Cornish Alphabet at a Glance

  • 26 letters: 6 vowels and 20 consonants
  • Spoken by approximately 400-500 fluent speakers, with over 3,000 having basic skills [1]
  • Recognized minority language in the UK under European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
  • Member of the Brittonic branch of Celtic languages [2]
  • Uses Latin script [3]
  • Underwent successful revival after extinction in late 18th century [1]
  • Closely related to Welsh and Breton, sharing Celtic linguistic heritage
  • Featured on road signs and official documents throughout Cornwall since 2002

Cornish Vowel Letters

The Cornish alphabet includes 6 vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y. Like other Celtic languages, Cornish vowels can have varying pronunciations depending on their position in a word and surrounding letters. The letter y functions as a vowel in Cornish, representing sounds similar to "uh" or "ee" in different contexts.

Cornish Vowels (Uppercase)

A
[AH]
E
[EH]
I
[IH]
O
[OH]
U
[UH]
Y
[UH]

Cornish Vowels (Lowercase)

a
[ah]
e
[eh]
i
[ih]
o
[oh]
u
[uh]
y
[uh]

Cornish Consonant Letters

The Cornish alphabet contains 20 consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z. Cornish consonants include several that appear primarily in loanwords (j, k, q, x, z).

For example:

In the word "kernewek", meaning "Cornish language", the consonants k, r, n, w, and k combine with the vowels e and e to form the syllables of this distinctive Celtic word.

Cornish Consonants (Uppercase)

B
[BEE]
C
[KEE]
D
[DEE]
F
[EFF]
G
[GEE]
H
[AYTCH]
J
[JAY]
K
[KAY]
L
[ELL]
M
[EM]
N
[EN]
P
[PEE]
Q
[KYOO]
R
[AR]
S
[ESS]
T
[TEE]
V
[VEE]
W
[DOUBLE-YOO]
X
[EX]
Z
[ZEE]

Cornish Consonants (Lowercase)

b
[bee]
c
[kee]
d
[dee]
f
[eff]
g
[gee]
h
[aytch]
j
[jay]
k
[kay]
l
[ell]
m
[em]
n
[en]
p
[pee]
q
[kyoo]
r
[ar]
s
[ess]
t
[tee]
v
[vee]
w
[double-yoo]
x
[ex]
z
[zee]

Digits in Cornish

Cornish uses the standard Arabic numerals 0–9, with Cornish number names: mann/nolla (0), onan/onen (1), dew/diw (2), tri/teyr (3), peswar/peder (4), pymp (5), hwegh/whech (6), seyth (7), eth (8), naw (9).

Like Welsh and Breton, Cornish numbers show gender agreement, with different forms for masculine and feminine nouns.

0
[mann]
1
[onan]
2
[dew]
3
[tri]
4
[peswar]
5
[pymp]
6
[hwegh]
7
[seyth]
8
[eth]
9
[naw]

Punctuation and Symbols

Cornish uses standard punctuation marks including period (.), comma (,), question mark (?), exclamation mark (!), hyphen (-), and apostrophe ('), following modern orthographic conventions.

.
,
?
!
-
'

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

References:

Sambhu Raj SinghSambhu Raj Singh · LinkedIn · GitHub · Npm

Updated:


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