Erin McNulty
University of Glasgow
Revitalisation and the Manx Verb
This paper discusses the language use of New Speakers of Manx. Like many regional minority languages across Europe and elsewhere, Manx underwent linguistic obsolescence in the 19th and 20th centuries, which ultimately progressed to language death. In more recent times, the Manx language has seen a revival, which has increased speaker numbers. Among minority languages, Manx is unusual due to the fact that the community of speakers of the modern variety of the language is entirely made up of New Speakers, the majority of which have had no direct contact with traditional native speakers. In this paper I investigate the linguistic consequences of this through an analysis of the speech of three groups of speakers who have acquired the language in different contexts: teachers of Manx, speakers who received Manx instruction through the medium of English, and speakers who have received Manx-immersion education. An analysis of a number of verbal forms reveals differences between these three groups of New Speakers, which may be correlated with the amount and type of input in Manx these speakers have received. The paper discusses these findings in the context of other studies of the linguistic production of New Speakers of minority languages.