Cornish phonology

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The Cornish language separated from the southwestern dialect of Common Brittonic at some point between 600 and 1000 AD. The phonological similarity of the Cornish, Welsh, and Breton languages during this period is reflected in their writing systems, and in some cases it is not possible to distinguish these languages orthographically.^[1] However, by the time it had ceased to be spoken as a community language around 1800^[2] the Cornish language had undergone significant phonological changes, resulting in a number of unique features which distinguish it from the other neo-Brittonic languages.

Research history[]

The emergence of a language that can be described as specifically Cornish, rather than a dialect of late Common Brittonic, has not been conclusively dated and may have taken several hundred years. According to Jackson (1953), the Common Brittonic period ended around 600 AD due to the loss of direct land communications between western and southwestern Britain following the Anglo-Saxon incursions. McCone (1996), however, assumes a later date, around the turn of the first millennium, citing continuing maritime connections and the various shared phonological developments during this period, such as the accent shift and internal i-affection.^[3] Only minor differences, such as the sporadic (orthographic) denasalisation of Common Brittonic /m/, can distinguish Cornish from Breton during this period, and no single phonological feature distinguishes Cornish from both Welsh and Breton until the beginning of the assibilation of dental stops, which is not found before the second half of the eleventh century.^[4]

George (2009a) divides the history of the Cornish language into four periods:^[2]

• Primitive Cornish, before the earliest written records.
• Old Cornish, c. 800 – 1200
• Middle Cornish, c. 1200–1575
• Late Cornish, c. 1575–1800

These dates are broadly accepted, though Chaudhri (2007) uses slightly different dates, based upon the estimated dates of the surviving texts.^[5]

As with other languages known only from written records, the phonological system of Cornish has to be inferred through analysis of the orthography used in the extant manuscripts, using the methods of historical linguistics such as internal reconstruction and the comparative method. This task is hampered by a relative paucity of surviving texts,^[6] but the existence of a number of documents written in rhyme, as well as the work of Lhuyd (1707), who visited Cornwall for three months in the early 1700s and recorded what he heard in a more-or-less phonetic orthography, have allowed linguists to reconstruct various stages of the phonology of the Cornish language.

Phonology[]

Stress[]

• Stress in polysyllables was originally on the final syllable in the earliest Cornish,^[7][8] which then shifted to the penultimate syllable at some point in the eleventh century.^[9]
• Monosyllables were usually stressed, apart from the definite article, possessive adjectives, verbal particles, conjunctions and prepositions.^[10]
• According to George (2009a), Middle Cornish verse suggests that the pitch-accent remained on the final syllable.^[10]

Rules for vowel length[]

From around 600 AD, the earlier Brittonic system of phonemic vowel length was replaced by a system in which vowel length is allophonic, determined by the position of the stress and the structure of the syllable.^[11][12] This is the New Quantity System, as described by Jackson (1953). After the accent shift to the penultimate syllable at some point in Old Cornish, the rules were as follows:

• vowels in unstressed syllables are short
• vowels in stressed syllables, followed by two or more consonants (including long fortis or geminate consonants) are short
  • There is some evidence that vowels were also realised as long or half-long before the consonant clusters /sk/ /st/^[13] and /sp/.^[14] This may have been due to the influence of English loanwords, or perhaps because such clusters were analysed as a single consonant.
• vowels in stressed syllables, followed by a single consonant (or in hiatus) in polysyllabic words were half-long
• vowels in stressed syllables in monosyllabic words were long
• vowels in irregularly-stressed final syllables of polysyllabic words were long

The date of the breakdown of these quantity rules, due to the influx of English loan-words not conforming to the original system, is disputed. Williams (2006a) dates it to before the earliest Middle Cornish texts,^[15] whereas George (1985) claims that this change did not occur until 1600.^[16] According to this analysis, Cornish at some point returned to a system of phonemic vowel length as in early Brittonic after this so-called "prosodic shift", and most vowels in polysyllables became or remained short.

The "prosodic shift"[]

The suggestion that Cornish phonology underwent systematic changes in its vocalic system first appears in George (1985), who dated it to around 1600. Nicholas Williams, however, later suggested that this Prosodic Shift occurred some centuries earlier, either in the early thirteenth century^[15] or the twelfth century. According to Williams, the consequences of the prosodic shift are:^[17][18]

• Vowel length becomes phonemic
• Half-long vowels become short
• All long or geminate consonants are reduced to short or single consonants
• Vowels in unstressed syllables tend to be reduced to schwa
• Vocalic alternation
• All nuclei in diphthongs are now short

Williams's theory has been criticised by several linguists. Chaudhri (2007) points out that "there is no incontrovertible evidence as yet to show that any such Prosodic Shift ever occurred" at any time, especially not as early as postulated by Williams; he further argues that "the observed results of pre-occlusion in the sixteenth century would have been impossible if the inherited quantity system had been radically re-shaped centuries before."^[19] and states that George is "quite correct in his rejection of Williams's evidence for the Prosodic Shift at a date before the Middle Cornish period"^[20] He also rejects George's use of Late Cornish spellings to support a shift c. 1600.^[20] Bock & Bruch (2010) argue that Williams's claim that all diphthongs were short from the thirteenth century at the latest "does not withstand even a cursory glance at Edward Lhuyd's transcription of Late Cornish diphthongs", which were collected in the early 1700s.^[21]

Vocalic alternation[]

Williams (2006a) points out that the reflex of Common Brittonic /i/ and /ɪ/ in the Middle Cornish texts is usually written as ⟨y⟩ in monosyllables, but is often written as ⟨e⟩ in polysyllables.^[22] This phenomenon is known as 'vocalic alternation'.

This written alternation does not appear in all of the Middle Cornish texts,^[23] and there is disagreement on how this alternation should be interpreted. Both Dunbar & George (1997) and Williams (2006a) interpret this as a purely orthographic phenomenon. According to Williams, the continued writing of ⟨y⟩ and ⟨i⟩ in monosyllables is an archaism and a reflection of orthographic conservatism which does not represent the contemporary pronunciation of the scribes.^[22] According to Dunbar & George, the scribes who wrote ⟨y⟩ were describing the quality of the vowel, whereas those who wrote ⟨e⟩ were describing the reduced quantity of a half-long vowel in a polysyllable.^[24] Both of these interpretations are questioned by Bock & Bruch (2012) who argue that the use of ⟨y⟩ and ⟨e⟩ in the texts reflects the phonetic reality of the language at around the time the manuscripts were written. According to their analysis, the graph used by the scribes is determined by the quality of the vowel (rather than the quantity), and vocalic alternation is a consequence of the lowering of Old Cornish /ɪ/ to /e/. They further state that vocalic alternation "cannot therefore be the result of a general shortening of vowels, unless one accepts Williams's assertion that 'by the Late Cornish period, vowels in stressed monosyllables had again lengthened.'"^[25]

Old Cornish c. 800 – 1200 AD[]

^{[citation needed]}

Changes from Common Brittonic:

Consonants:

/p/ > LBrit. /b/ > OCorn. /b/ /V_V^[26]

e.g. /mapos/ 'son' > LBrit. /mab/ > OCorn. /mab/

/t/ > LBrit. /d/ > OCorn. /d/ /V_V^[27]

e.g. /tatos/ 'father' > LBrit. /tad/ > OCorn. /tad/

/k/ > LBrit. /ɡ/ > OCorn. /ɡ/ /V_V^[28]

e.g. /dekan/ 'ten' > LBrit. /dɛɡ/ > OCorn. /dɛɡ/

/m/ > LBrit. /μ/ > OCorn. /β̃/ /V_V^[29]

e.g. /damato/ 'sheep (sg.)' > LBrit. /daμad/ > OCorn. /daβ̃ad/

/b/ > LBrit. /β/ > OCorn. /β/ /V_V^[30]

e.g. /abonā/ 'river' > LBrit. /aβon/ > OCorn. /aβɔn/

/d/ > LBrit. /ð/ > OCorn. /ð/ /V_V, /R_V^[31]

e.g. /bodaros/ 'deaf' > LBrit. /boðar/ > OCorn. /bɔðar/

/ɡ/ > LBrit. /ɣ/ > OCorn. /x/ /V_V, /R_V^[32]

e.g. /arganton/ 'silver' > LBrit. /arɣant/ > OCorn. /arxant/

/tt/ > LBrit. /θ/ > OCorn. /θ/ /V_V^[33]

e.g. /kattā/ 'cat' > LBrit. /kaθ/ > OCorn. /kaθ/

/kk/ > LBrit. /x/ > OCorn. /x/ /V_V^[34]

e.g. /brokkos/ 'badger' > LBrit. /brox/ > OCorn. /brɔx/

/pp/ > LBrit. /f/ > OCorn. /f/ /V_V^[27]

Vowels:

/ā/ > LBrit. /ɔ/ > OCorn /œ/^[35]

e.g. /ˈmāros/ 'great' > LBrit. /mɔr/> OCorn. /mœr/

/a/ > LBrit. /a/ > OCorn /a/^[36]

e.g. /ˈwlanā/ 'wool' > LBrit. /ɡwlan/ > OCorn. /ɡwlan/

Final i-affection of /a/ gives /ɛ/:^[37]

e.g. /wrakī/ 'woman, wife' > LBrit. /ɡwre̝ɡ/ > OCorn. /ɡwrɛɡ/

/ē/ > LBrit /uɪ/ > OCorn. /uɪ/^[38]

e.g. /ˈbēton/ 'food' > LBrit /buɪd/ > OCorn. /buɪd/

/ɛ̄/ > LBrit. /oɪ/ > OCorn. /uɪ/^[39]

e.g. /kɛ̄tos/ 'forest, wood' > LBrit. /koɪd/ > OCorn. /kuɪd/

/e/ > LBrit /ɛ/ > OCorn. /ɛ/^[40]

e.g. /ˈdekan/ 'ten' > LBrit /dɛɡ/ > OCorn. /dɛɡ/

Internal i-affection of /e/ gives /ɪ/, or perhaps /ɛɪ/ before dentals:^[37]

/ī/ > LBrit. /i/ > OCorn /i/^[41]

e.g. /ˈwīros/ 'true' > LBrit. /ɡwir/ > OCorn /ɡwir/

/i/ > LBrit. /ɪ/ > OCorn /ɪ/^[42]

e.g. /ˈbitus/ 'world' > LBrit. /bɪd/ > OCorn /bɪd/

Final ā-affection of /i/ gives /e/^[43]

e.g. /birrā/ 'short' > LBrit. /bɛrr/ > OCorn /bɛrr/

/o/ > LBrit. /o/ > OCorn /ɔ/^[44]

e.g. /mor/ 'sea' > LBrit. /mor/ > OCorn /mɔr/

Internal i-affection of /o/ gives /ɛ/:^[37]

e.g. /monijos/ 'mountain' > LBrit. /mönɪð/ > OCorn /mɛnɪð/

/ō/ > LBrit. /ü/ > OCorn /y/^[45]

e.g. /tōtā/ 'people' > LBrit. /tüd/ > OCorn /tyd/

/u/ > LBrit. /u/ > OCorn /ɔ/^[46]

e.g. /dubnos/ 'deep' > LBrit. /duβn/ > OCorn /dɔʊn/

Internal i-affection of /u/ gives /ɛ/:^[37]

/ū/ > LBrit. /i/ > OCorn /i/^[47]

e.g. /dūnon/ 'fort' > LBrit. /din/ > OCorn /din/

Consonants

	Bilabial		Labio- dental	Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Labial- velar		Glottal
Nasal	/mː/					/nː/	/n/		[ŋ]
Stop	/p/	/b/				/t/	/d/		/k/	/ɡ/
Fricative	/β/	/β̃/	/f/	/θ/	/ð/	/s/			/x/	/ɣ/			/h/
Approximant								/j/			/ʍ/	/w/
Lateral						/lː/	/l/
Rhotic						/rː/	/r/

• [ŋ] was an allophone of /n/ before /k/.
• Whether [ʍ] should be classed as a phoneme, rather than a realisation of /hw/, is disputed. Chaudhri (2007) lists it as a separate phoneme.^[1]
• Wmffre (1999) speculates that /x/ may have been phonetically a uvular [χ].^[48]
• The precise realizations of /r/ and /rː/ are unknown. Chaudhri (2007) speculates that an apical realization is perhaps the most likely.^[49]
• By the end of this period /β/ and /β̃/ had both merged as /v/.
• /ɣ/ disappeared by the Middle Cornish period except in the groups /-lɣ/ and /-rɣ/, where it became /x/.

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	/i/	/y/		/u/
Near-close	/ɪ/
Open-mid	/ɛ/	/œ/		/ɔ/
Open			/a/

Diphthongs

ɪ-diphthongs	ʊ-diphthongs
aɪ	aʊ
œɪ
	ɔʊ
ɛɪ	ɛʊ
	ɪʊ
	iʊ
uɪ

Middle Cornish c.1200 – 1600 AD[]

Consonants

		Bilabial		Labio- dental		Dental		Alveolar		Palato- alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Labial- velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/	/mː/					/n/	/nː/			[ŋ]
Stop	voiceless	/p/	(/pː/)					/t/	(/tː/)			/k/	(/kː/)
	voiced	/b/						/d/				/ɡ/
Affricate	voiceless									/tʃ/
	voiced									/dʒ/
Fricative	voiceless			/f/	(/fː/)	/θ/	(/θː/)	/s/	(/sː/)	/ʃ/	(/ç/)	/x/	(/xː/)		/h/
	voiced			/v/		/ð/		/z/		(/ʒ~dʒ/)
Approximant	voiceless													/ʍ/
	voiced										/j/			/w/
Lateral								/l/	/lː/
Rhotic								/r/	/rː/

• /ç/ (mainly from loan-words of French origin) is given the status of a phoneme by Chaudhri (2007).^[50]
• /ʒ~dʒ/ is the reflex of Old Cornish /d/ in many environments according to Chaudhri (2007).^[51] According to Williams (1990), Old Cornish /d/ in these environments was either palatalized to /dʒ/ or assibilated to /z/, depending on dialect.^[52]
• According to George (2009a), /pː/, /tː/, /kː/, /fː/, /θː/, /sː/, and /xː/ are new phonemes arising to accommodate English loan-words to the Cornish quantity system.^[53] These phonemes are not generally accepted.^[54][55] They may however have existed as allophones, especially in comparatives, superlatives and certain verb tenses.
• Assibilation and palatalization of Old Cornish /t/ and /d/ to /z/ or /dʒ/:
  • According to George (2009a), [t] in the groups /lt/ and /nt/, except when followed by /VL/ or /VN/ (i.e. a vowel plus a liquid or a nasal), was assibilated (to [s]) c. 1275.^[56]
  • Also according to George (2009a), medial and final [d], both by itself and in the groups /ld/, /nd/ and /dw/, became assibilated (to [z]) in similar phonetic environments, c. 1325^[53]
  • Chaudhri (2007) argues that these phonemes in this environment were first assibilated (apart from a few early cases of palatalization), then palatalized to [dʒ] later, perhaps with [ʒ] as an intermediate step.^[57]
  • George^[58] now argues that assibilation occurred first, followed by palatalization, but states that the [dʒ] realization did not take hold in the Powder hundred.
  • Williams (1990) proposes the following schema for the evolution of Old Cornish /t/ and /d/:^[59]
    • In medial and final position /t/ in the groups /lt/ and /nt/ was affricated to /ts/ before the twelfth century.
    • Intervocalic /t/ was affricated to /ts/ in some words.
    • Around 1100, /d/ was affricated to /dz/ finally, and medially before certain vowels and /w/
    • Before a stressed front vowel, or before /j/ followed by a stressed vowel initial /d/ was affricated to dz in some words following a final /n/
    • Medially after /l/ and /n/ /ts/ was voiced to /dz/
    • Before stressed front vowels and /j/ followed by a vowel, /dz/ was palatalised to /dʒ/, and *[an tsiː] became [an tʃiː]
    • Some dialects of Cornish tended to more regularly palatalise /dz/ to /dʒ/, and /ts/ to /tʃ/, even when not followed by a high front vowel.
    • In dialects in which this did not happen, /dz/ was simplified to /z/ and /ts/ was simplified to /s/

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	/i/	/y/		/u/
Near-close	(/ɪ/)
Close-mid				/o/
Open-mid	/ɛ/	/œ/		/ɔ/
Open			/a/

• Williams (2006a) argues that /ɪ/ merged with either /ɛ/ or /i/ (depending on dialect) at an early date. George (2019) argues that this merger took place gradually through a process of lexical diffusion throughout the Middle Cornish Period.
• Williams argues that /ɔ/ merged with either /o/ (or the Old Cornish diphthong /ui/) or /u/ depending on dialect at an early date.^[60]
• In George's view, the /o/ phoneme is realized as [ɤ] when short.^[61]

Diphthongs

ɪ-diphthongs	ʊ-diphthongs
aɪ	aʊ
ɔɪ	ɔʊ
ɛɪ	ɛʊ
	(ɪʊ)
	iʊ
	(yʊ)

/ɪʊ/ is rare according to George, who has now removed it from many words,^[62] and its continued existence at all in Middle Cornish is disputed by Williams^[63] and Toorians (2014:15)

/yʊ/, the apparent reflex of Old Cornish /uiʊ/ according to George, is based on rhyme evidence and etymology, but only occurs in a few words, and is disputed.

Late Cornish c.1600 – 1800 AD[]

Consonants

	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Labial- velar		Glottal
Nasal	/mː/	/m/			/nː/	/n/			[ŋ]
Stop	/p/	/b/			/t/	/d/			/k/	/ɡ/
Affricate							/tʃ/	/dʒ/
Fricative	/f/	/v/	/θ/	/ð/	/s/	/z/	/ʃ/		(/x/)				/h/
Approximant									/j/		/w/	/(ʍ)/
Lateral					/lː/	/l/
Rhotic					(/rː/)	/r/

• By this time, /x/ was merging with /h/ (or disappearing) in all environments.^[64]

• By 1600, historical /mː/ and /nː/ were generally being realised as /ᵇm/ and /ᵈn/ in stressed syllables (and occasionally /bː/ and /dː/ in penultimate syllables), respectively.^[64]

• There is a tendency for final fricatives to be lost or confused with one another^[64][65]

• Whatever their phonetic realisation, the distinction between /rː/ and /r/ may have been lost at this stage, if not earlier.

• Tendency to replace /ʍ/ with /w/ from the Middle Cornish period onwards becomes more frequent.

• Old Cornish /d/ now consistently analyzed as either /z/ or /dʒ/.

Vowels^[48]

	Front		Central	Back
Close	/iː/			/uː/
Near-close	/ɪ/			/ʊ/
Close-mid	/eː/			/oː/
Mid			[ə]
Open-mid	/ɛ/	(/ɛː/)		/ɔ/
Near-open	/æ/	/æː/
Open				(/ɒː/)

Bock & Bruch (2010) classify /ɛː/ as a separate phoneme to /eː/.^[21]

• Lhuyd's description of Late Cornish phonology, as well as contemporary pronunciation of Cornish placenames, may indicate the raising of /a/ to [æ].^[66]

• Wmffre (1999) disputes the recordings of Lhuyd (1707) in regards to /ɒ/ as a distinct vowel and claims that the lower realization of Cornish long /o/ (perhaps as [ɔː]) may have led him to make a distinction that did not exist.^[67]

Diphthongs

ɪ-diphthongs	ʊ-diphthongs
	aʊ
ɔɪ	ɔʊ
	ɛʊ
əɪ
	iʊ
(uɪ)

/uɪ/ seems to be found in only a few words such as /muɪ/ ('more') and /uɪ/ ('egg').^[67]

Recent Modern Cornish c. 1904 – present[]

Cornish ceased to be spoken as a community language around 1800. The revival of the language is generally dated to the publication of Henry Jenner's Handbook of the Cornish Language (1904). Jenner's work aims to pick up where the language left off and, as such, is mainly based upon Late Cornish vernacular and Lhuyd. Since this time, a variety of other recommended phonologies have been proposed, based upon various target dates and different theoretical reconstructions.

Jenner's system[]

Jenner's system is largely based on the phonology of late Cornish, and therefore is characterised by pre-occlusion, the loss of the rounded front vowels, and the raising of /a/ to [æ]. This system was used by the earliest revivalists, until it was replaced by Nance's Unified Cornish.

Unified Cornish[]

Robert Morton Nance developed what came to be known as Unified Cornish from the 1930s. Nance based his system more on the earliest Middle Cornish texts, Pascon Agan Arluth and the Ordinalia. With a target date of around 1500, Nance's system is characterised by the addition of the rounded front vowel /y/ and a recommendation not to use pre-occluded forms.

Revived Late Cornish[]

Mainly associated with Richard Gendall, who began to promote this system in the early 1980s, Revived Late Cornish again seeks to base its phonology upon an analysis of Lhuyd and the other Late Cornish sources.

Kernewek Kemmyn[]

Developed mainly by Ken George following the publication of his thesis, A Phonological History of Cornish (1985), Kernewek Kemmyn again returns to a Middle Cornish target date. This system has a number of differences from Nance's reconstruction, including the addition of a second rounded front vowel /œ/, an additional vowel /o/, and a phonemic contrast between /i/ and /ɪ/. Also Kernewek Kemmyn is characterised by phonemic consonant length, half-long vowels in stressed penultima of polysyllables where appropriate, and a number of diphthongs which are not used in other systems. The following tables are based on George (2009b).

Consonants

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m	mː			n	nː		(ŋ)
Stop	voiceless	p	pː			t	tː	tʃ	k	kː
	voiced	b				d		dʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	fː	θ	θː	s	sː	ʃ	x	xː	h
	voiced	v		ð		z		(ʒ~dʒ)
Approximant						l	lː	j	w
Rhotic						ɾ	rː

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	i	y		u
Near-close	ɪ
Close-mid				o
Open-mid	ɛ	œ		ɔ
Open			a

Unified Cornish Revised[]

Following the publication of Williams (2006a), Nicholas Williams published his revision of Nance's system in the form of a grammar, Clappya Kernowek, and an English-Cornish Dictionary. UCR is notable for the absence of George's /o/ and /ɪ/ phonemes, lack of half-length, and a phonemic contrast between long and short vowels rather than consonants. However, it retains the /œ/ vowel of KK, which Unified Cornish does not use.

Standard Written Form[]

The Standard Written Form, agreed in May 2008, was developed with the intention of allowing all users of previous systems to write as they pronounce the language. It attempts to represent the pronunciation systems of UC, UCR, KK and RLC in a single orthography. As such, it does not represent a single phonology, but seeks to cover a range of pronunciations based on a period of several hundred years.

Kernowek Standard (KS)[]

Kernowek Standard is an orthography and recommended pronunciation developed mainly by Nicholas Williams and Michael Everson in response to perceived problems with the SWF. Like the SWF, it attempts to represent a diverse range of pronunciations, with the exception of KK, the recommended phonology of which is not catered for. Although it mainly differs from the SWF orthographically, it has a number of phonological features which distinguish it from the SWF.

Consonants^{[citation needed]}

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n
Stop		p b		t d		k ɡ
Affricate					tʃ dʒ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ	x	h
Rhotic				ɾ ~ ɹ
Approximant	central				j	ʍ w
	lateral			l

Vowels^{[citation needed]}

	Front		Central	Back
	short	long		short	long
Close	ɪ ʏ	iː yː		ʊ	uː
Mid	ɛ œ	eː øː	ə	ɤ~ɔ	oː
Open	a~æ	æː		ɒ	ɒː

Notes[]

References[]

• Bock, Albert; Bruch, Benjamin (2010). "Nucleus length and vocalic alternation in Cornish diphthongs". Die Sprache. 48: 34–43.
• Bock, Albert; Bruch, Benjamin (2012). "New perspectives on vocalic alternation in Cornish". Keltische Forschungen. 5: 55–97.

• Chaudhri, Talat (2007). Studies in the Consonantal System of Cornish. University of Wales Aberystwyth. OCLC 704871901.
• George, Ken (1985). A Phonological History of Cornish (Thesis). Université de Bretagne Occidentale. OCLC 863473768.
• Dunbar, Paul; George, Ken (1997). Kernewek Kemmyn : Cornish for the twenty-first century. Cornish Language Board. ISBN 0-907064-71-X. OCLC 43196366.
• George, Ken (2009a). "Cornish". In Ball, Martin J.; Müller, Nicole (eds.). The Celtic Languages (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. pp. 488–535. ISBN 1-282-28399-5. OCLC 742294980.
• George, Ken (2009b). An Gerlyver Meur : Cornish-English, English-Cornish Dictionary (2nd ed.). Cornwall: Cornish Language Board. ISBN 978-1-902917-84-9. OCLC 434563955.
• George, Ken (2019). "What Happened to Primitive Cornish /ɪ/ When Long in Closed Syllables?". Studia Celtica Posnaniensia. 3 (1): 5–31. doi:10.2478/scp-2018-0001. ISSN 2451-4160.
• Jackson, Kenneth (1953). Language and history in early Britain: a chronological survey of the Brittonic languages 1st to 12th c. A.D. Edinburgh University Press.
• Morris-Jones, John (1913). A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative. Oxford.
• Lhuyd, Edward (1707). Archæologia Britannica.
• McCone, Kim (1996). Towards a relative chronology of ancient and medieval Celtic sound change. Dept. of Old Irish, St. Patrick's College. ISBN 0-901519-40-5. OCLC 1023922722.
• Schrijver, Peter (1995). Studies in british celtic historical phonology. Rodopi. ISBN 9051838204. OCLC 644836331.
• Toorians, Lauran (2014). Towards a Grammar of Middle Cornish. OCLC 1075291123.
• Williams, Nicholas (1990). "A problem in Cornish phonology". In Ball, Martin J.; Fife, James; Poppe, Erich; Rowland, Jenny (eds.). Celtic Linguistics/Ieithyddiaeth Geltaidd: Readings in the Brythonic languages/Festschrift for T. Arwyn Watkins. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. pp. 241–276. ISBN 9027235651. OCLC 470822408.
• Williams, Nicholas (2006a). Cornish today: an examination of the revived language (3rd ed.). Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype. ISBN 978-1-904808-07-7. OCLC 80332199.
• Williams, Nicholas (2006b). Towards Authentic Cornish. Evertype. ISBN 1-904808-09-3. OCLC 84150661.
• Williams, Nicholas (2016). The Cornish consonantal system : implications for the revival. Portlaoise: Evertype. ISBN 978-1-78201-185-9. OCLC 1017761062.
• Wmffre, Iwan (1999). Late Cornish. LINCOM Europa. ISBN 3-89586-122-7. OCLC 249114049.

Further reading[]

• Ball, Martin J. (2009). The Celtic Languages (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-282-28399-2. OCLC 742294980.
• Ball, Martin J.; Fife, James; Poppe, Erich; Rowland, Jenny, eds. (1990). Celtic Linguistics/Ieithyddiaeth Geltaidd: Readings in the Brythonic languages/Festschrift for T. Arwyn Watkins. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ISBN 9027235651. OCLC 470822408.