ABSTRACT
The eminent linguist David Crystal (2002) contends, ‘an endangered language will progress if its speakers can make use of electronic technology’ (2002: 142). While acknowledging that this is largely a hypothetical statement, Crystal claims to be ‘sufficiently convinced’ that information technology, and the Internet in particular, is one of six postulates for progress in minority-language (ML) revitalisation (2002: 143). In the context of rural Europe, this is significant because, for the most part, not only are autochthonous minority languages so identified due to the limited numbers of speakers, but also because they are largely synonymous with underdeveloped, peripheral rural regions of the European community (Keane et al., 1993: 399). Think of the Irish Gaeltacht (Gaeilge), the Basque Country (Euskara), Brittany (Breton), the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Gàidhlig), the Dolomites (Ladin), west and Northwest Wales (Cymraeg), the northern periphery of the Nordic countries (Saami) and Galicia (Galician). Further to the latest accessions to the EU, an estimated 40 million citizens regularly use a regional or ML: ‘a language traditionally used by part of the population of a state that are not dialects of official languages of the state, languages of migrants or artificially created languages’ (European Commission, 2006).
