Upper Sorbs and the use of minority language online: a few advantages for the Upper Sorbian language and community

Abstract

The Internet has divided endangered languages researchers into enthusiasts, seeing in it the chance for the survival of minority languages, and critics who point out that the presence of a minority language in the Internet does not influence its use in everyday life, hence: will not save it. The paper is based on examples from Upper Sorbian, a Western Slavonic minority language, spoken by about 12 000 people. We can divide websites in minority languages into two categories. First, websites demanding only passive knowledge of the language (to read information, as an illustration next to the text in the dominant language) and second, websites which demand active participation (blogs, forums, social networks etc.). The first type of websites have only prestigious significance for the language. The second type can’t be overestimated. For researchers they constitute an important source of information about the living language, used by young people for whom in rapid communication the dictionary rules are not important. New words, expressions, constructions, influence of dominant languages and English can be observed. A minority will find a new space of language use in the Internet: the possibility to meet other people who know the minority language and to use its written form often for the first time.