Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.com · Jan 4 In a curious connection between the Bonaparte dynasty and western Cornwall, Louis Lucien had this monument set up in the little Cornish village of Paul, commemorating Dorothy Pentreath, possibly (but probably not) the last native speaker of Cornish prior to its modern revival.
62 likes 4 replies
Replies
I realise the English translation is right there, but i was pleased my rudimentary (ie almost non existant) knowledge of celtic language allowed me to figure out a couple of the words
I’ve been there and clocked the memorial (and its linguistic connections). We went when we were in Cornwall in summer 2022 as I believe I have a C19 ancestor from Paul. It’s just up the hill from Mousehole
I am reminded of a couple months ago when I was talking about how Napoleon was a huge fan of the Fenian cycle.
Cornish offers a good example of why identifying a final native speaker can be difficult, compounding the problem of simply defining a native speaker with unclear historical facts. I believe ALILI tackled this in depth in its Cornish episode: shows.acast.com/a-language-i...