The Internet: A Lifeforce for Endangered Languages

Written by Grace Landry

Photo by Leon Seibert on Unsplash

Clicks, likes, shares, and follows—More and more, we are becoming interconnected via the Internet, which has not only facilitated our communication with one another, but has become a powerful tool for language preservation. The Internet holds great potential for creating corpora of endangered languages. Harnessing the power of the Internet, researchers, language speakers, and volunteers can upload vast amounts of language data to various databases, organize it, and then publicize it. Endangered languages can be stored not only in a unique manner, but, if researchers and community members alike agree, shared with the public, so that they can learn about endangered languages.  

According to UNESCO’s Atlas of endangered languages, around 43% of today’s spoken languages are endangered. Luckily, there are communities out there, such as Wikitongues, a network of volunteers dedicated to capturing conversations, words, and oral histories from speakers of endangered languages. The goal of Wikitongues is to create a safe haven for endangered languages, so that everyone has a space to keep their language. The recordings of speakers involve various topics, to provide a glimpse of the variety of shapes and tones in the language. The Internet has been able to unite speakers of minority languages with each other and create a space for language promotion. Luckily, there are a decent number of private and government-run initiatives with the same goal: revitalization. 

 While this work is imperative, it is certainly not easy. There is no inherent difference between languages that makes one more likely to be more widely spoken than the other besides politics, and power. A so-called “lingua franca” is glorified, and a “lesser-spoken” language is stigmatized. Why does this happen? The answer varies from language to language, and perhaps knowing why can help us determine how to work backwards, revive and promote a language. 

In the Western world, many attempts at “advancing” cultures, aim at making them more like us. Some people may not wish to record their language, which is acceptable; some may provide documents upon documents; this is also okay. While obtaining a database as rich and diverse as possible can help give researchers a broad perspective on languages, the morals and cultural integrity of people matters most. While we may have the means to record and distribute linguistic data, it is respect and dignity that are most important in this situation. Incredible things can happen when enthusiastic community members, language lovers, and researchers come together to shed light on an endangered language. Thanks to these people, we now have a Mi’kmaq online talking dictionary, and more recently, a stifling amount of new Scottish Gaelic learners.

The Internet has changed and is changing our lives in many ways. Using its power to store and share, we can create a climate in which endangered languages can have their place in the spotlight. Nowadays, we can access a multitude of lexicons, oral histories, and cultural information at our fingertips, which is already incredible. With more work and more awareness, communities and researchers alike can create a wonderful thing for themselves, and all of us.