Seven-year-old Albie, a pupil at Trewirgie infants\u2019 school in Redruth, did not hesitate when asked why he liked learning Kernewek, the Cornish language.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to talk this way in the old days,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I like speaking now. I enjoy the songs we sing, the Cornish books we read, all the words. It\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Albie was one of almost 200 children who descended on Lys Kernow (County Hall) in Truro for Go Cornish Celebration, a joyous event showcasing youngsters\u2019 explorations of the Celtic language.<\/p>\n
His teacher, Kirsten Maun, who leads the Cornish programme at the school, said the children relished learning the language. \u201cOur school had already embraced our Cornish history,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, our classes are named after local tin mines, but I think learning the language helps the children understand their identity more deeply.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know they\u2019re Cornish and they think that\u2019s a special thing to them. Plus, they just like learning different words.\u201d She added that the word for butterfly \u2013 tykki duw \u2013 was particularly popular. \u201cThey love that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children at the event, who have been learning Kernewek at school, gathered to showcase their knowledge, play games and sing songs in the Cornish language. Photograph: Jonny Weeks\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The Go Cornish takeover of Lys Kernow came as Cornwall council is completing a striking 10-year strategy<\/a> that envisages Kernewek as a \u201cthriving, forever language \u2013 widely spoken, seen and heard in everyday life in Cornwall\u201d.<\/p>\n Goals include making sure every child in Cornwall<\/a> leaves primary school with a basic understanding of Cornish, establishing the first bilingual school and making sure Cornish is routinely seen and heard in civic spaces.<\/p>\n It says progress would include marriages and births being registered in Cornish, bilingual road signs and the development of a public service media in the language.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a bit of ambition, haven\u2019t you?\u201d said council leader Leigh Frost as he watched the children flit around Lys Kernow, sharing songs, rhymes and stories in Kernewek.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at what Wales has achieved in the last few decades [the Welsh language, Cymraeg, is a vital and vibrant part of Welsh life]. The Cornish language deserves that same opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n In January Kernewek was officially recognised under part three of the European charter for regional or minority languages, which gives it greater protection and status.<\/a> \u201cThat puts it on a par with those other Celtic languages in the United Kingdom,\u201d Frost said. But the strategy is being delivered on a shoestring \u2013 \u00a3170,000 a year.<\/p>\n Almost 200 children took part in the event at Truro county hall. Photograph: Jonny Weeks\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Frost linked the promotion of Kernewek to the growing campaign<\/a> for Cornwall to be named as the fifth nation of the UK, which would \u2013 he hopes \u2013 unlock more funding. \u201cMake us a devolved nation of the United Kingdom, give us funding that is worked out in the same way as the other nations and we\u2019ll crack on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Legend has it that Kernewek vanished in the late 18th century as a living language with the death of the fish seller Dolly Pentreath<\/a> in the Cornish harbourside town of Mousehole. However, it underwent a revival in the 20th and 21st centuries, mostly thanks to the work of passionate volunteers rather than official bodies.<\/p>\n The council bills it as a \u201cremarkable resurgence\u201d, though nobody is quite sure how many people can speak it today. The figures used by Cornwall council are 500 advanced speakers and 2,000 with basic knowledge.<\/p>\n Kernewek is undoubtedly having a moment. A podcast called Learn Cornish, Dyski Kernewek<\/a> \u2013 hosted by the Radio 1 DJ Danni Diston \u2013 has recently launched on the BBC. The Cornish film-maker Mark Jenkin<\/a>, who often uses Kernewek in his movies, is also winning fans across the world.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, <\/a>a mass written in Kernewek was premiered<\/a> at Truro Cathedral, which called it a \u201csignificant moment\u201d for the language.<\/p>\n Loveday Jenkin, a member of the party Mebyon Kernow, which has long campaigned for greater autonomy for Cornwall, attended the mass. On the same day, she also took part in a meeting partly held in Kernewek and used the language during a pleasant evening at the pub. \u201cI see a lot of Cornish speaking in the community, which I didn\u2019t see 50 years ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n There are doubters. At a meeting of the council\u2019s community wellbeing, overview and scrutiny committee, Reform UK councillor Sean Smith questioned whether the level of public demand justified the investment at a time when Cornwall faces significant pressure in housing, adult social care, children\u2019s services and economic inequality.<\/p>\n Jenefer Lowe, grand bard of Cornwall, says: \u2018It\u2019s about a sense of place and identity. The language underpins everything.\u2019 Photograph: Jonny Weeks\/The Guardian<\/p>\n However, the grand bard of Cornwall, Jenefer Lowe,<\/a> insisted growing the language was crucial. \u201cIt\u2019s about a sense of place and identity. It connects you to the place you live in. The language underpins everything.\u201d Lowe said that 15 years ago she probably knew everyone who spoke Kernewek in Cornwall. \u201cNow I don\u2019t \u2013 and that is a good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n Will Coleman, of Golden Tree<\/a>, which leads the Go Cornish<\/a> learning programme in schools, beamed as he watched children from across Cornwall studying each other\u2019s artwork inspired by the language.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew that if we could get a gang together they would all bounce off each other and inspire each other. I go to these schools and they just cannot get enough of it. They realise there\u2019s this treasure chest being opened up and they\u2019re being invited to rummage around in it and play with a bunch of stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cThis kind of event demonstrates clearly that language enriches lives. It brings people together, it\u2019s inclusive, it\u2019s celebratory, it\u2019s forward-looking. What\u2019s not to love?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven-year-old Albie, a pupil at Trewirgie infants\u2019 school in Redruth, did not hesitate when asked why he liked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-661322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}