Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T14:27:32.405Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The Decline and Rebirth of Manx Gaelic

State Traditions and Language Change in a Small Island Context

from Part I - Routes of Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2024

By
Gary N. Wilson
Edited by
Ericka Albaugh ,
Linda Cardinal  and
Rémi Léger
Ericka Albaugh
Affiliation:
Bowdoin College, Maine
Linda Cardinal
Affiliation:
Université de l'Ontario français
Rémi Léger
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University, British Columbia
Get access

Summary

The literature on Indigenous language revitalization is dominated by sociolinguistic and normative approaches that focus on “the vitality of languages, the multiple facets of linguistic landscapes, and the effects of language policies on individuals and groups” (Sonntag and Cardinal, 2015: 6). Very little research, however, has been done using the tools of political science and public policy to analyze the emergence of language policies or the choices made by governments and organizations to protect, preserve and revitalize Indigenous languages. Using an historical institutionalist approach, this paper will examine the decline and revitalization of Manx Gaelic (Manx), the Indigenous language of the Isle of Man, a small island jurisdiction in the British Isles. Manx has been critically endangered for many decades, following its slow decline during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but in recent years has undergone a process of revitalization spearheaded by civil society organizations in partnership with government. The chapter identifies and discusses the reasons why Manx went into decline and the opportunities and challenges associated with promoting and sustaining its revitalization.

Keywords

Manx Gaeliclanguage policyrevitalizationindigenous languageIsle of Man
Type
Chapter
Information
States of Language Policy
Theorizing Continuity and Change
 , pp. 66 - 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ager, S. (2009). A Study of Language Death and Revival with a Particular Focus on Manx Gaelic. MA dissertation. University of Bangor.Google Scholar
Belchem, J. (2000). A New History of the Isle of Man. Volume 5. The Modern Period, 1830–1999. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Bird, H. (1995). An Island that Led: The History of Manx Education. Volume 2, Port St. Mary, Isle of Man: Manx Heritage Foundation.Google Scholar
Broderick, G. (1999). Language Death in the Isle of Man. Tübingen: Max Niemayer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cardinal, L. and Sonntag, S. K., eds. (2015). State Traditions and Language Regimes. Montreal McGill-Queen’s University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, M. (2009). Manx Language Revitalization and Immersion Education. e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies, 2(5), 165–198.Google Scholar
Cooper, R. L. (1989). Language Planning and Social Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Culture Vannin. (2021). www.culturevannin.im. Website (accessed March 3, 2021).Google Scholar
Gál, K., Hicks, D.. and Eplényi, K. (2011). Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages. Brussels: European Parliament.Google Scholar
Gawne, P. (2002). Securing the Future of Manx Gaelic. In Davey, P. and Finlayson, D., eds., Mannin Revisited: Twelve Essays on Manx Culture and Environment. Edinburgh: Scottish Society for Northern Studies, pp. 173–183.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (2008). Changing Values among Western Publics from 1970 to 2006. West European Politics, 31(1–2), 130–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isle of Man Census Report. (2001). Volume 1. Economic Affairs Division. Douglas: Isle of Man Government Treasury.Google Scholar
Isle of Man Government. (2001). Education Act, 2001. Douglas: Treasury of the Isle of Man.Google Scholar
Kermode, D. (2000). Constitutional Development and Public Policy. 1900–1979. In Belchem, J., ed., A New History of the Isle of Man. Volume 5: The Modern Period, 1830–1999. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 94–184.Google Scholar
Kermode, D. G. (2001). Offshore Island Politics: The Constitutional and Political Development of the Isle of Man in the Twentieth Century. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Kinvig, R. H. (1975). The Isle of Man: A Social, Cultural, and Political History. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Loughlin, J. and Williams, C. H.. (2007). Governance and Language: The Intellectual Foundations. In Williams, C., ed., Language and Governance. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 57–103.Google Scholar
Machan, T. W. (2009). Language Anxiety: Conflict and Change in the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, J. and Thelen, K.. (2010). A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change. In Mahoney, J. and Thelen, K., eds., Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–37.Google Scholar
Manco, J. (2015). Blood of the Celts: The New Ancestral Story. New York: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
McArdle, F. and Teare, R.. (2016). Manx Gaelic: The Manx Gaelic Language in Education in the Isle of Man. Ljouwert/Leeuwarden: Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning.Google Scholar
Nixon, D. G. (1983). Dissent in a Celtic Community: Class and Ethnicity in the Isle of Man. MA thesis, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Rawcliffe, R. (2009). No Man Is an Island: 50 Years of Finance in the Isle of Man. Douglas, Isle of Man: Manx Heritage Foundation.Google Scholar
Sallabank, J. (2013). Attitudes to Endangered Languages: Identities and Policies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stowell, B. and Ó Bréasláin, D.. (1996). A Short History of the Manx Language. Belfast: An Clochán.Google Scholar
Thelen, K. (1999). Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 2, 369–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tynwald Court. (1984). Manx Gaelic – Official Status – Government Encouragement and Use – Referred to Select Committee. December 12: T718.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. N. (2007). The Revitalization of Manx Language and Culture in an Era of Global Change. In Refereed Proceedings for the 3rd Annual Small Island Studies Conference. Charlottetown: Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. N. (2009). But the Language Has Got Children Now. Language Revitalization and Education Planning in the Isle of Man. Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, 3(2), 15–31.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. N. (2011). Social Change and Language Revitalization in the Isle of Man: A Post-Materialist Perspective. Language Documentation and Description, 9, 58–74.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. N. (2015). Branding Small Islands: A Case Study of the Isle of Man. In Vodden, K., Baldacchino, G. and Gibson, R., eds., Place Peripheral: The Promise and Challenge of Place-Based Development in Rural and Remote Regions. St. John’s: Institute of Social and Economic Research Press, pp. 230–253.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. N. and Mackie, C.. (2023). “Quite an Innocuous Thing”: The Select Committee on the Greater Use of Manx Gaelic and Language Revitalisation in the Isle of Man. Shima, 17(1), 212–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winterbottom, D. (2000). Economic History, 1830–1996. In Belchem, J., ed., A New History of the Isle of Man. Volume 5: The Modern Period, 1830–1999. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 207–278.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×