Writing and Alphabet in the Ikoots Networks: Beyond the Standard

Abstract

The use of digital technologies by the indigenous people have been considered from two perspectives: one deals with the generalized exclusion from the cyberspace for the majority of the indigenous population, due to the political and economic power of other organizations, and the other one can be understood as an opportunity that the communities and each human being have to take over new spaces where languages and the recreation of culture can be used. This work aims to address the issue of the use of writing in social networks by the Ikoots (Huaves). An analysis of the writing production of two groups of people in two social networks –Facebook and WhatsApp– is carried out to observe how writing is conducted under their own spelling conventions, leaving aside the writing standard or the correct use of spelling. However, reviewing what they do with the writing, allows us to see which are the writing forms that the majority prefer or on which they reach agreements.