Pan-Gaelicism and the perception of the Gaelicness of Manx in the revivalist founder group

Abstract This article argues that language preservationist, revival and development movements may renew or restart themselves over an extended period, but that there can be detectable, societally sanctioned sociolinguistic tips in favour of the minoritised language that are associated directly with identifiable ‘founder groups’. Founder groups constitute an initial group of highly dynamic actors in language revitalisation projects. They play a key role in setting out the target language variety for subsequent, larger populations of learners, speakers and other users of the language. Crucially, they may also lay foundations for major elements of the established language ideologies that circulate among revivalists after an extreme language shift such as that which affected Manx Gaelic. The approach here is perceptual-sociolinguistic in nature, discussing Manx-speakers’ sense of the Gaelicness of their language through time and space and its relative importance; in time through the construction of continuity from a Gaelic past to the present and future, and in space by comparison with contemporary Irish and Scottish Gaelic, including attitudes towards aspects of pan-Gaelicism. The research draws on qualitative fieldwork undertaken between 1988 and 2024 and especially new analysis from two broader surveys among Manx speakers and advanced learners concluded in 2003 and 2013.