Social media in Bilingual Environments: online practices of Frisian/Dutch teenagers

1. Social media in Bilingual Environments: online practices of Frisian/Dutch teenagers LysbethJongbloed-Faber In cooperation with:

2. Maslow’shierarchy of needs 2.0 Introduction

3. Overview • Introduction • Research description • Literature • Twitter research • Questionnaire • Future plans • Discussion Introduction

4. Fryslân • Province of The Netherlands • 627,000 inhabitants • Frysk (Frisian) 2nd official language • 54% mothertongueFrisian Frisian teenagers • 50,000 teenagers • 50% mothertongueFrisian Introduction

5. Young Frisians (18-29 years) • Understanding Frisian 82% well – 93% reasonably • Speaking Frisian 62% well – 71% reasonably • Reading Frisian 46% well – 77% reasonably • Writing Frisian 11% well – 33% reasonably Source: provinsje Fryslân, fluchhifkingFryske taal, 2011 Introduction

6. Dutch teenagers • 97% have a computer with internet connection • 76% have a smartphone with internet connection • 95% is active on social media • 65% are 24/7 online through their smartphone • >50% consider internet to be indispensable Source: Jongerenlijdenaan Social Media Stress (2012) / CBS (2013) Introduction

7. Social media usageDutch teenagers (15-20 years) • 87% useFacebook – 65% daily • 82% useYouTube • 54% useTwitter – 35% daily source: newcom.nl (January 2013) Introduction

8. It is saidthat….. • Since the upswing of social media, Frisian youth is writing more in Frisian • Supposedly they are writing Frisian phonetically Introduction

9. Research question To what extent do social networks influence language use by Frisian teenagers aged 14-18 years? Research description

10. Methods • Literature research • Twitter research • Online questionnaire through schools and social media Research description

11. Literature 1/2 • Ó Riagáin et al. (2008) & Cunliffe et al. (2013): Teenage years crucial period for attitudes towards a minority language Literature

12. Literature 2/2 • Jones and Morris (2005): Tendancyby Welsh speaking persons to switch theirconversationto English as soon as non-Welsh speakers jointhem • Cunliffe et al. (2013): Language use on social networks reflects the language of real-world communities • Jones et al. (2013): Intended audience influences choice of language Literature

13. Twitter research • April 18th 2013: FrisianTwitterday • Almost10,000tweetswith#frysk Research • Selection of 50 teenagers • Analysis of 6,019tweets Twitter research

14. Research question What is the language use in tweets of adolescents aged 14-18 years who used the hashtagfrysk during the Frisian Twitterday? Subquestions: • Ratio Frisian – Dutch • Variables of influence • Frisian language use • Influence of the #Fryskcampaign Twitter research

15. Ratio Frisian - Dutch Table 1. Languageuse of Frisianteenagers Twitter research

16. Variables of influence on language use: audience Table 2. Share of Frisianmessages Twitter research

17. Variables of influence on language use: gender Table 3. Share of Frisianmessages Twitter research

18. Frequency of Frisian tweets Twitter research

19. Frisian language use 1/5 • Oftenphonetical spelling • /ɔ/ written as o instead of a: mon (man), dot (dat), ol (al) • silent letters omitted: wost (wolst), kist (kinst), dost (dochst) • ‘broken’ diphtongs: jer (hear), skwalle (skoalle), gjit (giet) Twitter research

20. Frisian language use 2/5 • Use of Dutch-isms (lexical) • erch (= slim) • vriendintsje (= freondin) • Use of Dutch-isms (syntactic) • Heit powerpointlittesjen (= Heit powerpointsjenlitte) Twitter research

21. Frisian language use 3/5 • Dialect instead of standard language • harre, hewwe (hawwe) • mut (moat), fut (fuort) • hij, wij, mij (hy, wy, my) Twitter research

22. Frisian language use 4/5 • Twitterlanguage and acronyms • sws (sawysa, sowieso) • ff (’effe’, efkes) • gm (goodmorning/goeiemoarn) • btw (by the way) • 1en (‘ienen’) Twitter research

23. Frisian language use 5/5 • Code switching: • ik kin de kneepjes von 't vak onderhands wol • Dus jimhawwe nog een wiekevon dot dodelijk saaie examen training? • Sekerfjaherhaling vatbaar. Twitter research

24. Questionnaires • Planning: start last week of October • Through schools and social media: • Target: min. 1,000 participants • Representative for Frisian teenagers • Questions: • Demographic data • Frysk as mothertongue • Language use in different contexts • Use of social media • Language use on social media Questionnaires

25. Future plans • Finish this research spring 2014 • International cooperation and comparison in the field of language use on social media in bilingual environments • More research about other target groups Future plans

26. Discussion statement 1 The phonetic spelling of FrisianonTwitter shows thatminoritylanguagesshouldbesimplified in order to keep newgenerationsinterested. Discussion

27. Discussion statement 2 The EU shouldoblige (and subsidize) social media to maketheir platforms/applicationsavailable in all recognisedminoritylanguages in the EU before 2015. Discussion

28. Discussion statement 3 Teachersshouldbeencouraged to usesocial media use as a toolforinstruction. Discussion

29. Discussion statement 4 Social media is a threat to minoritylanguages Discussion

30. Any more questions? Discussion

31. Question What is in youropinion the best way to askforminoritylanguageuse in a questionnaire? • Shares, howdetailed? • Frequency of minoritylanguageuse • In comparisonwithmajoritylanguages Discussion

32. ljongbloed@fryske-akademy.nl Closure