[Foundation-l] Arabic, a non native language

Mon Aug 11 15:15:09 UTC 2008

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:07 AM, Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com> wrote:
> That's not true. Although the vast majority of Arabs are raised on a
> local variety, there are a small number whose native language is
> indeed Modern Standard Arabic. Imagine, perhaps, that their father is
> a well-educated Moroccan and their mother is a well-educated Syrian,
> and they were raised in Yemen.

This is perhaps the perfect example for why cut-and-dry rules for
language approval are probably not a good method. Languages need to be
evaluated individually based on the population of content producers
and content consumers, the efficacy, utility, and longevity of the
language and it's speaking population, and other factors. Arabic, if
there are a large number of speakers and if it can be used for
efficient communication between speakers of divergent dialects, would
seem like a great choice for a new language project. If the language
is classified as "dead" or "ancient" or if it has no "primary
speakers", those factors can be taken into account, but the language
needs to be evaluated from a holistic standpoint to see that it is
indeed worthy of having a project.

--Andrew Whitworth