Everything about Manx Language totally explained
Manx (
Gaelg or
Gailck, pronounced /gɪlg/), also known as
Manx Gaelic, is a
Goidelic language spoken on the
Isle of Man. It is a descendant of
Old Irish, particularly similar to the old East
Ulster and
Galloway dialects.
History
Manx began to diverge from
Middle Irish sometime between the
10th and
17th centuries, and is called by Manx speakers. The language sharply declined during the
19th century and was supplanted by
English. In
1848, J. G. Cumming wrote that "there are ... few persons (perhaps none of the young) who speak no English", and
Henry Jenner estimated in
1874 that about 30% of the population habitually spoke Manx (12,340 out of a population of 41,084). According to official census figures, 9.1% of the population claimed to speak Manx in
1901; in
1921 the percentage was only 1.1%. Since the language had fallen to a status of low prestige, owing in part to specific influences like
Methodism, parents tended not to teach the language to their children, thinking that Manx would be useless to them compared with English.
Following the decline in the use of Manx during the
19th century, (The Manx Language Society) was founded in
1899.
By the middle of the
20th century only a few elderly
native speakers remained (the last of them,
Ned Maddrell, died on
December 27,
1974), but by then a scholarly
revival had begun to spread to the populace and many had learned Manx as a second language. The revival of Manx has been aided by the recording work done in the
20th century by researchers. Most notably, the
Irish Folklore Commission was sent in with recording equipment in
1948 by
Éamon de Valera. There is also the work conducted by language enthusiast and fluent speaker
Brian Stowell, who is considered personally responsible for the current revival of the Manx language.
The first native speakers of Manx (bilingual with English) in many years have now appeared: children brought up by Manx-speaking parents. Primary immersion education in Manx is provided by the Manx government: since 2003, the former
St. John's School building has been used by the (Manx language-medium primary school). Degrees in Manx are available from the
Isle of Man College, the
Centre for Manx Studies and the
University of Edinburgh. [NB.the University of Edinburgh doesn't offer a degree in Manx, it offers an Honours course about the Culture, History, and Language of the Isle of Man]
Manx-language drama groups also exist, and Manx is taught as a second language at all of the Island's primary and secondary schools and also at the
Isle of Man College and
Centre for Manx Studies. Manx is used as the sole medium for teaching at five of the Island's pre-schools by a company named, which also operates the sole Manx primary school – the .
In the
2001 census, 1,689 out of 76,315, or 2.2% of the population, claimed to have knowledge of Manx, although the degree of knowledge in these cases presumably varied.
Manx names are once again becoming common on the
Isle of Man, especially
Moirrey and
Voirrey (Mary, properly pronounced similar to the Scottish
Moira, but often mispronounced as
Moiree/Voiree when used as a given name by non-gaelic speakers),
Illiam (
William),
Orry (from the Manx King),
Breeshey (also
Breesha) (
Bridget) and
Aalish (also
Ealish) (
Alice),
Juan (
Jack),
Ean (
John),
Joney,
Fenella (
Fionnuala),
Pherick (
Patrick) and
Freya (from the
Norse Goddess) remain popular.
Although Manx is commonly used for written slogans by local businesses, and appears on departmental letterheads and promotional materials within the Isle of Man Government, it isn't used as a spoken language within the business community, or spoken within the Government.
Attitudes to spoken Manx within the business and Government community can vary from sympathetic to hostile - speakers sometimes afraid to use it, or admit their knowledge of it, for fear of hostile reactions from their co-workers. Within the wider community, Manx can also elicit unfavourable reactions from monoglot
English speakers, perhaps because of a fear of exclusion from conversation, xenophobia, or as a hangover of 19th Century attitudes to Manx, where the "unsophisticated" Manx language was discouraged for use by the younger generations in favour of
English. Regrettably, with the decline of Manx, most Isle of Man residents are oblivious to the basics of Manx, and unable to properly pronounce the Manx place-names, street names and given names that surround them.
Manx is used in the annual
Tynwald ceremony, with new laws being read out by ('the Reader') in both Manx and
English.
Manx is recognised under the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. It is also one of the
regional languages recognised in the framework of the
British-Irish Council. Some controversy has resulted over the omission of Manx culture from the
Columba Initiative.
Little secular
Manx literature has been preserved. Arguably, no trace of written Manx survives from before the 1600s, but the
Book of Common Prayer and
Bible
were translated into Manx in the
17th and
18th centuries. A tradition of
carvals, religious songs or carols, developed.
Orthography
The spelling of Manx, unlike that of
Irish and
Scottish Gaelic, doesn't represent the Classical Gaelic orthography, and displays a degree of Welsh and English influence (seen, for example, in the use of 'y' and 'w' and in combinations such as 'oo' and 'ee'). For example, 'Isle of Man' if written using the Irish orthography would be written as or in the Scottish orthography as, whereas in the Manx orthography it's written as . The Irish name for the Isle of Man is
Oileán Mhananáin, and the Scottish name is
Eilean Mhananain - the three versions are pronounced in a similar way.
If Manx was written with an orthography based on traditional Gaelic, the following sentence (taken from the Gaelg page):
Ta'n Gaelg feer ghoan çheumooie jeh Ellan Vannin, agh fod pobble ennagh screeu ee ayns çheeryn elley
would be written like the following in 'Gaelic' spelling:
» Tà'n Ghaelg fìor-ghónn teabh a-muigh de Eilean Mhannain, ach faod pobal eanach scrìobh ì ans tìoran eile.
Compare the 'Irish' and 'Scottish' equivalents:
» Tá an Ghaeilge an-ghann (fíor-ghann) taobh amuigh de Oileán Mhannanáin, ach féadann daoine [pobal] éigin(each) í a scríobh i dtíortha eile.
» Tha a' Ghàidhlig glé ghann (fìor-ghann) taobh a-muigh de Eilean Mhannain, ach faodaidh daoine [pobal] igint(each) ì a sgrìobhadh ann an tìrean eile.
If any distinctively Manx written literature existed before the Reformation, it was unidentifiable or lost by the time that widespread literacy was being seriously advocated, so when attempts were made (mainly by the Anglican church authorities) to introduce a standardised
orthography for the language, a new system based partly on Welsh, and mainly on the English of the 1700s was developed. It is commonly supposed that it was simply invented by
John Phillips, the Welsh-born
Bishop of Sodor and Man (1605-1633) who translated the
Book of Common Prayer into Manx. However, it does appear to have some similarities with orthographical systems found occasionally in Scotland, also based on English orthographical practices. For example, the
Book of the Dean of Lismore and the
Fernaig manuscript are written in Scottish Gaelic using a similar system of spelling. However, it must be said that the Book of the Dean of Lismore is based on the orthography of Scots, and not Southern English.
Initial consonant mutations
Like all modern Celtic languages, Manx shows
initial consonant mutations, which are processes by which the initial consonant of a word is altered according to its
morphological and/or
syntactic environment. The only productive mutation of literary Manx is
lenition, though traces of the
eclipsis found in Irish can also be found. In the late spoken language of the
20th century the system was breaking down, with speakers frequently failing to use lenition in environments where it was called for, and occasionally using it in environments where it wasn't called for.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Manx Language'.
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