In some situations however it would be a good thing for the person
with the degree in astrophysics to tell the person without to stfu.
Edo Nyland and those few who agree with his crackpot theories
(
http://www.highspeedplus.com/~edonon/linguist.htm) - ie, that all the
modern languages of the world with the exception of Basque, Ainu, and
the Dravidian languages were all invented by Benedictine monks as part
of a conspiracy.
In addition to sloppy and inaccurate work (ie, not all of his rules
apply all of the time, and he doesn't seem to realise that
statistically any word, even one made up at random, you could find the
"etymology" of by using his almost-too-large Basque dictionary and his
system for deconstructing 'invented' words), his theories are just so
astronomically stupid that nobody who spent 4 years studying
linguistics (let alone somebody who has a PhD in linguistics) would
buy any of his crap.
Without the makeshift credential system we already have in place to
idiotproof the language-related articles of Wikipedia (see the
response when some guy tried to add crap to the Finno-Ugric article
about how it hasn't been proven as conclusively as it really has, and
that most linguists disagree which they most certainly do not), he
could add his theories all over Wikipedia.
Short of that, he could add shortcomings of the comparative method
(the way REAL linguists find which languages are related) which don't
really exist (there are shortcomings, but the ones he gives are
extremely na"ive and show a complete lack of understanding of the
complex statistical reasons why his own ideas do _not_ make any
sense).
Without knowing something in advance about languages and linguistics
or at least being able to recognise the mathematical problems with his
ideas (not just any mathematician would be able to do that by looking
at his ideas - you'd have to consider how many phonemes there are in
language X, how many phonemes there are in Basque, how many words
there are in the Basque dictionary he uses, and what the chances are
he will find a match for a randomly-constructed non-word, which are
about 100% because if he can't get a match using his normal rules, he
ignores them and reaches outside of them for a match)... most
non-linguists (or people without some advanced knowledge of languages
and linguistics) do not notice the shortcomings of his ideas.
And his theory seems simpler and makes more sense from the POV of most
non-linguists than the comparitive method.
In fact, it's so believable that his page on Yiddish etymology (ie,
how it is an invented language derived from Basque rather than a
language descended ultimately from Proto-Indo-European) received some
sort of best-of-the-web award.
A few examples from Yiddish:
"ashkenazim" - Nyland derivation: axola ' kena-azima Nyland
translation (not actual Basque meaning usually): Worried about losing
our identity; Actual origin: Hebrew "ashk@naaziim" actual translation
of the origin: Germans
"bar mitzvah" - Nyland derivation: ibarretshe imini itzaba Nyland
translation:He has a work obligation at the house in the valley;
Actual origin: 1. bar > Aramaic "bar" (son) form of "b@raa" >
Proto-Semitic *bn 2. mitzvah > Hebrew "mitswah" (commandment) noun
form of "tsiwwa" (to command) > Proto-Semitic *tswy
"blintse" - N.d.: balintz ehotza N.t.: must be eaten; A.o.: Belarusian
"blintsy" diminuitive-plural of "blin" (pancake) > Old Russian
"blinue"/"mlinue" > Proto-IE *mlii (thing which has been ground
up)
extended form of *mel@ (to grind)
One from English:
"eat" - N.d.: ea atondu N.t.: Especially prepared; A.o.: Middle
English "eten" > Old English "etan" > Common Germanic
"etan" > Proto
IE *ed-
Mark
On 31/05/05, Joseph Reagle <reagle(a)mit.edu> wrote:
On Tuesday 31 May 2005 03:46, Jimmy Wales wrote:
I
personally don't like the idea, because it does create a sense of
"I have a PHD in Astrophysics and you don't so stfu" that I don't
think would be conducive to the exercise of wikilove.
I do agree that this is a danger to be considered.
Another possible outcome is that it helps make it clear the extent to which
"non-experts" make useful contributions. For much of their history
encyclopedias were compiled by the learned, but not necessarily "experts"
-- the very notion is a modern innovation. In any case, even then, useful
contribution were made by folks outside of their field [1], such as Thomas
Young [2].
[1] [[ Unpublished
However, to claim that reputation motivated contributions is not to state
that all participants were simply seeking fame. In fact, Thomas Young, the
natural philosopher who worked on the wave theory of light while also
deciphering the Rosetta Stone by 1840, agreed to contribute to the
Britannica, but required anonymity in any subject "not immediately
medical"; Young did not want scientific controversies to weaken the
confidence the public had in his capacities as a physician (Yeo 2001:265).
]]
[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Young_(scientist)
In fact, I think the compilation of materials by the competent but
non-expert has a usefulness related to what I call the Feynman notion of
simplicity: "His principle was that if a topic could not be explained in a
freshman lecture, it was not fully understood yet" [3].
[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
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