The Computing and Minority Languages Group, led by Dr Daniel Cunliffe, has been investigating aspects of the relationship between minority languages and Information Technology since 2000.

The internet and the new media it facilitates pose a challenge for many minority language communities

Many of the world’s languages are declining in terms of use and number of speakers. New information technologies, such as the internet and the new media it facilitates, pose a challenge for many minority language communities.

Whilst it can be argued that new media in particular provides opportunities for a minority language, they typically also increase exposure to, and consolidate the dominance of, the majority language.

Furthermore, the assumption that increasing the amount and range of digital content in a minority language will help the survival of that language is largely unproven.

Daniel Cunliffe leads the research into the relationship between minority languages and information technology. This has focussed mainly on the Welsh language, Cymraeg, and has included design recommendations and guidance as well as studies of language use online, particularly in social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Areas of current research include:

• minority language communities online
• websites for bilingual users
• the language behaviour of bilingual users in online environments
• issues of internationalisation, localisation and indigenous production
• the extent to which Internet-based technologies pose both a threat and an opportunity for minorities

Selected publications

• The Use of Welsh on Facebook
• Online design for bilingual civil society: a Welsh perspective
• Social networks and minority languages speakers: the use of social networking sites among young people

Useful links

• Publications

• External Funding

• Welsh Natural Language Toolkit (WNLT)

• Welsh Natural Language Toolkit Phase 2 (WNLT2)