‘The Internet has become a sort of spring for Aromanians.’ Has it?

This talk is about the role of social media in Indigenous language maintenance and revitalization (Pariza, 2022). More specifically, it takes a critical sociolinguistic look at the European Indigenous language variety Aromanian/Vlach in the digital sphere. It explores the role social media plays in the everyday lives of speakers, social groups and the community, and examines issues of power and inequality in the context of our current sociopolitical climate. Dr. Eppler will explore similarities and differences with Canadian Indigenous languages.

Dr. Eppler read English and German Language and Literature at Vienna University and held a Teaching Assistantship at the Department of English there before moving to London in 1995 to do a PhD in Linguistics at University College London (UCL). During her „Wanderjahre“ she worked at the Universities of London, Lancaster and Strathclyde. She is presently Senior Lecturer and Programme Convener of English Language and Linguistics at Roehampton University, London. She teaches Socio- and Psycho-linguistics. Her main research area is structural (morpho-syntactic) aspects of bilingual speech, but she also publishes on inter-cultural aspects of the bilingual experience. She is a member of the LIPPS (Language Interaction in Plurilingual and Plurilectal Speakers) group whose main aim is to develop the Language Interaction Data Exchange System (LIDES) further.