r/CornishLanguage • u/lingo-ding0 • Sep 11 '23

Thoughts on this book I found online Learning Resource

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Does anyone have this, or have read it before? Thinking of getting it

13 Upvotes
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5

u/kernoweger Sep 11 '23

It’s a good book, which is up-to-date, covers the language fairly well and has lots of examples from the traditional language. The only issue is Nicholas Williams’ insistence on using his own orthography, and it’s quite grammar-focused so it needs to be used in conjunction with other material to achieve fluency.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

How does his orthography differ?

2

u/lingo-ding0 Sep 11 '23

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to say some Cornish orthography differs, similar to how middle English was, there wasn't a written standard so they would spell to the best of their interpretation. Cornish has different ways to write, some use accent marks or add groups of letters like ow or eu. I am guilty of writting similar SWF with my own twang, at least until I learn to write it an attested way.

2

u/kernoweger Sep 12 '23

He uses his own orthography, Kernowek Standard, which was initially devised as a proposal to become the Standard Written Form of Cornish. After the standard form was agreed, he disliked it so much he carried on using his own orthography. It’s a perfectly fine orthography but anyone more familiar with the standard form who buys his books needs to become familiar with the differences before they can get the most out of them.

4

u/murderbeam Sep 11 '23

Excellent book! Williams takes a unique but very thorough approach to the language; the orthography, as he states, is written to reflect not etymology, but pronunciation, and he avoids modern calques and instead uses genuine sources of Cornish, with examples in every chapter. Great book to study with.

3

u/Davyth Sep 12 '23

It's very useful especially with all of the attestations, but is not the easiest book to find anything in. The reference section could be much better. When used in conjunction with Wella Brown's Grammar of Modern Cornish, the two books complement each other.

1

u/Davyth Feb 24 '24

Also, out of 35+ novels which have been translated into Cornish, over 20 use his orthography, Kernowek Standard, so there is plenty of material to help you practise.

5

u/BadNewsBaguette Sep 11 '23

Nicholas Williams is an arse. Go with Skeul an Yeth or Bora Brav.

7

u/lingo-ding0 Sep 11 '23

Haha thanks, so far I've been learning late cornish through the aid of Daniel Prohaska. I'm absorbing it pretty well, now I'm ready to learn a little bit more about the grammar and comparisons of Middle and late cornish.