Dear fellow list subscribers,
Following on the discussion on the two or even four written and standardised
variants of Norwegian, I would like to see how much two language varieties
must differ from one another to be apt for a new wikipedia. Don't get me
wrong: my intention is NOT to dispute the validity of two coexisting
Norwegian wikipedias. Those variants have a long history and tradition of
mutual incompatibility. I just think all of us agree that somewhere it has
to stop - or should we wish a Texan wikipedia? "e freea cundent engcyclep~e
thad annywun can eddit"? - but we might disagree where. Probably you held
this discussion many times before, but I am a relative newbe on this list.
Now I would like to pose my question in a casuist way: Could requests for
wikipedias in Zeelandic and Town Frisian be granted. Neither is generally
considered a seperate language (those some linguists do call them
languages), but Zeelandic is a clearly bordered regional language which
differs about as much from Dutch proper as Nynorsk from Swedish (as far as I
can judge) and is, when spoken, very problematic to be understood for Dutch
speakers, while Town Frisian is a mixed language with a 16th century
Hollandic vocabulary and Frisian grammar and phonetical principles.
Moreover, it goes without saying that these variants (to avoid both the term
"language" and "dialect") are not allowed on nl:, being a standardised
language.
I don't necessarily support requests for wikipedias in those (thogh I would
be willing to contribute), but I would like to know where the community
draws the borders.
Thanks for reading this,
Wouter
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