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

2. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 2.0
Introduction

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

4. Fryslân Frisian teenagers Province of The Netherlands
627,000 inhabitants
Frysk (Frisian) 2nd official language
54% mothertongue Frisian
Frisian teenagers
50,000 teenagers
50% mothertongue Frisian
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, fluchhifking Fryske 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: Jongeren lijden aan Social Media Stress (2012) / CBS (2013)
Introduction

7. Social media usage Dutch teenagers (15-20 years)
87% use Facebook – 65% daily
82% use YouTube
54% use Twitter – 35% daily
source: newcom.nl (January 2013)
Introduction

8. It is said that…..
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 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):
Tendancy by Welsh speaking persons to switch their conversation to English as soon as non-Welsh speakers join them
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: Frisian Twitterday
Almost 10,000 tweets with #frysk
Research
Selection of 50 teenagers
Analysis of 6,019 tweets
Twitter research

14. Research question
What is the language use in tweets of adolescents aged years who used the hashtag frysk during the Frisian Twitterday?
Subquestions:
Ratio Frisian – Dutch
Variables of influence
Frisian language use
Influence of the #Frysk campaign
Twitter research

15. Ratio Frisian - Dutch Table 1. Language use of Frisian teenagers
Before Twitterday
On Twitterday
After Twitterday
Mostly Frisian
12%
53%
13%
Mostly Dutch
65%
29%
63%
Mostly English 8% 4%
Other
15%
14%
16%
Twitter research

16. Variables of influence on language use: audience
Table 2. Share of Frisian messages
Language
Before Twitterday
On Twitterday
After Twitterday
Public self-generated messages 8%
53% 9%
Addressed messages
25%
47%
26%
Retweets 4%
58%
Twitter research

17. Variables of influence on language use: gender
Table 3. Share of Frisian messages
Language
Before Twitterday
On Twitterday
After Twitterday
Male (n=24)
16%
61%
18%
Female (n=26) 9%
42%
Twitter research

18. Frequency of Frisian tweets
Twitter research

19. Frisian language use 1/5 Often phonetical 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 powerpoint litte sjen (= Heit powerpoint sjen litte)
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 Twitter language 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 jim hawwe nog een wieke von dot dodelijk saaie examen training?
Seker fja herhaling 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 Frisian on Twitter shows that minority languages should be simplified in order to keep new generations interested.
Discussion

27. Discussion statement 2
The EU should oblige (and subsidize) social media to make their platforms/applications available in all recognised minority languages in the EU before 2015.
Discussion

28. Discussion statement 3
Teachers should be encouraged to use social media use as a tool for instruction.
Discussion

29. Social media is a threat to minority languages
Discussion statement 4
Social media is a threat to minority languages
Discussion

30. Any more questions?
Discussion

31. Question
What is in your opinion the best way to ask for minority language use in a questionnaire?
Shares, how detailed?
Frequency of minority language use
In comparison with majority languages
Discussion

32.
Closure