The role of new technology and social media in reversing language loss

ABSTRACT

The relationship between technology and language endangerment has experienced a shift in attitude, whereby previously perceived as a threat to the vitality of endangered and minority languages, new technology and social media are now viewed as rich and important tools in the endeavor or language maintenance and revitalization. This paper examines several examples of how new and social media can play a role in language maintenance and revitalization and discusses practical issues relating to literacy development. Overall, it is shown that new technology and social media are beneficial for language preservation rather than causing language death.

KEYWORDS:

• Language endangerment
• language loss
• language maintenance
• language revitalization
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.