scholarly journals Virtual communities as breathing spaces for minority languages: Re-framing minority language use in social media

Adeptus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillem Belmar ◽  
Maggie Glass
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Essential Component

Virtual communities as breathing spaces for minority languages: Re-framing minority language use in social mediaConsidering that social media is increasingly present in our daily communicative exchanges, digital presence is an essential component of language revitalization and maintenance. Online communication has modified our language use in various ways. In fact, language use online is often described as hybrid, and boundaries across languages tend to blur. These are also characteristics of translanguaging approaches, which see language as fluid codes of communication. “Breathing spaces” are needed in order to achieve “sustainable translanguaging” practices for minority languages. The establishment of communities of performing minority language speakers in a digital environment raises the question whether these emerging virtual communities can take up the role of  breathing spaces for minority languages. Społeczności wirtualne jako przestrzeń życiowa dla języków mniejszościowych. Nowe spojrzenie na używanie języków mniejszościowych w mediach społecznościowychPonieważ media społecznościowe są coraz bardziej obecne w codziennej komunikacji, obecność języków mniejszościowych w świecie cyfrowym jest niezbędnym elementem dla ich zachowania i rewitalizacji. Komunikacja online przyniosła zmiany wielu aspektów użycia języka. Używanie języka w Internecie często określa się jako hybrydowe, a granice między językami często się zacierają. Te zjawiska cechuje również transjęzyczność (translanguaging), podejście które postrzega język jako płynne kody komunikacji. W przypadku języków mniejszościowych, osiągnięcie „zrównoważonej transjęzyczności” (sustainable translanguaging) wymaga „przestrzeni życiowej” do ich używania. Tworzenie wirtualnych społeczności posługujących się językami mniejszościowymi w świecie cyfrowym rodzi pytanie, czy mogąone pełnić rolę takiej przestrzeni.

Language Use and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Policy-Makers and Educators in Northeast Vietnamese Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Ha Ngan Ngo ◽  
Maya Khemlani David
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wedding Songs

Vietnam represents a country with 54 ethnic groups; however, the majority (88%) of the population are of Vietnamese heritage. Some of the other ethnic groups such as Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, and Nung have a population of around 1 million each, while the Brau, Roman, and Odu consist only of a hundred people each. Living in northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border (see Figure 1), the Tay people speak a language of the    Central    Tai language group called Though, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di. Tay remains one of 10 ethnic languages used by 1 million speakers (Buoi, 2003). The Tày ethnic group has a rich culture of wedding songs, poems, dance, and music and celebrate various festivals. Wet rice cultivation, canal digging and grain threshing on wooden racks are part of the Tày traditions. Their villages situated near the foothills often bear the names of nearby mountains, rivers, or fields. This study discusses the status and role of the Tày language in Northeast Vietnam. It discusses factors, which have affected the habitual use of the Tay language, the connection between language shift and development and provides a model for the sustainability and promotion of minority languages. It remains fundamentally imperative to strengthen and to foster positive attitudes of the community towards the Tày language. Tày’s young people must be enlightened to the reality their Tày non-usage could render their mother tongue defunct, which means their history stands to be lost.

scholarly journals Us Mob Online: The Perils of Identifying as Indigenous on Social Media

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Bronwyn Carlson ◽  
Tristan Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Insight Into

Social media is a highly valuable site for Indigenous people to express their identities and to engage with other Indigenous people, events, conversations, and debates. While the role of social media for Indigenous peoples is highly valued for public articulations of identity, it is not without peril. Drawing on the authors’ recent mixed-methods research in Australian Indigenous communities, this paper presents an insight into Indigenous peoples’ experiences of cultivating individual and collective identities on social media platforms. The findings suggest that Indigenous peoples are well aware of the intricacies of navigating a digital environment that exhibits persistent colonial attempts at the subjugation of Indigenous identities. We conclude that, while social media remains perilous, Indigenous people are harnessing online platforms for their own ends, for the reinforcement of selfhood, for identifying and being identified and, as a vehicle for humour and subversion.

Myaamiaataweenki

2018 ◽  
pp. 552-570
Author(s):  
Daryl Baldwin ◽  
David J. Costa
Keyword(s):  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Community Based ◽  
External Resources ◽  
Indigenous Language Revitalization ◽  
Contemporary Life ◽  
Dominant Society

The discussion around indigenous language revitalization must include languages “reawakening” after a period of dormancy. New paradigms are needed to describe the developing role of reawakening languages, their impact on community and individual identity, and the necessary capacity-building to support their reconstruction and reintroduction into tribal society. If sleeping languages are excluded from the conversation, much will be lost in understanding minority language development and vitality for contemporary life within a larger dominant society. This chapter describes the development of a recently “reawakened” language that ceased to be spoken in the mid-twentieth century, and attempts to capture its developmental trajectory in the context of an evolving community-based educational system. The Myaamia language is emerging in new domains. It is driven by a collaborative effort of internal and external resources that demonstrate what is possible for a reclaimed language.

The Role of Social Media in Maintaining Minority Languages: A Case Study of Chechen Language in Jordan

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Amani Juma Abu-Irmies ◽  
Rajai Rasheed Al-Khanji
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Ethnic Language

This study investigates factors motivating the Chechen people in Jordan to use their indigenous language in social media such as WhatsApp and Facebook. It also explores their attitudes towards using the Chechen language in social media. In order to achieve the aims of this study, the researchers have selected a sample that consists of 340 Chechen people who reside in the Jordanian cities and towns: Al-Suknah, Sweileh and Az zarqa. The instruments of the study were a sociolinguistic questionnaire and an open-ended interview. The findings reveal that Chechens use social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp to preserve the Chechen language and their culture. Also, Chechens of Jordan use their ethnic language to communicate with their friends who understand the Chechen language. Besides, the Chechen language has been used in whatsApp and Facebook to promote unity among family members. Moreover, many Chechen people use social media to communicate with other Chechen speakers regardless of familial ties. Results also indicate that Chechens of Jordan have a high positive attitude towards including the Chechen language in social media.

The Twofold Role of a Minority Language in Historical Trauma: The Case of Lemko Minority in Poland

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-566
Author(s):  
Magdalena Skrodzka ◽  
Karolina Hansen ◽  
Justyna Olko ◽  
Michał Bilewicz
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Long Term Consequences

Tragic collective events bring about long-term consequences for affected groups. These effects not only affect the immediate victims of trauma, but can also influence subsequent generations. In the present research, we examined the effects of minority language use on historical trauma. In a study of 237 Lemko participants, members of a severely victimized ethnic minority in Poland, we tested the effects of cognitive availability of historical trauma on three categories of trauma-related symptoms: emotional, behavioral, and depressive. The study found that minority language use is positively related to cognitive availability of trauma, but it also limits the effects of such availability on trauma-related symptoms. Based on this finding, we discuss the potential of minority language use to act as a social cure protecting from the negative psychological consequences of historical trauma.

The dynamics of Hawaiian speakerhood in the family

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (255) ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Christina Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Native Hawaiian ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Hawaiian Language ◽  
Home Life ◽  
The Family ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Practices

Abstract While the majority of studies on new speakers focuses on language use in educational and community contexts, the family is becoming an increasingly relevant site since new speakers are now incorporating their languages into their home life. This article reports on how people of Native Hawaiian ancestry express their speakerhood with regard to their use of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, or the Hawaiian language, in the context of the family. It explores Hawaiians’ stances towards different ways of speaking Hawaiian with regard to authenticity, an issue which has been found to be central among new speakers of minority languages in other contexts. Drawing on interview data with six Hawaiians, this article investigates Hawaiian speakerhood by focusing on how the participants view linguistic authority and translanguaging in family settings. The article offers insights into the range of linguistic practices and sociolinguistic authenticities in families that may enhance continued language revitalization efforts.

scholarly journals Language and indigeneity

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Joshua Zwisler
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
South America ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Indigenous Language Revitalization ◽  
Intrinsic Good

Work in indigenous language revitalization often justifies itself along using one of two arguments: the intrinsic good of diversity and the importance of language in constructing indigenous identity. This article examines the second argument, first analyzing modern trends in the conception of indigenous identity and its link to language, and then uses two recent studies in indigenous language loss from South America and North America to determine the role of indigenous language in the production of indigenous identity. The result is that indigenous language serves as a linguistic mechanism of othering – the creation of an out-group with language as the criterion of exclusivity, and as a means of transmitting a romanticized image of indigenous people through indexicalizing such into indigenous language use. However, this article points out that the debate is far from over and that further research is need in the field of indigeneity and language.

scholarly journals Beyond place-based: the role of virtual communities via social media in young adult recovery

2021 ◽  
Vol 10.47389/36 (No 2) ◽  
pp. 48-53
Author(s):  
Julie Willems ◽  
Rouve Jan Forbes ◽  
Margaret Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Emergent Theme ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Post Disaster

In post-disaster recovery, optimising psychosocial support is important for all groups of the population, yet young adults have tended to be overlooked as a demographic in their own right. Research was conducted to seek the perspectives of young adults through the narrative of their experiences in the years following the 2009 Gippsland bushfires. One emergent theme in the findings highlighted the importance of information and communication during and after events. Participants in this research sought information and support via social media and virtual communities. These sites traverse localised, place-based solutions, enabling young people to communicate over large geographical areas. The platforms aid dynamic and rapidly evolving support by sharing information, feelings and ideas. This research also highlighted the need to identify the gaps in information processes and support systems for young adults and to ensure youth-specific information is included in formal communications. Possible solutions are outlined taking into consideration the perspectives offered by the study participants.

Territoriality and Minority Language Rights

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balázs Vizi
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Rights ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Technical Approach ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Minority Language Rights

Territorial principle emerges not only in domestic legislations on language rights, but also in international documents. The article aims at offering an overview of the interpretations of territoriality in international documents relevant for minority language rights, with a special focus on the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. While states often use territorial requirements as a tool of political control over minority language use, the interpretation of their obligations under the two Council of Europe treaties would require a more practical and technical approach to territorial limitations.

‘I don’t engage’: Online communication and social media use among New Zealand journalists

Journalism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 536-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Neilson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Work Engagement ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Participatory Journalism ◽  
Allocation Of Time ◽  
Past Experiences

Social media, comment threads, and other means of online communication are important to journalists’ work processes, but expand their workload and pose challenges to their professional identity. The concept of ‘engagement’ is used by news workers in New Zealand to describe the role of digitally mediated communication in their work. Engagement deserves scholarly treatment akin to concepts such as ‘participatory journalism’ because it is employed by journalists to place professional and practical limits on online interaction. Their decisions about engagement are based on professional commitments, past experiences, and the allocation of time and resources. Journalists in newsrooms that are already understaffed and under-resourced are expected to take on new tasks; like other digital laborers, journalists experience the interpenetration of work and leisure and the incorporation of affective and unpaid work. News workers have an opportunity to develop best practices for engagement and determine how and when they should engage online.

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