Cornish grammar

Cornish grammar is the grammar of the Cornish language (Kernewek or Kernowek), an insular Celtic language closely related to Breton and Welsh and, to a lesser extent, to Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic. It was the main medium of communication of the Cornish people for much of their history until the 17th century, when it ceased to be used as a community language.

A revival, however, started in 1904, with the publication of A Handbook of the Cornish Language, by Henry Jenner, and since them there has been a growing interest in the language. As of 2000, 20 people claimed to be native speakers of revived Cornish. Cornish was exported to Armorica where it became Breton as "the living Breton of today is the nearest thing to Cornish". A Handbook of the Cornish Language

Word classes and phrases

Verbs

Cornish verbs are highly regular and in their infinitive forms they are also considered nouns. For example, abma means the act of kissing rather than to kiss. A handful of irregular verbs exist, and are generally used as auxiliaries.

Adjectives

Unlike English, Cornish adjectives come after the noun they modify. There are simple and derived adjectives. The former comprise adjectives by their own, not derived of any other word, whereas the latter are formed by adding the -ek particle to the end of a verb or a noun.

Prepositions

As in other Celtic languages, Cornish exhibits conjugated prepositions.

Articles

Cornish lacks indefinite articles, and an function both as a definite article and demonstrative.

Initial consonant mutation

The initial mutation is a feature shared by all the modern Celtic languages, in which the initial consonant of a word may change under some circumstances. These changes take place when a word starts with B, Ch, D, G, Gr, Gw, G, K, M, P and T, and occasionally S and F, whereas other initial consonants remain unchanged in every circumstance. The most common mutation occurs after the definite article an, when followed by a feminine singular noun or masculine plural noun.