[Air-l] Language on the Internet (was AoIR in Latin-America)

[joshua raclaw]

Alex,

I think that the reasons for language loss mentioned in much of the cultural and
linguistic literature (which are probably way too off-topic to discuss on AoIR)
are just a lot more relevant to speakers of minority languages at this moment
than the need for getting information from the internet.  Most of these
majority languages will likely be moribund or extinct before this even becomes
a notable factor.  Also, Crystal never really discusses language death in the
quote you've cited, only that there's no motivation to code-switch outside of
English in cases where a speech community is underrepresented online.

I'm certainly open to discussing this further off-list, if anyone is interested.

Joshua



Joshua Raclaw - PhD student
Department of Linguistics
University of Colorado at Boulder



Quoting Alex Kuskis <alex.kuskis at netscape.ca>:

* Joshua,
* This is not my major interest, so I cannot cite specific research
* off the top of my head. However I know that David Crystal is
* the authority here. He's written on both "Language Death" (2000) -
* see http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/articles/crystal.html- as
* well as "Language & the Internet" (2001): see
* http://dannyreviews.com/h/Language_Internet.html .
*
* I don't think I suggested that language endangerment necessarily derives
* from an absence on the Internet per se. I think that has more to do with
* cultural assimilation. However, intuitively I think that cultures are
* assimilated and their languages are lost when they're unable to participate
* in major media channels. I think that media in major languages are
* agents of assimilation, unless remote people can avoid contact with the
* outside world at all. In "Language & the Internet", Crystal writes about
* finding about 1,000 languages on the Net, at which point he stopped
* looking; the vast majority of "more frequently used languages" are
* represented, as are many minority ones. However, "Until a critical
* mass of Internet penetration in a country builds up, and a corresponding
* mass of content exists in the local language, the motivation to switch
* from English language sites will be limited..." (p. 220). And when
* there's no indigenous language presence on the Net at all, local
* users will only be able to access information in English or another
* language. This can only hasten the decline of indigenous languages.
*
* But, as far as local languages are concerned, Internet presence is
* a 2-edged sword. Aboriginal people, in developed countries at least,
* are increasingly gaining Net access. See for example the case
* of the First Nations of Northwestern Ontario in Canada:
* http://www.ci-journal.net/viewarticle.php?id=19&layout=html
* To the extent that they can produce their own content, which
* can be in video and sound form, since they have broadband
* access, the Internet will be boon for maintaining their languages.
* To the extent that they have to use the English or French of their
* host nation, there's potential for their ownlanguages to decline.
* It's a complicated topic without easy answers.....Alex Kuskis
*
* ----- Original Message -----
* From: "joshua raclaw" <Joshua.Raclaw at colorado.edu>
* To: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
* Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 6:25 PM
* Subject: Re: [Air-l] Language on the Internet (was AoIR in Latin-America)
*
*
* Alex,
*
* Are you suggesting that a spoken minority language might actually become
* endangered because it doesn't have an online presence?  A vast majority of
* these minority languages don't even have a writing system.
*
* I'd be interested in any studies you've come across that specifically
* mention
* internet use as a factor in language loss (and I'm not sure that UNESCO
* article
* has anything to do with this idea).
*
* Joshua
* Joshua Raclaw - PhD student
* Department of Linguistics
* University of Colorado at Boulder
*
* Quoting Alex Kuskis <alex.kuskis at netscape.ca>:
*
* * Nils,
* * "You can never understand one language until you understand at least
* * two." -Ronald Searle (1920- )
* *
* * That quotation might be debatable. What is not is that the major
* languages,
* * especially English, dispersed world wide via the Internet, are putting
* * pressure on minority languages far more than previous electronic media
* such
* * as TV (see below). So, it's not just a matter of language adaptation, but
* * rather of survival. German will adapt and survive, as will other major
* * languages like French and Spanish. They will be interesting case studies.
* * But aboriginal languages worldwide are threatened, as are many in Africa
* and
* * South America, which is a loss of cultural diversity (as suggested by the
* * Safir quote someone posted). Yes, for better or worse, English has become
* * the lingua franca, more so than Latin or French ever were.........Alex
* * Kuskis
* *
* * Minority languages at risk: UNESCO
* * Last Updated Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:54:11 EST
* * CBC Arts
*
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