Cornish grammar

Cornish grammar is the grammar of the Cornish language (Kernewek or Kernowek[1]), an insular Celtic language closely related to Breton and Welsh and, to a lesser extent, to Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic. It was the main medium of communication of the Cornish people for much of their history until the 17th century, when a language shift occurred in favour of English. A revival, however, started in 1904, with the publication of A Handbook of the Cornish Language, by Henry Jenner, and since then there has been a growing interest in the language.

Initial consonant mutation

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Initial mutation is a feature shared by all the modern Celtic languages, in which the initial consonant of a word may change under some circumstances. In Cornish these changes take place when a word starts with one of the consonants shown in the table below; other initial consonants remain unchanged. The most common mutation occurs after the definite article an, when followed by a feminine singular noun or masculine plural noun.

Consonant Mutation in Cornish
Unmutated
consonant
Soft
mutation
Aspirate
mutation
Hard
mutation
Mixed
mutation
p b f
t d th
k g h
b v p f
d dh t t
g[a] disappears k h
g[b] w k hw
gw w kw hw
m v f
ch j
  1. ^ Before unrounded vowels (i, y, e, a), l, and r + unrounded vowel.
  2. ^ Before rounded vowels (o, u), and r + rounded vowel.

Nouns

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Gender

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Cornish nouns, like those of other Celtic languages, possess two grammatical genders, meaning that they belong to one of two groups: masculine or feminine. Sometimes the gender of a noun can be inferred from the class of words it belongs to, for example, nouns referring to males, such as gour “man, husband” or tarow “bull”, or verbal nouns, such as kerdhes “walking” and bos “being”, are masculine whereas nouns referring to females, such as hwor “sister” and yar “hen”, are feminine. Nevertheless, it is often impossible to determine the gender of a noun from its form, although certain nominal suffixes have gender:

  • Masculine suffixes: -adow, -der/-ter, -di/-ji/-ti, -ik, -la, -(n)eth (mostly), -our, -(y)ans, -yas, -ydh, -(y)er, -yn, -(y)or
  • Feminine suffixes: -a, -ek, -el, -en, -es, -(on)ieth

There is a very small number of nouns which may be either gender, such as nev “heaven” and tonn “grassland”, and is similar to its sister language Breton in that the noun tra “thing” takes masculine numerals above one and masculine referring pronouns but has the mutations of a feminine noun after an “the”, unn “one” and on accompanying adjectives.[2]

Number

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Singular and plural

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Most nouns have a singular and plural form, the latter deriving from the former in a number of ways. Plural forms may add an ending to a singular, such as treth “beach” to trethow, pompyon “pumpkin” to pompyons and lader “thief” to ladron. Adding an ending may be accompanied by a vowel change, as in the case of gwreg “wife” to gwragedh and hwor “sister” to hwerydh, or may involve a vowel change alone, for example korn “horn” to kern and men “stone” to meyn.[1][2]

Dual

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A small number of nouns display relics of a dual system. These are formed by prefixing masculine dew or feminine diw, both “two”, to the respective noun. Dual nouns are often parts of the body and indicate the pair of them taken together, for instance, lagas “eye” to dewlagas “(pair of) eyes” and bregh “arm” to diwvregh “(pair of) arm”. These carry a different meaning to the regular plural forms, such as lagasow or lagajow “eyes” and breghow “arms”, which do not indicate a matching pair.[1][2][3]

Collective and singulative

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A distinctive and unusual feature of Brythonic languages is that of collective and singulative number. The base form of some Cornish nouns denotes a class or group, often natural objects, such as sab “pine trees”, kelyon “flies” and niwl “fog”. A singulative is formed by adding the feminine ending -en to denote a single individual of the group, hence saben “a pine tree”, kelyonen “a fly” and niwlen “a patch of fog”. Singulatives can themselves have plural forms in -ow, denoting a number of individuals of the group, so for instance, kelyonen gives kelyonennow “(a number of) flies (individually)”.[1][2]

Determiners

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Articles

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Cornish lacks an indefinite article (although unn “one” is sometimes used to mean ”a certain...” e.g. unn ki “a certain dog”), but has a definite article, an, which precedes the noun, for example an Kernow “the Cornishman” and an Kernowesow “the Cornishwomen”. The article causes a soft mutation on feminine singular nouns, such as Kernowes “Cornishwoman” to an Gernowes “the Cornishwoman”, and on masculine plural nouns denoting persons, as Kernowyon “Cornishmen” to an Gernowyon “the Cornishmen”, although exceptions to the latter include an tasow “the fathers” and clear English borrowings such as an doktours “the doctors”. Also the masculine plural nouns meyn ”stones” and mergh ”horses” are exceptions, which are lenited to an veyn ”the stones” and an vergh ”the horses”, respectively.[4][5] An is shortened to 'n after certain function words that end in a vowel, meaning a “of”, dhe “to” and ha “and” become a'n “of the”, dhe'n “to the” and ha'n “and the”, and in addition, yn “in” becomes identically pronounced y'n “in the”.[1][2]

Demonstrative determiners

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The definite article and a noun followed by the clitics ma and na to produce the demonstratives “this/these” and “that/those” respectively, for example an lyver ma “this book” and an lyvrow na “those books”.[2]

Possessive determiners

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The possessive determiners are as follows. Notice their similarity to the more reduced forms of the personal pronouns.[2]

singular plural
1st person ow agan
2nd person dha agas
3rd person masculine y aga
feminine hy

Pronouns

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Personal pronouns

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Personal pronouns in Cornish can be arranged as follows.[2]

Independent Reduced Suffixed
Single Double Reduced
singular 1st person my ’m -vy -evy -(m)a
2nd person ty ’th -jy -tejy -(t)a
3rd
person
masculine ev ’y -e(v) -eev -(v)a
feminine hi ’s -hi -hyhi
plural 1st person ni ’gan, ’n -ni -nyni
2nd person hwi ’gas, ’s -hwi -hwyhwi
3rd person i ’s -i -ynsi

Independent personal pronouns are used as the subject of a nominal sentence, for example My a grys “I believe”, or can stand before the verb in a verbal sentence to draw attention to the subject implied by the verb, for example Ni ny yllyn mosWe cannot go”. Certain other constructions employ independent pronouns, such as those based on verbal nouns, like ev dhe dhos omma “(that) he came here”, and those that follow conjunctions, such as hag i ow kortos “as they are/were waiting”.

Suffixed pronouns are attached to nouns in possessive constructions, to inflected verbs and to pronouns and are used to reinforce a pronoun previously expressed by a verbal or personal ending, for example Ple eth hi? “Where did she go?”.

Reduced pronouns are used between a verbal particle and a verb, such as in mar ny’th welav “if I don't see you”.

Demonstrative pronouns

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Demonstrative pronouns display two degrees of proximity as well as gender and number.

Singular Plural
masculine feminine common
Near the speaker hemma homma an re ma
Near the listener henna honna an re na

These pronouns lose their final a before yw “is” and o “was”, for example Homm yw ow keniterow “This is my (female) cousin”.

Adjectives

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Cornish adjectives usually come after the noun they modify although a few may come before or after, such as drog “bad” and leun “full”, and a small number always precede the noun, such as lies “many” and hen “old, long-standing”. There are simple and derived adjectives. The former comprise adjectives that are not derived of any other word, whereas the latter are formed by adding suffixes such as -ek to the end of a noun (including verbal nouns).[1][2] Adjectives are lenited when they are preceded by a feminine singular noun, or a masculine plural noun referring to persons, e.g. benen goth 'an old woman', mebyon vyghan 'small sons'.[6]

Comparison

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Adjectives are inflected with -a to give a comparative/superlative form. This suffix causes provection of the adjective stem, for example glyb “wet” to glyppa and krev “stong” to kreffa. A number of adjectives are irregular and have separate comparative and superlative forms.[2]

positive comparative superlative
byghan, “small” nebes “little” (quantity) le “smaller, fewer, less” liha “smallest, fewest, least”
da, mas “good” gwell “better” gwella “best”
drog “bad” gweth, lakka “worse” gwetha “worst”
isel “low” isella, is[a] “lower” isella, isa[a] “lowest”
meur “much, great” moy “more, greater” moyha “most, greatest”
ogas “near” nes “nearer” nessa “nearest”
  1. ^ a b Used in place names.

Adverbs

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Adverbials in Cornish may be a single word or a more complex phrases, for example ena “then” and y’n eur ma “now”, literally “in this hour”. Many are formed from the combination of a preposition and a noun or pronoun, such as war-woles “downwards” from war “on” and goles “bottom” and a-ji (or a-jei) “within” from a “from, at” and chi (or chei) “house”. Adverbs can be formed from adjectives by means of the particle yn “in”, such as in the case of krev “strong” to yn krev “strongly” and da “good” to yn ta “well”.[2]

Verbs

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Regular conjugation

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Cornish verbs are highly regular and are conjugated to show distinctions of person, number, mood, tense and aspect in various combinations.

example conjugation of prena "buy"[7]
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal[a]
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present
/ Future
prenav prenyn prenydh prenowgh pren[b] prenons prenir
Preterite prenis prensyn prensys prensowgh prenas[c] prensons prenas[c]
Imperfect[d] prenen prenen prenes prenewgh prena prenens prenys
Pluperfect prensen prensen prenses prensewgh prensa prensens prensys
Subjunctive[e] Present
/ Future
prenniv prennyn prenni prennowgh prenno prennons prenner
Imperfect prennen prennen prennes prennewgh prenna prennens prennys
Imperative prenyn pren[b] prenewgh prenes prenens
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
prena[f] ow prena prenys

Certain points should be observed about the above:[2][7]

  1. ^ The impersonal form is equivalent to the use of the English pronoun one and can be used in a similar way to the English passive, for example, Prenas an boos “One bought the food; The food was bought”.
  2. ^ a b The third person singular indicative present/future and the second person imperative utilise the verbal stem with no ending.
  3. ^ a b In the third person singular and impersonal preterite, some verbs take the alternative ending -is, for example tevi “grow” to tevis and gelwel “call” to gelwis.
  4. ^ Certain verbs take slightly different endings in the indicative imperfect. Instead of -en, -es and -a, they take -yn, -ys and -i respectively, for example, hwerthin “laugh” to hwerthyn “I/we were laughing”, hwerthys “you [singular] were laughing”, hwerthi “he/she/it was laughing”.
  5. ^ The final consonant of a verb stem is modified before subjunctive endings. Consonants are usually lengthened, shortening the previous vowel, and voiced stops and fricatives are devoiced and lengthened, for example, igeri “open” to igerriv, kregi “hang” to krekkiv and hwedhla “tell tales” to hwetthliv.
  6. ^ The infinitive form is considered to be a verbal noun in Cornish grammars, meaning an example like prena can function as both verbal “to buy” and nominal “(the act of) buying”. A number of different verbal noun endings exist.

It should also be noted that vowel affection occurs in the stem of some verbs before certain endings, especially those with close front vowels, though not exclusively.

affection with tava "touch"[7]
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal5
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present
/ Future
tavav tevyn tevydh tevowgh tav2 tavons4 tevir
Preterite tevis tevsyn tevsys tevsowgh tavas3 tavsons tavas3
Imperfect taven1 taven1 taves1 tavewgh4 tava1 tavens4 tevys
Pluperfect tavsen tavsen tavses tavsewgh tavsa tavsens tevsys
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
tyffiv tyffyn tyffi tyffowgh taffo taffons taffer4
Imperfect taffen taffen taffes taffewgh taffa taffens tyffys
Imperative tevyn tav2 tevyn taves4 tavens4
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
tava5 ow tava tevys

Note:[2]

^1 The alternative indicative imperfect endings -yn, -ys and -i cause vowel affection.
^2 Amongst the endingless forms, the present/future third person singular and the second person singular imperative, the former may include vowel affection while the latter does not, for example, seni “sound” to sen “he/she/it sounds” and son “sound!” and gelwel “call” to gelow “he/she/it calls” and galw “call!”.
^3 The alternative third person singular and impersonal preterite ending -is causes vowel affection.
^4 These endings also cause affection with some verbs.
^5 Certain verbal noun endings cause vowel affection, again especially those with close front vowels.

Irregular conjugation

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A handful of irregular verbs exist, the most common of which are detailed here.

The most irregular verb of all is bos “be”, which is often used as an auxiliary and can be conjugated to show a number of additional distinctions not present in other verbs.

bos "be"
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present1 short form ov on os owgh yw yns or
long form esov eson esos esowgh yma, usi, eus2 ymons, esons2 eder
Future bydhav bydhons bydhydh bydhowgh bydh bydhons bydher
Preterite beuv beun beus bewgh beu bons beus
Imperfect1 short form en en es ewgh o ens os
long form esen esen eses esewgh esa esens eses
habitual bedhen bedhen bedhes bedhewgh bedha bedhens bedhes
Pluperfect bien bien bies biewgh bia biens bies
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
biv byn bi bowgh bo bons ber
Imperfect ben ben bes bewgh be bens bes
Imperative bedhen bydh bedhewgh bedhes bedhens
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
bos, bones ow pos, ow pones *bedhys3

Some peculiarities of bos to be noted as follows:[2]

^1 The present tense has separate short and long forms. The short forms are used when a subject complement is a noun or adjective whereas the long forms are used with adverbial and participle complements.[3] In addition, the imperfect has a habitual form.
^2 Yma and ymons are used in affirmitive declarative independent clauses whereas usi, eus and esons are used elsewhere, such as negative, interrogative and dependent clauses. Usi is used with definite subjects whereas eus is used with indefinite subjects.
^3 The form *bedhys is not found independently but rather in its mutated form vedhys as part of compound words, such as godhvedhys “known” and piwvedhys “owned”.

Y'm beus is a combination of an reduced pronoun with dative meaning and the third person singular forms of bos, meaning literally “there is to [me]”, or more idiomatically “[I] have”.[2] A similar construction is present in Breton. The presence of the pronoun means there are separate masculine and feminine third person singular forms but no impersonal forms, verbal noun or participles.

1st person 2nd person 3rd person
singular plural singular plural singular plural
masculine feminine
Indicative Present y'm beus y'gan beus y'th eus y'gas beus y'n jeves y’s teves y’s teves
Future y'm byth y'gan byth y'fydh y'gas byth y'n jevydh y’s tevydh y’s tevydh
Preterite y'm beu y'gan beu y'th o y'gas beu y'n jevo y’s tevo y’s tevo
Imperfect simple y'm bo y'gan bo y'fedha y'gas bo y'n jevedha y’s tevedha y’s tevedha
habitual y'm bedha y'gan bedha y'feu y'gas bedha y'n jeva y’s teva y’s teva
Pluperfect y'm beu y'gan beu y'fia y'gas beu y'n jevia y’s tevia y’s tevia
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
y'm bo y'gan bo y'fo y'gas bo y'n jeffo y’s teffo y’s teffo
Imperfect y'm be y'gan be y'fe y'gas be y'n jeffa y’s teffa y’s teffa
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
bos, bones ow pos, ow pones *bedhys

The irregular verb godhvos (or goffos[1]) “know, can (know how to)” is based upon bos although does not utilise a habitual imperfect.[2][3][7]

godhvos (or goffos[1]) "know, can (know how to)"
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present gonn godhon godhes godhowgh gor godhons deer
Future godhvydhav godhvydhyn godhvydhydh godhvydhowgh godhvydh godhvydhons godhvydher
Preterite godhvev godhven godhves godhvewgh godhva godhvons godhves
Imperfect godhyen godhyen godhyes godhyewgh godhya godhyens godhves
Pluperfect godhvien godhvien godhvies godhviewgh godhvia godhviens godhvies
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
godhviv godhvyn godhvi godhvyn godhvo godhvons godher
Imperfect godhven godhven godhves godhvewgh godhve godhvens godhves
Imperative godhvydhyn godhvydh godhvydhewgh godhvydhes godhvydhens
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
godhvos ow kodhvos godhvedhys

Another extremely common irregular verb also used as an auxiliary is gul “do, make”.[7]

gul "do, make"
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present
/ Future
gwrav gwren gwredh gwrewgh gwra gwrons gwrer
Preterite gwrug gwrussyn gwrussys gwrussowgh gwrug gwrussons gwrug
Imperfect gwren gwren gwres gwrewgh gwre gwrens gwres
Pluperfect gwrussen gwrussen gwrusses gwrussewgh gwrussa gwrussens gwrussys
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
gwrylliv gwryllyn gwrylli gwryllowgh gwrello gwrellons gwreller
Imperfect gwrellen gwrellen gwrelles gwrellewgh gwrella gwrellens gwrellys
Imperative gwrem gwra gwrewgh gwres gwrens
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
gul ow kul gwrys

The verb mos “go, become” is irregular and has separate forms for the present perfect.[7]

mos "go, become"
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal5
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present
/ Future
av en edh ewgh a ons er
Preterite yth ethen ythys ethewgh eth ethons es, os
Imperfect en en es ewgh e ens es
Present
perfect
galsov galson galsos galsowgh gallas galsons
Pluperfect gylsen gylsen gylses gylsewgh galsa gylsens
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
ylliv yllyn ylli yllowgh ello ellons eller
Imperfect ellen ellen elles ellewgh ella gellens ellss
Imperative deun ke, a keugh, eugh es ens
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
mos, mones ow mos, ow mones gyllys

Similarly, dos “come, arrive” is irregular and has present perfect forms.[7]

dos "come, arrive"
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present
/ Future
dov deun deudh dewgh deu dons deer
Preterite deuth deuthen deuthys deuthewgh deuth deuthons es, os
Imperfect den den des dewgh de dens des
Present
perfect
deuvev deuven deuves deuvewgh deuva deuvons deuves
Pluperfect dothyen dothyen dothyes dothyewgh dothya dothyens dothyes
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
dyffiv dyffyn dyffi dyffowgh deffo dyffons deffer
Imperfect deffen deffen deffes deffewgh deffa deffens deffes
Imperative deun deus, des dewgh des dens
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
dos, dones ow tos, ow tones devedhys

The irregular verbs ri “give” and dri “bring” (alternatively, rei and drei[1]) have similar conjugations. This table give the forms of ri from which the dri forms can be composed by adding an initial d, for example rov “I give” to drov “I bring”. The only exceptions to this are that the second person singular imperatives of dri are dro, doro and doroy and that, as usual, the ow of the present participle cause provection of the d to t to give ow tri.[2][7]

ri "give"
1st person 2nd person 3rd person Impersonal
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Indicative Present
/ Future
rov ren redh rowgh re rons rer
Preterite res resen resys resowgh ros rosons ros
Imperfect ren ren res rewgh ri rens res
Pluperfect rosen rosen roses rosewgh rosa rosens rosys
Subjunctive Present
/ Future
rylliv ryllyn rylli ryllowgh rollo rollons roller
Imperfect rollen rollen rolles rollewgh rolla rollens rollys
Imperative ren ro, roy rewgh res rens
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
ri ow ri res

Conjunctions

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Certain conjunctions have an additional form used when followed by a vowel, such as ha “and” becoming hag and na “than” becoming nag.[2]

Prepositions

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As in other Celtic languages, Cornish prepositions are simple or complex and may inflect to show person, number and gender. Historically, inflected prepositions derive from the contraction between a preposition and a personal pronoun.

Simple prepositions that inflect belong to one of three groups characterised by their use of the vowel a, o or i. Third person prepositional stems are sometimes slightly different from those of the first and second persons and affection sometimes occurs in the third person singular feminine. Dhe “to” and gans “with” are irregular.[2]

war
“on”
rag
“for”
orth
“at”
dhe
“to”
gans
“with”
singular 1st person warnav
“on me”
ragov
“for me”
orthiv
“at me”
dhymm
“to me”
genev
“with me”
2nd person warnas
“on you”
ragos
“for you”
orthis
“at you”
dhys
“to you”
genes
“with you”
3rd
person
masculine warno
“on him”
ragdho
“for him”
orto
“at him”
dhodho
“to him”
ganso
“with him”
feminine warni
“on her”
rygdhi
“for her”
orti
“at her”
dhedhi
“to her”
gensi
“with her”
plural 1st person warnan
“on us”
ragon
“for us”
orthyn
“at us”
dhyn
“to us”
genen
“with us”
2nd person warnowgh
“on you”
ragowgh
“for you”
orthowgh
“at you”
dhywgh
“to you”
genowgh
“with you”
3rd person warna
“on them”
ragdha
“for them”
orta
“at them”
dhedha
“to them”
gansa
“with them”

Complex prepositions inflect by means of interfixes, whereby the nominal second element is preceded by a pronominal form. This is similar to how instead can become in my stead in archaic English. Mutations may be triggered following the various pronominal forms as seen in the following table.[2]

erbynn
“against”
yn kever
“about”
a-govis
“for the sake of”
singular 1st person er ow fynn
“against me”
yn ow kever, y’m kever
“about me”
a’m govis
“for my sake”
2nd person er dha bynn
“against you”
yn dha gever, y’th kever
“about you”
a’th kovis
“for your sake”
3rd
person
masculine er y bynn
“against him”
yn y gever
“about him”
a’y wovis
“for his sake”
feminine er hy fynn
“against her”
yn hy kever
“about her”
a’y govis
“for her sake”
plural 1st person er agan pynn
“against us”
yn agan kever, y’gan kever
“about us”
a’gan govis
“for our sake”
2nd person er agas pynn
“against you”
yn agas kever, y’gas kever
“about you”
a’gas govis
“for your sake”
3rd person er aga fynn
“against them”
yn aga hever, y’ga hever
“about them”
a’ga govis
“for their sake”

Numbers

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Cardinal numbers

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Similar to other Celtic languages, Cornish has an underlying vigesimal counting system. “Two”, “three” and “four” and derivative numbers have separate masculine (m.) and feminine (f.) forms.[2]

base numeral +10  × 10
m. f.
0 mann 10 deg
1 onan 11 unnek 10 deg
2 dew diw 12 dewdhek 20 ugens
3 tri teyr 13 tredhek 30 deg warn ugens
4 peswar peder 14 peswardhek 40 dew-ugens
5 pymp 15 pymthek 50 hanterkans
6 hwegh 16 hwetek 60 tri-ugens
7 seyth 17 seytek 70 deg ha tri-ugens
8 eth 18 etek 80 peswar-ugens
9 naw 19 nownsek 90 dek ha peswar-ugens

The numbers 21 to 39 employ the connective warn “on the” to join the smaller number to the larger, for example onan warn ugens “21”, naw warn ugens “29” and unnek warn ugens “31”. From 41 onwards, the connecting word is ha “and”, as in onan ha dew-ugens “41”, pymthek ha dew-ugens “55” and nownsek ha peswar-ugens “99”.

Cardinal numbers used to form larger numbers include:

100 kans 1,000 mil 1,000,000 milvil

Beyond 100, it is still possible to use multiples of ugens, such as hwegh-ugens “120”. Kans “100”, mil “1,000” and milvil “1,000,000” are all masculine numbers, for example tri mil “3,000”.

Ordinal numbers

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Ordinal numbers and their abbreviations are shown below. The majority of numbers employ the ordinal suffix -ves.[2]

10ves degves
1a kynsa 11ves unnegves
2a nessa 12ves dewdhegves 20ves ugensves
3a tressa, tryja 13ves tredhegves 30ves degves warn ugens
4a peswara 14ves peswardhegves 40ves dew-ugensves
5es pympes 15ves pymtegves 50ves hanterkansves
6ves hweghves 16ves hwetegves 60ves tri-ugensves
7ves seythves 17ves seytegves 70ves degves ha tri-ugens
8ves ethves 18ves etegves 80ves peswar-ugensves
9ves nawves 19ves nownsegves 90ves degves ha peswar-ugens

Larger numbers also employ the suffix -ves.

100ves kansves 1,000ves milves 1,000,000ves milvilves

In multi-word numbers, the initial smaller number joined with the connector takes the ordinal form, for example kynsa warn ugens “21st” and nownsegves ha peswar-ugens “99th” (not *onan warn ugensves or *nownsek ha peswar-ugensves). In multiword numbers that are not joined by connecting words, the final number takes the ordinal form, for example dew-ugensves “40th”, hwegh-ugenves “120th”, tri milves “3,000th”.

Word order and focus

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The default Cornish word order is verb–subject–object, although like most Celtic languages this is somewhat fluid. Cornish has a system of fronting constituents, in which parts of a sentence can be moved to the front for focus, rather than stressing them in situ as English does. This system has influenced the Anglo-Cornish dialect, heard in the distinctive questioning of dialect speakers such as “Goin’ in’ town are’ee?” and “’S bleddy ’tis”.

In description sentences of the verb bos ‘to be’, the complement is typically fronted:

Merryn

Merryn

ov

am

vy.

I

Merryn ov vy.

Merryn am I

I'm Merryn.

Lowen

Happy

es

were

jy.

you

Lowen es jy.

Happy were you

You were happy.

Other existence sentences of bos front the verb:

Yma

There.is

hi

she

ow

at

kortos

wait.VN

y’n

in.the

gegin.

kitchen

Yma hi ow kortos y’n gegin.

There.is she at wait.VN in.the kitchen

She's waiting in the kitchen.

Yth

VPART

esa

there.was

lyver

book

war

on

an

the

estyllen.

shelf

Yth esa lyver war an estyllen.

VPART there.was book on the shelf

There was a book on the shelf. / A book was on the shelf.

Since Cornish prefers to use a ‘there is’ existence form of bos with indefinite objects (when not fronted for emphasis, that is), an object being definite or indefinite can result in different parts being fronted:

Y

VPART

fydh

will.be

ebost

email

danvenys

sent

yn-mes

out

ynno

in.it

an

the

kedhlow

information

a

of

vri.

relevance

Y fydh ebost danvenys yn-mes ynno an kedhlow a vri.

VPART will.be email sent out in.it the information of relevance

An email will be sent out containing the relevant information. (lit. There’ll be an email sent out.)

An

the

ebost

email

a

SPART

vydh

will.be

danvenys

sent

yn-mes

out

a-vorow.

tomorrow

An ebost a vydh danvenys yn-mes a-vorow.

the email SPART will.be sent out tomorrow

The email will be sent out tomorrow.

Y

VPART

feu

was

kath

cat

gwelys

seen

y’n

in.the

lowarth.

garden

Y feu kath gwelys y’n lowarth.

VPART was cat seen in.the garden

A cat was seen in the garden. (lit. There was a cat seen.)

An

the

gath

cat

a

SPART

veu

was

gwelys

seen

y’n

in.the

lowarth.

garden

An gath a veu gwelys y’n lowarth.

the cat SPART was seen in.the garden

The cat was seen in the garden.

With other verbs, subject-fronted is the default unmarked word order. This still follows the default verb–subject–object order, since sentences of this kind were in origin relative clauses emphasising the subject:

My

me

a

RPART

ros

gave

lyver

book

da

good

dhe

to

das

father

Jowan

Jowan

de.

yesterday

My a ros lyver da dhe das Jowan de.

me RPART gave book good to father Jowan yesterday

I gave a good book to Jowan's father yesterday. (lit. It is me who gave a good book.)

When the sentence's object is a pronoun, it appears before the verb and after the particle a, although it can also appear after the verb for emphasis: My a’s gwel ‘I see her’, or My a’s gwel hi “I see her”. When auxiliary verbs are used, a possessive pronoun is used with the verbal noun: My a wra hy gweles ‘I see her’ (literally “I do her seeing”), or when stressed, My a wra hy gweles hi “I see her”. In both instances, colloquial spoken Cornish may drop all but the suffixed pronouns, to give My a wel hi and My a wra gweles hi, although this is rarely written.

In questions and negative sentences, an interrogative particle and negative particle are used, respectively. These are generally fronted in neutral situations:

A

IPART

wruss’ta

you.did’you

ri

VN.give

an

the

lyver

book

dhodho

to.him

de?

yesterday

A wruss’ta ri an lyver dhodho de?

IPART you.did’you VN.give the book to.him yesterday

Did you give him the book yesterday?

Ny

NPART

wrug

I.did

vy

I

ri

VN.give

an

the

lyver

book

dhodho.

to.him

Ny wrug vy ri an lyver dhodho.

NPART I.did I VN.give the book to.him

I didn't give him the book.

Subject pronouns can be placed before a negative particle for emphasis: My ny vynnav kewsel SowsnekI will not speak English’ or ’As for me, I will not speak English’ (said to be Dolly Pentreath's last words).

Fronting for emphasis

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Besides the “neutral” structures given above, elements of Cornish sentences can be fronted to give emphasis, or when responding to a question with requested information. Fronting involves moving the element to the beginning of the sentence. English typically achieves this by modifying tone or intonation.

There are two particles involved in fronting. The particle a is actually a relative particle used when the subject or direct object of a sentence is fronted. If anything else is fronted, usually adverbials or information headed by prepositions, the particle used is y (yth before a vowel).

Question Response
  • Piw a brenas an bara?
Who bought the bread?
  • Ev a’n prenas.
He bought it. (lit. It was him who bought it)
  • A wrug Mary y brena?
Did Mary buy it?
  • Na wrug, Bob a’n prenas.
No, Bob bought it. (lit. It was Bob who bought it)
  • Pyth a wruss’ta prena?
What did you buy?
  • Keus a brenis.
I bought cheese. (lit. It was cheese that I bought)
  • A wruss’ta prena hemma?
Did you buy this one?
  • Ny wrug vy prena hemma; henna a brenis.
I didn't buy this one; I bought that one. (lit. It was that one that I bought)
  • Pyth a wruss’ta gul?
What did you do?
  • Prena an keus a wrugav.
I bought the cheese. (lit. It was buying the cheese that I did)
  • Peur hwruss’ta y brena?
When did you buy it?
  • Dhe bymp eur y’n prenis.
I bought it at five o’clock. (lit. It was at five o’clock that I bought it)
  • Ple hwruss’ta y brena?
Where did you buy it?
  • Y’n worvarghas y’n prenis.
I bought it in the supermarket. (lit. It was in the supermarket that I bought it)

Nominal syntax

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Determiners precede the noun they modify, while adjectives generally follow it. A modifier that precedes its head noun often causes a mutation, and adjectives following a feminine noun are lenited. Thus:

  • benyn (”a woman”)
  • an venyn (”the woman”; benyn is lenited because it is feminine)
  • tebel venyn (”a wicked woman”; benyn is lenited because tebel “wicked” precedes it)
  • benyn gonnyk (”a smart woman”; konnyk is lenited because it follows a feminine noun)

Genitive relationships are expressed by apposition. The genitive in Cornish is formed by putting two noun phrases next to each other, the possessor coming second. So English “The cat's mother”, or “mother of the cat”, corresponds to Cornish mamm an gath – literally, “mother the cat”; “the project manager's telephone number” is niver pellgowser menystrer an towl – literally, “number telephone manager the project”. Only the last noun in a genitive sequence can take the definite article.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Gerlyver Kernewek". Archived from the original on 9 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Brown, Wella (2001). A Grammar of Modern Cornish. Kesva an Taves Kernewek. ISBN 978-1-902917-00-9.
  3. ^ a b c "Kernewek Dre Lyther". Kesva an Taves Kernewek. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010.
  4. ^ Williams, Nicholas (1997). Clappya Kernowek : an introduction to Unified Cornish Revised. Agan Tavas, the Society for the Promotion of the Cornish Language. p. 18. ISBN 1-901409-01-5. OCLC 38886149.
  5. ^ Toorians, Lauran. "02 Mutations – De Fakkel". Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  6. ^ Williams 1997, p. 20.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Edwards, Ray (1995). Verbow Kernewek. Kesva an Taves Kernewek. ISBN 978-0-907064-48-0.
  • Williams, N. Desky Kernowek (Evertype, 2012)