Description
Hard back edition, written by Martyn F. Wakelin, published by Leicester University Press in 1975
Orange cloth cover with gold lettering on spine, 239 pages including index, good condition, some pencil marks on text
This book is an essay in linguistic geography in which the author’s research into modern dialect material from Cornish is used to illuminate Cornwall’s linguistic history. The first chapters introduce the subject of Linguistic Geography and the application of this study to Cornwall, sketch the historical and linguistic background, and discuss evidence – place-names, documents, writers’ statements – for the adoption of English in Cornwall and the displacement of the old Cornish language. Selected dialect material (collected by Leeds Survey of English Dialects)is them presented, phonological, morphological and lixical, and conclusions are drawn with regard to present-day dialectical boundaries which emerge – in general, that, while a ‘South-western’ dialect prevails in eastern Cornwall, further west it approximates to a type of Standard English. It is further argued that this latter type arose from the early introduction of a ‘standard’ type of speech under the influence of education, as Cornish fell into disuse.
In the course of the work, remnants of the Cornish language, Cornish influence upon English, and the position of earlier linguistic boundaries in Cornwall are discussed, subjects upon which little research has been done.
