Brian Stowell

Thomas Brian Stowell RBV TH (6 September 1936[1] – 18 January 2019[2]) also known as Brian Mac Stoyll[3][4] was a Manx radio personality, linguist, physicist and author. He was formerly Yn Lhaihder ("The Reader") to the Parliament of the Isle of Man, Tynwald.[5] He is considered one of the primary people behind the revival of the Manx language.[6][7]

Brian Stowell RBV TH
Born
Thomas Brian Stowell

(1936-09-06)6 September 1936
Douglas, Isle of Man
Died18 January 2019(2019-01-18) (aged 82)
OccupationManx radio personality, linguist, physicist and author
Notable work
Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley ("The Vampire Murders")
AwardsReih Bleeaney Vanannan 2008
Tynwald Honour 2010

Early years and the Manx language

Stowell was born in Douglas, Isle of Man on 6 September 1936 to Caroline (née Sothard) and Tommy Stowell.[8] His mother's maternal grandparents were native Manx speakers, although they did not pass the language on to their children.[8] He attended Murray's Road Junior School before attending Douglas High School for Boys, where he excelled academically.[9][10]

Stowell was inspired to start learning Manx after he read an article written by Doug Fargher passionately defending the Manx language in 1953.[11] Stowell described himself as being "only dimly aware"[11] before reading this article that there was a language other than English spoken on the Isle of Man. While still a student of Douglas High School for Boys he began attending lessons taught by Leslie Quirk, who introduced Stowell to Fargher, and in turn to other members of Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh such as Walter Clarke and Bill Radcliffe.[11] During this period he accompanied Fargher and other members of Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh as they recorded the remaining elderly natives speakers. He spent his weekends, meeting in Fargher's office in Douglas and conversing only in Manx. After about nine months he became fluent.[10]

Although Stowell did have regular access to proficient speakers through Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh, he found it difficult to access resources to learn the language, as well as hostile attitudes from non-Manx speaking members of the community:

A deterrent at that time (and for a very long time after that) would have been the aggressive attitude of most other people: ‘What do you want to waste your time with that old nonsense for? That was never a real language!’ This was like some sort of fixed mantra.[11]

Manx disappeared as a community language on most of the Isle of Man in the late 19th century.[12] It was a low prestige language and negative attitudes by much of the Island's population towards Manx posed significant difficulty for learners and established speakers alike.[10]

Life in Liverpool

He moved to Liverpool to study physics at the University of Liverpool in 1955.[13]

While living in Liverpool he became fluent in Irish and used his fluency to translate Irish language course Buntús Cainte, which became Bunneydys for the Manx language learning community.[10]

Return to Mann

Stowell was appointed Manx Language Officer in 1991 and returned to the Isle of Man permanently the same year.[14] He has made weekly broadcasts about history and current events for Manx Radio.[15]

In 2008, Stowell was awarded the Manx Heritage Foundation's Reih Bleeaney Vanannan ("Manannan's Choice of the Year") award for outstanding contributions to Manx culture. On Tynwald Day 2010, he was awarded the Tynwald Honour, the highest honour that Tynwald can award a citizen.[16]

In 1990, Stowell published Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn, his translation into Manx of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In March 2006 Stowell's Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley ("The Vampire Murders"), the first recorded full-length novel in Manx, was published.[17][18]

Legacy

The Aundyr Brian Stowell ("The Brian Stowell Award") was created in memory of Stowell's achievements.[19] It is awarded for any piece of creative work produced in Manx:

an entry could be a poem, a story, a drama, a film, an audio recording, or a visual or musical piece with Manx text, or, for example, an article about the Manx language and history, a translation, a digital app, augmented reality, or a website service.[20]

His autobiography Gaelg as Fishig: Skeeal my Vea ("Manx and Physics: The Story of my Life") was published posthumously in 2019.[14][21]

List of works
  • 1968: Gaelg Trooid Jallooghyn: Manx Through Pictures
  • 1973: Chronicle of The Kings of Mann and The Isles / Recortys Reeaghyn Vannin as ny hEllanyn with George Broderick
  • 1974: Bunneydys: A Course in Spoken Manx (based on Buntús Cainte)[22]
  • 1986: Abbyr Shen!
  • 1990: Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn
  • 1996: Bun-Choorse Gaelgagh
  • 1996: A Short History of the Manx Language
  • 1998: Y Coorse Mooar
  • 2005: Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley (a serial story)
  • 2006: Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn
  • 2010: Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn[23]

References
  1. "Dr Brian Stowell receives top Manx cultural award". 14 January 2008. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
  2. "Loss of giant of Manx language revival". Manx Radio. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  3. "Baase Brian Mac Stoyll – Death of Brian Stowell". Celtic Congress Mannin. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  4. "Shiaght Laa 5th December 2019". Manx Radio. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  5. Phillips, Roger. "Chapter 12 - Clerk of Tynwald's Office". Part b (ii) (Other Officers). Douglas, Isle of Man: tynwald.org.im. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  6. "'If it wasn't for Brian, the Manx language would have died out'". IOM Today. 27 January 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  7. Whitehead, Sarah (2 April 2015). "How the Manx language came back from the dead". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  8. Brian, Stowell (2019). Gaelg as Fishig: Skeeal my Vea. Douglas: Culture Vannin. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-912668-03-8.
  9. Stowell, Brian (2019). Gaelg as Fishig: Skeeal my Vea. Douglas: Culture Vannin. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-912668-03-8.
  10. Breesha, Maddrell; O’Meara, Jamys (2019). "Dr Brian Stowell RBV, TH (1936–2019)". Folk Life. 57:1: 80–83.
  11. Stowell, Brian (May 2011). "Manx Gaelic and Physics, a Personal Journey" (PDF). Journal of Celtic Language Learning. 15-16: 111–126.
  12. Miller, Stephen (2007). ""Here the Manx language lingers, and may linger some time longer": Manx and English in Cregneash in 1901". Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie. 55: 111.
  13. Stowell, Brian (2019). Gaelg as Fishig: Skeeal my Vea. Douglas: Culture Vannin. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-1-912668-03-8.
  14. "NEW Gaelg as Fishig by Brian Stowell". Manx National Heritage. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  15. "Reviving Manx - The Yale Globalist - An Undergraduate Magazine of International Affairs". Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  16. "Tynwald Day: Live video streaming". BBC News. 10 July 2010.
  17. Isle of Man Today article on Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley Archived August 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  18. "Brian Stowell article in the FT". Learn Manx. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  19. "New Manx creative prize in memory of Dr Brian Stowell". IOM Today. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  20. "Aundyr Brian Stowell 2019". Pobble. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  21. "Manx language stalwart's posthumous autobiography". IOM Today. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  22. O'Néill, Diarmuid. Rebuilding the Celtic languages. Y Lolfa. p. 403. ISBN 978-0862437237.
  23. Everson, Michael (21 June 2010). "Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Manx" (in Manx and English). Evertype. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
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