Related Papers
Studia Celtica Fennica
Manx Traditional Songs and Song-Fragments in the End-Phase of Manx Gaelic: from the Clague Music Collection (1890s)
2018 •
George Broderick
During the 1890s three collections of Manx traditional music and song were made at a time when similar collections were being made elsewhere, particularly in Britain and Ireland. In the Isle of Man the collections were made by 1) medical practitioner Dr. John Clague (1842-1908) of Castletown (also a colleague of Prof. John Rhŷs (1840-1915) during his visits to Man (1886-1893), by 2) the Gill Brothers (William Henry Gill (1839-1923) and the Deemster John Frederick Gill (1842-1899)) and Manx aristocrat Arthur William Moore (1853-1909). The first two (Clague and the Gill Brothers) mainly collected traditional tunes, Moore mainly song-texts. However, a number of song-texts (usually the first stanza only) find place in Clague's music collection. Although some of the texts were dealt with by Anne G. Gilchrist in her edition of the Clague Music Collection printed in the Journal of the Folk Song Society VII, 28-30 (1924-26), the main emphasis lay on a comparison of their texts with similar versions of a given song in other traditions (i.e. Ireland, Scotland, England, and a few in Wales, some even further afield). In this article all the known texts in Clague's music collection are dealt with particularly with regard to their linguistic contect and treatment, especially in the contet of the obsolescence taking place in spoken Manx at the time. In this latter respect, we do see some of the effects of obsolescence on the recorded pronunciation of the Manx texts in the songs. In the Appendix we look at the remnants of the May-time song (in its Manx form) Huggey my fainey sourey lhien, a Manx version of the traditional Irish Thugamar féin an samhradh linn 'we brought the summer with us', the Manx version showing some antiquity in its form.
“‘What are the words of this popular Manx song?’ Correspondence on Manx Folk Songs from Notes and Queries (1868–70).” Manx Notes 207 (2015): 1–23.
Stephen Miller
Manx Traditional Songs and Song-fragments III: Manx National Heritage Library MD 900 MS 08307. The Robert Gawne Collection?
George Broderick
This is a presentation of Manx National Heritage MS 08307 dated to c.1830-40 containing the texts of some sixty-two Manx traditional songs current during that period and for a while before and thereafter.
“David Speers: Writings on Manx Folk Music from Carn (1992–94).” Manx Notes 197 (2014): 1–11.
Stephen Miller
Isle of Man Studies
Manx traditional songs and music: aspects of the tradition and its revival
2023 •
George Broderick
During the early 1960s if not earlier there took place a revival in traditional music and song, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, but also in England and Wales and in western Europe generally. The Isle of Man was no exception to this drive.
A bibliography of Manx language studies (May 2022)
Christopher Lewin
This bibliography aims to include all academic published works (books, articles, chapters, reviews) on the Manx Gaelic language and its literature and history to date, and also as many unpublished theses and dissertations as are known to the compiler. Works are included where the main focus is on Manx, or where Manx is one of the primary topics, or is named in the title. There is also a select list of publications which discuss or mention Manx in passing, with indication of the sections or pages in which the relevant passages may be found. Certain adjacent topics such as place-names, and the Gaelic language in the Isle of Man in the medieval period, are not as yet included in the bibliography.
Aspects of the historical phonology of Manx
2020 •
Christopher Lewin
This thesis elucidates some of the hitherto poorly understood aspects of the diachronic development of Manx phonology. By tracing phonological changes from earlier varieties of Gaelic, and within the attested period of written and recorded Manx, it frames these developments within the wider contexts of Gaelic dialectology and historical linguistics. Manx provides an important source for understanding the linguistic development of the Gaelic languages. A lack of systematic treatments and reliable datasets for the language, however, has obscured this fact and led to its neglect within Gaelic studies. The thesis focuses, in particular, on the development of the language’s prosody, suprasegmental features, vowel system and sonorants, the latter having a particular bearing on vowels. Five principal methodologies are deployed to investigate these topics: • Re-evaluation of existing descriptions and datasets provided by previous scholarship, especially those collected by Rhŷs in the 1880s and 1890s, and material from the last generation of speakers presented by Broderick in his Handbook of Late Spoken Manx. • Interpretation of the evidence of the two main Manx orthographies and non-standard variations thereof. • Analyses based, as far as possible, on the whole attested lexis of the language, making use of Cregeen’s and Kelly’s dictionaries. • Quantitative approaches to all of these sources of data where appropriate. • Instrumental phonetic analysis of recordings of the terminal speakers of Manx. Chapter one places Manx in its historical and dialectological context, reviews previous scholarship, discusses the primary sources, and introduces the interpretative difficulties of the orthographies. Chapter two examines developments in the short and long vowels, and the impact of the consonant system on vowel changes. Chapter three examines the development of the vowels ao(i) /əː/ and ua(i) /uə̯/ in Manx. The written evidence, description and recorded data are complex, and some scholars have claimed that these vowels fell together with one another and with other vowels. It will be shown that these vowels in fact remained contrastive for the most part in Late Manx. Chapter four investigates developments in the sonorant consonants, especially the R, L and N phones. Changes in vowels preceding historically tense sonorants are also examined, as well as the origins and spread of the phenomenon of preocclusion. Chapter five examines suprasegmental and prosodic features including stress shift, unstressed long vowel shortening, and the conditioning factors for these. Chapter six provides concluding remarks assessing the thesis’ contribution to current scholarship, and the prospects for future research. [This doctoral thesis was completed in the University of Edinburgh with supervision from Dr William Lamb (Celtic and Scottish Studies) and Dr Pavel Iosad (Linguistics and English Language). I am grateful to the AHRC Centre for Doctoral Training in the Celtic Languages for funding the research.]
Studia Celto-Slavica
Recording the Last Native Manx Speakers 1909–1972
2019 •
George Broderick
This article concentrates on those native Manx Gaelic speaking informants recorded during the last phase of obsolescence in Manx which took place during the course of the twentieth century, from 1909 to 1972. The aim here is to include as much detail and information about the circ*mstances of the recording sessions, their interviewers, the interviewees, comments made on their Manx by the interviewers, and additional information and comment from the field-workers who accompanied the recording sessions, and who had got to know the informants individually and knew what they could offer. All in all, it is hoped that we now have a complete a picture as possible of this unique events that accompanied the end-phase of Manx Gaelic of the Isle of Man that had functioned as the community language of Manx men and women for some 1500 years, from c.500 CE down the the passing of the last reputed native Manx speaker, Ned Maddrell, on 27 December 1974.
The Revival of Manx Traditional Music: From the 1970s to the Present Day
CHLOE WOOLLEY
This thesis examines the revival and subsequent development of traditional music in the Isle of Man from the 1970s until the present day. Together with dance and the Gaelic language, the revival of Manx traditional music has contributed to the reevaluation of a Manx identity based upon traditional values and symbolism. Drawing on individual interviews, a comprehensive survey and primary source material, this thesis investigates the motivations, influences and ideology behind the revival. Issues of nationalism, individual and communal identities, Celticism, authenticity and the formation of cultural boundaries are all addressed in an analysis of the revivalist ideology, which has consequently dictated the standard repertoire and musical style of today. The structure of the study is based upon a theoretical model of musical revivalism designed by Tamara E. Livingston (1999:69): 1. an individual or small group of “core revivalists” 2. revival informants and/or original sources (e.g. historical sound recordings) 3. a revivalist ideology and discourse 4. a group of followers which form the basis of a revivalist community 5. revivalist activities (organizations, festivals, competitions) 6. non-profit and/or commercial enterprises catering to the revivalist market. Livingston’s model has been employed to ascertain whether the Manx music movement corresponds with the modern conception of the term ‘revival’ and therefore with the typical characteristics as documented in other cases. This thesis aims to render new concepts that can be added to contemporary theory on musical revivalism.
Scottish Gaelic Studies 31
Recording the last native Manx speakers 1886-1972
2018 •
George Broderick
This article seeks to present a comprehensive survey of the systematic recording of native Manx Gaelic speech over the period 1886-1972, from the era of Prof. John Rhys (1886), University of Oxford, down to that of the Gaelic Linguistic Survey of Scotland, University of Edinburgh (1972).
