Monophthongs
Unstressed vowels are always short. Stressed vowels in monosyllables are long when followed by a single consonant or by nothing, e.g. gwag RMC [gwaːg], RLC [gwæːg] "empty", lo RMC [lɔː], RLC [loː] "spoon", and short when followed by a double consonant or a consonant cluster, e.g. ass RMC [as], RLC [æs] "how"; hons RMC [hɔns], RLC [hɔnz] "yonder". Exceptions are that long vowels precede st, e.g. lost RMC & RLC [lɔːst] "tail", and also sk and sp in RMC, e.g. Pask [paːsk] "Easter". Stressed vowels in polysyllables are short except in the case of conservative RMC speakers, who may pronounce vowels long before single consonants and st (and, for some, sk and sp), e.g. gwagen RMC [gwa(ː)gɛn], RLC [gwægɐn] "a blank".
More information Letter, RMC ...
Letter |
RMC |
TC & RLC |
Short |
Long |
Short |
Long |
a |
[a] |
[aː] |
[æ]1 |
[æː] |
e |
[ɛ] |
[ɛː] |
[ɛ]1 |
[eː] |
eu |
[œ]2 |
[øː]3 |
[ɛ] |
[eː] |
i |
[i] |
[iː] |
[ɪ] |
[iː]4 |
o5 |
[ɔ], [ɤ] |
[ɔː] |
[ɔ]1, [ɤ]1 |
[oː] |
oa6 |
- |
- |
- |
[ɒː] |
oo7 |
- |
[oː] |
- |
[oː], [uː]8 |
ou |
[u] |
[uː] |
[ʊ]1 |
[uː] |
u |
[ʏ]9 |
[yː] |
[ɪ]10 |
[iː]10 |
y11 |
[ɪ] |
[ɪː] |
[ɪ] |
[iː] |
Close
^1 May be reduced to [ɐ] when unstressed, which is given as [ə] in the original Specification[1] but as [ɐ] in the updated online dictionary.[6]
^2 Unrounded to [ɛ] when unstressed.[1]
^3 Given as [œ] in the original Specification[1] but as [øː] in the updated online dictionary.[7]
^4 Often realised as [əɪ] in RLC in stressed open syllables, in which case it is written with the variant graph ei.
^5 Can either represent [ɔ], the short version of long o [ɔː/oː], or [ɤ], the short counterpart to oo [oː/uː]. When representing [ɤ], the 2013 Review suggests o could be written as ò for clarity in "dictionaries and teaching materials".[8]
^6 Used as a variant graph by RLC speakers in a few words where RMC and TC speakers use long a, [aː] and [æː] respectively. After the 2013 Review, used solely in boas "be", broas "big", doas "come", moas "go", and their derivatives.[8]
^7 Used in word only when both Kernewek Kemmyn (KK) writes oe and RLC realises the sound [uː]. Therefore, oo does not always correspond to KK, e.g. SWF loor, KK loer "moon" both [loːr], but SWF hwor [ʍɔːr], KK hwoer [hwoːr] "sister". This is because evidence suggests the second group of words with o underwent a different phonological development to the first group with oe.[8]
^8 Pronounced solely as [uː] in RLC.
^9 Given as [y] in the original Specification[1] but as [ʏ] in the updated online dictionary.[9] Reduced to [ɪ] when unstressed.[1]
^10 Changed to [ɪʊ] when stressed and word-final or before gh. In a small number of words, u can represent [ʊ] when short or [uː] or [ɪʊ] when long in TC and RLC. The 2013 Review recommends these be spelt optionally as ù and û respectively in "dictionaries and teaching materials".[8]
^11 Can be pronounced [ɛ, eː] and therefore spelt e in TC and RLC.
Diphthongs
More information Letter, RMC ...
Letter |
RMC |
TC |
RLC |
aw |
[aʊ] |
[æʊ]1 |
ay |
[aɪ] |
[əɪ], [ɛː] |
ei2 |
- |
[əɪ] |
ew |
[ɛʊ] |
ey |
[ɛɪ] |
[əɪ] |
iw |
[iʊ] |
[ɪʊ] |
ow |
[ɔʊ] |
[ɔʊ], [uː]3 |
oy |
[ɔɪ]4 |
uw |
[ʏʊ]5 |
[ɪʊ] |
yw |
[ɪʊ] |
[ɛʊ]6 |
Close
^1 Loanword spelt with aw are often pronounced [ɒ(ː)] in TC and RLC.
^2 Used as a variant graph by RLC when i is diphthongised to [əɪ] in stressed open syllables.
^3 Used in hiatus.
^4 A few monosyllables may keep the more conservative pronunciation [ʊɪ] in RLC, e.g. moy [mʊɪ] "more", oy [ʊɪ] "egg".
^5 Given as [yʊ] in the original Specification[1] but as [ʏʊ] in the updated online dictionary.[10]
^6 The variant graph ew may be used instead of yw to represent the pronunciation [ɛʊ].
Consonants
More information Letter, RMC ...
Letter |
RMC |
TC |
RLC |
b |
[b] |
c |
[s] |
cch |
[tʃː] |
[tʃ] |
ch |
[tʃ] |
ck1 |
[kː], [k] |
[k] |
cy2 |
[sj] |
[ʃ(j)] |
d |
[d] |
dh |
[ð] |
[ð], [θ]3 |
[ð] |
f |
[f] |
[f], [v]4 |
ff |
[fː] |
[f] |
g |
[ɡ] |
gh |
[x] |
[h] |
ggh |
[xː] |
[h] |
h |
[h] |
hw |
[ʍ] |
j |
[dʒ] |
k |
[k] |
kk |
[kː] |
[k] |
ks |
[ks], [gz] |
l |
[l] |
ll |
[lː] |
[lʰ], [l] |
[lʰ] |
m |
[m] |
mm |
[mː] |
[m] |
[ᵇm]5 |
n |
[n] |
nn |
[nː] |
[nʰ], [n] |
[ᵈn]5 |
p |
[p] |
pp |
[pː] |
[p] |
r |
[r] |
[ɹ] |
[ɹ],[ɾ] |
rr |
[rː] |
[ɾʰ], [ɹ] |
[ɾʰ] |
s |
[s], [z]6 |
sh |
[ʃ] |
ss |
[sː], [s] |
[s] |
ssh |
[ʃː] |
[ʃ] |
t |
[t] |
th |
[θ] |
tt |
[tː] |
[t] |
tth |
[θː] |
[θ] |
v |
[v] |
[v], [f]3 |
[v] |
w |
[w] |
y |
[j] |
z |
[z] |
Close
^1 Used solely in words whose status as borrowings is in no doubt.
^2 In certain borrowed words, such as fondacyon RMC [fɔnˈdasjɔn], RLC [fənˈdæʃjɐn] "foundation".
^3 TC speakers realise dh as [θ] and v as [f] word-finally in an unstressed syllable. RLC speakers may not even realise these sounds at all, although this is reflected in spelling, e.g. TC menedh [ˈmɛnɐθ], RLC mena [ˈmɛnɐ] "mountain".
^4 [v] often occurs morpheme-initially before vowels. The mutation of [f] to [v] found in some varieties of Cornish is not shown in writing.
^5 A few words spelt with mm and nn lack pre-occlusion in RLC. These include words thought to have entered the language after pre-occlusion occurred, e.g. gramm "gramme", and words that fell out of use by the RLC period, e.g. gonn "I know".
^6 The distribution of [s] and [z] differs in each variety of Cornish. Some rules are common to almost all speakers, e.g. final s and medial s between vowels or a sonorant and a vowel are usually [z], whereas other rules are specific to certain varieties, e.g. RMC speakers usually realise initial s as [s] whereas RLC tend to prefer [z] (except in such clusters as sk, sl, sn, sp and st). The mutation of [s] to [z] found in some varieties of Cornish is not shown in writing. As an example, Penn Sans has been transliterated into English as Penzance reflecting pronunciation.