The Geography of Minority Language Use: From Community to Network

Many of the world’s languages are endangered or vulnerable. For some of these languages, a presence in technological domains can illustrate vitality and demonstrate relevance to the lives of younger speakers. A presence on social media is often seen as particularly significant for younger speakers due to their high levels of social media use. This article explores the presence of Cymraeg (the Welsh language) on TikTok. Through the analysis of a corpus of 200 videos, the article reveals a complex and richly bilingual content space with considerable intermingling of Cymraeg and English. Commenting on videos and engaging in a text-based conversation with the content creator and other audience members is shown to be a significant activity. The corpus demonstrates that Cymraeg is being used, taught, discussed and promoted on TikTok. This article contributes to an ongoing assessment of the digital vitality of Cymraeg and extends our understanding of the role that social media can play in supporting the sustainability and vitality of minority languages.

show abstract

Spatial representation and sociolinguistic synergies

Williams

2022

Sociolinguistica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A closer interdisciplinary engagement by geographers, ethnographers and sociolinguists has resulted in new thematic issues being investigated and more sophisticated methodological approaches being adopted. The development of advanced IT and AI capabilities, particularly the wider adoption of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), has opened up new means of exploring and representing aspects of human behaviour. Of particular note is the appreciation by sociolinguistics of the various spatial perspectives currently being utilised in sub-disciplines such as studies of the interactions within metropolitan multilingual contexts, linguistic landscapes, new speaker research and applied language policy. This paper calls for a greater mutual reciprocity and syncretic interpretation of several key issues and promising methodologies. It also indicates how sociolinguists can contribute to significant societal debates on language policy and planning as part of social planning.

show abstract

The Geography of Minority Language Use: From Community to Network

Cited by 4 publications

References 20 publications

Conclusion

Conclusion

Exploring the presence of Cymraeg on TikTok

Spatial representation and sociolinguistic synergies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About