Cornish language 'must be preserved'

MORE resources should be devoted to preserving traditional British languages such as Cornish, a University of Cambridge anthropologist has said.

Dr Mark Turin, a research associate in social anthropology, is heading up the World Oral Literature Project, which aims to create lasting records of traditional languages.

The project, in association with Cambridge University's Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, aims to capture the poetry, myths, stories and folk songs of ancient languages on a variety of media.

But although grants are being given to tribes and groups around the world, no money will be allocated to UK groups, although Dr Turin admits that along with Breton, Welsh and Gaelic, Cornish is a threatened language.

He said: "People often think it's often only tribal cultures that are under threat.

"But all over Europe there are pockets of traditional communities and speech forms that have become extinct.

"It is the domain of stronger nation states with better resources to look after their own indigenous tongues, through Welsh language TV and Breton literature.

"Given our small team, we are focusing on the indigenous people who do not have the funding to help themselves."

The collected oral literature from the project is being compiled in a digital archive that can be accessed on demand and will make the records of lost cultures readily available.

There are 6,000 natural languages in the world, and the passing down of oral literature through song, poetry, ritual texts, word games and narratives is at the cultural heart of many traditional communities. However, socio-economic change and the dominance of certain global cultures has disrupted the transfer of native languages.

Many, like Cornish, are at risk of being completely destroyed. It is thought that under half of world languages will survive another generation.

The first batch of the project's archive material includes a recording of folk music of the Lo Monthang region of Nepal, and ceremonial chanting in the Vaups region of Colombia.

Ray Chubb, chairman of Agan Tavas, a society for the protection and preservation of the Cornish language, said the organisation would be happy to work with Cambridge University on archiving Cornish material.

"Preserving the Cornish language is so important for Cornwall because it's part of our history, surroundings, place names and surnames," he said. "It's always a struggle to keep any minority language alive, but it helps that Cornish has now been recognised by the Government and funds are coming through to promote the language. The main problem is getting schools in Cornwall to fit Cornish language, literature and culture into their curriculum. That would be the best way to help preserve the language.

"There's a lot that has been written in historical Cornish but we're still building a bulk of material in revised Cornish. There's some good stuff around in terms of novels and stories but we still have a bit of a way to go with films. Things are slowly improving and if any of our material can contribute to the Cambridge project, we'd be happy to help."