Ideology and representation of Vlach Romanian online. Between linguistic activism and unengaged language use

Abstract

This paper offers a brief review of the main online outlets for the variety of Romanian spoken in Eastern Serbia (Vlach Romanian), exploring the possible functions the internet plays for minority language communities in general and focusing on its role in the formation of active communities of collaborative minority language producers. We will first briefly introduce the Vlach community and their language, Vlach Romanian, and examine how it is used online by the main actors involved in the debate regarding the origin and status of their language (which we call the independentists and the reintegrationists), but also by non-engaged members of the Vlach community, who promote the active use online of this mostly oral variety. The main online initiatives we present are Paun Durlić’s website, the website of Matka Vlahilor association and the Vlasi na kvadrat Facebook page. We contend that the internet activity, both of the language activists and of the unengaged members of the community, mirrors their offline, real-world ideologies, but, at the same time, challenges the ideologies of contempt generally surrounding minority languages.