The results of the survey we conducted during the summer of 2016 to measure the digital use of minority languages have just been published. The Digital Language Diversity Project prompted research to gather information on the digital needs of four EU retail languages: Basque, Breton, French and Sardinian. And the results show that speakers of these languages want to live in their language in all areas of their lives.

The response has been enormous, demonstrating that speakers of these languages are aware of the importance of digital development for the future of their language and want the digital presence of their language to develop as soon as possible.

The survey asked speakers how much they use their language in the digital world right now, including social media, what they can get online in their language and what they cannot access it. Main results:

• Speakers have clearly expressed their desire to use their languages digitally in all sociolinguistic fields and for all purposes used in the majority languages.
• Social networks offer a unique opportunity as a framework for the revitalization of languages, but this sociolinguistic area is still limited.
• There is a growing demand for the use of these languages in the public sphere.
• Speakers of retail languages should be supported and encouraged to use their languages digitally, highlighting their importance as digital content generators.
• The lack of structural support for these languages is a serious problem to be solved. In fact, the digital development of these languages is not viable if it depends on the work of a few activists and volunteers.

The results of the survey will provide a detailed overview to governments, civil society, the language technology industry and academia, to understand the opinion of regional organizations and the language community itself and how they want to develop their languages in the digital arena.

In addition, the survey data will be used to feed a map of digital linguistic diversity in which regulatory authorities and stakeholders can move forward so that language institutions and governments can effectively develop digital tools that contribute to the revitalization of endangered languages. This research is expected to serve as a pilot project for the development of a broader project covering all European retail languages.

The DLDP project was born under the EU Erasmus Plus programme and is led by Dr. Claudia Soria (Institute of Computational Linguistics, Consiglio Nacional delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy). The DLDP project has: European Network for Linguistic Equality (ELEN), SNEB of the University of Mainz, Elhuyar euskal erakundea and Karelieraren Elkartea. At a press conference, Dr. Soria said:

“All members of the group have been fascinated by the results of the survey and we are very pleased with its huge response. Once the data is analyzed, we are convinced that it will have a great influence on how to plan the digital development of the retail languages. First, we have real information about what the linguistic community needs in terms of digital development and existing offerings.”