Minority languages in the digital age. Daj Nostri and Bayash Romanian on social media

Abstract

The Bayash are a Romanian-speaking ethnic community spread all over the Balkans, generally considered Roma by the majority populations. This paper deals with a specific Bayash diaspora group, Daj Nostri (“our people”), from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, who have recently started using their native variety, Bayash Romanian, for online communication. The focus is on Daj Nostri Facebook group, which gathers more than 9,000 members, and on the way they use Bayash Romanian online (instances of use, frequency, spelling, plurilingual practices, etc.).