User:Kernoweger/Cornish phonology

The phonology of the Cornish language is similar to other Celtic languages such as Welsh and Breton, but has seen large influence from that of its dominant neighbour, English. Cornish speakers all use roughly the same phonology, but with a few "dialectal" differences. These variations do not represent between different areas of Cornwall, but different time periods of the traditional language, which is a result of different groups at the start of the revival deciding to base their pronunciation on different periods. The Standard Written Form of Cornish allows for orthographical variation reflecting the dialects.

Since there were no native speakers on which the revival of Cornish could base its phonology, the pronunciation of traditional Cornish had to be derived from written accounts. The most important influence was the description given by the linguist Edward Lhuyd in his 1707 Archaeologia Britannica, when he visited Cornwall in 1700 to document the language. The pronunciation has also been ascertained through extensive analysis of the surviving traditional literature, particularly the rhyming passion plays, and remnants of the traditional Anglo-Cornish dialect still found in West Penwith, which contains phonological features carried over from the traditional language.

The following is a descriptive account of the phonology of Cornish as it is used today. A few scholars have attempted to prescribe a new phonology based on various theories of how the language was historically pronounced, but they have not been successful in finding acceptance by Cornish speakers.

Consonants[edit]

	bilabial	labio- dental	dental	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	labio-velar	velar	glottal
plosive	p b			t d				k ɡ
nasal	m			n				ŋ
fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ			x	h
approximant				ɹ		j	ʍ w
tap				ɾ
lateral approximant				l

There are no dialectal differences among Cornish speakers regarding the consonants, however the following notes apply:

The letter ‹r› is usually pronounced with an alveolar approximant (ɹ, as in English), but between vowels it is sometimes pronounced with an alveolar flap (ɾ), e.g. daras 'door', pronounced [dæɹəz] or [dæɾəz].

The graph ‹wh› is usually pronounced with a voiceless labio-velar approximant (ʍ), but can be reduced to a voiced labio-velar approximant (w), e.g. whel 'work', pronounced [ʍeːl] or [weːl].

Vowels[edit]

Short Vowels

Front

Near- front

Central

Near- back

Back

Close

ɪ · ʏ

ɨ ʊ̈

ʊ

ə

ɛ · œ

ɔ

æ

ɒ

Near-close

Close-mid

Mid

Open-mid

Near-open

Open

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel.

Long Vowels