On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 08:48:43 +1100, Tim Starling <t.starling(a)physics.unimelb.edu.au> wrote: [snip] I can appreciate the reasoning behind the requirement that there need be at least 5 persons pledged to contribute to the wiki. However, I suspect that this number was chosen at least partly to serve as an obstacle for very obscure or extinct languages to overcome before being supported. To me this is reasonable: we should not waste resources on a Hittite wikipedia if only a couple individuals want it. But I think the policy ought to take into account (which is does not now) the size of the current speaking population in making these choices. So I think that, whatever the minimum number of pledged users needs to be, that it should be lower for languages like Tumbuka than for, say, Hittite, because the greater size of the existing speaking population implies a greater payoff for Wikipedia in supporting the language. Steve

This is only a proposed policy. If people have suggestions for adaptations to it, please make these on the talk page so the policy can be finalized and decisions made about new languages. Angela.

I think one thing that needs to be understood about these 'minority' languages is to understand the reasons behind some of the circumstances the languages find themselves in. I'll help Dinnette by talking about the circumstances on the Malawian side of the language. During the dictatorship of Dr Hastings Banda, Tumbuka (and other Malawian languages) was suppressed because he wanted his mother tongue to be the national language. I won't bore you with Malawi politics but you get the idea. One thing that should also be understood is that, as Dinnette rightly said, Bantu languages are highly phonetic - if you can speak it, you can read/write it. You might also find it interesting that though it might not be taught in many schools it is a language of instruction in primary schools in all areas where it is spoken. When learning the alphabet, you learn it in Tumbuka. If publishers, whose main objective is making profits (with very little social responsibilities) can publish books in Tumbuka, it means there is a market, that in turn means a big number of people DO read (AND write!) the language. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Delirium" <delirium(a)hackish.org> To: <wikipedia-l(a)Wikimedia.org> Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 7:11 AM Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Re: New language introduction Well, Wikipedia is not an oral source, so the relevant figure is readers rather than speakers. As far as I can tell from google, there are very few readers of Tumbuka, because it is not taught in any schools in the region---even those who speak Tumbuka at home read and write in a different language. That makes the usefulness of a Tumbuka Wikipedia as an information source potentially limited. Not that we shouldn't have it, but it's not going to suddenly bring a wealth of information to millions of people, because very few people can read the language. Mark