[Foundation-l] UNIQUE AND WORKABLE CRITERION
Philippe Beaudette
philippebeaudette at gmail.com
Thu Apr 17 17:24:22 UTC 2008
Ray Saintonge wrote:
> Crazy Lover wrote:
>> Languages
>>
>> * what kind of languages can have wikis?
>>
>> any that has a standarized writing system and enough writers and
>> readers to form a viable community and audience. whether a particular
>> language qualifies depends on discussion.
>>
>> i thinks, it is a simple and workable criterion to start a unitary and
>> congruent policy.
>>
>> once again, what do you think?
>>
>
> Standardized writing systems can present a problem when you consider the
> first nations languages of the west coast of North America. Many of the
> writing system were devised by anthropologists from around 1900, and
> were never intended to serve the speakers of the language.
>
> Ec
Affirmed. I think particularly of some native languages that have a decent
number of speakers, but very few who write. In my home state of Oklahoma
there are some tribes in exactly that position. Yet, I think it's dangerous
to ignore the potential role of a wikipedia or wiktionary in educating those
speakers and turning them into writers. For instance, I can see an elder in
the Yuchi Tribe, for instance, who might assign the class to write
wiktionary definitions in Yuchi as part of a language assignment. That
serves two goals: it grows community for a Wiki, and also helps to save a
dying language.
Philippe
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