Memes Galore for International Mother Language Day
Have you ever seen or created a meme in your first language?
If that language is isiXhosa or Pulaar, chances are that your answer will be a resounding no. A group of language diversity advocates set out to change this through a coordinated social media campaign, so that nobody feels left out of all the fun the Internet meme culture has to offer. But there’s also a deeper reason.
In many countries, languages that do not enjoy official status tend to be associated with lower social prestige and, consequently, are less likely to be taught, visible in public places, and used to communicate online. This in turn makes the transmission of these languages to younger generations more difficult.
The idea of using social media to raise awareness on linguistic issues isn’t new, but the annual celebration of International Mother Language Day on 21st February provides a catalyst for separate language-related types of activism to be in the spotlight every year. What started out as an official UNESCO celebration took on a new dimension when groups involved in language preservation and online language diversity efforts were inspired to start crafting their own activities independently of the UNESCO progamme.
This year’s International Mother Language Day was marked by a flurry of memes sharing the joy and the significance of using indigenous, minority, heritage, and endangered languages in our online lives. Language enthusiasts from all corners of the globe joined hands to support the #MemeML challenge in the hope of fostering linguistic diversity on social media and raising awareness about language issues faced by their communities.
The month-long participatory campaign was independently organised by a consortium of language advocacy organisations made up of Rising Voices, Living Tongues Institute, First Peoples’ Cultural Council, Indigenous Tweets, Endangered Languages Project, First Languages Australia, and the Digital Language Diversity Project, with the help of a large number of likeminded partners. The meme challenge stands in continuity with previous efforts around International Mother Language Day, as the organisers explained in a call out email to potential partners:
“For the past two years, a “Tweet in Your Mother Language” campaign attracted a variety of messages on Twitter promoting the importance of language promotion (sic). This year, we are co-organizing a “Mother Language Meme Challenge,” as a new and fun way to encourage the participation of even more people communicating in indigenous, minority, heritage, and endangered languages all across the globe.”
Of the African languages represented in the challenge, Pulaar and Yorùbá have been the most active.
Language advocacy organisations do form the bulk of participants; however, the challenge is open to all social media users and to all languages. Why not celebrate the 2017 edition of International Mother Language Day by sharing some of your wit with the world?
Disclosure: the writer is a member of the YorubaName project, a participant in the #MemeML challenge.
