Uses of web pages for endangered languages

Abstract

The World Wide Web, and the technology that underlies it, have created new tools for communities whose language is endangered. Websites can raise consciousness of a language and of the institutions that promote it and can generate political and financial support. Presenting analyses and data can interest linguists in working on a language and help to persuade funding agencies of the interest of the work, the productivity of the researchers, and the receptivity of the community to research. It can also help to persuade outsiders of the richness and complexity of the language and culture and dispel damaging myths about the language and culture. Websites may also be useful within the community, to instill pride, dispel negative attitudes, promote use of the language, promote new terminology, and provide information about available resources. Web pages also provide a cheap, easy, and platform-independent means of creating multimedia language materials, either for publication on the web or for local use. Unlike materials prepared by outside companies, they remain under local control and may be changed and added to at will. Materials that may be created in this way include bilingual dictionaries, cultural encyclopaedias, picture dictionaries, annotated texts, and children’s books.

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