For Rare Languages, Social Media Provide New Hope (fwd link)

[Phil Cash Cash]

*For Rare Languages, Social Media Provide New Hope*

By LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU
Originally published on Sat July 26, 2014 6:59 pm

At a time when social media users, for no particularly good reason, are
trading in fully formed words for abbreviations ("defs" instead of
"definitely"), it may seem that some languages are under threat of
deterioration — literally.

But social media may actually be beneficial for languages.

Of the estimated 7,000 languages that are spoken around the world, UNESCO
projects half will disappear by the end of the century. But social
networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter are in a position to
revitalize and preserve indigenous, minority and endangered languages,
linguists and language-preservation activists say.

One of the reasons some indigenous languages are endangered is that
increased connectivity through the Internet and social media have
strengthened dominant languages such as English, Russian and Chinese, says
Anna Luisa Daigneault of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered
Languages.

Endangered languages stand a greater chance of survival when they are used
online.

"Having a Web presence for those languages is super important for their
survival. Social media are just another connection point for people who
want to stay connected to their language," says Daigneault, Latin America
projects coordinator and development officer at the institute.

​Access full article below:
http://wkms.org/post/rare-languages-social-media-provide-new-hope​
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