TY - JOUR
T1 - Multilingualism and Technology
T2 - A Review of Developments in Digital Communication from Monolingualism to Idiolingualism
AU - Kelly-Holmes, Helen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Cambridge University Press 2019.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The focus in this article is on the evolution of language and technology in relation to multilingualism, in particular on how multilingual provision has developed in tandem with the development of the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). In trying to understand how multilingualism has evolved, it is also necessary to understand how the technical aspects of digital technology as well as the politico-economic dimensions to that technology have changed. Four distinct periods emerge in the development: monolingualism, multilingualism, hyperlingualism, and idiolingualism. Monolingualism covers the origins of the internet and later the WWW as monolingual spaces. This was followed by a long period that charts the slow but gradual development of increased language provision and what I am terming partial multilingualism. Multilingualism expanded substantially, potentially limitlessly, with the development of Web 2.0. This has involved the diversification of online spaces to the point of hyperlingualism. I argue that we are still in this hyperlingual phase, but alongside it, a new phase is developing, that of idiolingualism as a result of mass linguistic customization. In this article, I discuss these phases, paying attention to both their technical and economic contexts, as well as their implications for linguistic diversity online and in wider society.
AB - The focus in this article is on the evolution of language and technology in relation to multilingualism, in particular on how multilingual provision has developed in tandem with the development of the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). In trying to understand how multilingualism has evolved, it is also necessary to understand how the technical aspects of digital technology as well as the politico-economic dimensions to that technology have changed. Four distinct periods emerge in the development: monolingualism, multilingualism, hyperlingualism, and idiolingualism. Monolingualism covers the origins of the internet and later the WWW as monolingual spaces. This was followed by a long period that charts the slow but gradual development of increased language provision and what I am terming partial multilingualism. Multilingualism expanded substantially, potentially limitlessly, with the development of Web 2.0. This has involved the diversification of online spaces to the point of hyperlingualism. I argue that we are still in this hyperlingual phase, but alongside it, a new phase is developing, that of idiolingualism as a result of mass linguistic customization. In this article, I discuss these phases, paying attention to both their technical and economic contexts, as well as their implications for linguistic diversity online and in wider society.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069786521&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0267190519000102
DO - 10.1017/S0267190519000102
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85069786521
SN - 0267-1905
VL - 39
SP - 24
EP - 39
JO - Annual Review of Applied Linguistics
JF - Annual Review of Applied Linguistics
ER -