Page:The ancient language, and the dialect of Cornwall.djvu/79

 J 59 there is no obvious difference between the dialects of Devon and Cornwall. The Devon dialect drives back the Cornish from the east of the County. Near the Tamar we hear the people saying "How are yiew 1 " or " How be yiew " the word yiew being spoken with a curious twist of the mouth; also the expressions referred to already, viz : " Semmee " or " Semmee to me " for "I think." There also, we hear people saying her for she as "Ther her gothe." In all shades of the Cornish dialect it is very common to use he for it but the miner generally says et for it as in this expression *'He'eve a dun et" for "He has done it" and a for he, thus : "Iss a ded" i.e. "Yes he did." It is rare, if ever, that in the dialect the adjective is used after the noun. There is a favourite expression in the west, and one of endearment when speaking to a little child. It is "cheel-vean or cheeld-vean," meaning "child little." It is singular that the Cornish do not often place the adjective after the noun; in speaking their ancient lan- guage they commonly did so. In order to form some idea of the pronunciation, the following examples are given, and, making due allow- ance for differences in the Cornish dialect, may do suffi- ciently well.