If you could organize an active crowd of serious
contributors, and
have them write the first 3000 articles offline, and good
articles, I think the Wikimedia board would find it very hard to
refuse your request. So the answer would be "yes", such requests
could be granted. And the new Town Frisian Wikipedia would be just
past the Icelandic, which now has 2500 articles. But if you want
to start a Wikipedia that never gets beyond 20 articles, you would
instead find it very hard to convince the Wikimedia board. So the
limit is somewhere in between. How strong are your arguments?
3000 articles off line is too much, it is the fun of contributers,
especially new ones, that their edits are immediately visible and accessible
for anyone. But I will certainly try to find willing contributers first. On
the other hand, I might gain little willing contributers if they can't be
sure the encyclopedia will ever be a real wikipedia.
How strong are my arguments? You mean for granting them a wikipedia for
themselves? Well, some basic dates about both regional languages then:
Town Frisian
Mixed language, spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland, in towns.
Originated around 1500, when Frisian had little prestige. Akin dialects in
some rural areas. Total number of speakers (Ameland, Bildt, Heereveen and
Midsland dialects incl.): 100,000
Differences from Dutch: maintanance of the pronoun 'þu' (realised 'dou')
whereas Dutch dropped it; retention of [i] and [y] instead of the modern
diphthongs [Ei] and [Ey]; maintanace of inlaut [f] and [s] rather than
weakened [v] and [z]; absence of the prefix ge- in past participles; a lot
of Frisian loan words; predominantly Frisian idiom; typical Frisian
pronunciation (with a.o. nasalisations of n's between vowels and
consonants). Best described as Frisian in Dutch disguise.
Zeelandic
Regional language in southeast of the Netherlands, spoken mainly in rural
areas (replaced by Dutch proper in towns). Total number of speakers: at
least 250,000
Differences from Dutch: three genders rather than two, maintenance of the
old [i] and [y] rather than breaking into [Ei] and [Ey] (see above under
Town Frisian), consewuent mutation of the [a:] into [E:]; rendering of old
Germanic ai and au as [e@] and [O@], not [ei] and [ou] as in Dutch;
maintenance of final schwas; consequent dropping of the h.
Would that be enough?
Wouter
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