A £3,000 grant from Culture Vannin has enabled the transcription, translation and timestamping of historic recordings of native Manx speakers to be restored, significantly expanding public access to an important collection of the island's linguistic heritage.
The newly completed work has been added to the Manx Corpus website, where users can now search recordings in both Manx and English and listen directly to individual words and phrases in context.
The project includes material from the British Library's ‘Unlocking Our Sound Heritage’ collection alongside other historic recordings, making a valuable archive far more accessible to learners, teachers, researchers and the wider public.
This provides an invaluable resource for language learning, linguistic research and the long-term preservation of authentic spoken Manx.
The Manx Language Research Group (MLRG), established in 2022 under the guidance of Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh (the Manx Language Society), started the project as part of its mission to promote research into the Manx language and encourage wider public engagement.
Dr Christopher Lewin, secretary of the MLRG, said: ‘We are extremely grateful to Culture Vannin for supporting this project.
‘The grant enabled our voluntary organisation to engage specialist expertise to transcribe, translate and timestamp recordings of native Manx speakers from the British Library's Unlocking Our Sound Heritage collection, alongside other important recordings.’
‘Making this material available through the Manx Corpus website gives learners, teachers and researchers unprecedented access to authentic spoken Manx, providing an invaluable model for the revived language.
‘The timestamping also allows individual words to be researched and their pronunciation heard directly from native speakers.’
The Manx Corpus is widely used by Manx language learners and speakers in the Isle of Man and internationally, as well as teachers, researchers, journalists and members of the public.
Searchable English translations also make the recordings accessible to those with no knowledge of Manx, creating a valuable resource for social history, folklore and family history research.
Chris Williamson, vice-chair of Culture Vannin, said: ‘Culture Vannin is delighted to have supported this important piece of work. The project has transformed access to recordings of native Manx speakers and will benefit learners, educators and researchers for years to come.’
The enhanced corpus also supports wider objectives set out in the Manx Language Strategy, providing valuable data for future developments including digital language technologies, speech recognition and machine translation.
New transcriptions have already been incorporated into Culture Vannin's online teaching activities, giving learners direct access to natural spoken Manx as a model for pronunciation and usage.
Becky McSevney, operations officer for Culture Vannin, said the charity's grants programme exists to support projects that celebrate, preserve and share the island's unique culture and heritage.
She added that the success of the project demonstrates how relatively modest grants, combined with specialist expertise and community commitment, can deliver lasting benefits.
Further information on Culture Vannin’s grants is available online at culturevannin.im, with the next deadline August 21.
The Manx Corpus can be accessed at corpus.gaelg.im.