Talk:Last speaker of the Cornish language

Alison Treganning

See Talk:Alison Treganning
--Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 11:11, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

The sources in the Alison Treganning article are puzzling. The Lowlands-L article is hard to judge because it is undated, it is not clear when mention of Treganning was inserted and what sources it is based on. One would have to ask the author, Reinhard F. Hahn. The Three Monkeys Online article by John Doyle seems more promising, as it says it was posted on August 1, 2005, well before any mention of Treganning of Wikipedia, seemingly ruling out a hoax. On the other hand, that the article mentions 2006 at a point, in a way that casts doubt on the posting date, or at least suggests the possibility of a later update or modification, makes me hesitate. We just need sources that are not as easy to manipulate, preferrably books. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 12:44, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

I see I've already commented on this on Talk:Cornish language#Alison Treganning. Whoops. Anyway, the lingering doubt means that my conclusion stands: it would be best to ask the authors where they have got their wisdom from, and if these are (or ultimately lead) to more credible sources, she can be added. Until then, it's really quite awkward that Alison Treganning redirects here without any mention in the article, but it's a better solution than to delete the redirect and lose the history. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 13:36, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

[Untitled]

It may be worth noting that in The English Language: Its Grammar, History & Literature (1886) by John Miller Dow Meiklejohn, it apparently says 'Cornish died out in 1778, in the person of an old lady called MARY PENGARVEN'. I am aware of this because it is quoted in the Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (1929-1930), though I haven't read the original source myself. Jakeybean (talk) 00:22, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

William Bodinar's 1776 letter is also worth mentioning here as it presents tangible, uncontroversial evidence that Pentreath cannot have been the last speaker in any meaningful sense, since Bodinar (apart from perhaps even some of the other elderly inhabitants of the town he mentions) appears to have outlived her. Moreover, I have found mention in Ellis (probably right after p. 129, where he talks about the Cranken Rhyme) of Cornish children in the early 20th century who used short, fixed Cornish sentences while playing, but I cannot check the source because it is not available to read on Google Books anymore. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 13:06, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

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Rename

This article should be renamed "Last speaker of Cornish". Under Wikipedia guidelines, article titles should be concise. "speaker" and "language" are redundant here.--Solomonfromfinland (talk) 18:04, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

I agree. The term 'speaker' is not ideal either because it is not clearly defined: it could refer to L2 speakers as well as L1 speakers, which is the intended meaning here. Even the term 'last native speaker' is open to interpretation, although it is a little more precise. I think the intended meaning as it stands is pretty obvious but I am sure there are those who would disagree. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 19:28, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

The title is problematic because there are several hundred speakers of Cornish today. "Last native speaker of the Cornish language" would be slightly better. Sionk (talk) 18:48, 23 October 2022 (UTC)