[Spellyans] Easter morning, etc.

[ajtrim at msn.com]

Jon,

I think that the spelling is in free variation.
I don't know what the sound was, or whether it was constant or variable, but 
I believe that they were intended to rhyme.

We had at least three theories. See my previous post (below.)
Since then a fourth theory has been added: 4) The ending <-ys> was short 
(i.e. [Is] / [Iz]), and the (unusual) spellings <yys> / <yes> / <ijs> were 
just a medieval quirk - more or less confined to past participles.

I have not seen any evidence for dialectal, sociolectal or idiolectal 
factors.
What did you have in mind?

Regards,

Andrew J. Trim



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jon Mills" <j.mills at email.com>
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 2:08 PM
To: "Standard Cornish discussion list" <spellyans at kernowek.net>
Subject: Re: [Spellyans] Easter morning, etc.

> It is possible that the long and short vowel variation is dialectal, 
> sociolectal, idiolectal or simply free variation. It would be naïve to 
> assume that phonological system of Cornish had no such variation.
> Jon
>
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> Anyone,
>>
>> How do we account for this variation in the spelling of <-ys> if the 
>> sound of the vowel was simply that of a short <y>?
>> Why would we have the spellings <yy> / <ye> / <ij> that suggest a long 
>> vowel if it were short?
>>
>>
>> So far we have three theories:
>>
>> 1) Some words had [j] before the ending and some didn't and the 
>> difference was blurred or ignored in rhyme.
>> 2) They all had [j], sometimes spelt but often not spelt.
>> 3) They are all long], sometimes spelt but often not spelt.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Andrew J. Trim
>
>
>
> _____________________________________
> Dr. Jon Mills,
> School of European Culture and Languages,
> University of Kent