Language revitalization on social media: Ten years in the Louisiana Creole Virtual Classroom

Social media has long been recognized as an important domain for the usage of endangered and minoritized languages, as well as a platform for language-activist activity. Based on a decade of participant-observation in the Louisiana Creole Virtual Classroom, a revitalization community based on Facebook, this paper describes how speakers and learners of minoritized and endangered languages can form online communities for activism, resource development, learning and teaching. Louisiana Creole is critically endangered and has received little to no institutional support, but the Virtual Classroom has succeeded in creating a large number of new speakers through peer-mediated learning and the creation of learning resources. The orthography developed for the Virtual Classroom has now achieved widespread acceptance. The Virtual Classroom has thus given rise to an enduring revitalization movement with implications extending far beyond social media. Indeed, as this paper argues, scholars and practitioners should be cautious not to view online revitalization through a dichotomous lens which induces an artificial separation between the online and offline. Online language revitalization, like its offline counterpart, is underpinned by language-ideological concerns which are visible in many aspects of the Virtual Classroom’s resource development and activism. Moun sèy chinbo yê langaj-yé vivan avèk plas latwal. Ça donn yé in plas pou særvi é bat pou yê langaj minm si l’ape mouri. Dan papyé-çila, mo parl apré 10 zan dan group pratik dan Facebook yé pèl Laklas Latwal pou Kréyòl Lalwizyann. Avèk in group konm çala, moun kapab montré ou aprènn in langaj k’apé mouri, fé résous pou li, é bat pou li dan lafær politik. Na pa bokou moun ki stìl parl kréyòl en Lalwizyann é gouværnmen Léta-la fé pa gran shòj pou édé li gohèd. Mé dan group pratik Laklas Latwal, moun fé in bon djòb apé édé ènn-é-lòt aprènn é fé résous pou langaj-la. Na in ta d moun k’apé særvi Lotograf yé fé é ki komensé pélé langaj-la Kouri-Vini pou di kréyòl çé in langaj é pa jish “fransé kasé.” Tou ça ç’apé shanjé komen moun parl é jonng apré kréyòl, é ça y’apé fé çé pa jish kishòj pou latwal nonpli. Ina pa vrémen in diférans ent ça no fé dan latwal é ça no fé dan dòt plas paske astœr latwal-la fé parti nô lavi. Ça fé, toukishòj politik ki impòrtan kan no sèy chinbo in langaj vivan, çé impòrtan kan no fé ça dan in group latwal itou. Dan papyé-çila, mo sèy spliké kòfær é komen tou ça çé impòrtan. Language Documentation and Description Volume 23 Issue 1 2023