Standard Written Form
Encyclopedia
The Standard Written Form or SWF of the Cornish language
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...

 is an orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

 standard that is designed to "provide public bodies and the educational system with a universally acceptable, inclusive, and neutral orthography". The acronym SWF is pronounced by some as ˈswʌf and at the 2009 MAGA
Cornish Language Partnership
The Cornish Language Partnership is a representative body that was set up in Cornwall, United Kingdom in 2005 to promote and develop the use of the Cornish language in Cornwall...

 meeting in Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739...

, Jenefer Lowe mentioned a new verb swufhe 'to render into the SWF' had attained some currency.

The new form was agreed in May 2008 after two years of negotiations between proponents of different varieties of Cornish. The SWF was influenced by Unified Cornish
Unified Cornish
Unified Cornish is a variety of revived Cornish. Developed gradually by Morton Nance during and before the 1930s, it derived its name from its standardisation of the variant spellings of traditional Cornish MSS...

, Kernewek Kemmyn
Kernewek Kemmyn
Kernewek Kemmyn is a variety of the revived Cornish language.Kernewek Kemmyn was developed, mainly by Ken George, from Unified Cornish in 1986. It takes much of its inspiration from medieval sources, particularly Cornish passion plays, as well as Breton and to a lesser extent Welsh...

, Unified Cornish Revised, Revived Late Cornish
Modern Cornish
Modern Cornish is a variety of the revived Cornish language. It is sometimes called Revived Late Cornish or Kernuack Dewethas, to distinguish it from other forms of contemporary revived Cornish....

, Kernewek Dasunys, and Kernowek Standard
Kernowek Standard
Kernowek Standard is a variety of revived Cornish and a proposed set of revisions to the Standard Written Form. Developed gradually by a group called UdnFormScrefys , it was published as a proposal in a series of revisions. Its principal authors were Michael Everson, Neil Kennedy, and Nicholas...

. The agreement means that Cornish will become officially accepted and funded, with support from the UK government and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

. In a need for stability, the Standard Written Form will not be altered until 2013.

The negotiating teams comprised Andrew Climo
Andrew Climo
Andrew Climo is a Cornwall-based, British author, community activist and business strategist. He is Chief Executive and founder of Community Leaders CIC, a community development agency...

, Rod Lyon
Rod Lyon
Rod Lyon was born in Cornwall and trained as a civil engineer. After spending some early years at sea, he worked until retirement as a Local Government Officer. He was the Grand Bard of the Gorseth Kernow between 2003-2006 with the bardic name of "Tewennow"...

, Bernard Deacon
Bernard Deacon
Bernard W. Deacon is a multidisciplinary academic, based at the Institute of Cornish Studies of the University of Exeter at the Tremough Campus. He has an Open University doctorate and displays his thesis on the ICS website.-Academic career:...

, Mina Dresser, Pol Hodge, Loveday Jenkin, George Ansell and Polinn Prees. The negotiations were chaired by Trond Trosterud, and supported by Albert Bock, Ben Bruch and Jenefer Lowe.

In June 2009, the Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow is a non-political Cornish organisation, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:...

 voted overwhelmingly to adopt the Standard Written Form.

Kernowek Standard
Kernowek Standard
Kernowek Standard is a variety of revived Cornish and a proposed set of revisions to the Standard Written Form. Developed gradually by a group called UdnFormScrefys , it was published as a proposal in a series of revisions. Its principal authors were Michael Everson, Neil Kennedy, and Nicholas...

 is a proposed set of amendments to the SWF, to improve its accuracy and remove current ambiguity identified in it. The SWF will be reviewed in 2013.

Outstanding issues

A number of orthographic issues have been identified with the SWF. The SWF will be reviewed in 2013.
  • Inconsistent distribution of ⟨i⟩ and ⟨y⟩
  • Quality and quantity of ⟨u⟩ is ambiguous
  • ⟨aw⟩ and ⟨ay⟩ prone to mispronunciation
  • The use of ⟨ev⟩ and ⟨edh⟩ in unstressed final position promotes mispronunciation
  • ⟨mm⟩ and ⟨nn⟩ in some words leads to inappropriate pre-occlusion (i.e., mispronunciation).

Kernowek Standard
Kernowek Standard
Kernowek Standard is a variety of revived Cornish and a proposed set of revisions to the Standard Written Form. Developed gradually by a group called UdnFormScrefys , it was published as a proposal in a series of revisions. Its principal authors were Michael Everson, Neil Kennedy, and Nicholas...

 is a proposed set of amendments to the SWF, to improve its accuracy and remove current ambiguity identified in the issues above.

External links

  • Standard Written Form, Cornish Language Partnership
    Cornish Language Partnership
    The Cornish Language Partnership is a representative body that was set up in Cornwall, United Kingdom in 2005 to promote and develop the use of the Cornish language in Cornwall...

    , Cornish Language Partnership
    Cornish Language Partnership
    The Cornish Language Partnership is a representative body that was set up in Cornwall, United Kingdom in 2005 to promote and develop the use of the Cornish language in Cornwall...

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