[Wikipedia-l] Community, Culture and Language precedents

Fri Jun 4 04:11:22 UTC 2004

From: "Jimmy Wales" <jwales at bomis.com>
> Given that we already *have* Toki Pona, my main interest is that we
> all understand that whatever we end up doing with it, it is an
> historical anomoly that should not be viewed as precedent setting for
> the future.

Hi Jimbo,
I'm not very familiar with
the details on Toki-Pona,
but if it does have some
active users, and a supportive
community of folks who are
willing to contribute articles
then what makes this language
less worthy of inclusion than
some minority natural languages?

I believe the precedent will be
established. Whether it is viewed
as a precedent or a loosely put
together guideline of what to 
accept for inclusion and what
to exclude. The goal, I'm sure
you'd agree would be to respect
the community of active users.
If they are actively working with
the language then one can say
that a culture building process
is taking place. To deny inclusion
would actually deny recognition
for a culture, a community and
a different take on the world
we all share. I've never met an
active user of Toki-Pona, although
I did visit their webpage a long
while ago when it first appeared
on the web and it was mentioned
in linguistic circles I frequent.
However, I have met some
folks who use Klingon, and are
devoted to its development and
active practice. And they're take
on life and the world is, shall
we say, a bit different than mine.
But I respect their point of view
even if different from mine.

(But then again Sapir and Whorf
would have probably fit in as
Klingon-lubbers... wasn't Whorf
the security officer in the NG
trek series :-)

Culture and language go hand in
hand. To exclude a language is
the same as not including a certain
culture or a community's point 
of view. I'd support the right of
a minority community to be
recognized as worthy of having
their own language namespace
in the Wikipedia project.

with regards,
Jay B.
[[User:ILVI]]