Its first iteration, then spelt Kernowak Standard and now designated KS1, was developed gradually by a group called UdnFormScrefys ('Single Written Form') as part of the Cornish language community's process of agreement on a Standard Written Form (SWF) for Cornish through the public body Cornish Language Partnership.
[3] Its principal authors were Michael Everson, Neil Kennedy and Nicholas Williams.The orthography was meant to adhere to two basic requirements which the group identified with: to be based on orthographic forms attested in the Cornish literary scribal tradition, and to have an unambiguous relationship between spelling and sounds.
[6] The group identified what they saw as a number of inconsistencies, ambiguities, and errors, and discussion on an online discussion list led to the publication of a number of texts in the resulting orthography, Kernowek Standard, designated as KS and not KS2, culminating in the publication of the Bible in Cornish and a comprehensive grammar, Desky Kernowek[7] on 1 May 2012.
Before the Standard Written Form was reviewed in 2013, KS was described by its proponents as a proposal for a number of changes to be made to the SWF.
The following changes were proposed, none of which were ultimately adopted by the Cornish Language Partnership during the SWF's review: