William Bodinar's Letter (1776) Original Text wbms: 1 Bluth vee try egance a pemp. wbms: 2 Thera vee dean bodgack an puscas. wbms: 3 Me rig deskey Cornoack termen me vee mawe. wbms: 4 Me vee de more gen seara vee a pemp dean mouy en cock. wbms: 5 Me rig scantlower clowes eden ger Sowsnack en cock rag sythen warebar. wbms: 6 Na riga vee biscath gwellas lever Cornoack. wbms: 7 Me deskey Cornoack moas da more gen tees coath. wbms: 8 Nag es mouy vel pager po pemp en dreav nye ell clapia Cornoack leben, wbms: 9 poble coath pager egance blouth. wbms:10 Cornoack ewe oll naceaves gen poble younk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kernewek Kemmyn (Ystynnyz) wbkk: 1 [Ow] bloedh vy [yw] tri ugens ha pymp. wbkk: 2 Yth ezov vy den boghozek an puskez. wbkk: 3 My a wrug dyski Kernewek [y'n] termyn [ha] my a veu maw. wbkk: 4 My a veu dhe'n mor gans [ow] sira vy ha pymp den moy y'n kog. wbkk: 5 My a wrug skantlowr klywez unn ger Sowsnek y'n kog rag seythun warbarth. wbkk: 6 Ny wruga vy bythkweyth gwelez lyver Kernewek. wbkk: 7 My a wrug dyski Kernewek ow moz dhe'n mor gans tuz koth. wbkk: 8 Nynz eus moy ez pezwar po pymp y'n trev ni a yll klappye Kernewek lemmyn, wbkk: 9 pobel goth pezwar ugens bloedh. wbkk:10 Kernewek yw oll ankevyz gans pobel yowynk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Free Translation 1. I'm sixty-five years old. 2. I'm a poor fisherman. 3. I learnt Cornish when I was a boy. 4. I was at sea with my father and five more men in a fishing boat. 5. I hardly heard a single word of English in the boat for a week at a time. 6. I've never seen a Cornish book. 7. I learnt Cornish going to sea with the old fellows. 8. There's no more than four or five in our village who can talk Cornish now, 9. old folk eighty years old. 10. Cornish had been entirely forgotten by the young. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Notes wbms: 1 Bluth vee try egance a pemp. wbkk: 1 [Ow] bloedh vy [yw] tri ugens ha pymp. wben: 1 My years (of age) [are] three score and five. 1. Possession was originally indicated by a prefixed possessive pronoun -- "ow bloedh". This was always unstressed, the accent falling on the following noun. To emphasis the possessor, a second STRESSED pronoun was added after the noun -- "ow bloedh VY". This form then became more or less routine. Late Cornish probably carried a stronger syllable stress than Middle Cornish so that the initial pronoun was sounded only weakly or not at all. A similar trend can be seen in Welsh. 2. The omission of "yw" is probably accidental. 3. is written for the voiced sound /D/ (as in English "then") as in English and all Middle and Late Cornish writing apart from Lhuyd's work where he used his "universal alphabet", an early attempt at phonetic transcription. This sound is written in almost all forms of revived Cornish. 4. Final /s/ is written <-ce> following English practice. E.g. Cornish "nans" (valley), English "nance". 5. The vowels show the usual regular changes from Middle to Late Cornish: /oe/ > [u:] written or as in "bloedh" > or (line 9); /y/ when final and stressed > [i:] as in "-vy" > written , otherwise /y/ becomes [e] so "pymp" > ; /u/ also becomes [e]; while unstressed /e/ changes to [a] so "ugens" > In "tri-ugens" the stress falls on "ugens" so that the unstressed /i/ of "tri" is written <-y> for [I] or [i], and not <-ye> for [-aj]. 6. According to N.J.A. Williams, the distinction between /oe/ and /o/ and between /i/ and /y/ had been lost before the Middle Cornish period. This interpretation is disproved by Bodinar's first two words, which if Williams is to be believed ought to have been written "Bloath vye" for [blOD vaj], but then what does an ignorant fisherman know about lingusitics? wbms: 2 Thera vee dean bodgack an puscas. wbkk: 2 Yth ezov vy den boghozek an puskez. wben: 2 I'm a poor man of the fishes. 1. The normal MC form would be "Den boghozek ov (vy)" or more emphatically "Yth ov vy den boghozek". The 'long form' of the verb 'to be', that is "ezov" rather than "ov" was normally reserved for saying where something was or when it happened and was extended to include sentences with "orth/ow(th)" + verbal noun, such as "Yth ezov vy ow moz" 'I'm going'. Here the long form has been used in place of the copula, a trend that has parallels in other Celtic languages. 2. The of "thera" is unvoiced, as in English "theory". The unstressed initial /y/ is lost. 3. The /gh/ of "boghozek" coming before the stress would have been a weakly articulated [h] or [x], perhaps partly voiced, even in MC. In Late Cornish it was lost completely and the first two syllables coalesced. 4. The sound /z/ is not distinguished from /s/ in traditional Cornish, spelling or indeed in standard Kernewek Kemmyn. It developed from an original /d/ and may have been somewhat palatalised to something like [Z] (as in French "jour") in MC before front vowels. In LC this seems to have been confused with and eventually substituted by the English "j" sound [dZ] (as in "judge") hence "boghozek" /bo'hozeg/ > ['bodZak] . Otherwise /z/ generally remained as [z] probably no longer distinguished from [s]. Thus the final of may stand for [s] ~ [z]. The third development of /z/ to [r] occures in /ezov/ > [era] and a few other words. 5. The final of MC "boghozek" is historically a /g/ and could be voiced or unvoiced according to context. I.e. it would normally be voiced if closely followed by a voiced sound. The LC spelling suggests that the voiceless allophone [k] may have been generalised. 6. In addition to unstressed /e/ > [a], this line also shows that unstressed /o/ > [a] in "ezov" > . Long stressed /e/ may have become more closed ([E:] > [e:]) and is now distinguished by the spelling in "dean". 7. The ([y]?) in MC "puskez" corresponds to [I] in other forms of this word. It may have become rounded by contact with the [p] as in Welsh "pump" 'five' where Cornish retains the original form "pymp". It does not change to LC as might be expected like "ugens" > . wbms: 3 Me rig deskey Cornoack termen me vee mawe. wbkk: 3 My a wrug dyski Kernewek [y'n] termyn [ha] my a veu maw. wben: 3 I did learn Cornish [at] the time [that] I was a boy. wbms: 4 Me vee de more gen seara vee a pemp dean mouy en cock. wbkk: 4 My a veu dhe'n mor gans [ow] sira vy ha pymp den moy y'n kog. wben: 4 I was at sea with my father and five more men in the fishing boat. wbms: 5 Me rig scantlower clowes eden ger Sowsnack en cock rag sythen warebar. wbkk: 5 My a wrug skantlowr klywez unn ger Sowsnek y'n kog rag seythun warbarth. wben: 5 I did hardly hear one word of English in the boat for a week together. wbms: 6 Na riga vee biscath gwellas lever Cornoack. wbkk: 6 Ny wruga vy bythkweyth gwelez lyver Kernewek. wben: 6 I didn't ever see a Cornish book. wbms: 7 Me [rig] deskey Cornoack moas da more gen tees coath. wbkk: 7 My a wrug dyski Kernewek ow moz dhe'n mor gans tuz koth. wben: 7 I did learn Cornish going to sea with old(er) people. wbms: 8 Nag es mouy vel pager po pemp en dreav nye ell clapia Cornoack leben, wbkk: 8 Nynz eus moy ez pezwar po pymp y'n trev ni a yll klappye Kernewek lemmyn, wben: 8 There aren't more than four or five in our village that can talk Cornish now, wbms: 9 poble coath pager egance blouth. wbkk: 9 pobel goth pezwar ugens bloedh. wben: 9 old people four score years (of age). wbms:10 Cornoack ewe oll naceaves gen poble younk. wbkk:10 Kernewek yw oll ankevyz gans pobel yowynk. wben:10 Cornish is all forgotten by young people. 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