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Gboard is Google’s virtual keyboard for smartphones. As you likely know, it only takes a few clicks to change the input language and then you can type using a different linguistic system, modifying suggestions and (sometimes) the keyboard’s layout. But you may not know that the Google keyboard is the most multilingual keyboard on the market. The spread of the Web 2.0 and the now ubiquitous presence of smartphones worldwide have led the American giant to add more and more linguistic codes to its systems. From Italian to Nigerian Pidgin, from Hindu to Balinese. This continuous growth has brought the Google keyboard to have an impressive 500 supported languages!
This is certainly an important milestone for Google, since this data will easily translate into an exponential growth in the number of users, but also for users themselves, who will have the opportunity to use their own language for the Google services which have become rather indispensable.
GBOARD DIALECTS
It’s hard to figure out whether it’s more of a marketing stunt or an inclusion policy, but the Google keyboard also supports some Italian dialects. It’s currently specifically for Gboard for Android, since this update isn’t available for iOS devices yet.
According to ISTAT data (dated 2015), approximately 46% of Italians express themselves mainly through the country’s national language. 32% use a regional dialect alongside Italian, and only 14% use the dialects alone.
Keeping in mind that dialects are mostly spoken by the generations of our grandparents, or in some cases our parents, and considering that these generations are not the most dependent on the internet, it’s legitimate to believe that this update is dedicated to the now few young people who use a local dialect to communicate.
Gboard currently supports dialects from Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, Sicily, Sardinia and Naples, as well as Ladin.
Regardless of the reasons behind this novelty, as linguists we can only delight in it. Linguistic diversity is a wealth to be protected and promoted; be it a national language or a dialect spoken by thousands or only a few hundred.
English translation and adaptation by Sarah Schneider
