ENDANGERED LANGUAGES IN THE DIGITAL AGE: A NARRATIVE REVIEW OF REVITALISATION EFFORTS, TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS, AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC GAPS (2014 TO 2025)

Abstract

This study presents a narrative review of research on endangered language revitalisation and digital technology, drawing together the findings of 45 peer-reviewed research papers, policy documents, and empirical reports spanning 11 years from 2014 to 2025. The review is based on three theoretical frameworks: Fishman's Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, language ideology theory, and community-based participatory approaches to revitalisation. It is structured around four interlinked themes: the scale and urgency of language endangerment worldwide; community-based revitalisation strategies and what makes them work; the use of digital and social media tools to establish new revitalisation spaces; and critical limitations of digital and social media tools for endangered language communities. The central argument is that digital technology does not automatically save endangered languages. It is effective only with community agency, cultural adaptation, ongoing policy support, and if the technology actually benefits the speakers and not only wastes on them or displaces them with algorithmically dominant languages. The review finds that community-based approaches centring intergenerational transmission and speaker agency produce the most consistent positive outcomes, while digital tools, though genuinely expanding access and visibility, introduce new risks, including algorithmic discrimination against minority varieties and the contamination of authentic language data by artificial intelligence systems. The implications for language policy, technology design, and community governance of digital resources are direct.