Isle of Man 1

Listen to Isle of Man 1, a 46-year-old man from Port St. Mary, Isle of Man. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 46

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 20/12/1979

PLACE OF BIRTH: Douglas, Isle of Man

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: White/Caucasian

OCCUPATION: theatre producer

EDUCATION: college diploma

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS: none

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject’s parents are from Manchester, England. He is an actor, which might have affected his dialect.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 22/09/2026

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born and brought up on the Isle of Man, er, in a little village in the south of the island called Port St. Mary. It’s a beautiful part of the island, which is right on the coast. And I suppose sort of growing up there you don’t really appreciate just how special it is, until you’re older.

Um, Port Erin, which is adjacent to Port St. Mary, is often called the Southern Riviera of the Isle of Man, and it’s a very popular beach on the island, certainly in the summertime, and it’s, you know, it still gets packed.

So the Isle of Man, uh, sits in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. So, geographically, we’re quite small, but we’ve got a strong sense of identity.

So the Isle of Man has the longest known parliament in the world, called Tynwald; um, even has its own language called Manx Gaelic, so, and the history goes back, er, you know thousands of years.

So one thing, one of the things I love about the island is its scenery; um, you can be down by the sea one minute and then up in the hills the next. And of course the Isle of Man is very famous for the TT motorcycle races, which, you know, brings people in from all over the world. Um, and it runs for two weeks, has a practice week, and the main sort of TT week, and this year we had, um, Channing Tatum, who was doing a film, er, based on the TT.

So my, my work life here on the Island of Man is: I work, er, predominantly in theatre. I’m an acting coach, er, producer, and I also act, so I run a theatre company on the IOM called Parker & Snell Company; er, we produced a number of plays over the years, and I’m actually currently playing Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express at the Gaiety Theatre this November. So, it’s a small island, but there’s an awful lot, um, going on, er, on the island.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 24/09/2026

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject says his dialect is middle-of-the-road by Manx standards. Note these few signature sounds:
1. The dialect is non-rhotic.
2. There is t-glottaling in “start a new job,” “strut around,” etc.
3. STRUT set uses [ʊ].
4. GOAT set uses [ɐu].
5. MOUTH set uses [ɛʊ].
6. On “strong,” etc., “ng” endings are sometimes [ŋɡ].
7. BATH set uses short [æ].

COMMENTARY BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 24/09/2026

The archive provides:

• Recordings of accent/dialect speakers from the region you select.

• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.

• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.

• In most cases, an orthographic transcription of the speakers’ unscripted speech.  In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).  The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages are Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage) and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings).

For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here, please go to Other Dialect Services.