WIKITONGUES: Elizabeth speaking Cornish

Elizabeth speaks the Cornish language, known natively as Kernewek or Kernowek. Recorded in Truro, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom.
The speaker(s) featured herein have not explicitly agreed to distribute this video for reuse. For inquiries on licensing this video, please contact [e-mail].
Good evening, I’m Elizabeth and I live in Cornwall, I’m Cornish and I speak the Cornish language. I’m a Cornish speaker.
So, I began to learn Cornish when I was... around about seven years old, I think. My mother was learning Cornish at evening classes and she came home and taught me and my brother to speak the language. Then my father learnt it too. And we all spoke the language together at home, when we were eating together and so on, ‘pass me the salt’ etc.
And we went to lots of events together, like Cornish Language Weekends organised by the Cornish Language Fellowship. These events were for people who wanted to learn Cornish and I remember going there with my brother and playing with all the other children who were learning Cornish. There was a large group of us in those days, and all those children have now grown up, like me, and some of them are having children of their own now, so that’s the next generation of people learning Cornish as children, from their childhood. So that’s very good.
The language did die out, about two hundred years ago, but after a hundred years of nobody speaking it as a community language people began to revive it and over the last century more and more people have learnt it.
When I came back from university I... well, I wanted to return to Cornwall and do something, I didn’t know what, but I was in the right place at the right time and in 2002 Cornish was recognised as an official language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and for the first time ever there was funding, some money for the language. And because of that there were some new jobs, to do things with the language, and I was the second person to get a job developing the language. So I was a language officer.
But now, well, I live in Truro, here. I don’t work with the language any more, I don’t earn my living from it, but I still do things like this. Tonight I am leading a Yeth an Werin (conversation group) with some people who are learning Cornish and some who are more fluent. Sometimes there are lots of us, other times there aren’t so many, but people come every fortnight to chat together. So I lead this. And also I present a radio programme, ‘The News’ on BBC Radio Cornwall, so I present that and that’s very, very good. It’s the only programme in Cornish on an official radio station. There’s another programme but that’s only available online. Besides that, well, I work at Truro Cathedral and I have a cat. My cat is called Ted. And I have a partner called Ross.
So yeah, that’s all from me, I think. I can’t remember, I can’t think of what else to say. So yeah, that’s all. Goodbye!
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[@MrEnaric]

Like Frisian?

[@orkunyucel3095]

In fact, they are the last remaining descendants of the true owners of the British Isles. Education in mother tongue is a human right. Education should be given entirely in Kernewek language in this region in primary, high school and university. The descendants of the Anglo-Saxons owe at least this much to this people

[@tudormiller887]

Gorgeous language. ❤

[@FrozenMermaid666]

The pretty languages that are less known should be added to Duolingo and G translate etc and documented more, including Icelandic / Norse / Faroese / Gothic / Breton / Cornish (which are one of the prettiest languages ever like English and Dutch and Norwegian and Danish and Welsh) and also Manx / West Frisian / North Frisian / East Frisian / Sognamål / Limburgish / Twents / Luxembourgish / Greenlandic Norse / Old Swedish / East Norse / Old Norwegian / Old Danish / Old Faroese / Old Icelandic / Old English / Middle English / Old Dutch / Middle Dutch etc and Occitan / Galician / Miranese / Gallo / Latin / Guernsey / Walloon / Aranese and Slovene and Venetian / Sicilian / Friulian / Ladin / Corsican / Sardinian / Neapolitan / Pretarolo etc and other pretty languages - I highly recommend learning the prettiest and most refined / modern / poetic and coolest languages ever Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / English / Norwegian / Gothic / Welsh / Breton / Cornish / Faroese / Danish, which are the languages of the future that all should be learning fluently!

[@FrozenMermaid666]

Cornish sounds very elvish, like Norse and Welsh and English and Icelandic and Dutch - I watched the video with Icelandic sub!

[@theeastman9136]

This is very interesting; as a French speaker, before I learned how to speak English, this is what English sounded like to me. The rythm, the unfamiliar 'th" and "r" sounds, yes, everything sounds just like English then sounded to me.

[@nickdavidelijah]

yes i noticed the "th" and "r" is very hard for french speakers, even the fluent speakers keep that strong accent

[@sepgorut2492]

That's because she's English.

[@theeastman9136]

Sepgorut Do you mean that she has an English accent and that her Cornish is flawed? Do you speak Cornish yourself?

[@YourName-tt8tz]

@@nickdavidelijahjust a little tidbit from a linguist/philologist/polyglot by hobby, credentials, and profession... some sounds you actually have to hear from birth or at least early on in order for your ear to develop the "muscle" to be able to hear it and discern it from other sounds. If you dont exercise that part of the ear, it is possible you will never be able to hear that sound and come adulthood, there is no way you will ever fix that. The TH for francophones is a good example. Some french speakers, and no it ain't all of em but there a a number of them, who never hear the sound "thhhhuh" since it doesn't exist in French. TH in french is just T. BIBLIOTHEQUE is bib-lee-oh-TEK...not like the original Greek word viv-lee-oh-THEE-kee. Those who dont ever exercise this ear "muscle" come adulthood won't be able to hear the difference between THHHHUH and ZZZZZUH. You can try all day....THis THing. Yes, ziss sang! Zay won't get why zay are not sounding zee way zat you do. Sounds the same to them either way. There are several of these sounds. Another famous one is Japan and the L. To someone raised never hearing the sound L like LLLULLLLabye, the sound becomes indistinguishable from R. So they rearry rearry rike retting go and just chirring!

[@jonmatthews4254]

can you say "the" or do you say "ze"?

[@michaelschudlak513]

I'm fluent in welsh and I understood a little over 30% of this.

[@crowhillian58]

+Michael Schudlak You answered the question in my head, thanks. :)

[@ashmckinlay1402]

cool mate, is it similar to the difference between modern standard English and Scots, or is Welsh and Cornish split a little more far apart than that?

[@harrywhitehead7442]

Considerably further, since there was little contact between Welsh and Cornish (Scots and English on the other hand formed a dialect continuum). It's also worth noting that Cornish spoken toady is heavily influenced by Middle Cornish (ie medieval Cornish) simply because for those who were reviving the language there were more surviving sources of Middle Cornish (manuscripts, letters, literature etc) than Late Cornish (ie the Cornish that was spoken by the time it became extinct). Modern Welsh on the other hand has developed naturally.

[@ashmckinlay1402]

+Harry Whitehead wow very interesting, thanks! answered my question and more.

[@Sapphire_blue15]

+Michael Schudlak I was going to say it sounds Welsh with a Cornish accent lol

[@jackaylward-williams9064]

It's weird hearing someone speak with an English accent without speaking English.

[@chrismagee333]

Indeed! It wouldn't have originally been spoken like that but it died out and had to be revived. The old English languages had a bit of a Dutch tang as we'd hear them today. If we did a Bill and Ted and met Henry VIII we'd not have much idea what he was talking about and the Newcastle accent is one of the closest to things were pronounced in centuries past and maybe a Welsh speaker would get some of it. This is Cornish via a range of southern UK counties.

[@jasperfk]

@@chrismagee333 Cornish wouldn't have sounded like Geordie, though

[@chrismagee333]

@@jasperfk true

[@armand9404]

@@chrismagee333 it's a British language like Welsh, not Anglo-Saxon.

[@mayapearson8944]

raymond sugary do you know anything about British history??

[@tegwenhafparry5524]

Wow as a native Welsh speaker, I understood most of that without the subtitles! Celts together forever!!!!

[@ailinos]

Cymru am byth agus Éirinn go brách :)

[@blindknitter]

Even as an Irish speaker I caught some of it!!! Lovely to hear it spoken.

[@wesmundo154]

Haha same. I understood loads of it. Weird!

[@craigmorrison1353]

As a rubbish Scots Gaelic learner I even picked up the odd word.

[@MrRomero00]

@Random Floppa the english are more celtic than they are germanic. The cornish are slightly more germanic than the average irish or Scottish person. They are still mostly britonnic in origin. Not to mention cornish was still spoken in Cornwall all the way into the late 1700s

[@thomas.gentil]

I'm from Brittany, and Cornish sounds just like Breton with an English accent. Brav eo !

[@motro1301]

Oh great! So are you like native breton speaker?

[@thomas.gentil]

​@@motro1301 Unlike my grandparents, it is not my mother tongue unfortunately, as Breton has been heavily suppressed after WW2. I've been learning it on my own, with the help of native speakers.

[@motro1301]

@@thomas.gentil oh i see. Still great that its a living language

[@thomas.gentil]

@@motro1301 It is definitely a living language, the main problem is the French state, that won't officially recognize it as such.

[@HN-kr1nf]

@@thomas.gentil where can i learn breton

[@dannywithington5786]

There's quite a lot of similarities between Cornish & Welsh. I was pleasantly surprised how much I could understand.

[@danielmorris3415]

And Breton..

[@omly85]

+DruidoftheBlackSun I completely support you.

[@Truepumpkin]

+Danny Withington I'm a welsh speaker and I was shocked aswell!

[@danbytp]

Danny Withington Wales and Cornwall are just a few miles across the water;so,it stands to reason that they are similar and overlap to some respect.I'm studying both as I have ancestors and current relatives who speak those languages.

[@withastone]

considering that modern Cornish was straight up invented using Welsh to fill in the major gaps in the documentary evidence, I am hardly shocked

[@gnelson6200]

This is so bitchin! I’m glad you are keeping your language alive. I’m learning my own dialect as well, Athabaskan-Navajo. It is danger of dying out so I learn new things as much as I can. Keep the little ones learning it for sure.

[@cs2m12]

This confuses me. I thought Athabasken was the native language of some Native Alaskan's, and the Navajo were south-western; around New Mexico, Arizona, and maybe Northern Mexico. This seems maybe simple to some, but I worked around the Kikitagruak Inupiaq Eskimos of the Northwest Arctic Borough in Alaska and was told they migrated from Mongolia. If you have time and know; let me know how they became tied together. I am aware that the Chikaloon tribe is not Eskimo.

[@hoathanatos6179]

@@cs2m12 Navajo is a Southern Athabaskan language. It is spoken far from the other Athabaskan languages but it is still related to them and not the other languages surrounding it. It is similar to Cherokee being an Iroquois language but being spoken much further south in the US than most of the other Iroquois languages.

[@kamiskenaw4340]

Nīya nehiyaw ēkwa Anishnabbowin

[@kamiskenaw4340]

I'm Cree and Saultaux

[@malins5819]

@@hoathanatos6179 This is so interesting! Thank you! 🙂

[@rpiereck74]

Feels like I forgot all English and I am hearing it for the first time. Some sounds are unique, but many are very similar, I just can't understand anything! Unsurprisingly so, as Cornish and English have co-existed in the same area for centuries. Thank you for sharing!

[@Abshenonas]

The truth is that because the speaker is not native, she, like every other speaker today, will not have an authentic speaker. If you played this to a foreigner, he would say that she's speaking English

[@Rhoslyn_y_Swynwraig]

+Trent Report No, a foreigner who couldn't speak either language would still be able to hear an English and a Cornish speaker and tell they're not speaking the same language just from flow and sound (as long as the Cornish speaker wasn't dropping into English at all). Definitely wouldn't be able to tell Welsh, Cornish and Breton apart, and probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart from Irish either but English sounds nothing like any of them, it belongs to a different family altogether and has a lot of unusual features that makes it stick out.

[@MrHorribad]

+Ro Mills Exactly. Same deal with Scots and Gaelic. An English mate of mine can tell that they are two distinct languages despite speaking neither.

[@simgingergirl]

+Otaner Kcereip It sounds just like Welsh.

[@Kazilikaya]

+Trent Report The English language is heavily influenced phonetically by Celtic languages..including Cornish and Welsh.

[@yannschonfeld5847]

I speak Breton and even without subtitles and despite her English accent, I can understand at least half of what Elizabeth says here

[@АндрейБогуславский-б9о]

tri-en russ aussi tri ( 3 )

[@ikbintom]

Really? That is amazing 🤩 thanks for answering the question I was googling for

[@aubepinenoire]

It's incredible. I'm a brezhoneg (breton) speaker and I was able to understand a lot. Dediennet on gant ar yezh-mañ, ha kurius on da welet pegen tost emañ ouzh ma yezh din-me. Spi 'meus e yelo da vezañ implijet muioc'h-mui en-dro yezh Bro-Gerne Veur !

[@benl7588]

As a man of Cornish ancestry who has taught himself Welsh, this is astounding. I can understand Cornish (roughly) with my Welsh!

[@TheKyleodgers]

Have a crack at Cornish? www.kernoweklulyn.com/

[@jimclark1374]

@@TheKyleodgers : Some audio examples would be helpful.

[@williamsrhyn]

Wales, Cornwall and Brittany all have languages that somehow sound similar as they all come from the Brythonic branch, in order to piece together how we spoke 1500 years ago in Briton it's important to keep all the celtic languages alive and if possible, reintroduce old forgotten words back into our languages.

[@Happydancer9]

So was your comment.

[@alanvt1]

Why?

[@williamsrhyn]

Alan Thomas reconstruction within films, games, audio, plays, it also has its place in the science, nasa keeps a record of every existing languages in order to one day decipher alien messages (sounds sci-fi.. I know), also it could also decipher archeological finds.. who knows

[@sealyham5783]

Rwilliams how would keeping track of all languages allow them to decipher alien messages?

[@tai2527]

sealy ham Linguists study all sorts of languages, and the knowledge and experience they gain from learning about the characteristics of communication on Earth might give clues when they have to decipher an extraterrestrial language. So even though it is unlikely that an ET will turn up speaking the Taa language, if they turn up speaking in clicks, it might help us to already have recordings and studies of how Taa people produce and use their different clicks.

[@lupe556]

Sounds like English in reverse

[@SouLoveReal]

Yeah... And probably pronounced "shinrock."

[@PewPewPlasmagun]

You mean English sounds Cornish in reverse-

[@daisybostock4726]

A wre'ta kewsel kernewek? No. So you wouldn't know..

[@MCA391]

lupe556 Sounds more like a english chick after 10 shots of jagermeister.... ***completly non-sense---- uncomprenhensible****

[@craigj.davies1983]

Do you speak Cornish as well?

[@Tsumami__]

How lovely to have been raised by an intelligent mother who took it upon herself to learn Cornish and then taught it to her whole family. She had an awesome mother

[@dukadarodear2176]

I'm Irish. This sounds like Welsh to me. Very interesting. What I find more interesting is that while we Irish and Scots are forever talking (in English) about how important it is to speak Gaelic, more than a million Welsh never talk about it but get on with speaking it....and they live cheek to jowl with the Sasanachs.

[@moogmouthgoiawn]

@Gethinm interesting! I could understand like 90% of what she was saying. Ella ma’n dibynnu ar dy acen neu wbath.

[@baybeegalkk]

Not enough ‘ch’ (soft snore sound) to sound Welsh for me.

[@jonathandavies5532]

A lovely ], sage and erudite comment from our cousin from beautiful Eire (Yr Iwerddon), Diolch Yn Fawr. Nb as the Joke (compliment) goes in Wales, Irish folk are really Welsh Folk who could swim !!

[@byrne8509]

Because the state doesn't make, or want, to make a direct attempt at making Gaeilge the first language. The way it is taught in school is widely despised by most Irish students and creates a bad association with their own ancestral tongue. The only organizations that make an attempt at making Gaeilge more attractive are NGOs like Gael Linn. Our state allegiance is to the EU and their agenda, and not to Ireland.

[@ignotumperignotius630]

"Sasanachs"? i'm going to guess its some jibe

[@happybluesplayer]

The fact that there are now about 2000 people are fluent fills me with great hope for humanity. Come on people of Cornwall, be proud of your unique language! As a tourist, I would much rather hear cornish spoken on the streets than english.

[@officialbobkine5608]

Depending on where you live you can find places that teach cornish, im currently studying in St Austell preparing to do my level 1 exam. You can find lists and maps which give you locations and contact details on which you can find your nearest lesson.

[@mingellbingell9426]

Is r mother language

[@ehshasa]

this comment is nice in its intention, but god is that last sentence entitled...

[@blindknitter]

Now three thousand.

[@laurint1]

@@blindknitter Fantastic I a so happy people are learning

[@seancoleman5021]

I read library a book about the history of the Cornish language thirty years ago or more. I think it was by Peter Beresford Ellis and I was stunned. Was it possible that a language existed in the far south-west of England that I hadn't even heard about? He used the metaphor (as I recall) of a fire. The flames died out but the revivalists blew on the embers and brought it back to life. I learnt the basics a few years ago; if you have an obsessive interest in languages you do this kind of thing. Two things about this speaker strike me: how English she sounds and how fluent. I didn't think it was possible to get so fluent when there are so few who (I presume) have a sufficient command of the language to hold a conversation. It is an odd thing how people in the British Isles look abroad for diversity and the exotic when there are ancient literary languages (Gaelic and Welsh) within the borders of their own countries.

[@mattep1ao]

I agree wholeheartedly we should embrace our own culture and history more before native British people are the minority lol

[@Isochest]

I think that's why we realise we need to revive the Celtic Languages. We have been the victim of an elite experiment (the unlimited immigration thing). English is Globish now so we need our own indigenous languages to take centre stage.

[@PewPewPlasmagun]

There is still Shakespear and the Canterbury Tales. Even though they might be Middle English, they can be made use of.

[@soniarose1983]

I completely agree! Looking at the UK and its countries and minorities within, as an Australian of mostly English ancestry it is incredible!! There is so much to see and learn about Cornwall, Wales, England , Scotland and Ireland too. I want to hire a car when I go so that I dont just have to whizz past. I think Australians (mainly of English descent) feel like they don't have an exotic culture either, but its not true. Its just another fascinating chapter in our shared story

[@LaurelCanyon1969]

She doesn't sound English to me - she sounds Cornish.

[@ranulfwhitewolf1106]

Keep up the good work Elizabeth! I am working on Scottish Gaelic and plan to learn Welsh and the other surviving Celtic languages afterward. I think it's important to protect linguistic and cultural diversity, because it provides a window to our past and gives people different ways of thinking. It's a testament to the power of a dedicated community that Cornish has been revived. It gives the other Celtic languages hope, so don't stop. And post your own Cornish lessons on KZbin if you haven't already.

[@tedi1932]

It is so close to Welsh that I can identify many similar words and phrases. I have been trying to learn some Scottish Gaelic but apart from some grammatical similarities, I find Gaelic very different especially the spelling!!

[@andrewjennings7306]

@@tedi1932 tha gàidhlig gle math agus tha mi ag iarraidh tha gàidhlig agat.

[@tedi1932]

@@andrewjennings7306 Tapadh leat Anndra, ach mar neach-labhairt Cuimreach, tha mi a ’faighinn Gaelig gu math duilich, oir eu-coltach ris a’ Chuimris chan eil e fonaig.

[@KeithMcormack895]

Gaelic is more like Irish

[@HBC101TVStudios]

@@KeithMcormack895 because Scots Gaelic evolved from Middle Irish

[@StephenDPRK]

As a named descendent of Cornish miners who emigrated to Australia over 150 years ago, this is the first time I have ever heard Cornish. Thank you !

[@green.beanss]

Wow do you mean the Cornish miners in south Australia?? I am also Cornish, my dad born and raised there, long lineage of Cornish people, but moved to Australia when I was 18 months, I’m very interested in my Cornish heritage at the moment, nice to see a fellow Cornish Australian

[@davythfear1582]

I started learning Cornish just four months ago, and am really pleased that I can understand everything she speaks. She has a very clear accent and unambiguous way of expressing herself.

[@BeorEviols]

Sounds like English to a non English speaker.

[@apofis231]

Yup. English gets the majority of its phonology from Celtic languages. The only reason its considered Germanic is because of sentence structure

[@squigoo]

probably because cornish speakers are all bilingual in cornish and english

[@apofis231]

***** nah if you can actually speak a goidelic language you'll know that the "sounds" of the languages are extremely close to the sounds of english even though english gets most of its words from latin

[@apofis231]

squigoo that too

[@apofis231]

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Origins_of_English_PieChart.svg 58% of english vocabulary has latin origin, mate

[@dearbhladd]

This is wonderful, maith thú! Homage from another Celtic language that survives on!

[@SM_zzz]

Is ea! 🇮🇪

[@dukadarodear2176]

Beo, ach ar leaba an bháis . ......😢

[@SM_zzz]

@@dukadarodear2176 Is trua é ach tá sé beo fós, i nGaillimh agus i gcontae Mhaigh Eó. Níl alán Gaeilge agam ach ba mhaith liom é a labhairt le mo cháilín as Inis Mór, sin Gaeilge difriúl ar fad! Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste ná Béarla cliste! ;)

[@tainahollo]

Elisabeth, your mother did such an unbelievable thing, wow!!! She practically saved Cornish in your family.

[@michel5286]

You speak very well. I can understand and i'm breton.

[@1diverdt]

I LOVE this! This is my first time hearing/seeing Cornish spoken!!!

[@petertrebilco9430]

Elizabeth, I’m half way through the saysomethingin syllabus, and already I understand about thirty percent of your commentary. Thanks for being a great inspiration. I’ve been put in touch with two other speakers of Cornish in Japan, so we have a tiny group that enjoys studying together on Zoom! Very grateful to you for posting this video!

[@tinterlight-iz5tl]

Important to keep these languages and cultures alive - makes the world more interesting and lovely

[@KathrynLiz1]

Wonderful to hear that Kernewek is growing in Kernow... I am in New Zealand but my Cornish blood is strong in me and as I am now in my 80s I will almost for certain never tread the soil of my land again. However, I am interested in learning as much of my "native tongue" as I can, even at this great distance. To hear you speak so fluently gladdens my old heart, and I must attempt to learn as much as I can.

[@interestingusername2633]

As a fluent welsh speaker i understood so much of this!

[@cak8132]

I think it’s wonderful that people are learning the Cornish language and keeping it alive.

[@jrizzo0425]

This sounds to me like what I imagine that English sounds like to non-English speakers

[@chloemay5392]

jrizzo0425 I was thinkin the same shit

[@tomasheller6072]

Yes, kinda

[@multilanguagefilmsyangsing3426]

jrizzo0425 She’s speaking it in an English accent that’s why

[@huell938]

It's actually super close to Welsh, I recognise a lot of words when she speaks and I don't even speak Cornish

[@mikesaunders4775]

English actually sounds more like Swedish.

[@devlynevans5625]

I'm a fluent Welsh speaker and surprisingly understood quite a lot. At times I could follow fairly easily other times I got lost but even without reading the English translation I had a fair understanding of what she said. Dal at i Elizabeth, cadw dy'r iaeth yn fyw!

[@adjective8305]

Amazing how as a Welsh speaker I understood a lot of this!

[@MatthewTheStrogg234]

Even though I don't speak either, some of it reminded me of what I've heard of Welsh too. Makes sense since they're both descended from the same language

[@eggybrain2896]

me as well.

[@joannechisholm4501]

That's because they are part of the Brythonic Language indigenous to the UK

[@joannechisholm4501]

@@MatthewTheStrogg234 They are its called Brythonic Language it used to be part of one Language like Cumbric,

[@EdwardCullen667]

Fi ‘fyd!

[@roshniaslam4760]

Elizabeth you are amazing! I'm learning Kernewek myself right now; its tough, not getting much practise opportunities, but its a beautiful language and each time I watch this video, I understand a little more of it!

[@pippastrelle]

Oh my goodness. I'm a Welsh learner and I can understand some of this! This is so cool!

[@lazytravelr5388]

turn on the subtitles... absolutely hilarious

[@wuxuoaouang8607]

LAZYTRAVELR lol

[@siluraco341]

"I get better burguers browse Hannon and dizzy"

[@donatist59]

"...in gangs, nervous to seize your tyskie".

[@MrMikkyn]

Yeth a ruge merwell, dougans, dogans, mithens, tisaroog, blithen, autiskey, pen skull, goth wart pith. A swanis gangs en eropic is harandiriel, theres a hassen ragenyeth, sore thall, nesaperson, displegia, and yeth. Ravioli and dendolo, and golbert, hennah hanneth, is an autiskey muy freth, laser hannon, rasmus, gehenna, mera urnsal dolsen in Kernuick.

[@DaisyLloyd]

LAZYTRAVELR s

[@adamhovey407]

What you said after your first name says a bit like my surname (we pronounce it "Huh-Vee". Glad to see Cornish alive and well. Language extinction makes we want to cry.

[@alicemi4155]

I couldn't agree more.

[@RedInferno112]

Elisabeth ov vy - I am Elisabeth.

[@rogergriffith286]

Good to hear such a high degree of fluency.

[@ljones7942]

I'm Welsh and I Pretty much understood most of that. fascinating!

[@MyNeill]

It's really fascinating. I love this video. Bits of Breton too.

[@albertconstantine5432]

I loved this, hearing it years after it was recorded. Thank you, Elizabeth. The Fishwife of Mousehole would be proud.

[@heimerblaster976]

Elizabeth hooray for you and you language ! I hope many in Cornwall learn it as well and that it becomes widely spoken.

[@casperado666]

This is amazing how languages survive in spite of everything

[@Jeanne7774]

How quaint and sweet. We must keep these languages alive

[@Lascombe]

I love celtic languages. I'm focused on gaulish, gaelics and welsh atm, it's impossible not to notice similarities between them all.

[@BigJon94]

My ancestor, Christopher Averitt, came to Virginia from Cornwall in 1630. His decedents settled in Alabama around 200 years ago where many of us live to this day. My understanding of the history of Cornwall leads me to believe that Christopher's father may not have spoken English very much or possibly at all. Of course, I may be terribly incorrect in that estimation.

[@roberthudson3386]

By 1630 most Cornish people could speak English, a century before not so much.

[@marsgal42]

I'm hearing a strong English accent, but as a resurrected formerly-dead language it's hard to know what Cornish should sound like. I assume modern Hebrew had many of the same issues and many early revived speakers had strong Yiddish accents... If she spoke with a Welsh accent it would sound like Welsh. But the English of Cornwall has a very different accent, so Cornish probably did too.

[@dustinDraig]

I hear an English "flow"--the intonation and the verbal pauses especially. I also hear a West country accent, and I wonder whether this is due to phonological aspects of Cornish itself or her accent as someone from the southwest. I imagine it is a bit of both--the Cornish-English accent probably has its roots in Cornish originally, then was mostly retained when they switched to English, and thus influences their pronunciation of revived Cornish today.

[@LukeOfTroy]

I heard west country too. Wondered also where that might've come from.

[@chrisharrison763]

That's not a "West country" accent. It's a Cornish accent. It's extremely distinctive.

[@LukeOfTroy]

Chris Harrison I'm Australian, so everything I know comes from films.

[@dustinDraig]

Whether fully fluent traditional Cornish speakers overlapped with revivalist Cornish speakers is debatable. The evidence that there were native speakers in the beginning of the 20th century is very tenuous. However, what is known is that the revivalists (Jenner, Nance, Morton) did not have contact or work with any remaining native speakers. Furthermore the version of the language they resurrected was drawn largely from a medieval corpus. There wasn't an unbroken chain of transmission, so to say they resurrected a dead language is correct.

[@curtisw7035]

This is so cool. I just thought I'd mention that she's not speaking Cornish with an English accent per se... she's speaking with an actual Cornish accent... so this is as close to old Cornish as we could get. I think the reason people feel it's so familiar is because of her British mannerisms and filler words like 'um' and 'uh'. Plus, we're so used to hearing those accents used in English (Cornish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Manx, etc.) that we associate them with English - creating dissonance when we hear them speaking their actual language. I'm an English speaker of Cornish ancestry, and I feel the same when people speak Welsh (which I don't speak). Despite it never having died out - and therefore remaining stable in cadence, pronunciation and accent - it still sounds almost English to me, as though they're English people speaking another language, when actually, it's my brain getting confused by how familiar everything else is (mannerisms, filler words, etc.) and my familiarity with the accents in general.

[@viharsarok]

Cornish and Welsh are languages without exclusive native speakers (meaning no one speaks Welsh but not English natively) so English has crept in into these languages.

[@cigh7445]

Regardless of 'accent', the phonemes and stress patterns she uses are those of the English language. This is an issue with many 'revived' or indeed learned languages generally. Accentwise I can tell that her English speaking accent is a mix of southern standard English and some local Cornish influence. As for Cornish language phonetics, she is not using them really. If there aren't phonetic resources for Cornish they should learn Welsh vowels at least, to get closer to what a native speaker would have spoken like

[@Rolando_Cueva]

The R sounds definitely different in Welsh.

[@danivena1291]

@@viharsarok y wladfa: am i a joke to you?

[@georgio101]

But the Cornish accent really isn't that different to the rest of the West Country - to places where Brythonic languages died out over 1000 years ago. The reason it sounds like an English accent is because it is. Cornish died out of everyday conversational use over 200 years ago, and modern Cornish is based on a revival by native English speakers - who never heard a native Cornish speaker in their life.

[@GenXrCist669]

I was shocked that I could open my ears to read along with the transcript and actually kept up with the gist. I Great that this beautiful language has been resurrected.

[@xboxnube]

As someone who is Irish, Scottish, and Welsh in ancestry, I feel very strongly for the revitalization efforts of all the Celtic languages. So hearing someone speaking a revived dead Celtic language is really cool

[@Squimple]

Wow, I'm learning Welsh and have been told how alike Cornish and Welsh are, it's true and it's really freaky to listen to, because the odd part of a sentence makes sense!

[@keepsecret7624]

+Squimple Conwall was also called West Wales

[@Kurdedunaysiri]

This is a real and amazing resistance. Protect Cornish language for you can protect Cornish people and Cornish land.

[@muhammadnickykurniasandi6360]

Turk should not here

[@Kurdedunaysiri]

Muhammad nicky kurniasandi Who are Turk ?

[@FirstLast-hz8ut]

I wish the same can be said of Anatolian languages.

[@Kurdedunaysiri]

@@FirstLast-hz8ut Do you mean Hitite, Urartu, Frigian, Luwian...

[@FirstLast-hz8ut]

@@Kurdedunaysiri Yes.

[@jonathandavies5532]

Da Iawn, Ardderchog, as a first language and Native Welsh speaker it was both wonderful and fascinating listening to this sister language - with a little concentration and 2 - 3 views the dialogue and cadence becomes progressivley ever more clearly intelligible and understandable, I think a month or two at most In Cornwall would lead to fluency. Let's hope for a revival of this beautiful Language. Cymru a Cernyw am Byth.

[@markw4206]

Wonderful! I love the sound of it. Thank you for posting this.

[@Knappa22]

So similar to Welsh. I understood the whole of the beginning. “Elizabeth I am. I live in Cornwall. I am a Cornishwoman and I speak Cornish.” She’s been learning it in evening class for seven years. Children are now learning it as children which is good. For 200 years it wasn’t a community language. Now more and more are learning it” etc. Listen carefully Welsh speakers and you can work it out. Awesome.

[@Angela56124]

This sounds like a Lewis Carroll poem

[@andymackie8283]

actual lol

[@vaegirshoop]

As a Scot, it sounds like her accent is half Scottish and half Irish. Strange.

[@LouiseKernow2024]

It is just Celtic spoken with a West Country accent.

[@dannyboy5517]

As a native Irish speaker I can understand that To speak Irish with other than an Irish accent would sound strange although fully understandable

[@markrae1317]

Indeed so! I'm a Scots Gaelic speaker - is she really saying "Tha mi"? :-)

[@dannyboy5517]

@@markrae1317 Ta shi

[@dannyboy5517]

@@markrae1317 Scots gaelic Irish and Manx would be our grouping Scots Gaelic is similar to the Irish spoken in Donegal different to mine Just been listening to Julie Fowlis i can understand a lot

[@captain12211]

As someone who is learning Cornish myself I understood this nearly perfectly. Thanks for the video. Any Welsh or Breton speakers here?

[@lilachiricli6756]

Cymraeg 😁 Welsh

[@nicolasglemot6760]

O teskiñ brezhoneg emaon, met o kregiñ emaon c'hoazh.

[@garynarborough]

I am so pleased to see Cornish being spoken. I'm originally from NZ and heard of the language on the cusp of dying out. I really hope that people take up the language and keep it going. I now live in the UK. Made my day seeing this. It was not that long ago that Maori was heading the same way. Keep it up!

[@slippingjimmy2325]

This is great. I love seeing local languages kept alive esp by a young person

[@ministerintraining5174]

Lovely to hear a cousin of Welsh

[@mylesdedman]

0:30 I don’t know what “Riggy-Disky” is, but I like the sound of it

[@franciscoovarela]

Funny that Cornish and Breton used to be the same language a really long time ago, however now Cornish is heavily influenced phonetically by English and Breton is influenced phonetically by French, so they sound very different. A good example is the letter "r" which sounds like an English "r" in Cornish but like a guttural "r" in Breton

[@arnoldhemsley9317]

A really enlightening experience to hear this language for the first time. I imagine it helps if you already have a lisp. I was reminded in parts of this speech of Stanley Unwin. Enjoyed it very much.👍

[@BobSmith-s7j]

I can't figure out what you are referring to with the lisp. There are sounds like English "th" in Cornish but there are also "s" sounds that she is pronouncing just fine.

[@yeahcat7509]

It’s interesting, as a Welsh speaker I can follow some of this

[@thatshinyespeon3842]

I'm fluent in Wales and I picked up many words and understood about a quarter of it

[@tcanderson1313]

What a beautiful language! I would love to learn to speak Cornish.

[@TheKyleodgers]

www.kernoweklulyn.com/ why don't you

[@nadezdageorgieva8523]

I am Bulgarian, and - How pleasant it sounds to me! It has some fonetical similiarity with the Greek.

[@thisisstevet]

Thank you - totally respect you for everything you've done to develop your knowledge and share it with others

[@astrumperemor]

this is amazing, I'd love to learn Cornish one day, the story of the Cornish language is so fantastic

[@gatheringleaves]

Wow, sounds like Welsh almost

[@charlesbronson5499]

because it pretty much is.

[@ishaunTV]

+Infinite Sky Welsh and Cornish are both celtic languages that's why.

[@charlesbronson5499]

+The98Funnyman brythonic languages ye. The other celtic languages that are still alive are Gaelic. Scots and Irish. They're completely different.

[@simgingergirl]

+charles bronson Scots and Irish are both Gaelic languages. Gaelic itself is kind of a broad term, because the Gaels were a branch of the Celts. Irish, Scots and Manx are Gaelic Cornish, Welsh and Breton are Britannic. There are/were MANY Celtic languages. The Celts were very diverse.

[@harrywhitehead7442]

Scots doesn't have 'poor grammar' - it's simply a bit more Germanic than Modern English (ie less influence from Latin) For instance, there are Scots speakers who use double modals in conversation ('might can' instead of 'might be able to') which is considered 'ungrammatical' in Modern English but is considered perfectly normal in German, Swedish, Danish etc.

[@nathanilsaenz8178]

When your only 11 months old and your parents are talking and this is what it sounds like to you lol

[@rose4490]

I can relate to that statement!

[@foofy14]

Always wanted to learn Cornish, feel like we should all be taught it as Cornishmen!

[@bobapbob5812]

My dad was stationed in Cornwal at St Ives with the 175th Regiment, 29th Division before D-Day and loved it. Visited there at the 50th anniversary. I want to go to the 75th but had just come out of major medical issues and was too weak. I speak Welsh and support you in your efforts.

[@haeleth7218]

By blood I am English/Norwegian/German and speak all three. Absolutely lovely hearing Cornish spoken. Languages like this must be kept alive by whatever it takes.

[@justushall9634]

First words here: "Gorthugher da." meaning "Good afternoon/evening." "da" means "good" in Welsh and Cornish.

[@marcmorgan8606]

I speak Welsh and I got quite a bit of that!

[@michaelchitwood389]

I am of Cornish stock, and had thought the language was extinct, so this is really cool.

[@colummccrudden101]

I spoke very little irish, but even as a non fluent speaker at all, hearing this, i can hear slight gaelicised vocalisations or little bits of what i could imagine to be part irish. Its great to see!

[@paigeanne1325]

3/4 Brit (Cornish, and Scottish) and Irish here! Currently learning irish gaelic and some of it sounded slightly similar! Interesting and awesome sounding language❤ reminds me of how my Druid ancestors may have sounded!

[@therealunclevanya]

Before the Romans arrived most of the country from Cornwall to Strathclyde would have spoken a variation of this (Brythonic). Sounds lovely.

[@b43xoit]

Wasn't it about the same right through when the Romans left?

[@simonwatkins3236]

@@b43xoit well the Romans changed it a lot I think, both grammar and vocabulary. all those words for newfangled things like windows are from Latin.

[@b43xoit]

​@@simonwatkins3236 I see. So, whoever would study Welsh, Cornish, and Breton should be able to discern some Latin influence in those languages.

[@vanessawiltshire6813]

What a beautiful sound, a language some of my ancestors spoke

[@pulchralutetia]

I'm learning Scottish Gaelic and Welsh at the moment. I'll try Cornish later!

[@virginiaviola5097]

The reemergence if the original languages has been a great thing, in Ireland and Wales too. Great job!

[@Noreillay]

Sounds like what my breton grandparents would have sounded like if they had an english accent

[@yurismir1]

@ iNoamfer: That's because she's only using English sounds to speak the language. She's using an approximant R to give one example. You could probably make almost any language sound like English if you did that :)

[@BlinJe]

I guess but the Cornish English accent is more rhotic than pretty much any other accent in England. They use that R sound more, basically. It's only natural that she would speak Cornish using it. Also, there are sounds in this speech that aren't in English, the guttural throat sounds, i forget what they're called.

[@jimclark1374]

Yuri Ivanov. That's not an approximant R. It's a fricative.

[@pygmygiant]

This is so much like Breton (Brezhoneg) but with an English accent! « Salud » and « devezh vat dit » from your French cousins!

[@thomasleigh9367]

Gwrys yn ta! Spladn yw klowes Kernowek kowsys mar freth ha naturek. Gool Peran lowen dhis!

[@koobie83]

I’m a Cornish descendant - miners who migrated to Australia. Very proud of them. Just had ancestry tell me they’re my strongest genetic community - which makes sense because I can trace my Grandmothers Cornish roots in St Ives and Penzance to 1400 (at least).

[@PatoBZH]

As a breton speaker and having not knowledge of cornish, I still can understand some full sentences

[@JackEllis141]

A transcript of the Cornish: Gorthugher da, Elizabeth ov vy ha trigys ov yn Kernow ha Kernowes ov, ha my a gews an yeth Kernowek. Kernowegores ov. Ytho, my a dhallathas dyski an yeth Kernowek ha my neppyth a dro dhe seyth bloodh, dell dybav. Yth esa ow mam ow tyski Kernowek y'n klassow nos, ha hy a wrug dehweles tre ha dyski dhymm hag ow broder dhe gewsel an yeth hag ena ow thas a wrug dyski ynwedh. Ha ni oll a glappyas an yeth war-barth y'n chi. Ha ni o tybri war-barth, taklen par na. Ystynn dhymm an holan, taklen par na. Hag uhhh... ni eth war-barth dhe lies darvos kepar ha pennseythennyow Kernowek, restrys gans Kowethes an yeth Kernewek. Yth esa darvosow rag tus a vynnas dyski. Ha my a borth kov mos ena gans ow broder ha gwari gans oll an fleghes erel, usi ow tyski Kernowek, hag yth esa bagas bras ahanan y'n dedhyow na. Hag oll an fleghes y'n dedhyow na re devas, kepar ha my, ha nebes anedha, ymons i ow kavos fleghes lemmyn, ytho henn yw an nessa nivel a dus ow tyski Kernowek avel fleghes, dhiworth flogholeth. Ytho henn yw pur dha. An yeth a wrug merwel, nans yw diw... dew gans bledhen, mes wosa kans bledhen heb tus ow kewsel an yeth avel yeth kemenethol tus a wrug dastevi an yeth, ha dres an diwethha kans bledhen yth esa moy ha moy a dus ow tyski. Ha pan wrug vy dehweles dhiworth pennskol, my a... well, my a vynnas dehweles dhe Gernow ha gul neppyth, ny wrug vy godhvos peth, mes yth esen vy y'n tyller ewn y'n eur ewn. Ha yn diw vil ha dew, Kernowek o aswonnys avel yeth sodhogel gans an Chartow Europek rag Yethow Le Usys ha Ranndiryel hag yth esa rag an kynsa prys bythkweth, yth esa fondyans, nebes arghasans rag an yeth. Ha rag henna yth esa nebes sodhow nowydd dhe wul taklennow gans an yeth, ha my o an nessa person dhe gavos sodh ow tisplegya an yeth. Ytho, my o sodhoges an yeth. Mes yn dedhyow ma, well... trygys ov yn Truru, omma. Ny wrav vy oberi gans an yeth na moy, ny wrav vy ow dendyl ow gober dhiworth an yeth, mes uhhh... my a wra taklennow kepar henna. Haneth yth esov vy ow ledya Yeth an Werin gans nebes tus usi ow tyski Kernowek, ha tus nebes moy freth. Neb prys yma lies ahanan, neb prys nyns eus niver vras, mes yma tus ow tos pub diw seythen rag kewsel war-barth. Ytho my a wra ledya henna, hag ynwedh my a wra presentya towlen radyo, 'An Nowodhow', war BBC Radyo Kernow, ytho my a wra presentya henna. Henn yw pur, pur dha! Henn yw an unsel dowlen yn Kernewek war an radyo sodhogel. Yma towlen aral mes henn yw warlinen. Moy es henna, well... my a ober y'n Penneglos Truru. Hag yma kath dhymm. Ow hath yw henwys Ted. Hag yma karer dhymm, ev yw henwys Ross. Ytho yeah, henn yw oll dhyowrthiv vy, dell dybav. Ny allav vy perthi kov, prederi peth aral dhe leverel. Ytho yeah, henn yw oll. Duw genowgh hwi!

[@BobSmith-s7j]

Finally a useful and informative comment in a sea of "it sounds dumb lol"

[@Pudlis16]

Sounds kinda like what I'd imagine English sounds like to a non-speaker.

[@chiaras6019]

it is!

[@johnmurphy9127]

Well I guess that just says how ignorant you are

[@trystandavies7249]

beautiful - it's similarity to Welsh comes through

[@Dennis-di4cx]

There is nothing wrong with having an English accent when you are speaking a second language -- especially when you speak it with such admirable fluency. If Cornish does come back, the first generation of its speakers will have an English accent, I wonder how even today modern Ivrit would sound to ancient Hebrew ears. Bravo, Elizabeth!

[@sandradevi3079]

Ancient Celtic language similar to earlier Welsh--love it--Thank YOU!!

[@rootedtogrowwny]

I live in NY. I am trying to learn Kernowak.

[@andrewjewell3142]

Megan De There is a website called saysomethingin. Just type say something in Cornish.

[@rootedtogrowwny]

Andrew Jewell Yes, I use that site. :)

[@william5751]

I have now learned one Cornish word: Kernowak. Cool!

[@TheKyleodgers]

www.kernoweklulyn.com/ try this site

[@ajfurrell3744]

Sounds like Welsh, but with a cornish accent!

[@carolmiller8927]

Is this like Welsh?

[@jessam4875]

They’re both from the same branch of Celtic languages but no, they’re not similar

[@BobSmith-s7j]

Yes, there are substantial similarities and overlaps with Welsh but they are not quite mutually intelligible. Breton is even closer to Cornish than Welsh.

[@mgmassey174]

Love it. Lived in Wales and love the old use of original languages. Musical in cadence

[@bleddynmorgan8012]

As a fluent welsh speaker I understood 50% of this