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The Anglo-Cornish dialect is ‘a performance, a deliberate performance’

Ideological orientation and patterns of lexical variation in a peripheral dialect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2020

Rhys J. Sandow
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Extract

Situated at the extreme south west periphery of the British Isles, Cornwall's territorial isolation bred cultural isolation which has been construed and reconstrued over time, giving Cornwall a distinctive cultural flavour. Initially borne out by facts of geography, Cornwall, or ‘Kernow’, experiences a dynamic yet enduring peripheral existence (see Payton, 1992). This article explores how Anglo-Cornish dialect words can be used as a means of identity construction, that is, how a Cornish way of speaking is used to construct identities associated with a Cornish way of being. I hypothesise that those who desire greater Cornish autonomy are more likely to use Anglo-Cornish dialect lexis than those who favour further socio-cultural assimilation with England.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 36 , Special Issue 3: Special Issue: Language in the South of England , September 2020 , pp. 77 - 84
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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