Kusulennow Yeth

[towlenner]

*slaps head* Idiot, of course it is.

[branvras]

(This is why people often simply insert an apostrophe to remove a determination error, as has happened in the first lesson of KDL:
*esel an Kowethas an Yeth has become esel an Kowethas a'n Yeth in recent versions.
This does remove the original problem but creates a new one BTW, as "Kowethas an Yeth" is a proper name which is unduly altered by the apostrophe in the new version of the sentence.)

I think it's worth pointing out that "inserting an apostrophe" turns "an" into "a" + "an" and it is the "a" (which might be translated as "of") that breaks the chain of determination, not the apostrophe itself, of course.

But in this case the correction doesn't work either. As you read it the phrase "esel an Kowethas" immediately gels together to mean "the member of the Kowethas" and then you get pulled up by "a'n Yeth" and scratch your head thinking "the Kowethas' member of the language"??

The key to the problem, and the solution, is that "esel" should not be defined in the first place, because Yowann in the story is A member of the Kowethas, not THE member of the Kowethas. So the "a" to break the chain of definition should come after "esel" -

"Yowann yw esel a Gowethas an Yeth Kernewek" - "Yowann is a member of Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek"

Perhaps another piece is in order explaining why "Esel a Gowethas an Yeth Kernewek yw Yowann" might have been even better!

[Albert Bock]

People probably thought that breaking up the original "an" into "a'n" was the only way to break up the determination chain without having to re-record the lesson, so they had to make do with quite a cludgy workaround which did not produce the intended result.

[Albert Bock]

Oh, and welcome to the forum, branvras. What do you think about our idea of a pool for teaching materials? In case you like it - would you have something to contribute to it?

[branvras]

I think a pool for teaching materials is an excellent idea. I know it has been discussed many times. But I think any initiatives like this should be done under the auspices of MAGA, because more teachers are likely to contribute if it is. One of the working groups ought to be addressing this sort of thing soon, I would have thought. There is a Teachers' Day coming up I believe. It's organised by the Kesva (might be the Kowethas) but I think it's at least partly blessed by MAGA, and perhaps this should be on their agenda for discussion, if something can be sorted out quickly.
I don't have teaching materials of my own, only stuff that I've collected as a student in classes, so I couldn't make a contribution to the pool.

[Brythonek]

Those articles are very good, and very "academic".

If I were to offer some constructive criticism, and this is from a language teacher, they may be a little too "texty" and "academic" for learners- although certainly appropriate for teachers to bone up on. Perhaps it would be better to break things down into more bite-sized chunks....?

As I say, don't take it the wrong way, just playing Devil's Advocate here... bloody teachers, we are a pain at times aren't we? LOL!!!

[Albert Bock]

I agree about the "textyness". The idea is to give both explanations for teachers and a short version for learners which can be distributed as a handout. At the moment, we have only included the latter in two of the documents, but that is not meant to be a lasting state of affairs.

[balindsey]

Hilary Shaw has made the beginning by sending us her "Tresorva" (100+ pages of templates and examples for Cornish sentence structure). I've finished translitterating it into the SWF(T), and Ben is proofreading it this instant.

Did anything ever come of this?