Grammar
The grammar of Cornish shares with other Celtic languages a number of features which, while not unique, are unusual in an Indo-European context. The grammatical features most unfamiliar to English speakers of the language are the initial consonant mutations, the verb–subject–object word order, inflected prepositions, and the use of two different forms for "to be". Cornish nouns belong to one of two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, but are not inflected for case. Cornish has a variety of different endings to indicate the plural, and sone nouns have a third collective form. Verbs are conjugated for tense and mood, which can be indicated either by inflection of the main verb, or by the use of auxiliary verbs.
- Initial consonant mutation: The first sound of a Cornish word may change according to grammatical context. As in Breton, there are four types of mutation in Cornish (compared to three in Welsh and two in Irish, Manx and Gaelic). These are known as soft (b -> v, etc.), hard (b -> p), aspirate (b unchanged, t -> th) and mixed (b -> f).
| Unmutated consonant |
Soft mutation |
Aspirate mutation |
Hard mutation |
Mixed mutation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | b | f | - | - |
| t | d | th | - | - |
| k | g | h | - | - |
| b | v | - | p | f |
| d | dh | - | t | t |
| g1 | disappears | - | k | h |
| g² | w | - | k | hw |
| gw | w | - | kw | hw |
| m | v | - | - | f |
| ch | j | - | - | - |
1 Before unrounded vowels (i, y, e, a), l, and r + unrounded vowel.
² Before rounded vowels (o, u), and r + rounded vowel.
- inflected (or conjugated) prepositions: A preposition combines with a personal pronoun to give a separate word form. For example, gans (with, by) + my (me) -> genev; gans + ev (him) -> ganso.
- No indefinite article. Porth means "harbour" or "a harbour" (there is, however a definite article: an porth means "the harbour").
Read more about this topic: Cornish Language
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—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)