What the parents say

Formal elementary education and the Cornish language revival

Authors

• Zsuzsanna Renkó-Michelsén PhD Student at University of Helsinki

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61197/fjl.156550

Keywords:

Cornish, intergenerational transmission, language revival, bilingual education, heritage language

Abstract

The article presents a qualitative analysis of the relevance of formal elementary education for the Cornish revival movement. Data were gathered through a mixture of structured and semi-structured interviews conducted with Cornish-English bilingual parents in Cornwall between 2013 and 2015. The research offers novel information and contributes to the fields of family language policy, bilingual education, and language revival. It also contributes to the research debate on whether to introduce revived endangered languages into schools. The research results show that a) schools can have a positive effect on Cornish when the usage of the language is encouraged within the formal school setting b) the consultants for the study wish that the Cornish language would be introduced into at least some schools in Cornwall. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis shows that according to Cornish-speaking parents, preschools and schools have a profound influence on intergenerational transmission of Cornish. Formal educational settings support the usage of Cornish in the family when using Cornish is encouraged by teachers and peers. However, preschools and schools can also have a negative effect on how Cornish is used in the family, if speaking Cornish is ignored or discouraged in school settings.

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