[Spellyans] attestations

[Eddie Climo]

On 27 Jul 2008, at 07:23, Craig Weatherhill wrote:
> With due respect to all, and the principle of tota Cornicitas, may I
> suggest that we allow both valy and nans in our vocabulary.  Along  
> with
> ryver and awan, and the other alternatives mentioned by Nicholas.

This is sound advice, especially if the origin of each loan or  
neologism is marked in the dictionary (as Nance often did).

> That some Cornish users resent the loan-words from English is quite
> ridiculous when you consider the fact that many words accepted as
> traditional Cornish by all are, in fact, loans from other languages.

The mistake these people make is in rejecting such loans outright as  
'bad Cornish', instead of realising that it's a question of choosing  
a suitable style. Too many anglicisms in a sentence isn't wrong, but  
it's may not be good style in a formal context. Too few may not suit  
casual conversation.

An example I've mentioned before is something I overheard once in a  
Welsh bank from a native-speaking customer to the native-speaking  
teller. You'll probably find no translation's needed:
> "Hallo. Rwy'n wantio transferrio funds o'r current accownt i'r  
> deposit accownt, plis"

As it happens, almost all of those anglicisms are listed in the  
definitive 'Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru' as Welsh words. And in that  
casual context, there was nothing wrong with using them so freely.

However, it would not really be suitable for a more formal situation  
like, say, the Chancellor of the Welsh Parliament in his Budget  
Speech (and I'm inventing these anglicisms!):
> "Rwy'n wantio reducio domestic spending gan five percent yn y  
> financial year nessa."

It's not a question of right and wrong, but of appropriate or  
inappropriae styles.

Eddie Foirbeis Climo
- -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- -
Dres ethom akennow byner re bons lyeshes
Accenti non multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

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