The Status of the Cornish Language in the years between the death of Dolly Pentreath in 1777 and Henry Jenner’s publication of A Handbook of the Cornish Language in 1904

Abstract

The intention of this thesis is to fill a lacuna in our knowledge and understanding of the history of the Cornish language. It is widely believed that with the death in 1777 of Dolly Pentreath the language became extinct and remained so until the beginning of the language revival at the start of the twentieth century instigated by the publication of Henry Jenner’s Handbook of the Cornish Language in 1904. This study considers why Pentreath was seen as the last speaker of Cornish and examines evidence to counter this. It also investigates why Jenner’s Handbook is used to date the beginning of the revival when other works pre-date it and the wider significance this has on the status of the language. After a discussion of definitions of language status, reasons for language decline and extinction, and frameworks for assessing the vitality of minority languages, the thesis examines previous studies of the period before turning to a description of the methodology used. This thesis revisited the research carried out on the Cornish language during the nineteenth century by contemporary antiquarians including Dr Fred W.P. Jago, the Reverend Lach-Szyrma, and Henry Jenner. It sought to explore the areas of research they did not cover at the time, namely the use of Cornish by the working classes. It examined contemporary and subsequent accounts of known Cornish speakers during the nineteenth century and traces the information we have about them, and their knowledge of Cornish. Finally, it applied Lee and Van Way’s Language Endangerment Index to the status of Cornish at given points during the period covered by the study to enable a more accurate definition. This thesis seeks to apply these definitions and frameworks to archival evidence which has, itself, not been considered in previous academic studies. The evidence from the previously neglected sources consulted during the research for this study offer the conclusion that Cornish was not extinct during this period but should be re-classified as having been critically endangered.