Manx Gaelic: the end game

Abstract

This article seeks to assess when the Manx language ceased to be passed on to succeeding generations. Full profiles are given of all speakers known and recorded in the period 1909–72, based on census data and other record information, as well as the testimony of fieldworkers such as Carl Marstrander. An estimate is made of the date when the English language replaced or came to dominate over Manx in each household, and the roles of such factors as family structures, education and stigmatisation are considered. It emerges that the shift began in earnest from c. 1860 and was largely completed in the decades 1880–1900, and that the chronology was similar across the island.