Sarah Emmert
Senior Thesis | 2024
Sarah Emmert
The Impact of Social Media on Indigenous Language
Revitalization
Introduction
Language is one of the most important aspects of our day to day life. On a larger scale, it is what sets us apart from other animals. While almost all animals can communicate with their own species, human language is distinct in which we can talk about hypothetical situations and of the past and future. Language is not only at the basis of our culture, but it is what we use to record and change our society and history. While language has been used to create great novels or advocate for social change, it has also been used as a tool for oppression. In the United States, we do not have to look far back in our history to see an example of this.
Residential schools devastated Native communities in the US and Canada. Native children were taken from their homes and abused
while living in boarding schools designed to distance them from their culture (Fier 2016). They were banned from speaking their languages, and its effects are still seen today. Indigenous languages have suffered greatly, especially as the youth continues to stop speaking indigenous languages in favor of the “standard language” of their respective countries. Language and views about language vary greatly between countries, cities, and also households. We gain new vocabulary from those we spend the most of our time with, or our community of practice. Views about language, or language ideologies, impact the state of a language. In the case of indigenous languages in the United States, because the US viewed indigenous language as “less than” English or European languages, they attempted to suppress it. Indigenous people on social media have used communities of practice to create a space where indigenous languages are spoken and celebrated. After examining a conversation between two friends, I also recognized the influence communities of practice have on conversation and beliefs.
Communities of practice are a group of people with a shared set of words, sayings, and grammatical structures. Put more simply, it is where we get our words. Communities of practice are not only who initially teach us language, such as our families, but according to Eckert, communities of practice are groups with shared interests or similar goals (Eckert 2006). For example, a basketball team, students at the same school, and people who live in the same neighborhood are communities of practice. Who you spend the most time with is who will be influencing the way you speak. Age is often an indicator of being in the same community of practice. Slang is also commonly defined by age group. As outlined by Bucholtz, the use of slang can be a way to “unify” others in your peer group and establish connections, especially teenagers in contrast to adults or children (Bucholtz 2006, 250).
Language ideologies are the views people have about languages, dialects, and accents. Negative stereotypes about dialects and accents are still some of the most pervasive and
normalized forms of prejudice. After the first few words you have exchanged with someone, based on the language of the speaker and their accent, you have already guessed their area of origin, their social class, and even academic background. Language ideologies are closely connected to the views one has about communities of practice. When viewing social media as a community of practice, the attitude about its slang sheds light on how we view youth language.
Today, social media is one of the central ways young people get and learn slang. Slang can be derived from or spread through social media. Social media, as well as most slang, is more generally associated with youth and youth language. The views people have about language derived from social media, is close, if not the same, as the views people have about youth language and slang. Beliefs about language, dialects, and accents are language ideologies. Language ideologies can be positive or negative, but the negative impacts are the most pervasive. Language ideologies
give name to the idea that based on one's manner of speaking, a lot may be assumed about their intelligence, ability, and origin. Youth language is often seen as casual and less “correct” than standard language. A large part of this may be the views about slang, commonly what is viewed as youth language, as being an informal way of speaking.
With the rise of social media, views about slang derived from social media and other communicating platforms like texting mirror the views about slang as a whole. One example is abbreviations. Abbreviations are not necessarily seen as informal. Abbreviations like “RSVP,” “TLDR,” or even “ASAP” do not have the connotation of being extremely informal and are often seen in contexts like email communication. In the case of “ASAP,” it may even be said out loud. That being said, abbreviations coming from texting and social media like “LOL,” “BRB,” or “FYI” are generally reserved for causal interaction. In part that may be due to the context in which they are being used, but it is
clear that abbreviations associated with youth, which tends to be more defined by social media use, are seen as less serious.
Conversation Analysis
Communities of practice are often discussed individually, but not often in direct relation to one another. When listening to a conversation between my friends, I began seeing the relevance of analyzing two communities of practice in conjunction with one another. During a study session, I was able to record a 16 minute stretch of conversation. Diana and Sophie frequently talked about college during the conversation. This is largely due to the fact both speakers are currently applying to colleges, so it had relevance to their lives even if not the work at hand. I decided to take examples from a section of conversation where Diana and Sophie talk about a specific university. In this conversation I found that in order to assert a shared identity, specifically a shared community of
practice, people will use features of an already established community of practice.
Diana begins the conversation by saying she has been researching the University of Southern California (USC) and realized it was one of the schools at the center of the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal in 2019:
(1) [Diana and Sophie are sitting at desks adjacent to each other, talking about the college admissions scandal.]
Sophie: I keep getting tiktoks about that recently because, like, it's been like the anniversary or something.
Diana: Okay I saw something about it too!
[Laughing] “Anniversary?”
Sophie: [Laughing] I don't know maybe? ‘Cause I got it randomly.
The conversation truly begins when TikTok is brought up by Sophie. Diana responds by saying she relates to Sophie on the basis of seeing similar videos online. She uses this first part of the interaction to establish connection through shared social media
use, specifically the shared use TikTok. In her response, Diana then playfully pokes fun at Sophie’s use of the word “anniversary” since it is typically reserved for more well-known events. Sophie uses a contextualization cue, laughing, in order to show that she takes what Diana says lightly and is not offended (Sierra 2021, 27). Furthermore, Sophie shows she does not take the situation seriously through the use of informal language, saying “‘cause” instead of “because.” Formal language is signified by criteria such as “increased code structuring,” which Sophie’s use of “‘cause” is in direct opposition of (Irvine 1979, 174-5). As formal language is often reserved for serious or special situations, using informal language emphasizes the casual nature of the conversation, drawing attention to their closeness and shared identities of being of similar age (Irvine 1979, 173).
After this first mention of social media, Diana and Sophie begin to talk more about USC and other colleges. When discussing universities and schools, they are able to relate to each other on the
basis of a shared experience and goal: the experience of being high school seniors in the process of college applications and the shared goal of going to college. Similarly, the internet is another way in which they are able to indicate shared interest. Using the definition of a community of practice as described by Eckert, being high school seniors working towards college and users of the same social media platforms, both “common endeavors,” make them members of the same distinct communities of practice (Eckert 2006, 683). In one interaction talking about university, Diana recalls a social media post she saw about the USC:
(2) [Diana has her computer open while Sophie is listening to what she is saying.]
Diana: I was looking at posts about USC. They were like “what’s your favorite spot on campus?” They were like “the village.” I was like “what is ‘the village?’” Look at this!
Diana shows Sophie what “the village” is by looking it up online. It is a part of USC’s campus that has shopping, food, and
academic buildings. They proceed to talk about how much they like the idea of having a place like that where they go to college.
This is another moment of connection facilitated by social media.
Diana then points out a feature of the website they are on, which is that you can see a live camera of a part of “the village.” The first thing Sophie brings up is the safety risks of this:
(3) [Diana and Sophie are looking at Diana’s computer and talking about what they see.]
Sophie: Why is it just available to the public though? [Laughing] Why can I just look?
Diana: [Laughs] Right. It’s a little questionable.
Sophie: Like think about the safety risks. Canceled.
The term “canceled” is one that originates from social media (Greenspan, 2020). Even when social media is not being referenced or used directly, there are references to slang that derives from it. Slang is used to connect others on the basis of shared identity (Bucholtz 2006, 245). In many cases this is “youth identity,” but here it is the identity of being a social media user,
which may in fact also overlap with age in some areas. Sophie is obviously uncomfortable with the idea anyone can watch the live video feed of “the village,” but through using slang from social media, a shared community of practice, she maintains the interaction as casual and comfortable. Referencing social media also frames what Sophie is saying in a more lighthearted manner (Sierra 2021, 12-3). Social media itself is not often taken too seriously, so in calling attention to social media in their interaction Sophie is subtly signaling not to take anything she is saying very seriously either.
Both Diana and Sophie have established to each other they have a similar community of practice, both being teenage social media users. This is a community of practice that is well known to both of them, and, as shown, is an important part of their interactions. It is also seen in interactions outside of those discussing university as well. For example, during their
conversation, Diana gets reminded of a TikTok she wanted to show Sophie: (4) [A couple minutes after the previous example, Diana is still on the internet and pulls up a TikTok. She nudges Sophie on the shoulder and motions for her to look at her screen.]
Sophie: Oh is that the TikTok you sent me on instagram?
Diana: Yeah!
This example shows the level in which social media has influenced their interactions with one another. They are sending social media posts to each other on different social media platforms. This further solidifies social media as an extremely relevant community of practice for Diana and Sophie.
On the other hand, the community of practice of being highschool seniors specifically is less established in comparison. In the most direct way, they have been social media users longer than they have been high school seniors, and will be high school seniors for far less time than they will be social media users. But also there
are less chances to “prove” they are part of the second community of practice. In these cases, what distinctly sets apart these high school seniors from other students is their involvement in the college application process, which in day-to-day life oftentimes is not brought up and is also not exclusive to seniors. As shown before, Diana and talking about college is a form of calling attention to the identity of being a senior in highschool since it has to do with the college process. We can see through these examples people will use slang or references to a known shared community of practice when discussing a topic that relates to a lesser established community of practice.
In all the examples, social media is used as a way to connect the speakers, especially when they are talking about things to do with university. It is obvious Diana and Sophie want to create a connection based on the words they use and way of speaking. This is seen even without looking at their references to social media, but at their use of informal language and contextualization
cues. What is highlighted in these interactions is that, when trying to connect on the basis of one community of practice that is less established, speakers will invoke language from a community of practice both speakers are already known to be a part of. I imagine this is to create a bridge of sorts between those in the conversation, especially in relation to new communities of practice. You create a link between you and the other person when reminding them you share a community of practice, making finding a connection based on the new community of practice far easier.
Youth Importance for Language and Social Media
When looking at an article about language ideologies and indigenous languages in North and South America, it becomes clear that beliefs about indigenous languages are complicated. The views people have about indigenous language differs from background, including by geography and by age (Cisternas Irarrázabal and Olate Vinet 2020, 767). For example, youth who
speak Nahuatl, an indigenous language most commonly spoken in Southern Mexico and Central America, reportedly have mixed feelings about the language as an aspect of their identity. Reasons for this are cited to be “racial discrimination” and “globalization” (Messing 2009). On the other hand, Navajo youth find language to be an important part of their personal identity (Lee 2009). Though similar to Nahua youth, despite the significance of language to identity, Navajo youth still report feeling “insecurity” and “shame” in regards to their language (McCarty et al 2009). There seems to be a divide in feelings about language between generations. Adult and older speakers of Quechua, spoken in western South America, place emphasis on language as an important part of their personal and cultural identity, while youth Quechua speakers tend to feel differently (Rindstedt and Aronsson 2002). One thing is clear about the origins of negative language ideologies surrounding indigenous languages: they are a result of colonialism, racism, and pressure from the states in power to suppress indigenous culture.
Youth are the key to keeping a language alive. Even if the entire older generations speaks the language, if no youth passes the language down, it dies. Language death is a significant problem in the current world. Half of the world’s languages are endangered, and 1500 languages could be extinct by 2100 (Bromham et al 2021). Indigenous languages are found to be most in danger of extinction on the basis of “bordering language richness, road density, years of schooling and the number of endangered languages in the immediate neighbourhood” (Bromham et al 2021). In other words, indigenous languages are in most danger when most in contact with the “standard” language of the area. This is especially seen in “road density” and “years of schooling.”
Indigenous languages are less likely to be spoken as a product of being more influenced by the standard language of the area, which would be a direct result of increased connection through roads. If the youth are being taught in the standard language as opposed to indigenous language, the standard language may begin to be the
one they gravitate towards or gives them the most opportunities. This is especially true historically in the United States and Canada through residential schools where indigenous children were forced to stop speaking their native languages. Interestingly, the proximity to other indigenous languages is an important factor in the survival of indigenous languages. This proves that it is not the exposure to other languages that impact language extinction, but connection to standard language and what that entails.
Guarani is a special case for indigenous languages in the Americas. In Paraguay, most of the population speaks Guarani, an indigenous language, as well as Spanish. The success of indigenous language does not reflect the treatment of indigenous Guarani people in Paraguay and surrounding countries (Jenner 2019). The Ava Guarani have long been faced with trouble by the Paraguay and Bolivian governments. Not only have they struggled with land recognition and rights , but the Peruvian government has been complicit in the destruction of Ava Guarani land through not
regulating pesticide use in commercial farms, specifically soy farms (Radwin 2022). As a result, it has negatively impacted livestock, hunting, and the environment as a whole. The Ava Guarani are not the only indigenous Guarani group to deal with harsh mistreatment. In Brazil, the Guarani-Kaiowa, the largest indigenous group in Brazil outside the Amazon, deal with land loss, discrimination, and attacks. 99% of the Guarani-Kaiowa’s land has been taken due to farming and regional development (Rossoto Ioris 2023).
If factors such as globalization and exposure to standard languages fuel language death, I imagined social media to be a platform that would exacerbate these problems as the most common languages on the internet are standard languages.
Guarani, though used by a majority of the population, is typically only spoken, not written. This leads to problems in its representation on social media (Jenner 2019). Though efforts have been made by making Guarani translations of search engines and
Wikipedia, the language is far from being fully incorporated online. An example of indigenous Guarani efforts to use the internet and social networking for “decolonizing projects” was not successful, but it seems in part to be due to some people in the group’s unfamiliarity with smartphones (Wagner and FernándezArdèvol 2019). These issues Guarani’s lack of representation on social media and the divide in access to technology only emphasizes the injustice the Guarani, and other indigenous groups, face.
Even if Guarani becomes more popular in online use, if nothing is done to change the language ideologies of Guarani and indigenous languages, the younger generations will continue to use them less and less. Many indigenous youth stop speaking indigenous language as the result of the outside pressures to speak the standard language. As stated before, this may be in order to simply get an education if schools are only taught in standard languages. In almost all examples, colonization and globalization
are key factors. Even in Paraguay where Guarani is recognized by law, it is still secondary to Spanish in some aspects, including on social media. Though the governments of North and South American countries began the oppression of indigenous people and their language, most countries have not done much to help language revitalization efforts or attitudes towards indigenous languages. As previously shown, language has varying degrees of importance to the identity of indigenous people, with youth seeming the most disconnected. Whether or not language is integral to one's identity, language is extremely important when it comes to history. When a language dies, information dies with it.
In order to encourage more to speak indigenous languages, or any non-standard language, a change in ideologies surrounding indigenous languages needs to change.
“Self-representation” is an important aspect of decolonization (Wagner and Fernández-Ardèvol 2019). Even in the sole South American country where most of the country speaks an
indigenous language, indigenous groups struggle to be able to use the internet and social media to their advantage. This includes efforts for social justice, but using the internet for indigenous “selfrepresentation” (social media, radio stations, television) can be just as, if not more, important for group members. In the study about indigenous Guarani internet use, most indigenous youth interviewed reported feeling ashamed, to various degrees, about their indigenous heritage. The children lived in urban areas and dealt with racism at school and beyond. Some even stopped identifying as Guarani entirely. These Guarani children, and many others in the group, also viewed the internet as “a non-indigenous, international space” (Wagner and Fernández-Ardèvol 2019).
Representation, and the lack thereof, is an important aspect in creating beliefs about one's identity, and historically has been especially important for Native American groups (Leavitt 2015).
Positive language ideologies will also benefit the Sami people of northern Europe. Social media has been used as a tool in
advocating Sami rights, but also specifically as a means for language revitalization and connecting other Sami on the basis of a shared language and culture (Outakoski 2018). Out of the 5000010000 Sami people, only about 15000 use Sami on a daily basis. There are also various Sami languages, further isolating speakers. In order to help this reality, members of the community have turned to social media sites like Twitter and Youtube. On Youtube, some members post gaming videos, which are aimed more towards youth. Encouraging youth to learn the language and participate in culture has been at the center of the Sami’s efforts. Twitter usage looks more like a space of encouragement, where members will support each other while learning a Sami language. This is a prime example of self representation, where members of the Sami community see themselves reflected in the social media by other Sami people partaking in social media.
During COVID, social media became one of the fundamental ways people connected during quarantine. Indigenous
groups in the US and Canada took advantage of this to promote the use of the indigenous languages. As seen with the Sami people, social media has been used as a tool to improve the views and usage of indigenous languages before COVID, but COVID seems to have encouraged usage of indigenous languages online more so than any other event. There were efforts to spread news about COVID in indigenous languages, and to use social media trends for “language promotion.”
Conclusion
Social media has a variety of uses, from connecting peers of the same age group to helping efforts to keep indigenous languages alive. At the core of language is its ability to connect others, but social media has created a unique space where instead of just topics and shared experiences connecting others, it is the avenue of communication itself that forges part of the connection. As seen with the examples of a real conversation between two
friends and various instances of indigenous language use on social media, social media as a community of practice has become a vital tool when it comes to connection. Youth and users of social media can identify themselves through the use of slang words derived from social media platforms. Using slang, users of social media can relate to one another or signify a shared community of practice without having to have much in common at all. This is incredibly powerful because of how much social media slang is referenced even in day-to-day conversation, like in the conversation between Sophie and Diana. Put simply, social media being such a prominent community of practice leads to greater opportunities for connection inside and outside social media.
When considering the fact that contact with standard languages negatively impacts indigenous language, at first glance social media does not seem like the solution. Social media greatly favors many “standard” and European languages. Despite how global the internet has become, 55% of websites are in English,
with the next most popular language being Spanish at 5% of websites (ISF 2023). So why has social media become a platform in order to help with the revitalization of indigenous languages? As seen with the Sami people and language, youth are the key. For example, youth making gaming videos on Youtube in Sami may not necessarily realize it, but their target audience is other Sami speaking youth. This is largely due to the nature of the content being posted, but also the platform it is being posted on: social media. Indigenous youth that want to help their language alive are naturally influencing other indigenous youth to do the same because of their shared community of practice. Not only does this help the language as a whole, but it helps secure its future as youth pass down language.
The fact that social media has a large youth population may contribute to its success in language revitalization, but it ultimately shows its importance as youth keeps the language alive. In the case of Guarani, where it is not being used much on social media, youth
have negative views about their indigeneity. As referenced before, to some Guarani youth, social media is seen as a “non-indigenous space” (Wagner and Fernández-Ardèvol 2019). That is not to say that a lack of use of a language on social media and negative view of one's heritage are directly correlated with one another, but in this case it shows how a lack of self-representation in a common community of practice for youth is a missed opportunity to better the views indigenous youth about themselves. This is especially important since negative views about indigenous people and negative language ideologies surrounding indigenous languages can lead youth to stop speaking indigenous language in favor of standard languages. For many youth, social media is an important aspect of their identity since it is a community of practice. It is important for indigenous youth to see themselves reflected in their own communities of practice as it can lead to more feelings of pride surrounding their identity, but also because, in this case, it can help promote the usage of indigenous languages.
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