Agan Tavas (literally Our Language) is a society which exists to promote the Cornish language. It was formed in 1987 to promote the use of Cornish as a spoken language. At that time only those observed to be using the language fluently could become members by invitation. In 1990 Agan Tavas was reformed by its members into an open society with the aim of ensuring continued support for the Unified form of revived Cornish first put forward in 1929 by Robert Morton Nance. The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic. ... Robert Morton Nance (1873-1959) Born in Cardiff of Cornish parents. ...
Agan Tavas recognises the validity of any form of revived Cornish based on orthography used by Cornish people at any time in the history of the language. It opposes the use of invented forms of the language which lack any historical authenticity. The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ...
Agan Tavas received a boost in its membership after 1995 when Nicholas Williams of University College Dublin in his book Cornish Today heavily criticized the form of Cornish known as Common Cornish, devised by Ken George and favoured by the Cornish Language Board. Nicholas Jonathan Anselm Williams (born October, 1942 in London, UK), writing as Nicholas Williams or sometimes N.J.A. Williams, is a leading expert on the Cornish language. ... University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin - more commonly University College Dublin (UCD) - is Irelands largest university, with over 20,000 students. ... Dr Ken George is the Principal Lecturer in Ocean Science in the Institute of Marine Studies at the University of Plymouth. ... Kesva an Taves Kernewek (Cornish Language Board in Cornish) is a representative body promoting the Cornish language. ...
At present, Agan Tavas supports the amendments made to Unified Cornish but respects the rights of its members to use either Unified Cornish or Unified Cornish Revised. It maintains a list of classes using historical Cornish, organises events for its members and publishes books in both Unified and Unified Cornish Revised. It produces for its members the four monthly bilingual magazine An Gowsva ('The Talking Shop').
The take-up of the language is now becoming so widespread that organisations such as Kesva an Taves Kernewek, the Cornish Language Board, are finding it difficult to keep up with demand.
Others include the Cornish sub-group of the European bureau for lesser-used languages, Teere ha Tavas, or land and language, Gorseth Kernow, Cowethas an Yeth, AganTavas and Dalleth, the last of which is the organisation promoting language to pre-school children.
Nicholas Williams' translation of the Testament Noweth agan Arluth ha Savyour Jesu Cryst was published at Easter 2002 (ISBN 0-9535975-4-7); it uses Unified Cornish Revised orthography.
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