[Spellyans] An Abecedary Kernowek

[ajtrim at msn.com]

All vowels have their long sound as their name. That's OK, I think.
For the long and short forms, I would just add ber or hir, rather than 
trying to describe the diacritical mark used.
For the alternative forms ë and ÿ, I would add eylyans.

All consonants use the vowel, e (sometimes long; sometimes short), except 
for q.
Why not make q = qwê?

Most consonant names start with the consonant and have -ê suffixed.
Why don't f, h, l, m, n, r, s, x conform?
It's because these consonants can be pronounced long, so to emphasise these, 
we start with a short e, we suffix the consonant, and we pronounce it long.

x is an exception to these "rules". It should be called xê.

v could be ev but it is called vê to distinguish it from ef. That's OK.

h could be eh. However, this is difficult to say distinctly, so I recommend 
egh.
Teaching the alphabet will then reinforce the connection between h and gh, 
and it would help to teach the sound of gh at the same time.
The name, êch does not conform, and it isn't helpful.


Regards,

Andrew J. Trim



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Michael Everson" <everson at evertype.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 11:06 PM
To: "Spellyans" <spellyans at kernowek.net>
Subject: [Spellyans] An Abecedary Kernowek

> You all know how fond I am of alphabets. I'd like to establish letter- 
> names for the Cornish alphabet.
>
> I have seen lists, both from KK and from other sources, which treat  "some 
> digraphs as letters, but that practice (similar to practice to  Welsh and 
> Breton) is outdated; we do not use it in our dictionaries  and we have 
> other diagraphs like "sh" and "lh" and "th" and so on.  Nevertheless, here 
> is what I have seen:
>
> Wella Brown's KK alphabet (omits C, Q, X and Z):
>
> a, be, cha, de, e, ev, ge, ha, i, je, ka, el, em, en, o, pe, ar, es,  te, 
> u, ve, we, ye
>
> An alphabet (possibly from Talek?):
>
> ah, be, ce, de, edh, e, fe, ge, egh, he, je, ke, el, em, en, o, pe,  que, 
> er, es, te, the, u, ve, we, ya, ze
>
> This is written to fit the Alphabet Song, thus:
>
> ah be ce de edh e fe
> ge egh he je ke el em
> en o pe que er es te
> the u ve we ya [ha] ze
>
> As I say, I don't think we can have "ch", "dh", "gh", or "th" as 
> "letters" whilst omitting "sh" and "wh" and so on. In particular since 
> the usage isn't uniform
>
> I give below a set of letter names for the alphabet in KS.
>
> Comments, please. In particular, what about "h" and "q" and "r" and "w"?
>
> A a â
> Â â â to bian
> À à â sogh
> B b bê
> C c cê
> D d dê
> E e ê
> Ê ê ê to bian
> È è ê sogh
> Ë ë ê dewboynt
> F f ef
> G g gê
> H h êch
> I i î
> Î î î to bian
> Ì ì î sogh
> J j jê
> K k kê
> L l ell
> M m èm
> N n èn
> O o ô
> Ô ô ô to bian
> Ò ò ô sogh
> P p pê
> Q q cû, kuw
> R r àr, èr
> S s ess
> T t tê
> U u û
> Û û û to bian
> Ù ù û sogh
> V v vê
> W w wê
> X x ex
> Y y yê
> Ÿ ÿ yê dewboynt
> Z z zê
>
> This is not for the Alphabet Song, though all that needs doing for  that 
> is to add some ha's and then write two lines for the end of the  song:
>
> â, bê, cê, dê, ê, ef, gê,
> êch, î, jê, kê, ell, èm, èn, ô, pê
> cû, èr, ess, tê, û ha vê,
> wê hag ex ha yê ha zê.
>
> Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com
>
>
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