at the Institute of Cornish Studies, University of Exeter, for assistance with Late Cornish expressions in the relevant transcript.
That said, I must emphasise that in the small number of instances where inferencing of the actual words spoken was difficult, the final interpretation has been my own, and my own responsibility.
I am also very greatly obliged to Dr Rob Dunbar, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Glasgow, for his information and advice on the legal status of Cornish.
Finally, but essentially I thank DETR and GOSW for enabling this study to be undertaken in 2000.
References
And on my own at: www.sgrud.org.uk
A summary, with commentary and recommendations of the principal author is published as: MacKinnon, K. (2002) ‘Cornish at its Millenium: an Independent Study of the Language Undertaken in 2000’ in Payton, P.J. (ed.) (2002) Cornish Studies 10 (new series), Exeter: Exeter University Press ISBN 0 85989 733 8 (pp. 266 – 282)
Consultation Paper, Scottish Executive.
London: British Museum Press ISBN 0-7141-2165-7 ( p. 47 );
Williams, D. S. (1993) Prying into Every Hole and Corner – Edward Lhuyd in
Cornwall in 1700. Trewirgie: Dyllansow Truran ISBN 1 85022 066 2.
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Contact details: Professor Kenneth MacKinnon, Ivy Cottage, Ferintosh, The Black Isle, by Dingwall, Ross-shire IV 7 8HX Tel: 01349 – 863460. Website: www.sgrud,org.uk
e-mail: kenmackinnon@eneterprise.net
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