Why the Internet should speak minority languages - and how. The role of Language Technologies for minority and contested languages

Many minority languages that are thriving to get a place in the digital space and are profiting of the new opportunities offered by the Internet and digital devices will seriously face digital extinction if they will not be supported by Language Technologies (Calzolari et al. 2012). LTs (spelling and grammar checkers, electronic dictionaries, localized interfaces, as well as search engines, language translators or information extraction tools) are a necessary instrument to secure usability of minority languages over the web (Soria et al. 2012, Krauwer 2003), thus ensuring those languages equal digital opportunities and raising their profile in the eyes of the younger, digitally-oriented generation. However, there are many challenges to be faced to equip minority languages with LTs (from basic to advanced): a substantial delay in development of basic technologies, a lack of cooperation among minority languages communities, a chronic shortage of funding (in particular for minority languages not officially recognized, yet often the most vital ones over the Internet) and the limited economic value placed over LTs for minority languages by the digital market rules. In this talk, on the basis of concrete examples and a survey about the digital use of minority languages of Italy, we will show how these challenges can be overcome and suggest a roadmap towards sustainable development of LTs for minority languages.