In light of changing digital communication, this book addresses issues including a shift from a focus on oral to written practices; the rise of new communities of practice and communicative domains; and the need for resulting shifts in language policy and teaching methods when applied to minority (or autochthonous) heritage languages. 

Against the backdrop of social media and internet use and their impact on communication, those working with minority (or autochthonous) heritage languages, including teachers, language activists and planners and researchers, are reassessing the media, language policy and teaching practices which they had previously applied to stem the tide of language shift towards majority languages. The languages examined in this book are still spoken by a considerable number of speakers and enjoy varying and varied forms of institutional, legal, financial and ideological support. While their overall numbers of speakers are declining, their importance for identity construction and commodification processes continues to increase. This book addresses issues including the potential for a shift from a focus on oral to written practices; the rise of new communities of practice and communicative domains; and the need for resulting shifts in language policy and teaching methods.

Contributors

Gertrud Reershemius and Birte Arendt: Introduction: Can Digital Media Help to Prevent Language Shift?

Part 1: Shifting Ideologies

Chapter 1. Helen Kelly Holmes: Language Ideologies, Digital Technology and Emerging Hierarchies of Knowledge

Chapter 2. Marco Tamburelli: Myth Busters: Online Platforms and Emerging Ideological Shift among Lombard Speakers

Chapter 3. Laura Zieseler: Focus on Faroese: Digital Insights into the Smallest North-Germanic Language Community

Chapter 4. Merryn Davies Deacon: Breton in the Online Context: A New Speaker Community?

Part 2: Digital Tools and Practices

Chapter 5. Rhian Hodges and Cynog Prys: Language, Education and Community in a Digital Age: A Welsh Digital Resources Case Study

Chapter 6. Birte Arendt and Ulrike Stern: Teaching a Regional Language in Online Courses: A Learner-Oriented Perspective on Agency, Practices and Evaluation

Part 3: Multilingual Practices on Social Media

Chapter 7. Hauke Heyen: North Frisian in Social Media: Looking for Computer-Mediated Communication in a Very Small Language

Chapter 8. Lysbeth Jongbloed-Faber: Unravelling Language Choice Online: Frisian Bilingual Teenagers on WhatsApp, Snapchat and Instagram

Chapter 9. Gertrud Reershemius: ‘Moin mitnanner’: Digital Practices and Low German on Instagram

Yaron Matras: Epilogue: Agency, Ideologies and the Continuum of Language Practices – Towards an Integrated Theory

Index