Editing Cornish language (section)

== History ==
[[File:Cornish language shift.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.1|A map showing the westward decline of Cornish, 1300–1750]]

Cornish evolved from the [[Common Brittonic]] spoken throughout Britain south of the [[Firth of Forth]] during the [[British Iron Age]] and [[Roman Britain|Roman period]]. As a result of [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|westward Anglo-Saxon expansion]], the Britons of the southwest were separated from those in modern-day [[Wales]] and [[Cumbria]], which Jackson links to the defeat of the Britons at the [[Battle of Deorham]] in about 577.{{sfn|Jackson|1953|p=18}} The [[Western Brittonic languages|western dialects]] eventually evolved into [[Welsh language|modern Welsh]] and the now extinct [[Cumbric language|Cumbric]], while [[Southwestern Brittonic languages|Southwestern Brittonic]] developed into Cornish and Breton, the latter as a result of emigration to parts of the continent, known as [[Brittany]] over the following centuries.{{sfn|Jackson|1953|p=19}}

=== Old Cornish ===
The area controlled by the southwestern Britons was progressively reduced by the expansion of [[Wessex]] over the next few centuries. During the Old Cornish ({{lang|kw|Kernewek Koth}}){{sfn|George|2009|p=343}} period (800–1200), the Cornish-speaking area was largely coterminous with modern-day [[Cornwall]], after the Saxons had taken over [[Devon]] in their south-westward advance, which probably was facilitated by a second migration wave to Brittany that resulted in the partial depopulation of Devon.{{sfn|Ball|Müller|2009|pp=410–468}}

[[File:Vocabularium Cornicum BL MS Cotton Vespasian A xiv 7r.jpg|thumb|right|The first page of {{lang|la-x-medieval|Vocabularium Cornicum}}, a 12th-century Latin-Cornish glossary]]

The earliest written record of the Cornish language comes from this period: a 9th-century [[Gloss (annotation)|gloss]] in a [[Latin]] [[manuscript]] of {{lang|la-x-medieval|[[Consolation of Philosophy|De Consolatione Philosophiae]]}} by [[Boethius]], which used the words {{lang|oco|ud rocashaas}}. The phrase may mean "it [the mind] hated the gloomy places",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/060615.shtml |title=Oxford scholars detect earliest record of Cornish |date=15 June 2006 |access-date=8 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925181724/http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/060615.shtml |archive-date=25 September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sims-Williams |first=P. |author-link=Patrick Sims-Williams |date=Winter 2005 |title=A New Brittonic Gloss on Boethius: ud rocashaas |journal=Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies |volume=50 |pages=77–86}}</ref> or alternatively, as [[Andrew Breeze]] suggests, "she hated the land".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Breeze |first=A. |date=1 December 2007 |title=The Old Cornish Gloss on Boethius |url=https://academic.oup.com/nq/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/notesj/gjm184 |journal=Notes and Queries |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=367–368 |doi=10.1093/notesj/gjm184 |issn=0029-3970}}</ref> Other sources from this period include the ''Saints' List'', a list of almost fifty Cornish saints,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Olson |first=B. Lynette |date=1996 |title=Note: The tenth-century List of Cornish parochial saints' names in Codex Vaticanus Reg. Lat. 191 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pgn.1996.0016 |journal=Parergon |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=179–181 |doi=10.1353/pgn.1996.0016 |s2cid=144542278 |issn=1832-8334}}</ref> the [[Bodmin manumissions]], which is a list of [[Manumission|manumittors]] and slaves, the latter with mostly Cornish names,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stokes |first=Whitley |title=The manumissions in the Bodmin Gospels |journal=Revue Celtique |volume=1 |pages=332–345}}</ref> and, more substantially, a Latin–Cornish glossary (the {{lang|la-x-medieval|[[Vocabularium Cornicum]]}} or Cottonian Vocabulary), a Cornish translation of [[Ælfric of Eynsham]]'s Latin–Old English Glossary,<ref>{{cite book |last=Blom |first=Alderik H. |title=Multilingualism in Medieval Britain (C. 1066-1520) |chapter=Multilingualism and the Vocabularium Cornicum |date=2012 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1484/m.tcne-eb.1.100793 |series=Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe |volume=15 |pages=59–71 |place=Turnhout |publisher=Brepols Publishers |doi=10.1484/m.tcne-eb.1.100793 |isbn=9782503542508 |access-date=18 September 2021}}</ref> which is thematically arranged into several groups, such as the [[Genesis creation narrative]], anatomy, church hierarchy, the family, names for various kinds of artisans and their tools, flora, fauna, and household items.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mills |first=Jon |date=2013 |title=The Vocabularium Cornicum: a Cornish vocabulary? |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/zcph.2013.009/html |journal={{lang|de|Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie}} |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=141–150 |doi=10.1515/zcph.2013.009 |s2cid=161927698 |issn=1865-889X}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Padel |first=Oliver |date=2014 |title=The nature and date of the Old Cornish Vocabulary |journal={{lang|de|Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie}} |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=191 |doi=10.1515/zcph.2014.009 |s2cid=164677429 |issn=1865-889X}}</ref> The manuscript was widely thought to be in [[Old Welsh]] until the 18th century when it was identified as Cornish by [[Edward Lhuyd]].{{sfn|Padel|2014}} Some Brittonic glosses in the 9th-century colloquy {{lang|la-x-medieval|[[De raris fabulis]]}} were once identified as Old Cornish, but they are more likely Old Welsh, possibly influenced by a Cornish scribe.<ref>{{citation |first=Alexander |last=Falileyev |title=De raris fabulis |encyclopedia=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |editor-first=John C. |editor-last=Koch |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |date=2006 |pages=575–577}}.
</ref> No single phonological feature distinguishes Cornish from both Welsh and Breton until the beginning of the [[assibilation]] of [[dental stop]]s in Cornish, which is not found before the second half of the eleventh century,{{sfn|Jackson|1953|p=21}} and it is not always possible to distinguish Old Cornish, Old Breton, and Old Welsh orthographically.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chaudhri |first=Talat |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/828579430 |title=Studies in the consonantal system of Cornish |date=2007 |publisher=[[University of Wales]], Aberystwyth |pages=2–3 |oclc=828579430}}</ref>

=== Middle Cornish ===
 [[File:Origo Mundi kynsa gwersow.jpg|thumb|right|The opening verses of {{lang|la-x-medieval|Origo Mundi}}, the first play of the {{lang|la-x-medieval|[[Ordinalia]]}} (the {{lang|la|[[masterpiece|magnum opus]]}} of medieval Cornish literature), written by an unknown monk in the late 14th century]]
[[File:Beunans Meriasek (The life of St Meriasek) (f.56v.) Middle Cornish Saint's Play.jpg|thumb|{{lang|cnx|[[Beunans Meriasek]]}} (The life of St. [[Meriasek]]) (f.56v.) Middle Cornish Saint's Play]]
The Cornish language continued to flourish well through the Middle Cornish ({{lang|kw|Kernewek Kres}}){{sfn|George|2009|p=343}} period (1200–1600), reaching a peak of about 39,000 speakers in the 13th century, after which the number started to decline.<ref name="ken">{{cite journal |last=George |first=Ken |author-link=Ken George |date=1986 |title=How many people spoke Cornish traditionally? |journal=Cornish Studies |volume=14 |pages=67–70}}</ref><ref name="stalmaszczyk" /> This period provided the bulk of traditional [[Cornish literature]], and was used to reconstruct the language during its revival. Most important is the {{lang|la-x-medieval|[[Ordinalia]]}}, a cycle of three mystery plays, {{lang|la-x-medieval|Origo Mundi}}, {{lang|la-x-medieval|Passio Christi}} and {{lang|la-x-medieval|Resurrexio Domini}}. Together these provide about 8,734 lines of text. The three plays exhibit a mixture of English and Brittonic influences, and, like other Cornish literature, may have been written at [[Glasney College]] near [[Penryn, Cornwall|Penryn]].<ref>{{citation |last=Padel |first=O.J. |title=Ordinalia |date=3 August 2017 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118396957.wbemlb247 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain |pages=1–2 |editor1-last=Rouse |editor1-first=Robert |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]], Ltd |doi=10.1002/9781118396957.wbemlb247 |isbn=9781118396957 |access-date=16 September 2021 |editor2-last=Echard |editor2-first=Sian |editor3-last=Fulton |editor3-first=Helen |editor4-last=Rector |editor4-first=Geoff}}</ref> From this period also are the [[Hagiography|hagiographical]] dramas {{lang|cnx|[[Beunans Meriasek]]}} (''The Life of [[Meriasek]]'') and {{lang|cnx|[[Bewnans Ke]]}} (''The Life of [[Saint Kea|Ke]]''), both of which feature as an antagonist the villainous and tyrannical King [[Tewdwr Mawr|Tewdar]] (or Teudar), a historical medieval king in Armorica and Cornwall, who, in these plays, has been interpreted as a lampoon of either of the [[House of Tudor|Tudor]] kings [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] or [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Mills |first=Jon |date=2012 |chapter=Depiction of Tyranny in the Cornish Miracle Plays: Tenor, Code Switching and Sociolinguistic Variables |title=Ilteangach, ilseiftiúil: Féilscríbhinn in ómós do Nicholas Williams – A festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Williams |pages=139–157 |chapter-url=http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.1.1558.0882 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.1558.0882}}</ref>

Others are the ''Charter Fragment'', the earliest known continuous text in the Cornish language, apparently part of a play about a medieval marriage,<ref>{{cite book |last=Toorians |first=Lauran |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/614930826 |title=The Middle Cornish: Charter endorsement: the making of a marriage in medieval Cornwall |date=1991 |publisher=Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck |oclc=614930826}}</ref> and {{lang|cnx|[[Pascon agan Arluth]]}} (''The Passion of Our Lord''), a poem probably intended for personal worship, were written during this period, probably in the second half of the 14th century.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1144791918 |title=The Charter fragment and Pascon agan arluth |date=2020 |first1=Alan M. |last1=Kent |first2=Michael |last2=Everson |first3=Nicholas |last3=Williams |isbn=9781782011828 |location=Dundee |oclc=1144791918 |publisher=Evertype}}</ref> Another important text, the {{lang|cnx|Tregear Homilies}}, was realized to be Cornish in 1949, having previously been incorrectly classified as Welsh. It is the longest text in the traditional Cornish language, consisting of around 30,000 words of continuous prose. This text is a late 16th century translation of twelve of [[Edmund Bonner|Bishop Bonner]]'s thirteen homilies by a certain John Tregear, tentatively identified as a vicar of [[St Allen]] from [[Crowan]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Frost |first=D. H. |date=1 May 2007 |title=Glasney's Parish Clergy and the Tregear Manuscript |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/10.1386/corn.15.1.27_1 |journal=Cornish Studies |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=27–89 |doi=10.1386/corn.15.1.27_1 |issn=1352-271X}}</ref> and has an additional catena, Sacrament an Alter, added later by his fellow priest, Thomas Stephyn.<ref>{{cite book |last=Classen |first=Albrecht |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/775645348 |title=Handbook of Medieval Studies Terms - Methods - Trends |series=De Gruyter Lexikon |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |date=29 November 2010 |isbn=9783110215588 |pages=371–372 |oclc=775645348}}</ref> In the reign of Henry VIII, an account was given by [[Andrew Boorde]] in his 1542 {{lang|en-emodeng|Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge}}. He states, "{{lang|en-emodeng|In Cornwall is two speches, the one is naughty Englysshe, and the other is Cornysshe speche. And there be many men and women the which cannot speake one worde of Englysshe, but all Cornyshe.}}"<ref>{{cite book |last=Jenner |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Jenner |date=1904 |title=A Handbook of the Cornish Language Chiefly in Its Latest Stages with Some Account of Its History and Literature |location=London |publisher=David Nutt}}</ref>

When Parliament passed the [[Act of Uniformity 1549]], which established the 1549 edition of the English Book of Common Prayer as the sole legal form of worship in England, including Cornwall, people in many areas of Cornwall did not speak or understand English. The passing of this Act was one of the causes of the [[Prayer Book Rebellion]] (which may also have been influenced by government repression after the failed [[Cornish rebellion of 1497]]), with "the commoners of Devonshyre and Cornwall" producing a manifesto demanding a return to the old religious services and included an article that concluded, "and so we the Cornyshe men (whereof certen of us understande no Englysh) utterly refuse thys newe Englysh."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fletcher |first1=Anthony |first2=Diarmaid |last2=MacCulloch |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/213080705 |title=Tudor rebellions |date=2008 |publisher=[[Pearson Longman]] |isbn=9781405874328 |edition=5th |location=Harlow, Essex |pages=152 |oclc=213080705}}</ref> In response to their articles, the government spokesman (either [[Philip Nichols]] or [[Nicholas Udall]]) wondered why they did not just ask the king for a version of the liturgy in their own language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ó hAnnracháin |first1=Tadgh |last2=Armstrong |first2=Robert Matthew |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1020678113 |title=Christianities in the Early Modern Celtic World |date=30 July 2014 |isbn=9781137306340 |pages=76 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |oclc=1020678113}}</ref> Archbishop [[Thomas Cranmer]] asked why the Cornishmen should be offended by holding the service in English, when they had before held it in [[Latin language|Latin]], which even fewer of them could understand.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ridley |first=Jasper |author-link=Jasper Ridley (historian) |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/970603152 |title=Thomas Cranmer |date=2013 |isbn=9781447241287 |publisher=Bello |location=London |oclc=970603152}}</ref> [[Anthony Fletcher]] points out that this rebellion was primarily motivated by religious and economic, rather than linguistic, concerns.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fletcher |first1=Anthony |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/213080705 |title=Tudor rebellions |date=2008 |publisher=[[Pearson Longman]] |first2=Diarmaid |last2=MacCulloch |isbn=9781405874328 |edition=5th |location=Harlow, Essex |pages=65 |oclc=213080705}}</ref> The rebellion prompted a heavy-handed response from the government, and 5,500 people died during the fighting and the rebellion's aftermath. Government officials then directed troops under the command of [[Anthony Kingston|Sir Anthony Kingston]] to carry out pacification operations throughout the West Country. Kingston subsequently ordered the executions of numerous individuals suspected of involvement with the rebellion as part of the post-rebellion reprisals.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=A. L. Rowse |last=Rowse |first=A. L. |title=Tudor Cornwall: Portrait of a Society |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |date=1941 |pages=282–286}}</ref>

The rebellion eventually proved a turning-point for the Cornish language, as the authorities came to associate it with [[sedition]] and "backwardness". This proved to be one of the reasons why the Book of Common Prayer was never translated into Cornish (unlike [[Welsh language|Welsh]]), as proposals to do so were suppressed in the rebellion's aftermath. The failure to translate the Book of Common Prayer into Cornish led to the language's rapid decline during the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=James Whetter |last=Whetter |first=James |title=The History of Glasney College |publisher=Tabb House |date=1988}}</ref><ref name="Mills">{{cite journal |last=Mills |first=Jon |date=2010 |title=Genocide and Ethnocide: The Suppression of the Cornish Language |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/27912/2/Mills%2C%20Jon%20%282010%29%20Genocide%20and%20Ethnocide%20-%20The%20Suppression%20of%20the%20Cornish%20Language%20%28not%20for%20distribution%29.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012214437/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/27912/2/Mills%2C%20Jon%20%282010%29%20Genocide%20and%20Ethnocide%20-%20The%20Suppression%20of%20the%20Cornish%20Language%20%28not%20for%20distribution%29.pdf |archive-date=12 October 2018 |url-status=live |journal=Interfaces in Language |pages=189–206 |doi=10.13140/2.1.1439.5843}}</ref> [[Peter Berresford Ellis]] cites the years 1550–1650 as a century of immense damage for the language, and its decline can be traced to this period. In 1680 [[William Scawen]] wrote an essay describing 16 reasons for the decline of Cornish, among them the lack of a distinctive [[Cornish alphabet]], the loss of contact between Cornwall and [[Brittany]], the cessation of the miracle plays, loss of records in the Civil War, lack of a [[Cornish Bible]] and immigration to Cornwall.<ref name="Berresford-Ellis">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L709AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA82 |title=The Cornish Language and Its Literature |first=Peter Berresford |last=Ellis |author-link=Peter Berresford Ellis |date=1 January 1974 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |via=[[Google Books]] |isbn=9780710079282}}</ref> [[Mark Stoyle]], however, has argued that the 'glotticide' of the Cornish language was mainly a result of the Cornish gentry adopting English to dissociate themselves from the reputation for disloyalty and rebellion associated with the Cornish language since the 1497 uprising.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stoyle |first=Mark |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48154341 |title=West Britons: Cornish identities and the early modern British state |date=2002 |publisher=[[University of Exeter Press]] |isbn=0859896870 |pages=45 |oclc=48154341}}</ref>

=== Late Cornish ===
[[File:Lether Bodinar.jpg|thumb|right|upright|William Bodinar's letter, dated 3 July 1776]]
By the middle of the 17th century, the language had retreated to [[Penwith]] and [[Kerrier]], and transmission of the language to new generations had almost entirely ceased. In his ''Survey of Cornwall'', published in 1602, [[Richard Carew (antiquary)|Richard Carew]] writes:<blockquote>[M]ost of the inhabitants can speak no word of Cornish, but very few are ignorant of the English; and yet some so affect their own, as to a stranger they will not speak it; for if meeting them by chance, you inquire the way, or any such matter, your answer shall be, "{{lang|cnx|Meea navidna caw zasawzneck}}," "I [will] speak no Saxonage."<ref name="Carew1811">{{cite book |last=Carew |first=Richard |title=Carew's Survey of Cornwall: to which are added, notes illustrative of its history and antiquities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA152 |access-date=13 February 2013 |date=1811 |publisher=T. Bensley for J. Faulder |page=152 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref></blockquote>
The Late Cornish ({{lang|kw|Kernewek Diwedhes}}){{sfn|George|2009|p=343}} period from 1600 to about 1800 has a less substantial body of literature than the Middle Cornish period, but the sources are more varied in nature, including songs, poems about fishing and curing [[Sardine|pilchards]], and various translations of verses from the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed.{{sfn|Chaudhri|2007|pp=10-11}} Edward Lhuyd's [[Archæologia Britannica|''Archaeologia Britannica'']], which was mainly recorded in the field from native speakers in the early 1700s, and his unpublished field notebook are seen as important sources of Cornish vocabulary, some of which are not found in any other source.{{sfn|Chaudhri|2007|p=9}} ''Archaeologia Britannica'' also features a complete version of a traditional folk tale, ''John of Chyanhor'', a short story about a man from [[St Levan]] who goes far to the east seeking work, eventually returning home after three years to find that his wife has borne him a child during his absence.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lhuyd |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Lhuyd |title=Archaeologia Britannica |volume=1: ''Glossography'' |date=1707 |pages=251–253}}</ref>

In 1776, William Bodinar, who describes himself as having learned Cornish from old fishermen when he was a boy, wrote a letter to [[Daines Barrington]] in Cornish, with an English translation, which was probably the last prose written in the traditional language. In his letter, he describes the sociolinguistics of the Cornish language at the time, stating that there are no more than four or five old people in his village who can still speak Cornish, concluding with the remark that Cornish is no longer known by young people.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pool |first=P. A. S. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/927038181 |title=William Bodinar's letter, 1776 |date=1975 |journal=Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall |oclc=927038181}}</ref> However, the last recorded traditional Cornish literature may have been the ''[[Cranken Rhyme]]'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Zafar |first=Chaudhri Talat |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1119992761 |title=Studies in the consonantal system of Cornish |pages=17 |oclc=1119992761}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lipoński |first=Wojciech |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/986071821 |title=Landmarks in British History and Culture: A Monograph of Selected Issues |date=2016 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM / Adam Mickiewicz University |series="Seria Filologia Angielska" No. 47 |isbn=9788323231103 |edition=2nd |location=Poznań |pages=54 |oclc=986071821}}</ref> a corrupted version of a verse or song published in the late 19th century by [[John Hobson Matthews]], recorded orally by [[John Davey (Cornish speaker)|John Davey]] (or Davy) of [[Boswednack]], of uncertain date but probably originally composed during the last years of the traditional language. Davey had traditional knowledge of at least some Cornish.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Payton |first=Philip |date=1 May 2011 |title=Introduction |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/10.1386/corn.19.1.1_2 |journal=Cornish Studies |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1386/corn.19.1.1_2 |issn=1352-271X}}</ref> John Kelynack (1796–1885), a fisherman of Newlyn, was sought by [[Philology|philologists]] for old Cornish words and technical phrases in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Mr John Kelynack, of Newlyn |work=[[The Cornishman (newspaper)|The Cornishman]] |issue=356 |date=14 May 1885 |page=5}}</ref>

=== Decline of Cornish speakers between 1300 and 1800 ===
[[File:Dorothy Pentreath.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|[[Dolly Pentreath]] (died 1777), said to be the last native speaker of Cornish, in an engraved portrait published in 1781|alt=A black and white engraving of a woman in 18th century clothing with a bonnet. Fish, a crab, a crustacean and a jug are below]]

It is difficult to state with certainty when Cornish ceased to be spoken, due to the fact that its last speakers were of relatively low social class and that the definition of what constitutes "a living language" is not clear cut. Peter Pool argues that by 1800 nobody was using Cornish as a daily language and no evidence exists of anyone capable of conversing in the language at that date.<ref name="pool">{{cite book |last=Pool |first=Peter |title=The Death of Cornish |date=1975 |publisher=County Museum |location=Truro |url=https://peterpool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/The-Death-of-Cornish-compressed.pdf |access-date=16 January 2022}}</ref> However, [[Passive speaker (language)|passive speakers]], [[semi-speaker]]s and [[rememberer]]s, who retain some competence in the language despite not being fluent nor using the language in daily life, generally survive even longer.

The traditional view that [[Dolly Pentreath]] (1692–1777) was the [[Last speaker of the Cornish language|last native speaker of Cornish]] has been challenged,<ref name=":0" /> and in the 18th and 19th centuries there was academic interest in the language and in attempting to find the last speaker of Cornish. It has been suggested that, whereas Pentreath was probably the last ''fluent'' speaker, the last ''native'' speaker may have been [[John Davey (Cornish speaker)|John Davey]] of Zennor, who died in 1891.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grenoble |first1=Lenore A. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62410803 |title=Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization |date=2006 |first2=Lindsay J. |last2=Whaley |isbn=9780511130892 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=46 |oclc=62410803}}</ref> However, although it is clear Davey possessed some traditional knowledge in addition to having read books on Cornish, accounts differ of his competence in the language. Some contemporaries stated he was able to converse on certain topics in Cornish whereas others affirmed they had never heard him claim to be able to do so.<ref name="pool" /> [[Robert Morton Nance]], who reworked and translated Davey's Cranken Rhyme, remarked, "There can be no doubt, after the evidence of this rhyme, of what there was to lose by neglecting John Davey."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lowenna |first=Sharon |date=1 May 2011 |title=Charles Rogers' 'Vocabulary of the Cornish Language', the Rylands Vocabulary, and gatherers of pre-'Revival' fragments |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/10.1386/corn.19.1.105_1 |journal=Cornish Studies |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=105–122 |doi=10.1386/corn.19.1.105_1 |issn=1352-271X}}</ref>

The search for the last speaker is hampered by a lack of transcriptions or audio recordings, so that it is impossible to tell from this distance whether the language these people were reported to be speaking was Cornish, or English with a heavy Cornish [[stratum (linguistics)#Substratum|substratum]], nor what their level of fluency was. Nevertheless, this academic interest, along with the beginning of the [[Celtic Revival]] in the late 19th century, provided the groundwork for a Cornish language revival movement.

Notwithstanding the uncertainty over who was the last speaker of Cornish, researchers have posited the following numbers for the prevalence of the language between 1050 and 1800.<ref name="ken"/><ref name="stalmaszczyk">{{cite journal |last=Stalmaszczyk |first=Piotr |date=1997 |title=Cornish Language and Literature: A brief introduction |url=http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.hdl_11089_14418 |journal=Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Anglica |volume=3 |issue=1999 |pages=117–127}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Area where<br />Cornish<br />was spoken<br />(in km<sup>2</sup>)
!Total<br />population<br />of Cornwall
!Number of<br />Cornish<br />speakers
|-
|1050
|
|16,000
|15,000
|-
|1110
|
|21,000
|20,000
|-
|1150
|
|28,000
|26,000
|-
|1200
|3,270
|35,000
|30,000
|-
|1250
|
|43,000
|34,000
|-
|1300
|2,780
|52,000
|38,000
|-
|1350
|
|48,000
|32,000
|-
|1400
|2,360
|55,000
|34,000
|-
|1450
|2,360
|62,000
|33,000
|-
|1500
|1,890
|69,000
|33,000
|-
|1550
|
|76,000
|30,000
|-
|1600
|1,400
|84,000
|22,000
|-
|1650
|910
|93,000
|14,000
|-
|1700
|530
|106,000
|5,000
|-
|1750
|160
|140,000 
|"Very few"
|-
|1800
|0
|192,000
|0
|}

=== Revived Cornish ===
{{See also|Cornish language revival}}
In 1904, the Celtic language scholar and Cornish cultural activist [[Henry Jenner]] published ''A Handbook of the Cornish Language''. The publication of this book is often considered to be the point at which the revival movement started. Jenner wrote about the Cornish language in 1905, "one may fairly say that most of what there was of it has been preserved, and that it has been continuously preserved, for there has never been a time when there were not some Cornishmen who knew some Cornish."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jenner |first=Henry |date=1905 |title=Cornwall a Celtic Nation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30069809 |journal=The Celtic Review |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=234–246 |doi=10.2307/30069809 |jstor=30069809}}</ref>

The revival focused on reconstructing and standardising the language, including coining new words for modern concepts, and creating educational material in order to teach Cornish to others. In 1929 [[Robert Morton Nance]] published his [[Unified Cornish]] ({{lang|kw|Kernewek Unys}}){{sfn|George|2009|p=343}} system, based on the Middle Cornish literature while extending the attested vocabulary with neologisms and forms based on Celtic roots also found in Breton and Welsh, publishing a dictionary in 1938.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mills |first=Jon |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1078987354 |title=A Short History of Cornish Lexicography |date=2016 |publisher=[[Jagiellonian University Press]] |pages= |oclc=1078987354}}</ref> Nance's work became the basis of revived Cornish ({{lang|kw|Kernewek Dasserghys}}){{sfn|George|2009|p=343}} for most of the 20th century. During the 1970s, criticism of Nance's system, including the inconsistent orthography and unpredictable correspondence between spelling and pronunciation,<ref name="Mackinnon" /> as well as on other grounds such as the archaic basis of Unified and a lack of emphasis on the spoken language,<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Gendall |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1169991198 |title=Kernewek bew |date=1972 |publisher=[[Kesva an Taves Kernewek]] |oclc=1169991198}}</ref> resulted in the creation of several rival systems. In the 1980s, [[Ken George]] published a new system, {{lang|kw-kkcor|[[Kernewek Kemmyn]]}} ('Common Cornish'), based on a reconstruction of the phonological system of Middle Cornish, but with an approximately [[phonemic orthography|morphophonemic orthography]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=N. J. A. |title=Celtic Linguistics / Ieithyddiaeth Geltaidd |chapter=A Problem in Cornish Phonology |date=1990 |chapter-url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/cilt.68.20wil |series=Current Issues in Linguistic Theory No. 68 |volume=68 |pages=241 |editor-last=Ball |editor-first=Martin J. |place=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |doi=10.1075/cilt.68.20wil |isbn=9789027235657 |access-date=18 September 2021 |editor2-last=Fife |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=Poppe |editor3-first=Erich |editor4-last=Rowland |editor4-first=Jenny}}</ref> It was subsequently adopted by the Cornish Language Board{{sfn|Ball|Müller|2009|p=757}} and was the written form used by a reported 54.5% of all Cornish language users according to a survey in 2008,<ref>{{cite book |last=Burley |first=Stuart |date=2008 |title=Report on the Cornish language survey conducted by the Cornish language Partnership }}</ref> but was heavily criticised for a variety of reasons by Jon Mills and [[Nicholas Williams (poet)|Nicholas Williams]], including making phonological distinctions that they state were not made in the traditional language {{circa|1500}}, failing to make distinctions that they believe ''were'' made in the traditional language at this time, and the use of an orthography that deviated too far from the traditional texts and Unified Cornish.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reconstructive Phonology and Contrastive Lexicology: Problems with the Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn |last=Mills |date=1999 |publisher=[[University of Exeter Press]] |oclc=1078438372}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Cornish today: An examination of the revived language |last=Williams |first=Nicholas |date=2006 |publisher=[[Michael Everson#Publishing at Evertype|Evertype]] |isbn=9781904808077 |edition=3rd |location=Westport, Co. Mayo |oclc=80332199}}</ref> Also during this period, [[Richard Gendall]] created his Modern Cornish system (also known as Revived Late Cornish), which used Late Cornish as a basis,<ref name="Grenoble2009">{{cite book |last=Grenoble |first=Lenore A. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1225224133 |title=Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization |date=2009 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521816212 |oclc=1225224133}}</ref>{{rp|46}} and Nicholas Williams published a revised version of Unified;<ref name="Grenoble2009" />{{rp|46}} however neither of these systems gained the popularity of Unified or Kemmyn.

The revival entered a period of factionalism and public disputes, with each orthography attempting to push the others aside. By the time that Cornish was recognised by the UK government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2002, it had become recognised that the existence of multiple orthographies was unsustainable with regards to using the language in education and public life, as none had achieved a wide consensus. A process of unification was set about which resulted in the creation of the public-body [[Cornish Language Partnership]] in 2005 and agreement on a [[Standard Written Form]] in 2008.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite news |last=Morris |first=Jonathan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7074487.stm |title=Breakthrough for Cornish language |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=19 May 2008 |access-date=11 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7408686.stm |title=Standard Cornish spelling agreed |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=19 May 2008 |access-date=11 November 2012}}</ref> In 2010 a new milestone was reached when UNESCO altered its classification of Cornish, stating that its previous label of "extinct" was no longer accurate.<ref name="autogenerated1" />