[Spellyans] Introduction

[David Trethewey]

Thanks for the welcome.

I have actually had the chance to look at the original texts in a 
lecture course up at my uni in Cambridge.

Paul Russell, a Welsh scholar also lectures short courses in Cornish and 
Breton, and I had the chance to read extracts from the original texts of 
Origo Mundi, Passyon agan Arluth and Bewnans Meriasek.

    As a learner, I hope I can provide a learner's perspective on the 
current discussions.I have learnt from a variety of materials, beginning 
in UC with the book Cornish for Beginners by Peter Pool. I've also 
learnt from books in Kemmyn. I've been undeterred by the arguments about 
the orthography, it can easily be seen that the modern form, whichever 
orthography, is the same language as the traditional one.
     I can see the argument for traditional spelling partly because that 
makes the traditional texts so much more accessible. I also think that 
it is important to ensure that the orthography makes it possible to know 
as accurately as possible how to pronounce words. With the increasing 
availability of online podcasts and the like, we may find this less of a 
problem as time goes on, but for myself having learnt mostly from texts, 
I found this one of the main advantages of Kemmyn.
    I think that KS does quite a good job of reconciling traditional 
spellings with pronouncability. In my opinion the main difficulty with 
the SWF is that it is not a single form. By giving options in spelling 
with its side forms and variant forms it perpetuates the tripartite 
split. What will happen is each party will produce their own 
dictionaries, learning resources etc. one in the Main Form, the other in 
Late, the other in the traditional graphs. With a single written form, 
we could produce a single dictionary for the entire revived language. 
The problem with having 3 written forms, is that as each party produces 
its own dictionary etc. we will have different neologisms and borrowings 
and the split will grow over time.
    I'm trying to grow my vocabulary by reading texts in the language. 
This has been mostly Kemmyn texts so far (An Gannas, a book of poetry in 
Kemmyn and some stories by Wella Brown), but what do people recommend 
for what I should read next? I'm slightly reluctant to change completely 
to UCR since that will be supplanted in time by something based on KS or 
the SWF-Tradycyonal and I'd have to change my spelling twice.

David

Ray Chubb wrote:
> Durdadha why David ha welcum.
>
> Aswonys on ny a eyl y gela.
>
> On 2 Gen 2009, at 09:48, David Trethewey wrote:
>
>> I have just subscribed, and wish to introduce myself.
>> I have been learning Cornish for about 2 years, and have been 
>> following the discussions about the SWF and wish to learn more about 
>> the language, and ensure that what I learn is as authentic as possible.
>>
>> David Trethewey
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Spellyans mailing list
>> Spellyans at kernowek.net
>> http://kernowek.net/mailman/listinfo/spellyans_kernowek.net
>
> Ray Chubb
>
> Portreth
> Kernow
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Spellyans mailing list
> Spellyans at kernowek.net
> http://kernowek.net/mailman/listinfo/spellyans_kernowek.net