Article published in:
Languages of the Internet
Edited by Claudio Menezes
[Journal of Language and Politics 5:2] 2006
► pp. 189–216

Regional or Minority Languages on the WWW

| University of Portsmouth
This paper reports on research sponsored by Unesco to provide reliable data on the extent to which the WWW is becoming a means for minority language groups to publish information and reach the general public. These are the first findings of what is intended to be a world wide enquiry. We report on the Web presence of a group of European languages, all of which have minority status in the states in which they are spoken. They are various dialects of Occitan3 in France, Sardinian, Piemontese and Ladin in Italy and Frisian in the Netherlands. The research confirms that these languages are used extensively on the Internet. However, it also finds that the domains in which they are used are quite restricted and mirror to a large degree the situation in traditional print publishing. Thus the WWW may only be having an influence on volume of publishing and is not necessarily extending the use of the languages to new areas. Thirdly, it records substantial publishing by private individuals and finds that there are possible consequences here for standardisation of minority languages. The research is comparative and ongoing and will explore whether the European situation is typical or exceptional.
Keywords: regional or minority languages, Internet, websites, language diversity, language convergence, standardisation
Published online: 15 September 2006
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.5.2.04wri
Cited by

Cited by 6 other publications

Kelly-Holmes, Helen
2019. Multilingualism and Technology: A Review of Developments in Digital Communication from Monolingualism to Idiolingualism. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 39 ► pp. 24 ff. Crossref logo
Kelly-Holmes, Helen & Sari Pietikäinen
2012.  In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, Crossref logo
Miola, Emanuele
2015. La tirannia della tastiera. Language Problems and Language Planning 39:2 ► pp. 136 ff. Crossref logo
Miola, Emanuele
2017. The position of Piedmontese on the Romance grammaticalization cline. Folia Linguistica 51:1 Crossref logo
Pietikäinen, Sari & Helen Kelly-Holmes
2011. Gifting, service, and performance: three eras in minority-language media policy and practice. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 21:1 ► pp. 51 ff. Crossref logo
Themistocleous, Christiana
2010. Writing in a non-standard Greek variety: Romanized Cypriot Greek in online chat. Writing Systems Research 2:2 ► pp. 155 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 september 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

References

References

Anderson, B.
1983 Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
AMD Global Consumer Advisory Board
www​.amd​.com, consulted April 2004.
Billig, M.
1995 Banal Nationalism. Newbury: Sage.Google Scholar
Eurydice
1998 Key Data on Education in Europe 1997. European Commission.Google Scholar
Gellner, E.
1983 Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Glaser, B.
1995 Grounded Theory Reader. California: Sociological PressGoogle Scholar
Global Internet Statistics
www​.glreach​.com​/globstats, consulted regularly 2000—2004.
Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, T.
1983 The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ionta, M.
forthcoming. Sardinian and the Revitalisation of Languages in Europe. Aston University PhD thesis in preparation.
Joseph, J.
2004 Language and Identity. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kelly-Holmes, H.
2004a An analysis of the language repertoires of students in higher education and their language choices on the internet. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 6(1,) 29—52.Google Scholar
2004b Advertising as Multilingual Communication. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kloss, H.
1967 Abstand languages and Ausbau languages. Anthropological Linguistics 9, 29—41.Google Scholar
Romaine, S.
2002 The impact of language policy on endangered languages. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 4(2,) http://​portal​.unesco​.org​/shs​/en​/ev​.php​-URL​_ID​=2547​&URL​_DO​=DO​_TOPIC​&URL​_SECTION​=201​.html.Google Scholar
Schmid, H.
1998 Wegleitung f�r den Aufbau einer gemeinsamen Schriftsprache der Dolomitenladine. Vigo di Fassa: Istitut Cultural Ladin.Google Scholar
Sharp, D.
1973 Language in Bilingual Communities. London: ArnoldGoogle Scholar
World Economic Forum
www​.weforum​.org, consulted March 2002
Wright, S.
forthcoming. Language on the internet - The question of purism. Unesco research report.
2004a Multilingualism on the internet. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 6(1,) http://​portal​.unesco​.org​/shs​/en​/ev​.php​-URL​_ID​=2547​&URL​_DO​=DO​_TOPIC​&URL​_SECTION​=201​.html.Google Scholar
2004b Language Policy and Language Planning: From Nationalism to Globalisation. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2000a Community and Communication: The Role of Language in Nation Building and Europeanisation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
2000b Jacobins, regionalists and the Council of Europe's Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 21(5,) 414—425. CrossrefGoogle Scholar