UnChartered territory: The unprecedented recognition of two previously dead languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages recently broke new ground by supporting two languages that had previously died; and not just under its fairly tokenistic, unburdensome Part II, but the much more extensive (and expensive) Part III. Manx Gaelic, having been recognised by the United Kingdom under Part II in 2003, went on to Part III status in 2020, followed by Cornish in 2025 (CoE, 2021; 2025a, 2026). Each the result of years’ long campaigns involving national and local politicians and activists, these brought Cornish and Manx to official parity in the UK with their sibling Celtic languages Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Welsh – even above Scots and Ulster Scots, which enjoy only Part II recognition – and with other minority languages around Europe. But, easy to miss among the ensuing fanfare was the remarkable turning point of recognising two languages which had previously died (Cornish in the eighteenth century; Manx in the twentieth) and had then been reconstructed for revival. Such recognition had never happened before. This drew the Charter – and the wider field of language revitalisation – somewhere quite new. Here we clarify the unique state of protection for Cornish and Manx compared to similarly endangered languages around Europe. We outline what this portends for the Charter, and for the wider field of language revitalisation; and how these two languages may become forerunners for future such efforts.